Nuns greet people outside St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica in Toronto after the death of Pope Francis, on April 21.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Concetta Oliverio came to Canada from Italy as a child, part of a big Catholic family. Now 67, she still goes to church on Sundays, travelling from her home in North York to downtown Toronto to watch her grandson sing in the choir at St. Michael’s Cathedral.
This Easter, she celebrated the Christian holiday with a potluck dinner at her son’s place and an egg hunt for the kids. She made a big lasagna. She watched Pope Francis on TV. She thought he looked frail and wondered how much time he had left on this Earth.
When she turned on her television in the morning to watch her usual all-news channel, she heard what had happened. Despite her premonition, it somehow came as a shock to learn Francis was gone.
“He cared for the common folk, the common person, the poor,” said Ms. Oliverio, who works as a paralegal. “He went out of his way to have the whole world be united.”
She paused and sighed. “That was just very inspirational.”
Ms. Oliverio was among a stream of people at St. Michael’s who stopped to remember the Pope, who died at 88 of a cerebral stroke after a dozen years as pontiff. Consecrated on Sept. 29, 1848, the big, yellow-brick edifice is described on a plaque outside as “the principal church of Canada’s largest English-speaking Catholic archdiocese.” About 5,000 people of diverse origins – Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Nigerian, Filipino, old-stock Canadian – visit it every weekend for its six masses.
Priests speak at St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica on April 21.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
A bitter wind was blowing and a slate sky threatened rain as parishioners filed out of mass on Monday morning and visiting mourners lingered inside the big iron gates.
John Mak gave Pope Francis credit for apologizing for misdeeds, like the abuses at Canada’s residential schools and the sexual crimes of Catholic priests. “He admitted that the church still has sinners. If there is something we did wrong, you have to admit that.”
His friend Eddie Chan grew up with Mr. Mak in Hong Kong decades ago. Asked what he thought the late Pope’s legacy would be, he said, simply “love, love, love.” Then added, “hope.”
Francis, he said, had made “pilgrims of hope” the theme of the church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. The Pope invited Catholics to go on a pilgrimage so that hope, as he put it, would “spread to all those who anxiously seek it.”
Another visitor to the church, Edith Baguinho, a retired teacher, said the Pope’s heart was in the right place when he said he wanted everyone, no matter who they were, to receive salvation, a message summed up in his phrase “todos, todos, todos” (everyone, everyone, everyone).
But she thought he had drifted from the church’s traditional teachings. “I think humanity needs a bit more guidance,” she said. “The church has been asleep. God has been pushed aside and humans have taken over.”
Rev. Joshua Roldan , 40, a priest at Toronto’s St. John’s Parish, said he heard about the pontiff’s death on Instagram, and soon after '[his] text messages were blowing up.'Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Rev. Joshua Roldan, though, said that Pope Francis reminded the world “that God’s mercy is for all peoples, God’s love is for all peoples.”
Father Roldan, 40, a priest at Toronto’s St. John’s Parish, said he heard about the pontiff’s death on Instagram. Soon, he said, “my text messages were blowing up.”
He said it seemed strange that, only a day before, Catholics were celebrating the joy of Easter. The ailing Pope had even appeared on a balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica. “And then, all of a sudden, we’re all in mourning.”