Jan Bedaf from Oudenbosch from the Papal Association Pro Petri Sede was allowed to come to Audiency four times at Pope Franciscus in the Vatican. The pope died pretty suddenly at the age of 88 on Easter Monday. Bedaf is sad. “I will carry this loss with me today.”
The pope had been sick for a long time. Yet he seemed to be improving lately. Bedaf is chairman of the Dutch department of the papal association. That club supports the Pope financially and with information worldwide.
Bedaf can hardly comprehend the death on Monday morning. “I saw him on TV yesterday. His death comes unexpectedly for me.”
“It was always an experience in itself to be able to speak Pope Francis.”
On behalf of the Pro Petri Sede foundation, the Dutch chairman was allowed to visit the Pope several times. In October last year he spoke the Pope for the last time. A great honor, yet we should not imagine that too much according to Bedaf: “It is just shaking a hand and a short chat of two to three minutes.”
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He remembers every visit as a special moment. “The pope was always interested in our foundation. He informed how many members we have every time. Last time we took an incoming magazine from our foundation. He gave the blessing about that. It was always an experience in itself to be allowed to speak.”
“We lose a great pope in him who had an eye for the new age.”
The resident of Oudenbosch was a big ‘fan’ of the pope. “He had charisma and appearance. Pope Francis was in the middle of the world. He understood that something had to change. He tried to make it more of a church of the people. We lose a great pope that had an eye for the new era in him. Too bad he was unable to complete his work.”
The papal association calls on all churches in the Netherlands to ring the clocks for fifteen minutes on Monday evening at eight o’clock. “This is how we show our condolences and let everyone hear that we are part of a world church.”
“Let’s pray for Pope Francis’s souls and we beg the Holy Spirit for a worthy successor in the Peter’s office that makes the right choices in this complex time.”