Regis Mourns the Passing of Pope Francis

Dear Regis Community,

As the Church and the world mourn the passing of our beloved holy father Pope Francis, we write to express our sadness at his loss, our hope in the promise of eternal life, and our appreciation and profound gratitude for his ministry of generous service as a shepherd to God’s people over the past 12 years. 

The Regis community shares a special and close connection with Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope. From his appearance on the balcony of the Apostolic Palace announcing his election, he won the hearts of the faithful with his warm, authentic style and direct greeting: “Buona Sera!” to be exact. And Regis students and families were honored to play a role in hosting him for his visit to New York City in 2015. 

While it is difficult to summarize Pope Francis’s ministry, it was characterized by three signature values that are models to all of us in the Regis community. 

First, Pope Francis believed the Gospel requires us to go to the peripheries — the margins — and help our brothers and sisters there find a sense of belonging and care. He frequently used the image of the Church as a “field hospital” tending to the wounds of those who are hurt and in need of compassion. We watched with amazement as he departed from established customs and rituals to wash the feet of Muslim refugees, women, and prisoners and embrace outsiders and those who are marginalized. We hope Francis’s example inspires our students to become men for others. 

Second, Pope Francis taught us that God is merciful and tender, and reaches out to reconcile us with God and one another. He wanted everyone to understand that God’s mercy has no boundaries or limits and that the Church’s mission is to proclaim and embody Jesus’s Sacred Heart, which pours out love freely to each person. In this way, he modeled St. Ignatius Loyola’s conviction that God deals with each person directly, within the recesses of our own hearts, where we can experience God’s love and find God calling us to purpose and meaning for our lives and futures. In our retreat programs, Masses, and sacramental life, we honor this call to find God in all things and dedicate our lives to God's glory. 

Third, Pope Francis proclaimed a consistent ethic of life — life which has intrinsic value because we are each created in God’s image. Like Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI before him, Francis taught us to protect and defend human dignity, from its earliest detection in the womb to its fragile conclusion at the end of our earthly lives. Francis was tireless in standing up for the unborn, the immigrant, those harmed by environmental degradation, victims of violence and war, and those who are most vulnerable to the harsh realities and false values of modern societies. In our motto Deo et Patriae, Regis affirms that God comes before nation, and we are called as believers to advance the common good as citizens dedicated to biblical justice.

Today, we join with Catholics and all people of good will around the world, asking for eternal peace for our shepherd Francis — that the Good Shepherd may welcome him to a place at the banquet table, a grace for which he prayed so fervently at every Eucharist he celebrated.

In the days ahead, our school community will gather to give thanks for the gifts of Francis’s life and ministry and to ask the Holy Spirit to guide the Church and the College of Cardinals as they work to elect a new successor to the Chair of Peter. 

With our prayerful best wishes,