The Hope of the Easter Octave and Praying for Pope Francis

On Monday, we lost our Holy Father, Pope Francis, after a months long fight with bilateral pneumonia. Whatever your feelings about him were, and some of the things he said were concerning, the fact that he passed away during the Easter Octave reminds us of the hope that we have in eternal life because of Christ rising from the dead. No matter what sort of life someone led while they were living, there is always hope of conversion before death and of that person going on to live with Christ forever. And during his pontificate, Pope Francis heeded our Lord’s call to love the poor and those less fortunate, kissing those with diseases and blessing them and calling on the faithful to always strive to see Christ in the poor and the sick. May God bless our Holy Father and let us continue to always pray for the repose of his soul. Below is a prayer from the Roman Missal for a deceased pope that we can pray for him:

O God, Who in Thine ineffable providence didst will that Thy servant Pope Francis should be numbered among the high priests, grant we beseech Thee, that he who on earth held the place of Thine only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.