Pope Francis Dies on Easter Monday

Apr 21, 2025 | 0 comments


At the age of 88, following serious illness, Good Pope Francis has passed from earthly life to eternity on Easter Monday 2025.

He will be most fondly remembered by all who caught his dream of a synodal church – in which every person is conscious of the equal importance of their own life in witnessing to the saving truth of the Gospel.

There are problems he did not finally resolve –  but he surely witnessed to the truth that everyone is both fallible and a potential minister of encouragement and hope to others – because the Trinity are equally close to everyone

And all alive on earth are equal members of the one human family. So those who enjoy a settled life must not be indifferent to the trauma of those who cannot do that – who travel in fragile hope of a secure home somewhere else.

If we remember Francis’ call to be hope and light for others we will be remembering also Jesus’ commandment to love one another. For his faithfulness to this message we feel confident that Our Lord has already welcomed Francis into his eternal home.

For Pope Francis’ most recent reflections and prayers for Good Friday 2025, click here. 

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ACI’s Campaign for Lumen Gentium 37

The Promise of Synodality

What we have experienced of synodality so far gives ACI real hope that a longstanding structural injustice in the church may at last be acknowledged and overcome.

As all Irish bishops well know, the 'co-responsibility' they urge lay people to share - as numbers and energies of clergy decline - has been sabotaged time and again by canonical rules that deny representational authority and continuity to parish pastoral councils.  ACI's 2019 call for the immediate honouring of Lumen Gentium Article 37 becomes more urgent by the day and is supported by the following documents - also presented to the ICBC in October 2019.

The Common Priesthood of the People of God and the Renewal of the Church
It was Catholic parents and victims of clerical abuse who taught Catholic Bishops to prioritise the safeguarding of children in the church

Jesus as Model for the Common Priesthood of the People of God
It was for challenging religious hypocrisy and injustice that Jesus was accused and crucified. He is therefore a model for the common priesthood of the laity and for the challenging of injustice - in society and within the church.

A Suggested Strategy for the Recovery of the Irish and Western Catholic Church
Recovery of the church depends upon acknowledgment of the indispensable role of the common priesthood of the lay people of God and the explicit abandonment by bishops and clergy of paternalism and clericalism - the expectation of deference from lay people rather than honesty and integrity.

For the full story of ACI's campaign for the honouring of Article 37 of Lumen Gentium, click here.

Prayer

"Come Holy Spirit, Renew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost. Grant to Your Church that, being of one mind and steadfast in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and following the lead of blessed Peter, it may advance the reign of our Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen."

Saint Pope John XXIII, 1962 - In preparation for Vatican Council II, 1962-65.

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