Loyola celebrates the life of Pope Francis
As the world mourns the passing of Pope Francis, who died at 88 on April 21, 2025, Loyola University Maryland remembers his life and legacy.
When Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, he was the first member of the Society of Jesus to serve in the Papacy. Pope Francis’ impact on the Catholic Church during his tenure was shaped by his identity as a Jesuit.
“Pope Francis’ tenure as pope has helped increase awareness and understanding of the Society of Jesus—and of Jesuit education. His identity as a Jesuit had a powerful influence on his papacy and on the Catholic Church, as his leadership reflected the Jesuits’ four Universal Apostolic Preferences—showing the way to God, walking with the excluded, caring for our common home, and journeying with youth,” said Terrence M. Sawyer, J.D., president of Loyola. “Pope Francis led with a commitment to serving and accompanying those who are on the margins of society, including the poor and the imprisoned, and he elevated justice issues related to environmental sustainability. During his time at the Vatican, Pope Francis encouraged us to work for justice and peace, to approach others with love and mercy, and to serve God by seeing the needs of others—and working to meet those needs.”
Journeying Together
During his tenure as pope, the Holy Father was seen as “the people’s pope,” recalls Milton Javier Bravo, Ph.D., vice president for mission and identity.
“His pastoral approach always focused on the marginalized, on the least among us, calling us to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. As a theologian, I am most grateful for his courage to defend life at the margins, particularly with migrants and refugees, the greatest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime. As a leader, I’m in awe of his courage and discernment to address structural transformation in the Roman Curia and the larger Church: appointing lay women and men to key Vatican leadership positions and bringing about a new way of proceeding for the global Church via synodality—through conversation, listening, and journeying together towards a missionary vocation to bring the Gospel to the world.”
Bravo expressed gratitude that Pope Francis was not just the first Jesuit pope but also the first South American pope. “His call for a pastoral conversation in the ways in which we treat one another was truly a call to see Christ in one another.”
“A Field Hospital”
The pope can be a faith leader whose perspective can inspire international impact, and Pope Francis used his voice to connect with people of all faiths.
“Pope Francis brought to the papacy a sense of freshness and openness with which people, both Catholic and not, resonated,” said Frederick Bauerschmidt, Ph.D., professor of theology and a deacon for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. “While maintaining core Catholic doctrine, he used the symbolic power of his office to draw attention to the plight of the poor and disenfranchised, to refugees and asylees, to those imprisoned, and to all who have been pushed to the margins in our world. His vision of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ that seeks to bring healing to the broken has surely set the agenda for the Church for years to come.”
In his leadership and world vision, Pope Francis expanded the universalism of the Catholic Church and conceived a new understanding of what a missionary church could be, said Rev. Gregory Chisholm, S.J., superior of the Baltimore Jesuit Community.
“Our concept of the margins grew to include economic migrants from the southern hemisphere, those suffering abuse at the hands of the powerful, politically oppressed communities of people, those culturally isolated in our Church by virtue of their gender, race, or sexual identity, even our earth home ignored and abused by our human drive toward acquisition and excess. He welcomed sinners to the Eucharistic table, whose actions often excluded them from communal worship. The Eucharist, he explained, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine for the weak. Under Pope Francis, the practice of our faith became less a matter of ritual forms and more a reflection of Gospel joy.”
Although Pope Francis may not have achieved success in all of this work, he leaves a body of work for Catholics to carry forward. “May we not soon forget this priest, this brother Jesuit, who helped our Church continue to open the windows of its great heart,” Fr. Chisholm said.
“He's one of us!”
Laura McCormack, ’14, associate director for liturgy and music at Loyola, was a student at Loyola when Pope Francis was elected in 2013. She remembers watching a TV in Campus Ministry as they waited for the white smoke to appear from the Vatican. When Pope Francis was announced, one of her classmates, exclaimed, “He's a Jesuit! He's one of us!”
“‘He's one of us.’ This declaration became indicative of his papacy for me. ‘He's one of us’ meant that Pope Francis was not only deeply moved by the mission of the Society of Jesus, but that he really was one of us—a shepherd who smells like his sheep. He's a man who took the bus when he was a cardinal, who embraced and held the hands of children who wandered up to his stage, who eschewed some of the fancier traditions of the papacy in favor of simplicity and humility. He's one of us.”
McCormack valued Pope Francis’ acknowledgment of the important role of women in the Church.
“As a lay woman in ministry, his promotion of women at top levels of leadership, even the symbolic gesture of washing women's feet in the celebration of Holy Thursday, inspired me and gave me hope for the future of women's inclusion in the Church,” she said. “His view of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ and the Eucharist as ‘not a prize for the perfect, but food for the weak’ have influenced how I see the role of ministry in our world today.”
Great Love
Paola Pascua-Ferrá, Ph.D., associate professor of communication, said she will remember Pope Francis best for his smile.
“You could feel the love and joy he felt for all of us, for creation, for life, and his warm embrace of everyone he encountered. His words were always meant to unite us, to God, to each other, and to our common home, as one great family. We are in God’s Garden; not a single day to waste, he reminded us with tenderness. I am grateful for all the wisdom he shared through his encyclicals and feel blessed to have witnessed his great love for us and for life.”
The Rev. Timothy Brown, S.J., associate professor of law and social responsibility and assistant to the president for mission integration, offered a talk with a group of Sisters in Zambia over Zoom on Holy Saturday. He shared with them a section of Pope Francis’ book, Hope: The Autobiography, reading to them about how we are made in the image of God, and our God smiles.
