The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah, has mourned Pope Francis’s death, saying the world will miss a genuine leader, a very loving and caring man.
Urban Express News Online reports that the Vatican announced Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, noting that he died from a cerebral stroke and subsequent heart failure at the age of 88 years.
Bishop Kukah, in a tribute to the late Catholic Church leader, said the late Pope Francis set Jesus free from the walls erected by those Christians who sought to imprison him in cages of dogma by exploiting the message of liberation.
According to him, the late Pope Francis stood with the weak, adding that the world has lost a moral compass with his death.
“In life, Pope Francis stood with the weak and the poor. He called attention to the threats posed by the environmental exploitation of Mother Earth.
“In 2015, he published his earth-breaking encyclical, Laudato Si (On Care of our common home), calling attention to the threats posed by environmental exploitation by the powerful. He was an honest, caring, loving man who emphasised our common humanity.
“He called the world’s attention towards the need to raise the bar on friendship, brotherhood, sisterhood, and collaboration. He developed a friendship with the Chief Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, which led to the publication in 2020 of his most readable encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers/Sisters).
“He had laid down his pastoral roadmap very early in his papacy with the first encyclical titled Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) in 2013,” Kukah said.
Kukah added that the pope generated controversies with many of his views, and different commentators will focus on the issues that fit their ideological persuasion, stressing that there is no denial that the world has lost a moral compass.
According to the vocal Catholic bishop, for the ideological, some will see the death of the holy father as a bump on the road for the radicals within the Church.
He said that, in truth, Jesus’s real and genuine message rises well beyond ideology, emphasising that the world awaits a new pope, and prayerfully, soon.
