As the Vatican and Catholics around the world prepare for Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, Father Chris Alar, provincial superior of the Marian Friars of the Immaculate Conception, told Newsmax that there’s a “dichotomy of feelings” surrounding both the late pontiff and the timing of his death.
Francis died on Easter Monday at 88 of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, according to the Vatican. Beginning Wednesday, a steady stream of mourners has passed through St. Peter’s Basilica day and night to pay their respects to the Pope as he lies in state before being laid to rest on Saturday.
“It’s kind of his last statement because [his death occurred during] the eight-day Octave of Easter,” Alar said Friday on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “It’s a time of joy. We are not to be mourning during these eight days. All of them are celebrated as one feast of Easter, from Easter Sunday to Divine Mercy Sunday. So, here we come now, four to six days after the death of a Pope is the burial, then nine days of mourning, and then 15 to 20 days after that is the conclave in the Sistine Chapel.
“It’s a swing of emotions going from the highest joy and celebration of the entire year to the somberness of the death of a Holy Father,” he said. “It’s kind of indicative of the whole entire world’s sentiment right now on so many issues, up and down, and a dichotomy of feelings.”
The humble way Francis lived has also inspired a duality of feelings about his legacy, Alar said, especially when contrasted with the “confusion” that some of his teachings created.
“First of all, as was just said in the prior segment, the simplicity of Pope Francis, I think was undeniable,” Alar said. “He was against materialism, consumerism, and whatnot, but, at the same time, there was a lot of confusion. We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the fact that there was a lot of ambiguity and confusion about some of the teachings that he gave, or some of the statements. They were not official, ex-cathedra, infallible stated teaching, but just statements could cause some confusion and ambiguity.”
Francis’ request to be buried at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, instead of in the Vatican, means that there will be a funeral procession to his burial site through the streets of Rome. Alar said it is a departure from tradition because “mostly the Popes have been buried right at St. Peter’s in Rome.”
“Now, it’s interesting because so many people that went to Rome were saddened by the cancellation, at least temporarily, of the canonization of Carlo Acutis, but they don’t need to be sad,” Alar said. “They will be partaking in something that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that’s to be in Rome at the time of the burial of a Pope.”
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