Anglican leaders have joined Roman Catholics around the world in remembering Pope Francis following the pontiff’s death April 21 at the age of 88 after suffering a cerebral stroke.
Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, expressed gratitude for Francis’s “steadfast advocacy and support of the Catholic Church’s ongoing dialogue and partnership with the Anglican Communion.”
“A tireless advocate for the poor and marginalized and a godly man of peace, Pope Francis walked among those he served with humility and grace, carrying the Gospel message of compassion and hope, reminding us that faith is not only believed but lived,” Germond said in a public statement.
“In a world that is often divided, Pope Francis was a bridge-builder. In times of sorrow, his words offered strength and comfort.”
Germond said Francis would be remembered in Canada for his 2022 apology to Indigenous Peoples on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church for its role in harm caused through the residential school system. She also highlighted his 2023 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, a concept used to justify European colonization of the Americas.
“These actions represented renewed hope for healing with Indigenous peoples of our land, especially for survivors of the residential schools and their families,” Germond said.
Condolences from across the Anglican Communion
Other Anglican leaders in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania also expressed their condolences.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, who has been carrying out many of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s duties after the resignation of previous office-holder Justin Welby, said, “Francis’s whole life and ministry was centred on Jesus who comes among us not to be served, but to serve. We saw that compellingly in Francis’s service of the poor, his love of neighbour especially the displaced, migrant, the asylum seeker, his deep compassion for the well-being of the earth and his desire to lead and build the church in new ways.”
Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the worldwide Anglican Communion, praised Francis’s commitment to greater Christian unity. “His commitment to dialogue, understanding and shared mission has opened new avenues of collaboration between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion,” Poggo said.
“Anglicans join with millions around the oikoumene, and with all people of goodwill, in giving thanks to God for Pope Francis,” he added. “We offer our condolences to our sisters and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church.”
Bishop Anthony Ball, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See, said of Francis, “His tireless efforts to work to promote the flourishing of the most marginalised, to reach out to those who feel forgotten and to advocate for the proper stewardship of God’s creation are amongst the charisms that have led him to be held in such affection.”
‘The people’s Pope’
In her statement, Germond said Francis is remembered as “the people’s Pope.” His papacy marked a series of historic firsts, with Francis being the first pope from the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order; the first Latin American pope; the first pope from the Americas; the first from the Southern Hemisphere; and the first pope born or raised outside Europe since the eighth-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to an Italian family who had fled Mussolini’s fascist regime. He joined the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from life-threatening pneumonia and cysts that required the removal of a lung.
Ordained as a Catholic priest in 1969, Bergoglio served as the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and a cardinal in 2001 before being elected pope on March 13, 2013. He chose the papal name Francis in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, known as a patron of animals and ecology.
As pope, Francis was known for encouraging interreligious dialogue and concern for the poor. Within the Roman Catholic Church, he convened the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, also known as the Synod on Synodality, in 2023 and 2024.
Climate change was a major focus of his papacy, with Francis calling for urgent global action to protect the environment in his 2015 encyclical Laudato si’. He criticized anti-immigrant sentiment in politics and expressed sympathies for LGBTQ+ people, calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality around the world. While not allowing the blessing of same-sex unions, he supported blessings of LGBTQ+ individuals outside a liturgical context.
In his final address on Easter Sunday, Francis called for an end to the war in Gaza. “I express my closeness to the sufferings … of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” he said. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”
Francis’s funeral will take place on April 26 in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. He will be buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, becoming the first pope in more than a century not to be buried in the Vatican.
