EDITORIAL — Pope Francis

And just like that the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the successor of St. Peter, and one of the world’s most beloved religious leaders died yesterday at the age of 88.

News of the death of Pope Francis came as a shock to many. Although there were glaring signs his health had not been well as of late, many didn’t see his death coming so abruptly as he had just been seen giving the Urbi et Orbi blessing following the Easter Mass at St. Peter’s Square.

His passing was sudden, not unlike the case of Pope John Paul II who, before his death in 2013, was bedridden for several days, leaving the world with bated breath.

Whoever follows in Pope Francis’ footsteps has big shoes to fill considering how the Pope was largely popular among the young and even those who aren’t of the Catholic faith.

More than anything else, Pope Francis worked to bridge different people, different ideas, and even different religions.

Pope Francis wasn’t the typical pope in the sense that he was open to ideas that would have been considered blasphemous or off-limits by other church leaders. Chief among these was his move to encourage more dialogue between the clergy and the laity, even involving criticism of the former.

He also made the Church more inclusive to the LGBT community and frequent engaged with leaders of different religions.

He also moved to make the Church more accountable as an organization, given the many sexual assault scandals being leveled against members of the clergy, and how these were buried or hushed.

He has also called attention to climate change, war, and other issues normally not the ambit of the Vatican.

We don’t have the space to list his achievements here, but suffice it to say we would want to see more of the kind of this “Pope from the New World”; pontiffs who aren’t shut in in their own little worlds, who are more aware of what is happening around the globe, and are also more inclusive of others.