Jim and Jeanne Mulligan headed to the Cathedral of St. Paul on Monday morning after they heard the news that Pope Francis had died.

The couple, who are from Grand Forks, N.D., and were in St. Paul visiting a daughter, said they wanted to share in the celebration of his life and remember what he did for the church.

“I liked his kindness,” Jim Mulligan said. “I will remember him going to the prisons and washing the feet of the prisoners on Holy Thursday — and just his overall kindness and love for everyone.”

Jeanne Mulligan said she especially appreciated Pope Francis’ “love for the poor and the downtrodden. That was special about him, I thought. He was very loving.”

The couple were among the estimated 1,500 people who gathered at the Cathedral to remember Pope Francis during the noon Mass, which was celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. He was the first pontiff from Latin America and presided over the Catholic Church for more than 12 years.

A photo of Pope Francis was displayed on an easel draped in black just to the right of the altar at the front of the Cathedral, and Hebda spoke fondly of meeting Pope Francis on numerous occasions.

“I’ll always be personally grateful to Pope Francis, because he was the Pope who assigned me here to the Archdiocese,” Hebda told those gathered at the Cathedral. “He always was interested in hearing about how things were going in the Archdiocese.”

Pope Francis was particularly attentive after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Hebda said.

“He always was so concerned with those who were experiencing suffering,” he said. “You might remember, brothers and sisters, that when our beloved Twin Cities were facing all of the difficulties after the death of George Floyd, that Pope Francis mentioned that he was united with us in prayer. In particular, he mentioned the Church of St. Paul and Minneapolis to all of the world, saying he was united with us in prayer because he knew of the suffering that was there.

“Today, brothers and sisters, with the hope that comes from the Easter Proclamation, we’re able to give thanks to God for a life well lived,” he continued. “We’re able to have hope that Pope Francis will be able to share all of eternity one day with the Lord in heaven, where the Lord will bless him with those beautiful words: ‘Well done, my good and faithful steward.’”

Personal reflections

In 2020, Pope Francis met with a group of seminarians from St. Paul during an “ad limina” visit to the Vatican, Hebda said, referring to the periodic visits that bishops make to report on the status of their dioceses, pray at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul and meet with the pope and the heads of Vatican offices.

“We asked if we might be able to bring a seminarian with us. It’s normally just the bishops who go,” Hebda said. “And the Holy Father’s office says, ‘Well, sure, one or two. What difference would it make?’ — not knowing that we had so many seminarians from St. Paul Seminary there, plus we had a whole class from St. John Vianney Seminary as well.”When the group of around 40 men arrived to meet Pope Francis, “the Holy Father said, ‘Well, there’s no shortage of vocations in Minnesota,’” Hebda said. “Even though some of the seminarians were from other states, we didn’t correct the Holy Father. You never correct the Holy Father.”

Hebda said he will never forget the day in 2013 that Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope after the papal conclave met following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis was the first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church. He chose the name “Francis” in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.

Hebda was then Bishop of Gaylord in northern Michigan, and he had a special app on his phone called “Pope Alert.”

“I got a text that said there was white smoke,” he said, referring to the smoke coming from the chimney at the Sistine Chapel, signaling that the Roman Catholic Church had a new leader. “And so, like faithful from around the world, I had my eyes peeled to the television, watching who would walk out to be announced as the Pope. And there came Pope Francis. You might remember, we were all so stunned by it. He was already relatively aged, and he took this interesting name of Francis — the first Francis ever as pope.”

The most meaningful part of that ceremony, Hebda said, was when Pope Francis “bowed his head and asked for those of goodwill around the world to pray for him. Normally, on such an occasion, it’s the Pope who prays for us, and he did that as well, but he also asked for our prayers.

“Over the course of the years, when I’ve had the opportunity to encounter Pope Francis, I’ve always noticed that he always asks people to pray for him,” he said. “You know, he didn’t always feel so comfortable (talking) in English, but he was able to say those words in English, ‘Pray for me.’ And sometimes he would add, ‘Not against me.’ Today, we have the opportunity to pray for our Holy Father.”

Hebda just happened to be in Rome right after Pope Francis was elected and got to hear the first Sunday message, he said. “His very first message was a message of mercy. He said, ‘We have a God who never tires of granting mercy. We might tire of asking for it, but we have a God who never tires of granting mercy.’ In so many ways, that’s been the leitmotif throughout the pontificate of Pope Francis, inviting us to come and experience the mercy of our loving God.”

What’s next

Pope Francis helped bring Nikita Schamzenbach, of St. Paul, into the Catholic church; Monday marked the eighth anniversary of her conversion, she said.

“I’ve always been just humbled and in awe that he reached out to people that I think other, maybe traditional Catholics would not have,” she said sitting outside the Cathedral after the Mass. “He was definitely to me, he was the pope of the queer Catholic. He was the pope of the Catholic who’s had an abortion. He was the person who truly lived some of the hardest parts, you know reaching out to those that have hurt us. Lessons for me to learn. Also, he just had a great sense of humor.”

Schamzenbach expressed concern about who might next be elected pope, saying she was “terrified about what could happen next.”

“When you look at the pendulum that the whole world is swinging in, we know historically that when things don’t feel like we have enough, when we don’t feel secure, we often move out of anger. We move out of fear,” she said. “Seeing how the political atmosphere is in the whole world, not just our country, I am terrified for what is next.”

Hebda said in a news conference after the Mass that he hopes the new Pope has the “same passion” that Pope Francis had.

“One of the things we as Catholics believe is that it is the Holy Spirit who chooses a new pope, through the work of the College of Cardinals,” he said. “One of the things I know about our Holy Spirit is He’s a God of surprises, so we never know exactly who’s going to come forward or what gifts they’re going to have. But I’m already excited to see what they might be, even as we spend these days of mourning. Certainly, we begin to dream about what God might have in store for us in the future.”

Pope Francis will be remembered for helping the Catholic church come together and renew its focus, Hebda said.

“He really asked people to come together, to set aside differences, to focus on what unites us … and that’s always the love and mercy of God,” he said.

First of nine Masses

Monday’s Mass was the first of the traditional nine Masses offered for the repose of his soul, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“How providential that our loving God would call Pope Francis home just as we begin our 50 days of celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death,” Hebda said in the statement before Monday’s Mass. “I trust that he felt the comforting prayers of the world as he joined the crowd in St. Peter’s Square yesterday for the Church’s celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The Holy Father’s powerful Easter greeting, expressing his closeness to those experiencing the scourge of war and abandonment will be long remembered as his testament.”

In 2016, Pope Frances gave Hebda the pallium — a band of white wool decorated with three black symbolic “nails” — that he wears “to symbolize our province’s connection and communion with the Successor of Peter,” he wrote in a reflection and call to prayer when it was announced in February that Pope Francis’ was in critical condition.

“The wool of the pallium always serves to remind the Pope and his brother archbishops that they are supposed to be like the good shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep, while the nails remind them of the sacrifice that Jesus, the true Good Shepherd, offered for us on the cross, calling us to embrace sacrifice as well, always while drawing our strength from the cross,” Hebda wrote.

Francis, he wrote, was “experiencing the cross in a new way.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called Pope Francis a “a voice for the voiceless.”

“The one time I saw him pray for and address the gathered at St. Peter’s Square, when he finished, he did what he always did — he greeted and blessed those with disabilities first,” she wrote in a statement posted on social media.