(RNS) — The morning earlier than boarding a flight for Rome, Catholic radio present host and commentator Katie Prejean McGrady had a gaggle of suitcases lining the hallway of her dwelling in Lake Charles, Louisiana, when she awoke Monday (April 21) to the information of Pope Francis’ loss of life.
“My coronary heart sank,” stated Prejean McGrady, who hosts “The Katie McGrady Present” on Sirius XM’s The Catholic Channel. “There’s the logistics of the work element of it, for me, the protection, however from a private perspective, the previous 12 years I’ve encountered Pope Francis a number of instances up shut and personally. And so I very a lot miss the Pope. I’m very unhappy at his loss.”
Pope Francis, who died on Monday morning on the age of 88, was recognized for his pastoral type of management and his emphasis on mercy. Recovering from an extended hospital keep for double pneumonia, he died of a stroke on the Vatican.
Prejean McGrady is one among tens of 1000’s of people that had deliberate to attend the canonization of Carlo Acutis, the primary millennial saint, whose canonization had been scheduled for April 27. Acutis died of leukemia at 15 in 2006 and has since generated astounding devotion amongst Catholics, particularly different younger believers.
The household of Alexis Love rests on the steps of the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua, Italy, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Picture courtesy Alexis Love)
Hundreds of thousands extra had already made plans to return to Rome throughout this Jubilee yr, celebrated each 25 years, looking for forgiveness and religious nourishment — and maybe a view of the pope.
Prejean McGrady, her mother and father, her husband and her daughters, ages 4 and seven, briefly recast their plans to be in Rome in time for Francis’ funeral. She ordered black attire for her daughters and swapped out garments in her suitcase to be “funeral prepared.”
Then got here phrase that Prejean McGrady, who shall be offering protection for Sirius XM and CNN, shall be going to New York as an alternative. With Acutis’ canonization suspended — “you can’t canonize with no Pope,” stated Prejean McGrady — the household, which has taken Acutis as its patron saint, stated they are going to hope to go when it’s rescheduled.
Alexis Love, a pilgrim from Emmitsburg, Maryland, was stunned by the passing of the pope, who had been seen driving in his popemobile on Easter. Love was in Padua, Italy, visiting the burial website of St. Luke, when town was all of a sudden flooded with the sound of church bells ringing. It was solely when Love checked her telephone that she realized it was due to the pope’s loss of life.
“It was actually extra stunning due to his look yesterday,” stated Love, who got here to Italy along with her husband (a seminary professor at Mount Saint Mary’s College), mother-in-law, three nieces and nephews and eight youngsters for Acutis’ canonization. When she heard the pope had died, Love stated, she instantly gathered along with her household, who knelt and prayed the perpetual mild prayer and a Hail Mary.
The household determined to return for the canonization after encountering Acutis’ tomb final yr whereas visiting Assisi with a few of her youngsters. “We actually skilled a profound closeness with him,” Love stated. “The three youngsters who’ve already skilled that surge of devotion to him are very disenchanted.”
Love initially deliberate to fulfill up with 14 different family and friends, principally from their dwelling faculty group, to attend the canonization. Now, they plan to swap the canonization for the funeral, one thing Love says she may have by no means deliberate for.
Pilgrims, one holding a cross, stroll in St. Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican after Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell introduced the loss of life of Pope Francis, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Picture/Alessandra Tarantino)
“I actually really feel honored, and it looks like an vital job has been laid earlier than me and the folks I’m right here with to intercede for the subsequent pope, and never just for the pope’s soul, which we’ll completely do, but additionally for the upcoming Conclave,” she stated.
Steve Kerekes, founding father of Phoenix, Arizona-based JMJ Youth Pilgrimages, which organizes pilgrimages for younger Catholics, stated a number of JMJ Youth-affiliated teams from throughout the U.S. are leaving at this time for Rome and had anticipated to be there for Acutis’ canonization.
“The one responses (from pilgrims) I’ve gotten to this point, and I haven’t spoken to everybody but, is that this can be a particular time, and God had ordained it as it’s, and it’s actually a pilgrimage,” stated Kerekes. “So no matter is going on, what we’re experiencing is one thing that God had already deliberate for.”
Kerekes famous that the Jubilee of Youngsters, an occasion to have a good time the devotion of younger folks, is anticipated to proceed as deliberate however with no celebratory music competition or the canonization.
Tim Moriarty, director of the forthcoming movie “Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Actuality,” emphasised the significance of adopting an perspective of “give up” within the wake of the pope’s passing.
Individuals pray in entrance of the physique of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and was beatified in 2020, on the Santa Maria Maggiore Church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Picture/Alessandra Tarantino)
“There’s the logistical challenges, there’s emotional and religious processing of dropping the Holy Father. And I believe for me, I believe for our group, too, there’s simply been an actual sense that it’s worthwhile to give up the plans that now we have, and notice that we have to take the time essential to mourn the lack of the Holy Father, to honor his legacy,” stated Moriarty, whose movie was scheduled to premier Monday in Washington, D.C., with the Vatican premiere scheduled for April 24.
Moriarty stated the D.C. premiere will now be a stripped-down personal screening, with out press, and with a “rosary for the repose of the Holy Father’s soul.” He added that they’re “on standby” for a call on the Vatican premiere however that the U.S. theatrical launch, initially deliberate for April 27 to coordinate with Acutis’ canonization, will go forward as deliberate.
“I believe it shifted a bit to celebration of Carlo and what he represents as a part of this legacy of Pope Francis,” Moriarty stated. “We do see it nonetheless as a possibility for people across the nation to collect collectively.”
Katie Prejean McGrady. (Courtesy photograph)
As she processes the pope’s passing, Prejean McGrady says a small a part of her is questioning if the pope knew his passing was imminent and had made latest public appearances as a farewell.
“He popped out on the Jubilee for the sick. He went by means of Saint Peter’s as a result of he particularly wished to go to confession and thru the Holy Door. He went to Saint Mary Majors, which is his favourite church. After which we acquired one closing Easter Sunday and one final Pope Cellular trip round Saint Peter’s,” stated Prejean McGrady.
“I believe these closing few days, from April the sixth to at this time, was the Francis goodbye,” she stated, “and I’m so grateful that we had these moments with him.”
This story has been up to date.
