Justin Welby Pays Tribute to Pope Francis

March 20, 2023283 views0

Justin Welby Pays Tribute to Pope Francis

2023-03-20T09:40:11+01:00

By Church News

To mark the 10th anniversary of his pontificate, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby reflects on Pope Francis’ pastoral style: “There is a depth in him, which is a blessing to the whole Church, not just to the Roman Catholic Church.”In a statement released by Lambeth Palace, Most Rev Justin Welby said:“One of the most astonishing images from the Covid-19 pandemic was the image of Pope Francis, totally alone in the dark and cold of St Peter’s Square, delivering an ‘Urbi et Orbi’ – a blessing ‘to the city and to the world’. In a square that would normally be packed with people, Pope Francis spoke of stormy times to a scattered world.“Reflecting in the Gospel story of Jesus calming the storm, the Pope said: ‘We are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.’“After he spoke, he carried a monstrance holding the holy sacrament aloft into the square, battling through the rain and the wind. It was an extraordinary moment: the presence of Christ in all storms made visible to us by a Pope who, standing alone, brought people together onto the same boat with Jesus.“I met Pope Francis for the first time almost 10 years ago, a few months after we had become Pope and Archbishop respectively. He said to me, “I’m senior to you.” But before I could respond I saw a glint in his eye – he meant he’d been enthroned three days before me!“It was a moment of the humility and humour, of warmth and welcome, which has characterised His Holiness’ papacy.“The second thing is a remarkable moral imagination. He tries to look through problems with a different lens, in a different way. Perhaps it’s the Jesuit background, I don’t know: that’s often the case with Jesuits, but the result is that he will approach a problem from a surprising angle.“You talk to him about many of the issues that confront the Church, he sees into the human heart, but he also finds ways of loving that can unlock the hard parts of the heart.“And the third thing I want to say for him, is that the simplicity that appears is a genuine simplicity.”ALSO READ: Pope Francis Marks Ten Years as Pope