Pastor Peter Stiekema from Emmen would meet the Pope this month, but the death of Pope Francis would not take place. An audience with 1,100 pilgrims from the Netherlands, including Stiekema, was on the agenda for next Wednesday.
The pilgrims visit Rome during a so -called jubilation year, which is celebrated within the Catholic faith every quarter century. In addition to visiting the three basilics in Rome, including the Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, a visit to the Pope was on the program. “The question in the run -up to our meeting was whether it would continue, in view of the health of the pope,” said Pastor Stiekema. “The answer is now clear: it is canceled.”
Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 due to the consequences of a stroke, a coma and heart failure. At the beginning of this year he was in the hospital due to a double pneumonia. The funeral of the pope is next Saturday. In addition to the audience, the pilgrims will also miss it. Their visit will continue, but they only land on Sunday, says Stiekema.
Not that he is disappointed about that. “I think that God and eternity are more important than a meeting with receiving a group of pilgrims on a Wednesday morning. No, things like that don’t matter to me,” says Stiekema.
In addition to Stiekema, there would be several Drenten to Rome, including Pastor Peter Wellen from Hoogeveen. Stiekema: “Being on the road with 1,100 others, it lies for me. And if you die at Easter (the feast of the resurrection, ed.), Then you can consider that a big wink of God towards the Pope.”
Stiekema says he was shocked when he learned the news about the death of Francis. “It really touched me. I consider him a sublime person who recorded it for population groups that others with coarse verbal and non-verbal violence on the side bonjouren, such as migrants and refugees.” The visit of Francis to Immigranteiland Lampedusa’s visit is one of his first actions as Pope. “He was someone who had an eye for the vulnerable and those who do not count. We are currently living in an era of me, me and over another. He was the opposite of that.”
In Emmen it is possible from Tuesday evening to draw a condolence register. That is possible in the Catholic Church on the Meerstraat. The only other places where this is also possible in the Northern Netherlands are the cathedral in Groningen and the Basilica in Bolsward.