Communications Officer for Regional Bishops’ Conference in Africa Reminisces about Past with Pope Francis, Prays for Him

Johannesburg, 28 February, 2025 / 9:27 PM

Sheila Leocádia Pires, the Mozambican-born journalist who serves as the Communications Officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) is praying for the recovery of the ailing Holy Father, Pope Francis, with whom she says she shared light moments on the sidelines of the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality gatherings, where she served as Secretary of the Commission for Information.

In an interview with Newzroom Africa shared with ACI Africa on Friday, February 28, the day it was published on YouTube, Sheila says that in one of the feel-good moments she shared with Pope Francis, the Holy Father sent a message to her compatriots in the Southern African nation, who had plunged in violence following a contested election on 9 October 2024.

The South Africa-based Catholic journalist, who gave daily press briefings of the Synod on Synodality says she would strategically make it to the synod hall early enough to chat with the Holy Father.

“Because I had to deal with press briefings during lunch time, I would go back early to the synod hall and those were the times when I had the opportunity to interact with the Pope, talk about different things,” Sheila told Newzroom Afrika.

She added, “At one point, I remember speaking to him (Pope Francis) about the October elections in Mozambique, and I asked him, ‘would you mind doing a video message to the people in Mozambique and say hi?’ and he said, ‘Sure, let’s do it’ and he actually did a video in Portuguese. He actually spoke in Portuguese.”

For the Communication Officer of the three-nation Conference that brings together Catholic Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa, the tendency of Pope Francis to always request for prayers was the most outstanding in their interactions.

She says in the interview published on YouTube, “One thing Pope Francis always does whenever he speaks to you, is to always ask ‘please pray for me’. At the end of any conversation, he will always say, ‘please remember me in your prayers. Pray for me.’”

About the Pope Francis’ illness, the Mozambican-born journalist says, “It’s quite sad. But at the same time, as Catholics, we are people of hope.”

“We live in this Jubilee year of hope. And we pray and have faith and hope that all will be well. That he will come out of this, and that God’s will be done,” she says.

Sheila was one of the only two women that represented the Laity in Africa in the multi-year Synod on Synodality that Pope Francis extended to 2024 and which was concluded on 27 October 2024 in Rome. 

In an interview with ACI Africa following her appointment to serve as Secretary at the Synod, Sheila said that she first met Pope Francis in 2018 in Rome, where she was working as a journalist for the Catholic Church.

Sheila has done over two decades of Catholic radio, working mainly for Radio Veritas. She was appointed as the first woman to serve as a Communications officer of the SACBC after she had served as ACI Africa journalist.