Tributes continue to pour in locally following the death of Pope Francis. Pope Francis died at the age of 88 yesterday. His funeral service will take place at 9am Irish time on Saturday. In a statement issued to Northern Sound, Bishop of Kilmore Martin Hayes gave thanks for his strong pastoral leadership in making the Gospel message relevant with warmth and compassion to the whole world. According to Bishop Martin Hayes, Pope Francis drew people's attention to the widening gap between rich and poor, the increasing levels of migration and the harm being done to planet Earth due to the current global economic model.
Also paying tribute to the late Pope Francis, Monsignor Liam Kelly who is the Diocesan Administrator of Kilmore described him as someone who was "very human" and had "great compassion for people." Speaking to Northern Sound, Monsignor Kelly said Pope Francis wanted to live his life in a simple and humble manner as he tried to get the church back to the gospel values of looking after the poor and most vulnerable of the world. Reflecting on the pope's visit to Ireland back in 2018, Monsignor Liam Kelly described it as a "very important one" as it came at a difficult time as there was a lot of anger about abuse of children by church personnel and he made a very important apology at that time. He went on to describe the late Pope as a "good man" who brought gospel values into a very troubled world:
