Catholics around the world, and many who are not Catholic, are mourning the death of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, following his death on Easter Sunday. Pope Francis was responsible for many firsts. He was the first Pope from the Americas, and from the Southern Hemisphere. He was also the first Pope to take the name Francis, after Francis of Assisi, famous for his devotion to the poor and his teaching that God's love encompasses the whole of Creation. During his 12-year reign as Pope he tried to live out this example - living simply in the Vatican guest-house rather than the Papal Palace, washing the feet of prisoners on Palm Sunday, visiting and shining a light on what he called 'marginal places' where people struggled with poverty and oppression. Much of his teaching reflected this priority. No one person can rule an institution with a billion members, not even one as hierarchical as the Catholic Church. The church of which Francis took over l...
'Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp.' - Rachel Carson