“God is smiling today. Smiling Father, Jesus, our Blessed Mother with the Holy Spirit,” Fr. Brown said. “Deep, deep Ignatian gratitude for the life of our beloved Holy Father.”
A Place for Everyone
When Emily Kane, ’14, director of Campus Ministry, thinks of Pope Francis, she remembers how he visited the island of Lampedusa to draw attention to the suffering of migrants, and how he washed the feet of 12 women in prison one Holy Thursday.
“He threw open the doors of the Church, often reiterating that there is a place for everyone—‘todos, todos, todos,’—even for those who have felt most marginalized by the Church, including women and LGBTQ+ persons. He truly was the embodiment of Christ on this earth and breathed new life into and inspired millions to live out the lessons from the Gospels in radically new and personal ways,” Kane said. “As a minister working with college students, I will always be grateful for the example Pope Francis provided, especially during my own most formative years as a young adult. What a truly precious gift he was to our Church, and how deeply we will miss him.”
Leah Rottler-Gurley, ’26, is grateful for the work that Pope Francis has done for the Church during his papacy.
“I hope we will always remember Pope Francis as someone who preached peace until the very end. The progress he made towards a Catholic Church where Catholic truly means universal, where all can find a loving home, is something we can't take for granted. I only pray that his successor will carry on his legacy rather than undo all his works.”
A Campus Ministry music intern, Corrie Smith, ’25, is also reflecting on Pope Francis’ life with gratitude.
“I am struck by his commitment to love as a verb. In this jubilee year, though I mourn the loss of our first Jesuit pope, I am looking to find hope in all the hearts of Catholics who will carry forward this commitment to lead with love and to show love in action. His legacy is saintly: to listen, to learn, and to be an unwavering example of leading with love.”
Our Common Home
The pope’s focus on environmental sustainability helped elevate efforts around the world and at Loyola, as his encyclical, Laudato Si’, inspired the University to expand its work in integral ecology and care for our common home.
“Laudato Si' asked us to see how everything is connected: how climate change is more than an environmental challenge, but an ethical one that asks us to reflect on our relationship to the earth and the world's poor, on our economic relations and the ways in which we sometimes uncritically accept technology without reflecting on how it shapes social relations,” said Claire Mathews McGinnis, Ph.D., professor of theology.
Even in his final weeks of life, Pope Francis continued to challenge people to embrace the Jesuit ideal of the magis and do and be more.
“As he struggled to recover from the pneumonia which nearly killed him in March and which left him confined to bed rest, Pope Francis wrote to the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life that ‘endorsing utilitarian deregulation and global neoliberalism means imposing the law of the strongest as the only rule; and it is a law that dehumanizes,’” said Daniel Castillo, Ph.D., associate professor of theology. “Even as his own mortal life waned, Francis's concern for the exploited, marginalized, and oppressed was clear. Reflecting the love of God, the pope prophetically and concretely denounced the forces in our world that dehumanize and degrade human life and the life of the world. This was characteristic of his entire papacy. In his political-mysticism, Pope Francis bore witness to God's mercy.”
Power of Prayer
During the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands around the globe paused to watch the pope’s prayer for the world in the darkness of St. Peter’s Square, recalled the Rev. Steve Spahn, S.J., affiliate faculty member of theology and assistant to the director of mission integration.
“Who doesn’t remember the image and resonant message of the Pontiff in an empty Saint Peter‘s Square, summoning the world to patience, solidarity and hope amidst the global Covid pandemic? Or who hasn’t grappled with his prophetic summons to see anew our responsibility for the Earth as part of our Biblical mandate to care for God’s creation? And who hasn’t felt the pull of his consistent challenge to be missionary disciples in a world in need?” he said.
“As a Jesuit, Francis was—and felt very much like—my brother. The influence of Ignatian spirituality and the dynamism of the Spiritual Exercises were so powerfully reflected in his Christocentric prayer and teaching. I recall so fondly how during his foreign travels he would carve out time in his busy schedule to meet with local Jesuits, encouraging them in their vocation and entertaining their questions—always assuring them of his prayers and beseeching theirs for him.”
Fr. Spahn reflected on Pope Francis’ first appearance on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica when he was elected in 2013, as well as his time there on Easter Sunday.
“I think of that electric moment after his elevation when from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica, he smiled and wished a rapturous crowd a good evening before inviting them to pray for his predecessor. From that same balcony just yesterday, enfeebled by age and infirmity, still raising his hands in blessing. Much like his saintly predecessor John Paul II, his final gift to us was the witness of his surrender. This invitation to accompany him on the road to death was a final embodiment of his life of self-sacrificial love.”
Radical Love
Loyola doctoral student and liturgy graduate assistant Justin Doo, ’21, M.S. ’25, credits Pope Francis with a strong influence on his faith life.
“His life and ministry are so clearly drawn from that of Christ's teachings and life described in the Gospels. His focus, and his push for the Church to focus on the poor, the marginalized, and those who are too often pushed to the sides by society are what have inspired my own faith that does justice. I hope his legacy will continue to live on through a welcoming, inclusive Church he strived to build.”
Mary Jo Baetzold, ’27, a faith formation intern in Campus Ministry, said Pope Francis helped guide her back to the Catholic Church and strengthened her faith in God.
“To me, he will always be an example of what it means to hear the cries of the poor and the cries of the earth—to reach out courageously as Jesus did to those who suffer injustice. I pray that our world may radically love like he did in these precarious times. Pope Francis, pray for us.”
The 12:10 p.m. Mass in Loyola’s Alumni Memorial Chapel on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, will be celebrated for Pope Francis, and he will be remembered in the Prayer of the Faithful at the 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Masses on Sunday, April 27.