Bishop Ricken talks to the media about the late pontiff’s legacy
By William Van de Planque | For On Mission
ALLOUEZ — The Diocese of Green Bay celebrated a memorial Mass for the late Holy Father, Pope Francis, at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion on Saturday, April 26.
The funeral Mass for the pope was held earlier in the day in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. It was attended by over 250,000 faithful and was viewed by a worldwide audience on television.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, a day after he had greeted the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday. He was 88 years old.
The Shrine was chosen for the memorial Mass “because of Pope Francis’ strong devotion to our Blessed Mother,” the diocese said in a Facebook post.
Bishop David Ricken had planned to celebrate the memorial Mass, but was unable to attend. Celebrant Fr. Mark Vander Steeg, vicar for clergy in the Diocese of Green Bay, opened his homily by reading a letter from Bishop Ricken in his absence.
“May God bless our dear Pope Francis as we return this gift of a great ‘servant of the servants of God’ to the One who loves him most,” read the letter. “And may the Holy Spirit continue to guide and direct our Church and watch over those charged with selecting an eventual successor to St. Peter and for the successor himself, whoever he may be.”
Bishop Ricken spoke with local reporters on Easter Monday about the death of Pope Francis during a press conference at the diocesan offices. He recalled the time he visited the Vatican in 2019 with bishops from this region of the United States.
Each of the bishops had the opportunity to ask Pope Francis a question.
“I asked him a question about new evangelization and discipleship because we have been working on that here for a long time,” said Bishop Ricken. “So, I said, ‘This is really difficult to have that kind of change happen and I think the Holy Spirit needs to be more involved.’”
He said Pope Francis responded to him this way: “‘(The Holy Spirit) won’t give you the whole picture. He’ll just show you the next step. Take the next step, and once you’ve done that, he’ll give you the next step.’”
Fr. Vander Steeg echoed the pope’s sentiment in his homily at the memorial Mass.
“The Holy Spirit sometimes just shows us the next step, and he says, ‘Take it’ – Più avanti in Italian – keep going,” he said. “(Pope Francis’) whole papacy is marked by that ‘next step’ of the Holy Spirit, always moving us forward as a universal church.”
He concluded the memorial Mass by leading those gathered in the Shrine chapel in prayers for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, including the first day of the nine-day novena for the late Holy Father.
At Easter Monday’s press conference, Bishop Ricken explained the tradition of universal prayer in the church after the death of a pope.
“It’s an official thing the church throughout the world does for nine days,” he said. “Oftentimes, we want to move death too quickly and we don’t really mourn somebody’s loss.”
For nine days, the church will not only pray for the repose of the soul for Pope Francis, but also for the church as a whole and that she follows the will of God, Bishop Ricken said.
The nine days of prayer for Pope Francis continues through Monday, May 4.
To fully enter this time of mourning, Bishop Ricken recommended that parishes in the diocese place a picture of the late pontiff in their sanctuaries. Simple prayers for the children to pray for Pope Francis have been sent to diocesan schools, and many parishes in the diocese inserted a memorial section into the weekend bulletins for April 26-27.
When asked at the press conference what he would like people in the diocese to take from the papacy of Pope Francis, Bishop Ricken said, “Not to get discouraged.”
“It’s easy to get discouraged, especially with all the challenges of today,” he said.
But Pope Francis would recommend, Bishop Ricken said, “to keep forward, to keep faithful and to not be afraid.”