Bishop Alan McGuckian hails Pope Francis's 'ministry of hope'

The former Bishop of Raphoe, Alan McGuckian SJ, says that the late Pope Francis exercised “a ministry of hope”.

The 88-year-old pontiff died on Easter Monday, aged 88, following a recent illness.

He was the first Jesuit Pope and in 2017 Bishop McGuckian became the first member of the Jesuits to be made a bishop in Ireland, appointed as Bishop of Raphoe by Pope Francis.

Bishop McGuckian, now the Bishop of Down and Connor, paid tribute to the deceased Pope Francis.

“In recent years, as a delegate on the Church’s Synodal Pathway, I had the privilege of meeting Pope Francis who called everyone to the Gospel-inspired vision of a Church where, guided by the Holy Spirit, we journey together in faith,” Bishop McGuckian said.

“Each Easter we celebrate and are reminded that, in Baptism, we share in the Death and Resurrection of Christ.  In his Urbi et Orbi address yesterday, Pope Francis spoke these prophetic words:

“’The Resurrection of Jesus is indeed the basis of our hope.  For in the light of this event, hope is no longer an illusion…All those who put their hope in God place their feeble hands in his strong and mighty hand; they let themselves be raised up and set out on a journey.  Together with the risen Jesus, they become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love and of the disarmed power of Life’.

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“Pope Francis exercised this ministry of hope, a hope that was firmly grounded in the assured presence of the risen Christ.”