Remembering Pope Francis, An Interview in Toronto, Cardinal Leo
Christus resurrexit! Pope Francis passed away this octave week—may God grant him eternal rest. We won’t post the next part in our course as planned. Instead, by God’s surprising Providence, the Toronto Star interviewed me, and I got a behind-the-scenes look at Canada’s new cardinal after he celebrated the Mass for Pope Francis at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica in Toronto. There won’t be much about Bitcoin, except for a paragraph at the end relating it to Pope Francis’ mission.
Monday morning
Monday morning, after a lovely Triduum, culminating in the Vigil Mass at our Oratorian parish in west Toronto, I woke up in a celebrating mood, my second “serious” Easter in the Faith. Then my sister shared the news: Pope Francis had passed away. I slept in, so I quickly decided to go downtown to the Cathedral where I expected a 12:10 PM Mass. But I read the website wrong, so my Mom and I arrived at a closed church, with some media and two priests out front. The church bells rang, we prayed the Angelus, and off we went, walking out of the closing gates, when a young assignment reporter named Ilyas and his colleague Michelle approached us asking if we would answer his questions for their reaction piece.
As recent as two years ago, I would have passed for lack of moral courage (unsure how to talk about Christ) and an obsessive focus on privacy. But this Easter, the answer was easy: I paused, accepted, asked the Spirit for help, and Ilyas began the interview after walking us a few steps to my left so Michelle, filming, could get the Canadian flag in the background.
So here’s the video and the quotes from the article that came from it. I knew my audience would be a largely secular Toronto population, so I hoped to speak to them, answering the reporter’s questions genuinely. Most who subscribe to this Substack have helped form this answer in some way: the priest who taught me RCIA, friends with their example, strangers connected through the internet—so thank you. Let’s pray this small message reaches those who need it!
Dozens of Toronto Catholics gathered at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica for a sombre Easter Monday mass, mourning the death of Pope Francis—who they remember as humble, kind and open-minded.
Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, died Monday. He was 88. The Vatican said he died of a cerebral stroke that put him in a coma and led to irreversible heart failure. The Catholics at St. Michael’s grieved his death with acceptance and admiration.
“This is the first death of the pope I’ve experienced as I’ve understood my faith more,” said churchgoer and Oakville resident David Venturi. “And I feel at peace and happy in a strange way—in a good way.”
“I think this is the peace you get from experiencing funerals, the tradition, understanding the faith and what happens after death. So it’s mourning and there’s peace as well.”
…
Venturi, who lost his faith for nearly a decade before returning to Catholicism during the pandemic, said he is grateful to have experienced Francis’s leadership.
He hopes there is space for mourning and reflection before attention turns to the future.
“I’ve seen different sides,” he says of the opinions on Pope Francis’s legacy.
“I hope it’s a legacy of love.”
Mass for Pope Francis, Cardinal Leo’s homily
On Tuesday, Mom and I went back for a Mass for the Repose of the Soul of Pope Francis, which His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo presided over. Pope Francis elevated Cardinal Leo to the rank of cardinal on December 7, 2024.
Frank Cardinal Leo, 53, was born to Italian immigrant parents in Montreal. He was ordained a diocesan priest in 1996. Pope Francis appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal in September 2022, then Archbishop of Toronto in March 2023. He has been a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic since 2007 and founded the Canadian Mariological Society in 2012.
The Mass for Pope Francis began at 12:10 PM. In Cardinal Leo’s homily, he began by framing our mourning for Pope Francis within the context of the Easter octave. He taught the unique mission of a pope, using four papal titles—Holy Father, Supreme Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, and Chief Shepherd—and reflected how Pope Francis demonstrated them. He ended by sharing that Pope Francis often said the style of God is closeness, compassion, and tenderness: “He used three words, which I think also embody his own leadership, his own ministry on earth to us for twelve years as the Supreme Pontiff and the Pope, as our spiritual Father.”
After the Mass, many of the gathered stayed to pray and approach a framed photo of Pope Francis next to the ambo, where Cardinal Leo gave his homily.
Cardinal Leo media availability, focusing on Pope Francis
Mom and I stayed for some prayer and silence, then lit a candle next to a bronze bust of a smiling Pope St. John Paul II and said a prayer through him for Pope Francis. Then we went downstairs to find the washroom before leaving for lunch.
To our surprise, we found media gathered for the cardinal’s media availability in the chapel. We were two of a handful of people behind soundproof glass windows and lightly guarded doors. The Cardinal read a prepared statement and answered questions. He focused his answers on Pope Francis, rather than the upcoming conclave.
Here are his answers to three English questions:
Q: We will have four cardinals in the conclave. So how significance for the church in Canada and what should the faithful do during these important moments and also when will you go to Rome and this will be your first conclave and what will you pray for the future church?
