Pope Francis, shepherd of mercy: a legacy that illuminates the path of the Church

The news of the passing of our beloved Holy Father Pope Francis leaves us deeply saddened, but our faith in the Resurrection comforts us. “Life does not end with death, and Christian hope is a gift that urges us to move forward,” he wrote in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti. With him, the Church experienced a season of profound renewal, founded on mercy, closeness to the least among us, attention to God's creation and universal brotherhood, on an unceasing dialogue with the contemporary world, and on the promotion of peace.

With regard to migrants, since the beginning of his pontificate, Francis charted a clear course: a Church capable of welcoming, protecting, promoting, and integrating. He did so with words and concrete choices. We cannot forget his first apostolic journey, on July 8, 2013, to Lampedusa, a symbol of the tragedies of the Mediterranean. “Who has cried for these dead?” he asked in a firm voice, condemning the ‘globalization of indifference.’ With that visit, the Pontiff left an indelible mark, bringing the issue of migration to the center of the Church's mission and the collective conscience.

Attention to the most vulnerable was at the heart of his pastoral action. For him, the thousands of people forced to leave their homeland were not numbers, but faces, stories, people. “It is not just about migrants, it is about our humanity,” he often repeated, inviting civil society to overcome fear and build a culture of encounter. For Francis, the Church was not a closed institution, but a living body in motion, ready to go out to meet and become close to others. “I prefer a Church that is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets rather than a Church that is sick from being closed in on itself,” he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium. It was an invitation not to remain static, not to be afraid to walk in the peripheries of existence. Francis wanted a Church that truly knew how to listen to others, not closed in on itself. “The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church in the third millennium,” he said with conviction. From the Synods on the Family to that on the Amazon, he gave a voice back to the People of God, promoting a new, more participatory and inclusive style of Church.

“Mercy is the first attribute of God,” he repeated, and in this spirit he guided the Church, showing the most authentic face of the Gospel. During the pandemic, he was a point of reference for the whole world. On March 27, 2020, in a deserted St. Peter's Square and under pouring rain, he presided over an extraordinary moment of prayer, uttering words that remain engraved in the collective memory: “We find ourselves frightened and disoriented... We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented.” In that period of uncertainty and suffering, the Pope reiterated the importance of solidarity and mutual care.

In his commitment to migrants, he always supported the Scalabrinian mission with affection and gratitude. The audiences with us Scalabrinian missionaries on the occasion of two General Chapters, the sixth edition of the International Forum on Migration and Peace, the canonization of our founder, and the Conference on Spirituality were moments of encouragement and recognition for our service on the frontiers of human mobility. “May the holiness of John Baptist Scalabrini ‘infect’ us with the desire to be saints, each in our own original and unique way, as God made us and wants us to be, with infinite imagination. And may his intercession give us joy and hope to walk together towards the new Jerusalem, which is a symphony of faces and peoples, towards the Kingdom of justice, fraternity, and peace.” Today more than ever, we take up the invitation that Pope Francis made to us during the canonization of our founder in October 2022. His words and his testimony will continue to illuminate our path as we bring the light of Jesus Christ to the frontiers of the whole world.

On this day of his departure to the Father's House, we join with the whole Church and all those who recognize in Pope Francis a beacon that illuminates our journey towards Christ, to respond to his invitation not to forget to pray for him.

The Superior General 

Message from the General Administration