Cardinals Re, Parolin pay tribute to Pope Francis
April 24, 2025
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, led the recitation of the Rosary in St. Peter’s Square on the evening of April 22 for the repose of Pope Francis’s soul (video). Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported that hundreds of the faithful were in attendance.
“Hearing the words echo in our hearts, ‘Do not forget to pray for me,’ which we heard so many times from Pope Francis, we want to pray for him this evening,” said Cardinal Re, 91. “We know that death is not a door that closes but the entrance to the heavenly Jerusalem, where mourning is turned into joy, and sackcloth into garments of joy, in the immensity of God’s love.”
At the conclusion of the Rosary, Cardinal Re thanked God “for the gifts He has bestowed on the Church through the apostolic ministry of Pope Francis.” He described the late Pontiff as a witness to the Lord’s “tenderness for the little ones and the poor, mercy for sinners, and kindness toward all.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, whose appointment as Secretary of State of His Holiness ceased with the Pope’s passing, led the recitation of the Rosary that same evening outside the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (brief video, Vatican newspaper coverage).
“Looking to heaven to savor eternal life, especially in this evening’s prayer,” said Cardinal Parolin, “we entrust our beloved Holy Father to Mary Most Holy, Salus Populi Romani. May Mary, advocate before the Father, intercede for us.”
At the conclusion of the Rosary, Cardinal Parolin, 70, recalled that the Pope offered his suffering “for peace in the world and the fraternity among peoples.”
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