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Catholics across Toronto bid farewell to Pope Francis
By Aarjavee RaajOpens in new window
Published: April 21, 2025 at 12:58PM EDT
Pope Francis smiles after celebrating Easter mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
Catholics across Toronto are bidding farewell to Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Francis, who stood for the poor and became a beacon for the reshaping the Catholic Church with his non-traditional papacy, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 after battling serious illness.
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The pontiff made history by delivering a long-awaited apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the abuse suffered by Indigenous people at the Canadian residential schools.
“At 7:35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.
The flag at downtown Toronto’s St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica was lowered to half mast on Monday morning by Father Frank Portelli, who presided over the morning service, CP24’s Beatrice Vaisman reported.
“We know that for all of us who are faithful to the Lord, are faithful in the faith, we know that he’s gone to be with God. So, it’s bittersweet but Pope Francis has left us a good legacy of listening, church passion, a year of mercy, and now a jubilee year,” Portelli told CP24. “So, we’re honoring him and moving forward.”
One of the things that shocked the world was when the pontiff first visited a prison and washed the feet of the prisoners, Portelli recalls.
“I think that he leaves us a kind of legacy of somebody who went forward and presented a positive sign to the church,” he says.
‘It is fitting’
Neil MacCarthy, Director, Public Relations, and Communications of the Archdiocese of Toronto, told CP24 it was surreal to wake up to the news of the pontiff’s passing this morning, especially after witnessing him meeting the crowd on the popemobile on Easter Sunday.
“As people of faith, we’ve just gone through Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus, and so, it is fitting, in a way, that the Pope has passed on Easter Monday, after having that very high moment for the life of the church,” MacCarthy says.
MacCarthy goes on to emphasize what a gift it was to be able to see the pontiff having a publicly visible day after battling illness since February.
The pope had part of his right lung removed after a pulmonary infection when he was young and had recently been suffering from respiratory infections. The Vatican announced he had developed pneumonia in both lungs along with asthmatic bronchitis shortly after his admittance to the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
MacCarthy called this his “last goodbye,” and said it was “prophetic in many ways.”
“A pope who was really focused on humility and compassion, it is very fitting that he kind of went quietly,” he says. “He was just with prisoners outside of the Vatican at a jail a couple days ago, humbly as he began his ministry, ending his ministry.”
MacCarthy calls the pontiff’s legacy critical in moving forward in the journey of healing and reconciliation with Indigenous people.
He talked about the church being a “field hospital” for people on the margins, the prisoners, the immigrants and refugees and those who have been forgotten, MacCarthy says.
Flags at all schools within the Toronto Catholic District School Board were lowered to half mast today.