By Ayo Kehinde
Royals, world leaders, on Saturday, joined hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, to bid farewell to late Pope Francis.
US President, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, along with Sir Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Taoiseach Micheál Martin of Ireland; President of Poland, Andrzej Duda; Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and its prime minister, Luís Montenegro; Mexican Interior Minister, Rosa Icela Rodríguez; headlined a huge selection of global leaders and dignitaries at the funeral.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Friday led a high-level Nigerian delegation, including Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu; President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji; Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah; and Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Archbishop Ignatius Ayua Kaigama, to the funeral ceremony.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to immigrant parents who fled Italy’s fascist government under Benito Mussolini, Francis educated as a chemical technician, worked in the food processing sector, and briefly worked as a bouncer in a Cordoba nightclub before becoming a priest in 1969. He was Chosen as 266th pope after Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation in March 2013.
Known for his humility and reform initiatives, Francis was the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, specifically South America. His papacy was marked by a focus on social justice, environmental protection, and a more inclusive approach to church doctrine.
Francis championed the cause of the poor and marginalized, advocating for migrants, refugees, and victims of injustice and advocated urgent action to address climate change and promote ecological stewardship.
“Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, of a holy life and of universal fatherhood”, said a formal summary of his papacy, placed next to his body.
The 88-year-old Pontiff passed away on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta”.
