Late Pope Francis “made himself a Good Samaritan”, Catholic Bishop in Eswatini Says Late Pontiff Inspired Compassion

The late Pope Francis, Bishop José went on to say, put the suffering “just in front of our eyes for us to decide if we would have compassion or cross to the other side of the road.”

“While in Jesus’ time it was not easy to accept that a Samaritan could be good, none of us struggles with it today,” he said.

“We could though struggle if we would re-tell the parable by saying: ‘But an undocumented migrant traveller who came on him was moved with compassion or a recently released prisoner, or a member of a different faith, a homeless person, a transgender…’ any of those who do not belong to my group and who I do not fully trust,” Bishop José said.

He continued, “It was very powerful that Pope Francis' body was welcomed at the Basilica of Mary Major – where he is buried – by migrants, prisoners, the homeless, and transgender people, each holding a white rose.”

Bishop José said he found it regrettable that “we live in a world that generates migrants and refugees through the financing of wars, through financial policies that prioritize profit over people.”

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He also noted that migrants and refugees are generated through a disregard for climate change, political systems that instil fear in those who think differently, and the use of media that portrays migrants negatively, among other factors.

Instead of addressing the causes of migration, the Catholic Church leader lamented, “our world chooses to build walls, to strengthen migration policies, to blame migrants for all the problems and to spend more money on security.”

The world today no longer believes in the power of mercy, he observed, adding that the world “is becoming merciless.”

“It could well be that some of those who praised Pope Francis for his 'who am I to judge' might even be the most judgmental people towards others,” Bishop José said, referring to the reactions to the in-flight press conference in 2013, when the late Pope Francis responded to a question from a journalist on his experience as a confessor to homosexual persons. The late Pontiff had asked rhetorically, “Who am I to judge that person?” in a response who would later explain in a 2016 book-length interview.

The Local Ordinary of the only Catholic Diocese in the Southern African landlocked nation formerly known as Swaziland also weighed in on violence in the world in eulogizing the late Pope Francis as one, who fostered peaceful coexistence and non-violence.

“We live in a world that does not believe in non-violence. Just think of our third world war in pieces (as Francis would call it), the level of Gender Based Violence in the world, and the way we treat each other on social media,” he said in his April 30 homily.

For Bishop José, the Memorial Mass for the 266th Catholic Pontiff was not simply an opportunity to say goodbye and pray for him because he was a Pope among the people, but because his message of mercy and compassion, "shown in clear, concrete actions, made us wonder about the way we live."

The late Pope Francis' “voice and unexpected actions have been for us a light in the darkness we seem to be going through,” Bishop José said.

He implored, “May the Word we have shared, and Pope Francis’ witness, encourage us to make ourselves neighbours to each other, particularly neighbours of those badly beaten by life, by our attitudes, by our policies.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.