Elgin-area Catholics are remembering with fondness the life and legacy of Pope Francis, who died Monday of a cerebral stroke at the age of 88.

“He was the people’s pope,” said Rafael Villagomez, a deacon at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elgin. “He stood up for immigrants, the poor and the environment.”

Villagomez, a Mexican immigrant and Elgin real estate agent, said that for Hispanics and for Latin America, Pope Francis was a big deal. He not only was someone who came from a similar background and spoke their language but represented hope, he said.

Born in Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the Catholic Church’s 266th pope and the first from Latin America.

Villagomez said he and his family attended a group mass said by the pope in St. Peter’s Square in spring 2018 and were able to see him as he drove in his specially designed vehicle.“You could feel the energy, the spiritual energy in the crowd,” he said.

Margarita Mendoza, of Elgin, also had a chance to see the pope in action. As the editor of El Observador, a Catholic Diocese of Rockford publication for its Spanish-speaking parishioners, she covered Francis’ September 2017 trip to Colombia.

“The police there had been in several violent confrontations against guerrillas, drug dealers and terrorists. However, they cried when they saw Pope Francis,” Mendoza said.

During the trip, she saw the pope as he interacted with business owners, from mom-and-pop operations to large stores. During one stop, he planted a tree in Villavicencio, symbolic of the peace he hoped would continue in the area, she said.

It was interesting to see the fervor of the Catholic faith found in the Columbian people, Mendoza said. While attendance at churches in the U.S. was dwindling, in Colombia they were opening more parishes because of response Francis inspired, she said.

“It means a lot for people who speak Spanish to hear from a pope who speaks their language,” Mendoza said.

Bergoglio was the first pope to choose the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment who took a vow of poverty and was concerned about the downtrodden.

That was clearly something the pope embraced, said Monsignor Arquimedes Vallejo, pastor of St. Joseph church and St. Edward Catholic Preparatory Academy in Elgin.

“Pope Francis spent his life looking out for the poor and those who are suffering,” he said. “The Hispanic community, they felt close to him.”

Pope Francis was also someone who went to those in need and invited them to come to the church, Vallejo said. He looked at people as individuals who could take the message of Jesus to heart, he said.

The pope’s death also saddened Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein, who leads Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin.

“He was a mensch, a good person, who championed the cause of the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the most marginalized,” she said. “He cared for the environment. He was passionate about making peace. He also decried antisemitism in all its forms. He was a humble man, full of grace, compassion and mercy. He was a role model for us all.”

Barbara Ferguson, a Sleepy Hollow resident involved at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in West Dundee for more than 40 years, said she admired Pope Francis’ simplicity.

“He was a more human type of pope,” Ferguson said.

While Francis may have been a little bit more progressive than she, and some other Catholics, were ready for, she couldn’t fault him for trying to push things forward, she said.

“He seemed to be one step ahead of where the church is ready to go, and that’s not a bad thing,” Ferguson said.

Mendoza, though, said Francis’s stance on the LGBTQ+ community has been misinterpreted by some.

“He did not approve gay marriage. Still, he welcomed gay people to the church and blessed them because we are all human and we are all creatures of God,” Mendoza said.

What was not lost on those interviewed was that Pope Francis was working until his death. He said his last mass on Easter Sunday for those who gathered in St. Peter’s Square and delivered another plea for peace across the Earth.

“How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children. How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants,” he said.

“On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas. For all of us are children of God.”

That’s a message that many hope the College of Cardinals takes into account when choosing Francis’ successor, Villagomez said.

“I hope that they choose someone who can be a beacon of peace. That’s what’s needed, especially in the Middle East,” he said.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.