Fr Sebastião Mascarenhas during an interaction with the late Pope Francis on October 22, 2013.
BARODA
On Easter Sunday, I randomly tuned to the YouTube live coverage of the Easter service in Rome. Coincidence, telepathy, providence? The Pope was about to say his last words in public – the Urbi et Orbi Blessing. It was not announced earlier. I felt blessed to catch it live, his last words in public.
I did not think that he would die so soon, but I did think that this was his final appearance. I was privileged to tune in live.
FIRST MEET WITH POPE
My personal encounter with the Pope goes back to October 22, 2013. I have never shared this, except personally to a few people. Please bear with me if I sound boastful.
Somehow, although I was studying in Europe at the time, I did not feel the urge to meet St John Paul II or Pope Benedict. However, Pope Francis lit up the world. I told my brother, Bishop Theodore, who was serving for the Vatican at the time, to see if I could attend the daily Mass of the Pope in Santa Martha. He managed to get me on the list for the Mass of October 22, 2013, through the kind grace of Cardinal Oswald Gracias.
We walked the dark alleys from the Jesuit Curia, where I had put up for the night, to Domus Sanctae Marthae, something like a scene in Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
I was shocked at the absolutely relaxed security as we went in. I had a cloth bag with my alb, a Warli-art-painted bag and a magazine. No one checked my bag. They only asked me for my name; they did not bother to ask for any identification. I was thrilled and shocked. But that was perhaps ordered by Francis, the approachable Pope.
We were assigned the first row in the pews. There were two bishops, some priests, some nuns and about 40 faithful. As the Pope entered, my impression was that of an elderly man. But when he preached a three-point homily, I was taken in. Clear, precise and brief, true to what he tells us now!
He sat in prayer for about five minutes and then stood up to greet us all. We were made to stand in line, hierarchically. When my turn came, he spontaneously came forward and put his hands on my shoulders. I was stunned. I had rehearsed the words I would say to him. I forgot everything and just blurted out in German: Would you want me to speak in German or English. I forgot to say YOUR HOLINESS! I knew he had studied in Germany and would prefer German. He gently said to me, in German: Pray for me. Speak in German please, but slowly! I then spoke to him about India and my missionary congregation, the Society of Pilar. I told him that everyone loves what he is doing.
I then presented a bag, painted by minor girls (rescued from the red-light milieu) who were being rehabilitated by the Vedruna sisters in Waliv, Vasai, just opposite the Pilar Provincialate. He listened carefully and nodded with a smile. This was precisely his mission.
I finally got my magazine out; before I could present it to him the priest behind him nodded gently to me. I guess I had taken my time. So, I just let the magazine in the bag, handed it over and walked away.
The magazine is a story in itself. In February 2013, at the request of Fr. Romualdo Gonsalves sfx, I had written a play on St Francis of Assisi for our college going scholastics in Waliv, Vasai. It was entitled, “When shall we have a new Francis!”.
As the scholastics and I sat in front of the TV for about twenty minutes after white smoke had fluttered in the Roman sky on March 13, 2013, to see who the new Pope would be, one of the scholastics joked, I think he will be a Francis! After all we had asked for a new Francis. We had goose bumps when it was FRANCIS indeed! My magazine had the play on Francis in it.
At the end, I kissed his ring and asked him to bless me. He said, pray for me.
When Bishop Theodore and Fr Agnelo Mascarenhas SJ, presently Provincial of the Jesuits in Pune, met me at the Jesuit Curia where I had put up for the night, I did not relate much as I was overwhelmed. I did not even realise what had really happened.
A few days later Bishop Theodore rang me up from the Vatican Press Office to say that I had beautiful photos, one of a kind. I was stunned to see them. I then realised what had really happened. It was one of those experiences that determine your life. His reaching out, his patient listening and his personal touch towards me is the hallmark that makes his papacy so attractive.
SECOND MEET WITH POPE
I met Pope Francis again when I went to Rome in September 2023 for the training of baby Bishops, almost ten years later. I had been appointed Bishop of Baroda by him.
Bishop Sebastião Mascarenhas while handing over a memento of Venerable Agnelo de Souza to the late Pope Francis in September 2023. The camera of the official photographer had broken down and Bishop Seby Mascarenhas could only manage this photo in black and white.
It was a memorable occasion but in another way. As my turn came to meet the Pope and I knelt before him, incredibly, the camera broke down. I was exasperated. The photographer ran and brought another camera. But it was too late. My time was up! I got a rather blurred photo in black and white as I handed over a memento of Venerable Agnelo de Souza to the Pope! It is always providence.
OASIS OF COMPASSION
Francis proclaimed GOOD NEWS. He read the signs of the times and proclaimed JOY (Evangelii Gaudium) and HOPE (Spes non confundit) to a despondent, narcissistic and indifferent atmosphere in the world.
He spoke about clericalism in the Church very often as much as he spoke against capitalism. This did not endear him to the establishment, within the Church or in the world around. He was an oasis of compassion in the desert of narcissistic leaders in the world today.
His antidote was simple: Listen to the Spirit, listen to every person as the Spirit speaks to each person as well. This will genuinely enable us to Live Jesus in humility and compassion. This will attract people to Jesus.
He did that. He lived the Gospel in all its radicality.
I wish it most for me, our clergy and our religious as the Pope trusted us to bring in a synodal leadership. He was impatient at times with us, asking us to get rid of clericalism. May His example guide us.
RIP Pope Francis. You were one of a kind.
[The writer is the Bishop of Baroda, and hails from Camurlim-Salcete.]
