Holy Father's authenticity, joy radiated the love of God, archbishop says: 'A wonderful, spirit-inspired, loving shepherd and leader'
DETROIT — From the moment he appeared above St. Peter’s Square on March 13, 2013, with a simple wave and a humble request for prayers, Pope Francis captivated the hearts of millions.
On April 21, 2025, the day after the celebration of the Church’s great feast of Easter, the Holy Father went home to his eternal reward, leaving behind a Church and world in mourning — but one profoundly grateful for the impact of his leadership and love, Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger said.
“So many people in the world today, especially on the international stage, measure every word. He didn’t measure anything,” Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger said during an April 21 news conference at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, hours after the world learned the news of the pope’s passing.
“He spoke from the heart,” Archbishop Weisenburger continued. “He spoke what was on his mind. And in that way, I think he reflected something of the great prophets of Scripture who would allow the Holy Spirit to well up within them, speak the words, and let it fall on whatever ears would listen.”
Archbishop Weisenburger said “authentic” was an apt way to describe Pope Francis’ pontificate and discipleship — an approach that both invited and challenged people to heed closely the words of the greatest teacher, Jesus.
“There’s an old saying that says the Gospel is a knife that cuts both ways: It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable,” Archbishop Weisenburger told Detroit-area news reporters, television cameras and radio hosts gathered in the cathedral’s offices. “I tend to think a good pope is always going to comfort some who are afflicted and afflict some who are a little too comfortable.”
While Pope Francis’ off-the-cuff style of speaking — simultaneously accessible and at times challenging — could rub some of his hearers the wrong way, few could deny the heart of the man speaking, Archbishop Weisenburger said.
“Oftentimes, if I ran into people who were not entirely happy with Pope Francis, they nevertheless knew that he’s their pope, and they prayed for him. I think even the Holy Father himself would say the arms of the Church are broad and wide, and there’s a place for almost everybody,” the archbishop said.
The news conference preceded a Mass of Suffrage celebrated that evening at Detroit’s cathedral, during which priests, bishops and members of the faithful gathered to pray for the repose of the 88-year-old pontiff, who in recent months and years faced increasing health challenges, including surgeries, mobility issues and, most recently, a severe lung infection that left him hospitalized for weeks.
The pope had been released from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on March 23 and had returned to the Vatican, where he made a handful of brief appearances during his convalescence, including a surprise appearance on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, the day before his death, to give his blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).
The Vatican said the pope suffered a heart attack and a stroke early Monday and had slipped into a coma shortly before his passing at 7:35 a.m. Rome time.
In his final public appearance — which included a brief visit to greet pilgrims gathered on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square — the pope asked his master of liturgical ceremonies to read his message, in which he insisted that “Easter is the celebration of life!”
Pope Francis' joyful demeanor and relentlessly upbeat spirit came to define the world's image of the successor to St. Peter, Archbishop Weisenburger said.
“I don’t think anyone who can’t experience joy will ever really understand Christianity,” Archbishop Weisenburger said in his press conference. “You have to understand joy, and once you embrace that you really are loved by God, that you reflect God’s presence, that you are redeemed and that you are in God’s hands, it results in joy.”
Pope Francis, whose 2013 apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), reflected the heart of this joy, lived his life knowing how much God’s love permeated every element of creation, the archbishop said.
“That was Pope Francis — a man of intense kindness, warmth and authenticity, but a man who also had a backbone and a spine,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “And when you find those two qualities in anyone, you’ve got a saint. That’s kind of how I think of him. He was that man who could pick up a homeless child, the person still suffering from disfiguring diseases, and give them a big smack of a kiss right on the cheek, but he could give a smack in another way, too.”
Archbishop Weisenburger said he only met Pope Francis once in person, during an ad limina visit to Rome in February 2020 with the bishops of Arizona and New Mexico, when he was bishop of Tucson, Arizona.
The archbishop said he was looking forward to meeting the pope a second time, which would have happened on June 29, the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul, when new archbishops travel to Rome to receive their palliums, a woolen band signifying their role as shepherds of metropolitan archdioceses.
“Presumably, I will receive that (pallium) from another pope, and I will be happy with whatever pope gives that to me, but I think we all feel we lost someone who was, in a way, unique and special for us,” Archbishop Weisenburger said.
In the coming days, the Church will enter a solemn period of mourning, followed by a process that will culminate in a conclave, during which cardinals from around the world will gather to pray, discern and elect a new leader for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
While the Church grieves Pope Francis’ passing, it also rejoices knowing the Holy Father is going to his eternal reward — a place prepared by Jesus for all the saints of God, Archbishop Weisenburger said.
Over his 12-year papacy, Pope Francis canonized more saints than any pope in history, including men and women, young and old, clergy and laity, helping the world understand and appreciate that the call to holiness is for everyone, Archbishop Weisenburger added.
He was set to canonize Blessed Carlo Acutis, a teenager from Milan, Italy, later this month, who will become the first millennial saint in the Church’s history. That canonization — which will be delayed — is just one example of Pope Francis’ understanding of the need for more role models in the Church, the archbishop said.
“One of the great saints once said, ‘Let it be clear, Lord, I am not the stuff that saints are made of.’ Of course, that was said by a saint,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “I think down deep, in everyone’s life, we’ve all said something very similar. And yet, what I think Pope Francis really wanted us to see is that each one of us is the stuff that saints are made of.”
In providing so many great examples and witnesses of holiness, Pope Francis “really allowed the Gospel to come to life within them,” the archbishop said.
Turning to the reporters and cameras in the room — and by extension, the faithful and citizens of southeast Michigan — Archbishop Weisenburger summed up the goal of Pope Francis’ pontificate, and indeed, all of the Christian life:
“I think he was helping each of us focus the light back on ourselves,” he said. “So all of you really are the stuff that saints are made of.”
As the Church faces the days ahead, Archbishop Weisenburger encouraged everyone in southeast Michigan to pray for Pope Francis, as well as for the cardinals who will elect his successor, whoever that will be.
“Pope Francis was a really wonderful, spirit-inspired, loving shepherd and leader, and I look forward to whoever the Holy Spirit brings us next,” the archbishop said.
