As Pope Francis fought for his life in a Rome hospital, Maggie Forney was praying for him 6,000 miles away at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress in Anaheim.
Scrolling through her phone, she brought up images of the pope from when she sang with a choir at the Vatican in 2017. Forney didn’t expect to see Francis on that trip, but suddenly got an up-close-and-personal view that left her practically speechless.
“I was just so in awe to have a man of God that close to me and I couldn’t say a word,” said Forney, a parishioner at St. Cyprian Church in Long Beach. “I couldn’t say anything. My cousin was standing there and she goes, ‘Yes you did.’ I said, ‘What did I say?’ She said, ‘You said, we’re from California, we came to pray with you and to pray for you.’ I don't remember saying any of that.
“Ever since I heard of his health crisis, this is what I’ve been doing, just pulling these photos up and looking at them and thinking back on this memory.”
As Francis’ condition turned to “critical” on the weekend of Feb. 22-23, the uncertainty about his prognosis became a topic that RE Congress attendees whispered about. Workshops began concluding with prayers for the pope. He became a focal point in homilies.
With a congress theme of “Called to Compassion,” how could Francis not be on the minds and hearts of those in attendance?
For RE Congress’ closing Mass, a photo of Francis was front and center on stage, and digital banners in the arena called for prayers. Life-size cutouts of the pope, such as the one at the Diocese of Orange’s exhibit booth, got more attention. After receiving word of his “critical” condition Saturday morning during his “Front Row with Archbishop Gomez” session Saturday morning, the archbishop led the audience in a Hail Mary for the pope.
At a Saturday evening Mass, Auxiliary Bishop Matthew Elshoff took the opportunity of the day’s feast of the Chair of St. Peter to reflect on Francis and his legacy.
“Francis explains that compassion speaks to reality as it is,” Elshoff said. “In other words, it speaks to truthfulness, whether it be suffering, injustice, inhumane conditions, the issues of life from womb to the tomb, racism, or prejudice. And compassion moves us to involve ourselves in these problems, to alleviate suffering, to call out injustice, racism, prejudice, and to speak the truth, who is Jesus Christ, who gives us that moral authority by the gift of our baptism.”
Francis’ humility and pastoral emphasis on uplifting the poor and the marginalized have made him a hero to many in attendance at RE Congress.
Frank and Flo Stapleton spoke to Angelus moments after praying for Francis inside the event’s Sacred Space.
“What he’s done for the Church has been life-saving, for the world, really,” Frank said. “He’s just been a blessing, a gift sent by God, just a very holy man and being a real leader for the Church. He’s just done so much.”
“It all seems to be rooted in a genuine love, a love for all of humanity,” Flo said. “And he sees Christ in everybody and tries to make all of us aware of that. We’re praying for him, hope he hangs in there, gives us a few more years.”
As a couple who has seen five popes in their lifetime, the Stapletons don’t look back fondly at pre-Vatican II Latin Mass days and hope Francis’ legacy is that the Church keeps looking ahead.
“It was not a Church that felt welcoming or focused on love or forgiveness, a lot of rigidity and judgment,” Flo said. “He sees the Church in the future. He doesn't want to go back. He feels the Church needs to move forward in that.”
“I think he’s one of the greater popes I’ve ever had in my lifetime,” Frank said.
Diane Klostermann, a first-timer at the congress from Illinois, hoped that those who criticized Francis would have a change of heart.
“I pray that they have an awakening, that maybe they can look back and see the good that he has done for the Church,” she said.
Erika Farkas, a mother of five and member of St. Clare of Assisi Church in Santa Clarita, said that despite sometimes being labeled “controversial,” she has great respect for Francis, and prays for him regularly with her family.
“For me, I’ve seen him as our leader who is trying his best to lead the Church, to be a unified Church,” she said.
Sister Gemma de la Trinidad of the Eucharistic Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Los Angeles in East LA said that her convent’s daily routine includes reading the pope’s writings together during meals.
“We’re spoiled,” she said. “He’s a father to us. We follow him so much, we have read so much from him.”
Right now, they’re reading Francis’ encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “Dilexit Nos” (“He Loved Us”).
“It’s very inspiring, the way he talks about the human heart of the Lord, on how we are supposed to be like him,” de la Trinidad said.
Hardini Suraya, a parishioner at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Rowland Heights, praised Francis for his inspirational visit to her homeland, Indonesia, and for being a sign to her as a volunteer at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles.
“He’s been a good pope,” she said. “He always reached out to those who need it, like prisoners, the sick, those who need healing, although he doesn’t know them, but he really touched them.”
Elisa Valencia, a psychologist and parishioner at St. Mark Church in Venice, said Francis was “the pope we needed” and his leading by example could be a model for a new popular phrase.
“They say, ‘What would Jesus do?’ ” Valencia said. “But Jesus loves everybody. What would Pope Francis do? How would he tell us to love one another and reach out to each other, be community and be humble and live like that.”
