Official Announcement from Bishop Fernandes

Bishop Fernandes prays for Pope Francis upon his deathByBishop Earl FernandesApr 21, 2025Local Pope Francis has died at age 88. Credit: Daniel Ibañez Catholic News AgencyMy Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Having been informed of the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, I wish to express my deepest condolences to you, the People of God in the Diocese of Columbus. As you know, the Holy Father had some recent health complications and died earlier today in Rome. He was 88 years old.My heart is saddened at the passing of Pope Francis, and I mourn with my brothers and sisters all over the world. Pope Francis, the first Pope of the Americas, was born in Argentina in 1936. In 2013, he was called from Latin America to be the Bishop of Rome.From the beginning of his Pontificate, with the Apostolic Exhoration Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), he brought many of the insights from the Aparecida document and Latin America to the universal Church. Evangelii Gaudium was paradigmatic and programmatic for his entire pontificate. Francis called us to be a missionary Church which goes out of its comfort zone to the spiritual and existential peripheries, to be a poor Church for the poor. The Holy Father consistently emphasized care for our common home and human fraternity: the need to see one another as brothers and sisters. We would do well to learn from his wisdom. Having worked at the Apostolic Nunciature, I became very familiar with the writings and thought of Pope Francis. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked at the Vatican embassy and to have been of service to the Holy Father. The same Holy Father also appointed me as the Bishop of Columbus, and I will forever be grateful.Pope Francis has been tireless in emphasizing God’s mercy, which he said cannot be a parenthesis in the life of the Church. Let us now commend him to the Father of Mercies that he would look upon him with the gaze of mercy and to Christ, the Good Shepherd, in the power of the Holy Spirit, beseeching the one, true Shepherd to welcome Pope Francis into those verdant pastures promised to those who believe in Him.As bishop of the diocese, I offer my prayers for all those who mourn his loss, joining with my brothers and sisters around the world in giving thanks to God for the life and ministry of Pope Francis.Yours in our Crucified and Risen Lord,  Most Reverend Earl K. Fernandes Bishop of Columbus