‘Very humble and very patient’: W. Pa. Catholics mourn Pope Francis
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Meeting Pope Francis made for a memorable, albeit unusual, 25th wedding anniversary celebration for Nat and Melanie Pantalone.
The Greensburg couple, about 20 priests and several others celebrating their anniversaries had a private Mass in April 2015 in Rome with the first Latin American pontiff. Nat Pantalone remembered being nervous to meet the pope, but found him to be a humble man who was easy to talk to.
“Very humble and very patient,” said Melanie Pantalone, adding Francis took his time talking to all of the visitors that day. “It was the highlight of our trip for sure.”
The Pantalones and thousands of Catholics around Southwestern Pennsylvania were surprised Monday morning to hear that Francis died at 88, less than 24 hours after he made an Easter Sunday appearance in Rome.
Francis died from a cerebral stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure, according to the Vatican. He suffered chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed in his young adult years. He was admitted to the hospital Feb. 14 for what became double pneumonia, spending 38 days there. Francis was released from the hospital in late March and blessed thousands who flocked to St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.
Prayers for him echoed Monday morning off the 82-foot-tall ceilings, intricate columns and delicate stained-glass windows of St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The Rev. Steven Palsa encouraged the two dozen attendees to remain hopeful.
“Death is not the end, but the beginning of a life,” he said.
Oakland Catholic High School teacher Dorrie Donahue attended the Mass, as she does every week. She said the “Pittsburgh skies” — cloudy and tinted gray — were appropriate for the day of mourning.
“The community’s in grief now,” said Donahue, a member of St. Paul Cathedral for 15 years. “Everybody wants to talk about the new pope, but we’re sort of still like, ‘We just lost him.’ ”
At Our Lady of Victory in Springdale Township and Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg, a portrait of Francis was displayed among an altar filled with white and pastel flowers including Easter lilies and hydrangeas.
“What struck me is that this is the jubilee — the year of hope,” the Rev. Andrew Fischer of Our Lady of Victory Senior said. “The pope dying on Easter Monday, when we celebrate our faith in Jesus’ resurrection, shows the hope of our resurrection as well.”
Praying for Francis was a comfort Ginny Chesaro of Cheswick. She was among about 20 who gathered at the Springdale Township church, double the usual amount.
“How amazing it was that he was out yesterday and let everyone see him,” she said of the pope’s surprise greeting of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday. “It’s like he forced himself to do that because he wanted to make everyone happy.”
Christine Pollick of Cheswick called him “the people’s pope,” adding that she admired his humility and ability to relate to ordinary folks.
“I hope his death was peaceful,” she said. “He’s suffered enough.”
Known for outreach to marginalized communities
Francis, born Jorge Mario Begoglio, entered the papacy in March 2013 following the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
He drew mixed reactions from Catholic churchgoers for his progressive leaning, including his outreach to the LGBTQ+ community. Francis released a statement in 2023 permitting priests to bless same-sex couples.
Francis also was tasked with guiding the Catholic Church through the covid-19 pandemic, encouraging parishioners to use the lockdown as an opportunity to unite a divided world. In December 2020, he appointed Greensburg diocese Bishop Larry Kulick to his post.
“He holds a very special place in my heart as he made me the bishop of Greensburg,” Kulick told TribLive.
Francis, originally from Argentina, dedicated his papacy to advocating for the less fortunate, Donahue said, with St. Paul Cathedral stretching into the Oakland skyline behind her.
“I think he really reminded the church of how Jesus felt toward the poor,” she said. “I try to emulate that with the girls at Oakland (Catholic) — serving at the Red Door (women’s shelter) and making them aware of all they have and others don’t have.”
Francis drew the world’s attention even on his final day, said the Rev. Martin de Porres Bartel, abbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Unity.
“For his pastoral fidelity, enduring courage and immense love as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus,” he said, “may he be greeted as scripture says: ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’”
Seton Hill University President Mary C. Finger called Francis a transformational leader.
“Pope Francis espoused a deep care and concern for those who were suffering — be it from war, poverty or bigotry,” Finger said. “He called on all of us to be good stewards of the Earth and good brothers and sisters to one another. And he was a strong proponent of education.”
She met Francis last year during a visit to Rome with a small group of Catholic university leaders, she said.
“During his time with us, Pope Francis emphasized the role of the global church in ministering to the poor and suffering,” Finger said.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, encouraged Western Pennsylvanians to continue Francis’ legacy.
“Throughout his papacy,” Kelly said, “he symbolized and championed peace and a better world for all.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro also mourned the pontiff. “I think the pope laid out a road map for all of us to be able to follow — to be a voice for the voiceless and to lead with compassion in your heart,” Shapiro said, who is Jewish.
The governor remembered meeting Francis in 2015 during the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
Shapiro was a Montgomery County Commissioner then. He was part of the contingent who greeted the pope as he arrived at a local seminary where he would stay during the trip.
“We shared a few words, and he was very gracious with his time,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro watched Francis walk to a corner of the ornate lobby and quietly meet with a group of people. He initially wasn’t sure who the pope was talking to, Shapiro said. As he got closer, he realized Francis was talking to people who survived sexual assaults at the hands of priests.
“He was expressing sympathy for what they had been through, and he was telling them that he would take steps in order to stop that type of abuse,” Shapiro said. “That was incredibly powerful to me.”
Years later, as attorney general, Shapiro led an investigation into Pennsylvania priests involved in the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church more than a decade ago. At the time of the investigation, he wrote a letter to the pope about the 2015 meeting.
Francis didn’t directly write him back.
But he did publicly acknowledge the suffering of the victims, the first time a pope had ever done so, Shapiro said.
Friends Shari Taylor and Amy Falvo of Unity went to the Greensburg cathedral together Monday afternoon to pray for Francis during a special Mass. Taylor recently returned from a pilgrimage to Rome with the Greensburg diocese. She didn’t get to meet Francis there, “but I felt his presence,” Taylor said.
That physical presence has left a lasting impression on the Pantalones. Nat Pantalone is a funeral director at Pantalone Funeral Home. The couple agreed Francis was OK bending the rules of the Catholic Church a bit and moved it in a more progressive direction.
“Hopefully the next one will also be that way, too,” Nat Pantalone said.