Online Book of Condolence is open
Following the announcement by the Holy See that Pope Francis has ‘returned to the House of the Lord’, Bishop Fintan Gavin invites the people of the Diocese of Cork and Ross to unite in prayer to God at this time.
“I invite the parishioners, priests, deacons and religious of our diocese to join as one with the faithful across the globe as we commend Pope Francis to the Lord.
We give thanks to Almighty God for the gift of Pope Francis as shepherd of the people of God and we thank God for his selfless service and dedication to the end of his earthly life.
We remember Pope Francis as one who challenged us to reach out to those on the margins and to bring God’s mercy to all those we encounter.
We pray together that Pope Francis’ call to all of us to make this Jubilee Year a Year of Hope may be fulfilled.
In what was to be his last pastoral message to the faithful on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis said:
‘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.’
We pray together now that Pope Francis prayer will be answered and that his soul may be in eternal peace with God.“
An online Book of Condolences has been opened by the Irish Bishops' Conference and people are invited to submit their messages of sympathy here.
And from his heart His Love he shed,
'Though we lose sight of him,
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