Africa-Press – Botswana. As Christians concluded their annual paschal festivities on Easter Monday, news emerged that day that Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome and worldwide leader of the Roman Catholic Church had died.
On Wednesday, as Pope Francis’ body started lying in state for three days of public viewing at St Peter’s Basilica at the church global headquarters, the Vatican City, the Catholic Diocese of Gaborone held a requiem mass at Christ the King Cathedral to honour the memory of the Pope.
In an interview with BOPA, the Bishop of Gaborone, Archbishop Frank Nubuasah said Botswana Catholics mourned Pope Francis, who had been the leader of the Catholic Church, the world’s biggest singular Christian denomination with over 1.4 billion baptised members globally. “He was the 266th Pope, and legacy is the love for the poor, the migrants, refugees, he became the voice amplifying the opinion of the ordinary people.
He was also known for his simplicity, always choosing to drive a small car, and his love for the people of God, he was the People’s Pope,” Archbishop Nubuasah said.
He said they had organised the mass (Catholic Church Service) for Wednesday evening to thank God for Pope Francis’ life and to commemorate his memory.
“How it works in the Catholic Church, when the Pope dies, you mourn where you are, and we are celebrating the mass at Christ the King Cathedral.
We are not sending any delegates to Rome because we are mourning locally and our prayers will be sent out from here,” Archbishop Nubuasah.
The role of the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome is to preside over the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church and the Vatican state.
The Pope is the head of state of the Vatican, a small autonomous city state enclave surrounded by the Italian capital Rome, which has permanent observer seat at the United Nations.
The Catholic Church, which globally runs tens of thousands of hospitals, clinics, schools and orphanages, is the world’s largest non-governmental provider of education and healthcare, and has permanent diplomatic representation to the UN at New York, United States of America and Geneva, Switzerland.
“The Pope is the Vicar of Christ, which means he is the visible head of the church on earth on behalf of Jesus Christ.
He is the unifying factor and personifies Christian love in the church,” Archbishop Nubuasah said.
The Bishop of Gaborone recounted personally meeting Pope Francis on a few occasions, the last time being in 2023 when on a trip to Rome alongside other Southern African bishops. “By chance the Bishop of Manzini and I were standing outside the entrance of our guest house, and a small car dropped off the Pope.
He came straight to us, and that evening he would spend an hour with us, bishops of Southern Africa.
He was very humble, simple easy-going, he could release a hearty laugh, he never took the trappings of his office as his hallmark,” Archbishop Nubuasah recalled.
The only time a sitting Pope visited Botswana was in 1988 when Pope John Paul II, the head of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of the Vatican state from 1978 until 2005, visited Botswana and was hosted by the then President Sir Ketumile Masire.
Archbishop Nubuasah revealed that current President Advocate Duma Boko has extended an invite for the Pope to visit Botswana, but since the late Pope Francis was unwell, the church would only now pursue acting upon the invite once a new Pope has been appointed.
Born Jorge Mario Begoglio on December 17 1936 in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, to Italian migrant parents who had relocated to South America to flee the fascist rule of Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, Pope Francis was ordained into Christian ministry in 1969.
He rose through the ranks of the church to become Bishop of Buenos Aires in the 1990s, and later appointed a cardinal, the most senior clergy in the Catholic priestly order other than the Pope, in 2001.
Appointed Pope in 2013, the first from the Southern hemisphere, he chose the name Pope Francis as his papal name in honour of St Francis of Assisi, a 13th century Catholic poet and preacher. While having the option to use their baptismal names, the tradition is for the new Pope to choose a name inspired by previous popes or Christian saints.
Following the death of Pope Francis, the stage is now set for the College of Cardinals to elect a new Pope, and that process is likely to be concluded within the next three weeks, Archbishop Nubuasah said. “Right now the focus is on preparing for the funeral.
The Dean of the Cardinals has invited all the cardinals to all come to Rome, and those under the age of 80 can vote.
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