Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Easter Monday

April 21, 2025

The world woke today to the news that the Holy Father passed away this morning in the Vatican. Having just written religious reflections for the seven days of Holy Week, I was going to return to my book reviews and more secular personal essays today, but given the news, “shocking but not surprising” as one newscaster stated this morning, I wanted to offer one final religious reflection to mark the passing of Pope Francis.

As I mentioned in another essay last week, in 2013 I was in my middle school classroom at my first Catholic school, on the day when the white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican indicating we had a new pope. Later, my classroom full of students watched as the new pope appeared on the balcony. We all cheered with joy and anticipation at how the new pope would lead our Church.

Two years later, Pope Francis came to Washington. The Archdiocese of Washington was in full marketing and promotion mode. We had rubber bracelets that said “Walk with Francis.” All the church parishes were sent giant cardboard cutouts of the Pope and he was displayed at all the schools and parish churches. At the beginning of the school year when the Catholic school teachers gather at the Basilica on the campus of Catholic University, we all took our picture with “the pope.”

The schools in the Archdiocese of Washington were encouraged to create art work and other things that might appear on the local news about the pope coming to visit our Archdiocese. My school at the time, Holy Redeemer in Kensington, set to work on this; in today’s vernacular, we knew the assignment. We rewrote the lyrics to “Walking on Sunshine” to “Walking with Francis” and had a video crew film a day at the school where the life size cardboard cutout of Pope Francis followed the students about their daily activities. It culminated with the entire school on the soccer field singing the song! Our music teacher, Kristin Brown, recorded the vocals for it, all shown on the video that is still available on the internet!

On the day of Pope Francis’s outdoor Mass on the campus of Catholic University, my husband and I rose early and took the metro downtown.

We had been the very lucky recipients of two tickets to the Mass from our parish church. Our seats were quite far away from the altar but we were thrilled nonetheless.

While waiting for Mass to begin, we watched David Muir of ABC News standing on chairs not too far from our seats film pieces for the evening news.

Later, after the Mass, in a serendipitous moment thanks to our seats way in the back, we were close enough to the outer perimeter of the Mass seating to see Pope Francis departing in the Popemobile. I was very close and got a great photo of him waving to the crowds.

Today I have a heavy heart. On the news this morning, Cardinal Dolan of New York said that the death of Pope Francis could not have been better choreographed. I understand what he meant, that Pope Francis was able to leave the hospital in time for Holy Week, well enough to greet the crowds and give his Easter message. But, for those of us who prayed for the Holy Father all through Lent, this was very difficult news to receive this morning.

My husband and I went to daily Mass and I said a rosary for the Holy Father. This rosary was given to me by someone who had visited the Vatican just before Pope Francis came to Washington.

Rest in peace, Pope Francis. Thank you for your service to the Church, to those rich and poor. To those across the world living in their home countries, but also to all of those who have fled their home countries in search of freedom, peace, and a better life. Thank you for your outreach to all, to those who have private audiences at the Vatican, but also to those who are marginalized, those on the fringe of society, those who are often forgotten. Thank you for bringing hope to those who no longer felt at home in their Church.

So, now we are sede vacante, the chair of Peter is vacant. We wait now for the Cardinals to gather in Rome, we wait for the white smoke to pour forth from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, we wait for our new Holy Father to walk out on that balcony to greet the faithful. We wait for the new shepherd to lead his lost sheep. We wait with the hope that only the risen Christ can bring.