PROVIDENCE — The Most Reverend Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., Bishop-Designate of Providence, spoke glowingly of Pope Francis on the day of his appointment, April 8, which when paired with the simultaneous naming of Bishop W. Shawn McKnight as archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas, represents Pope Francis’ last American appointment.
At the press conference introducing him to his new flock, Bishop Lewandowski, recalled greeting the Holy Father during a papal meeting with new bishops.
He had long admired Pope Francis’ commitment to the poor and marginalized and spontaneously asked the Holy Father if he could give him a hug. He was thrilled when the pontiff who called upon shepherds to “smell like their sheep” happily obliged him.
“With his warm smile and familiar pastoral style, Pope Francis made us all feel part of a world-wide parish,” Bishop Lewandowski said in a statement from Baltimore Monday on the Holy Father’s passing.
“As a caring pastor, he sought to be close to his flock, praying with us and for us, sharing the love of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, with us even to the end. May our Risen Lord give him the ‘Crown of Life’ in heaven. May he be with the Living God. May he be with the Eternal God. May he be at peace with God forever.”
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, whose appointment as bishop of Providence in 2005 was Saint John Paul II’s final American episcopal appointment, said that “Pope Francis will long be remembered and revered as a messenger of mercy — God’s infinite mercy for each and every one of us, and the mercy, compassion and understanding we should always strive to extend to others,” Bishop Tobin said. “‘The name of God is mercy,’ he wrote.”
“As a shepherd of souls, Pope Francis constantly challenged the Church and the world to be better, to do better. And as a courageous prophet, and to borrow a popular phrase, he frequently ‘comforted the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable.’”
“Especially in these recent days, Pope Francis has personally experienced the reality of the suffering and death of Christ. We pray that he will now share in the glorious Resurrection that we profess during this Easter Season. May the merciful God open wide the Gates of Heaven and grant to our Holy Father the blessed reward of his long and generous service.”
Father Robert E. Lacombe called attention to the curious fact about two bishops of Providence being named among a Holy Father’s final American episcopal appointments in his homily on Easter Monday, the day of Pope Francis’ passing.
“I don’t consider that coincidence,” he said. “I call it providential.”
