Pope Francis Leaves Behind “an enormous void”: Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya at Requiem Mass

Pope Francis, he went on to recall, “saw himself as a poor sinner, like all of us, navigating the daily struggles of life and the demands of the Gospel. His experience echoed today’s Responsorial Psalm: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”’

For the Dutch-born Vatican diplomat in Kenya, Pope Francis’ pontificate was characterized by the theme of God’s mercy, a conviction he traced back to the start of his formation as a Jesuit in 1953.

“Like the tax collector in the Gospel of Matthew, God called him away from the enslavement of power and money, and career. Jorge Bergoglio was mercifully chosen,” Archbishop van Megen said, referring to the late Pope Francis’ autobiography, “Hope”.

“That’s the way he experienced it, and he became a Jesuit. By the way, that idea of needing God’s mercy was woven through his entire life and pontificate. And Pope Francis did not tire of repeating that he was a sinner in need of mercy,” he said at the Holy Father’s Requiem Mass that had Kenyan government officials in attendance.

According to Archbishop van Megen, the late Pontiff’s attitude of being sinful and in need of mercy “revealed his great holiness, because the holiest people always feel that they are the worst sinners.”

“In the teachings of Pope Francis, there were two words that were very recurrent: mercy and tenderness,” he recalled, adding, “And maybe that was also something that was rooted in his youth, things he had been longing for from his youth onwards.”

In his autobiography, the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya said, Pope Francis “speaks about his youth, being a child of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires. And he explains that already as a young child, he found it very hard to stand conflicts.”

As Jorge Bergoglio, Archbishop van Megen continued, “he would suffer, and he would physically shake when there was tension at home or fights at school. And already as a child, he was the one who was always looking for peace, wanting to bring parties together.”

The Nairobi-based Vatican diplomat also eulogized Pope Francis as a bridge builder, alluding to his pastoral visits to different countries across the globe, including Kenya in November 2015.

In 2015, he said, “Pope Francis arrived in Kenya as a bridge builder, as a humble servant of the Lord. And for him, there was no Toyota V8; there was no Mercedes or a GMC Hummer, but a simple Honda Bellet.”

Speaking at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, the Local Ordinary of ADN, Archbishop Philip Subira Anyolo, eulogized Pope Francis as one who walked humbly with the Lord.

Archbishop Anyolo remembered the late Pope Francis as one who “acted justly and who loved tenderly and devoted his life in tireless service to the Church and to humanity with compassion and grace.”

“His enduring legacy is a clarion call for each one of us to uphold the values of mercy, justice, and peace in our daily lives,” he said, and added, “We are sincerely grateful to all who have contributed to the solemnity and beauty of this sacred celebration.”

On his part, the immediate former President of Kenya, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, remembered the late Pontiff as “a true example of what we all call servant leadership.”

Kenyatta, who was the Kenyan President when Pope Francis visited the East African nation in November 2015 eulogized the late Pontiff as “a man who truly walked in the path of Jesus; a man who, despite his high position, did not walk in and amongst the high and mighty in the world, but rather, like Jesus, chose to walk amongst the poor and those most in need.”

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“He didn't pick and choose. And even the most vulnerable and the most outcast, he was able to ensure that they were given solace and comfort,” the former Kenyan President said, and adding that late Pope Francis was “truly a man who walked in a path of giving dignity to human life, regardless of whichever condition one found themselves in.”

Meanwhile, in his eulogy that Kenya’s Chief Justice, Martha Koome, read out, President William Samoei Ruto said, “We stand with the Catholic Church to mourn and celebrate a great servant of God, His Holiness Pope Francis, who served the world with distinction, tirelessly working to the last day to touch the lives of the many people that he served.”

“We particularly celebrate him here in Kenya for the holy visit he made in this country and touched many, many people,” President Ruto said.

The Kenyan President continued, “The legacy that our Pope has left, and the seeds that he planted—seeds of love, championing justice, seeking peace, traversing the entire globe to bring peace to the world—may that be a great legacy to us all, and may it touch all of us so that every day of our lives that God gives us on this world and on this earth, we can ask ourselves whether we are sowing seeds of love or we are sowing seeds of disunity, whether we are sowing seeds of peace or seeds of violence, whether we are sowing seeds of unity or seeds of disunity.”