A: Well, first of all we’re here to mourn the death of our Holy Father and that’s the most important thing. When a member of the family leaves this world, we think of him, we pray for him, we lift them up to the Lord, we remember the life lessons. Remember all that he did and we’re grateful for that. So that’s the most important thing at this stage when we honor the memory, respect the Holy Father who’s gone to eternity. We pray for him. Obviously he’s our supreme shepherd, he’s our Holy Father, he’s the visible head of the church on earth. And now we don't have one, so that it falls the onus, the responsibility on the cardinals to elect a new head Shepherd.
And this is a spiritual thing. We do it in prayer. You do it in discernment, opening up to God and having the Lord inspire us for this great ministry, service in the church to be Pope. And so I’ll be leaving tomorrow, actually. I need to pack tonight and it’ll be quite the spiritual happening, I think. Before anything else, we put ourselves in prayer and we invoke the Holy Spirit that he may guide us. And it’s important, you know, because again the Church is a family. In this family we have different members, brothers and sisters, and there’s different roles, and vocations, and ministries, and responsibilities. And then there’s our spiritual father. So we’re a little like orphans now and so we turn to the Lord that He may inspire, that He may guide, that He may lead. It’s important that we have a Holy Father, a new spiritual father to guide the church for the decades to come.
Q: Do you recall the last conversation you had with him? When was that? Or do you remember what you discussed? And also a little bit of yesterday morning, how you found out the news.
A: So my last conversation was actually in December when he gave me this ring, when he created me cardinal and a conversation… There were two short conversations with him. It was always very personal, very “how are you” and “how was the ministry in Toronto going.” And that he always assured us, he assured me courage, go forward and “I’m praying for you” with a big smile. It was always like that, the end was always: I was concerned and asking how are things and then a word of hope, a word of encouragement, that he’s praying for me. So that was the last conversation I had with him. It was always a joy to see him, he recognized me when we spoke and he was always affirming, always encouraging and those are wonderful attributes to have. Though I found out the news, well it was 4:15 in the morning and my phone started lighting up like a Christmas tree. One, two, three, six bings, seven rings. I said, “Something’s going on.” So I got up and then I saw, you know, people over in Rome, friends and relatives were telling me, “My condolences.” And I say, “Well. What’s going on?” And then turn on the news and I found out that way. Then I went on the internet or inbox and they had sent a message to all of the cardinals.
Q: You said earlier that you feel like an orphan. What is your message to the faithful who also feel that way?
A: My message to us is “Let’s pray.” The Lord always provides and though we’re going through a moment of mourning and sadness, we know that with faith comes hope, and with faith comes courage. So we know that the Lord will provide for us. So I think to the faithful all we can do is pray to the Holy Spirit, be thankful for the gift that Pope Francis has been. We pray for him, that the Lord welcome him back home to heaven and the support we show one another as members of the family of the Church. This is so important, as we mourn and we’re sad we know that God is a God of surprises, a God of divine providence who always provides for us. So I think when we keep rooted in faith and in prayer and in reaching out to one another, consoling one another and keeping that hope firm that the Lord will give us another spiritual father to accompany us, and to guide us, and to lead us.
Pope Francis’ legacy
I do hope Pope Francis’ legacy is one of love. When I first came back to the Church, I didn’t get him. In my ignorance, I thought our mission was to restore things broken, per the Bitcoiner “fiat money has fueled many an unwanted fire since 1971” lens. The Latin Mass started fading away in the 70s… Well, Pope Francis seemed to be against the Latin Mass. Ergo, Pope Francis bad. Also, people I follow on Twitter seem to not like him.
But as I’ve lightened up on the realm of ideas and moved more into the realm of love, more into parish life—still growing in catechesis, seeing more of the “riqueza de la Iglesia” (as I first heard the term living a new community in the Church that Pope Francis supported)—I saw that Pope Francis seemed to be coming to the same problem of a world in a crisis of faith in gentler, harder ways:
Just being there. That’s closeness. E.g., showing up in Canada for the Indigenous scandal.
Comforting those who have forgotten their dignity due to intense pain. That’s compassion. E.g., kissing the man with a “deformed face and neck littered with pedunculated neurofibromas and open sores” after his Wednesday audience in 2013.
“Simply” being warm. That’s tenderness. E.g., the gentle way he hugged this young boy and the soft tone of his voice as he answered the boy’s question if his dad was in heaven.
It is much easier to live in the realm of ideas than to live acting in love. Right now, I’m finding it quite hard to strike this pastoral tone while maintaining true to teaching with family and friends. I’m grateful the Lord gave me some time appreciating him this way.
We share many of Pope Francis’ goals in our mission: ecological conversion, financial transparency, and care for the marginalized, as Cardinal Leo listed in his statement. We'll discuss how in the continued release of our course, but that’s not for this week.
Requiescat in pace, Sancte Pater Francis.
Happy Easter, everyone.