Archbishop Jason Gordon said if Pope Francis had contemplated Trinidad and Tobago, he would have looked at the racism, despair and negativity in the society and reminded people that they were all brothers and sisters.
Speaking at the requiem mass for Pope Francis on April 25 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Independence Square, Port of Spain, he said there were several issues Francis would comment on.
“He certainly would turn his gaze to racism and say, ‘No we are brothers and sisters all. We come on different ships as Black Stalin would say but we came to this one place. We might have had a different trip but we all make up one beautiful twin island republic we call Trinidad and Tobago.
“He would certainly turn his gaze to the depth of despair and negativity that is so rife on the streets of our country, in the talk shows and in all the different pockets of our country, where everyone is so negative and disrespectful to everyone else. He will say that that is death and we must bring the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ into that, into that area of our national discourse.”
Gordon said Francis disrupted and influenced his way of thinking many times over the years.
“There were many times where I had to go back again to prayer and mull over his words and what he was asking us as church to do. There were many times when he invited me to conversion of heart to see that the way I'm seeing is not the way of God but the way of the world, to see through God's eyes and to see with a clarity of what is required for a Christian leader in our time. For me Pope Francis is not just a pope, he's also that, he's a spiritual father to me, he's a spiritual mentor to me. He has guided my thinking and my life and how I see myself as archbishop.”
[caption id="attachment_1151544" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Archbishop Jason Gordon speaks to the congregation at the Requiem Mass for Pope Francis at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on April 25. - Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister[/caption]
Gordon said Francis was a contemplative who looked at different aspects of the world through the eyes of Christ. He said in his writings, Francis revived and looked at areas which many felt were dying, giving people a new perspective on them. These included the Church, the family, and the planet.
He said another area Francis looked at was the issue of migrants, beginning almost immediately after he was selected as Pope.
“He went to the island just off Italy where most of the migrants come from Africa as a trans-shipment port and he signalled that migrancy is not something that we can just wish away in this time in which we are living.
“The migrant and the refugee which the whole world was up in arms against because of how difficult and messy it is in changing our cultures, he took it on headlong and again in this other area where death seemed to be prevailing, the Holy Father used his voice of moral authority across the whole world and said Jesus Mary and Joseph were refugees and every r
