“A Personal loss”: First Bishop Late Pope Francis Appointed in Africa Eulogizes, Recalls Encounters with Late Pontiff

Nsukka, 01 May, 2025 / 10:28 PM

The Easter Monday, April 21 passing on of Pope Francis was a great “personal loss” for Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Nsukka, the first African Catholic Bishop the late Pontiff appointed on 13 April 2013 has said.

In a video message posted on his Facebook page on Monday, April 28, Bishop Onah reflects on how the late Pontiff held a special place in his life.

“The death of Pope Francis is a personal loss to me. It’s not just that the Pope died, Pope Francis is special to me in many ways,” he says in the video recorded during the Requiem Mass for the late Pontiff, which he presided over on April 25 in his Episcopal See.

In the video recording, the Nigerian Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in July 2013 recalls being among the first Catholic Bishops the late Pope Francis appointed across the globe following his election on 13 March 2013.

He says about the late Pope Francis, “It’s not just that he appointed me a Bishop; I was the first Bishop he appointed in Africa, and among the very first he appointed anywhere in the world.”

“I will never forget my first audience with him after my appointment,” the Local Ordinary of Nsukka Diocese recalls and goes on to recount his encounters with the Late Pontiff, who was laid to rest at the Papal Basilica of Mary Major on April 26.

“As he shook my hands warmly with both of his, he recalled that I was engaged at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, just on the hill close to the Vatican and, looking me straight in the eyes, told me in Italian: "Non ti spaventare," meaning, “Don't be afraid.”

The 68-year-old Catholic leader attributes his courage in his Episcopal ministry to these words of the late Pope Francis.

“Sometimes people think that the Bishop is risking too much,” he says, as he goes to reveal the source of courage in his Episcopal Ministry: “the man who appointed me, who spoke in the name of Christ, told me not to be afraid and I'm not afraid of anything.”

He continues, “My Priests know that I already asked them to prepare my resting place at the crypt of the Cathedral.”

In the video recording, Bishop Onah also recalls that in his subsequent encounters with the late Pope Francis, he was given a listening ear and that the late Pontiff was always ready to offer his spiritual solidarity with the people of God in Nsukka Diocese.

“Every other time I met him, I put my mouth right into his ear and whispered something to him and each time it was an assurance of prayer, a request for his prayer and blessing for the Priests, Religious and lay faithful of Nsukka Diocese and he always promised to do that,” the Local Ordinary of the Nigerian Catholic Diocese says.

He goes on to recall his last audience with the Late Pope Francis in June 2024 during which, Bishop Onah recalls, after delivering his usual message, he passed his mother’s greetings to the Holy Father, who in return gifted her with a “special rosary”.

 “He asked me, ‘How old is your mother?’ I told him about 90. He had given me one rosary for myself; then he called for a special rosary, gave it to me, and said, ‘That is for your mother.’ Those were the last words Pope Francis spoke to me personally,” the Nigerian Catholic Bishop recounts in the video recording.

Bishop Onah goes on to cautions against the tendency to focus on others’ shortcomings, saying, “If you look at the life of your brother or your sister, closely, you will find something to thank God for and to imitate. Stop looking only at the things he's not doing well.”

“You too are called to be saints,” the Local Ordinary of Nsukka Diocese says addressing himself to the people of God under his pastoral care.

Recalling the late Pope Francis’ invitation to holiness after the command and example of Jesus Christ, Bishop Onah emphasizes that “the best way to remember the dead is to promote the values they lived for.”

The late Pope Francis, who passed on aged 88 was laid to rest on April 26 in his “beloved” Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major as he explained in his testament. He had suffered a stroke that was followed by a coma and an irreversible cardiovascular collapse. The late Pontiff had been struggling with double pneumonia and a respiratory infection.

The Catholic Church is into the final preparatory phase for choosing her 267th Pope, with the College of Cardinals having announced on April 28 that the conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7.

18 Cardinals from Africa are among the 135 Cardinal electors, who might eventually be less with the news that two of them, including Kenya’s 79-year-old John Cardinal Njue will not be participating in the Conclave for health-related reasons.