Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Tuesday, April 15, 2025:

Day 3 of Holy Week Reflections

Pope Francis, who at age 88 is one of the oldest reigning popes of modern times, is the current Bishop of Rome. His papacy began on March 13, 2013, and I remember the day very clearly. I was in my classroom at my first school, Holy Redeemer Catholic School in Kensington, Maryland, and my classroom was filled with students. I had a news station showing on the projector screen in my room so we could continue class until news of a new pope was announced. When the white smoke appeared from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, the entire classroom erupted in joy. Even though I have been alive for the election of the previous five popes, I felt a bit overcome by the whole scene, a new pope combined with a classroom full of middle school students who were fully engaged in their Catholic faith. I have since been blessed and fortunate enough to have seen three popes in person.

To some Catholics, Pope Francis has been a breath of fresh air, bringing the Church closer to what Jesus called “the greatest commandment,” to love God with all your heart and to love others as you love yourself. To other Catholics, he has been seen as far too progressive. Critics see Pope Francis as being too liberal, straying too far from Church doctrine in the name of inclusivity. In the last three months, however, the world stood on tenterhooks, as the Vatican gave nearly daily updates on Pope Francis’s extended hospitalization and continuing health struggles.

In contrast to the late Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 as Vicar of the Church at the age of 84 due to poor health, Pope John Paul II held on to the very end, dying in 2005 at the age of 84, his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease only made public in 2003. His later years were a lesson in suffering, in living with suffering, in leading with grace despite the suffering. 

In his homily just today at the funeral Mass of a longtime parishioner, our parochial vicar Fr. Juan Pablo Noboa said that we should not fear suffering, that suffering brings attention to the sweetness of life, it gives meaning to life. My family was witness to Pope John Paul II’s suffering as we arrived in Rome, Italy, just as he was celebrating Easter Sunday Mass in Vatican Square.

When we awoke at 3:30 AM on Sunday, April 11, 2004, to board a flight to Rome, Italy, from the Charleroi Airport near Brussels, Belgium, our only thoughts were how exhausted we were. We had had a very busy Holy Week in Waterloo, where we were living, having attended services all three days of the Triduum, our daughters served at the altar, I was a lector, and my husband sang with the small choir. 

As Americans living in Belgium for two years, we did quite a bit of traveling around Europe, taking advantage of the short driving distances and cheap flights to neighboring countries.  The trip to Italy almost didn’t happen though, as we only had four months before returning home to Maryland, we had really (over) spent our travel budget already, and we were quite busy preparing for the move back home.  But, in the end, we decided it would be a shame to return home without having visited Italy, as my husband is of Italian descent, and we both come from long lines of practicing Roman Catholics.  So, a trip to Rome, Florence, and Venice was planned, and mostly due to the price of the air fares, we “chose” to depart from Brussels at 7:30 AM.  

We arrived in Rome at 9:30 AM and proceeded to our hotel, a short walk from the Vatican.  Naturally, our room was not ready at that early hour, so we left our bags with the concierge, had breakfast in the hotel dining room, and went out for a walk.  We walked to St. Peter’s Square, and found that the Holy Father was celebrating Mass, which had started at 10:30 AM.  Although we had attended the Easter Vigil Mass in our parish the night, and while we were exhausted from our crack of dawn flight, we stood in St. Peter’s Square with the others and participated in the Mass.  Although we could see Pope John Paul II far off in the distance, we were able to see him quite well on the large screens set up all around the Square.  

Along with the rest of the world, a year later we later watched Pope John Paul II’s health decline steadily over the first few months of 2005, and with his hospitalizations, wondered if he would regain his strength in time for Holy Week, to celebrate Easter Sunday Mass that year once again. It was not to be, however, and it was with great sadness that we realized we had been present when he celebrated his last Easter Sunday Mass in 2004.  And, then, in retrospect, the rising at 3:30 AM one year previously did not seem to have been such a sacrifice after all, but indeed a true blessing.

No one was surprised at Pope John Paul II’s devotion to his ministry, traveling the world even in the latter stages of Parkinson’s disease, yet the entire world was shocked when Pope Benedict stepped down in 2013, and then lived for nine more years. I for one have not been surprised by Pope Francis’s vow to remain as pope to the very end. He seems to be following Pope John Paul II’s example in giving us a lesson in bearing one’s cross with dignity and perseverance. 

They say that the Papacy is like a pendulum, it swings back and forth, with each new pope taking the Church either in a new direction or back to what it had once been. As we watch Pope Francis become less and less mobile, as we watch his health problems become more challenging with each passing year, we can only help but wonder who will take his place when he is eventually called to his reward. Will the Church be more conservative, taking a more traditional approach to Church teachings? Or, will it continue with Pope Francis’s pastoral approach, applying the Church teachings with greater compassion, emphasizing mercy and reconciliation as the Church moves farther into the 21st century, reaching out to those who have been marginalized, like the many who Jesus regularly called to his table.

St. Pope John Paul II, pray for us.

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Michelle Blanchard Ardillo is a freelance writer and retired Catholic school teacher. She is a longtime parishioner of the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, MD. She has written for the Catholic Standard, Missio (of Canada), the Legionaries of Christ newsletter, and the Our Parish Times. Her essays and religious reflections have been featured on her parish’s website and on her own website at www.michelleardillo.com.