From all over the world, the reactions come in to the death of Pope Francis. On Easter Sunday he was still on the balcony of the Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City for the Urbi et Orbi, but this morning the Argentinian pope died at the age of 88.
Also in Hoogeveen the phone continues to pass, Peter Wellen’s phone. The born Emmenaar, who now lives in Hoogeveen, is responsible for the diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, which also includes Drenthe. You can call him a replacement for the bishop, now that the diocese is temporarily without a bishop. Wellen is touched by the loss of the pope, but it is especially grateful that the world has met this man.
For many, the death came as a surprise. “Yesterday morning he pronounced the Easter blessing, he was brittle and vulnerable, but it went well. So this news struck me,” says Peter Wellen. “On the other hand, I am very grateful that he was allowed to do this last, that’s very nice.”
De Hoogevener calls Pope Francis a great man. “He was really a pope with his own sound and color, very worthy and in a human way. And it is perhaps a bit crazy to say in this way, but for me he comes very close to the person of Jesus. In simplicity he was great and he really came to the ordinary man. He was there for the people and for the whole world and he was also very inclusive.
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