Easter Monday morning brought me and many the sad news that Pope Francis had died overnight. While expected and unavoidable, the fear of the leadership of another world institution becoming more conservative is real. And a nightmare in a time when the United States is led by a commitment to chaos, cruelty, and building wealth for the wealthy. 

Conspiracy theorists on the left wonder if the visit with J.D. Vance and his cynical and hard-to-understand way of following Jesus killed the Pope. Or as kinder pundits observe, perhaps it was the perfect symbol of one of the Pope’s last acts – showing love and tolerance to someone whose views he found unacceptable and I imagine evil. 

Easter Sunday, the Pope stood as his final remarks were read to the throng in St. Peter’s Square and now read around the world as his final act of ministry. Secular press coverage often skips over the short refresher on the power of Easter and faith in the Resurrection that Pope Francis affirmed. “Today at last, the singing of the ‘alleluia’ is heard once more in the Church, passing from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, and this makes the people of God throughout the world shed tears of joy. From the empty tomb in Jerusalem, we hear unexpected good news: Jesus, who was crucified, “is not here, he has risen” (Luke 24:5). Jesus is not in the tomb; he is alive! Love has triumphed over hatred, light over darkness and truth over falsehood. Forgiveness has triumphed over revenge. Evil has not disappeared from history; it will remain until the end, but it no longer has the upper hand; it no longer has power over those who accept the grace of this day.”

The Pope did not fear death; his faith in Resurrection included a belief in eternal life. This faith allowed a weak and dying Pope to stand before the world and make three points that were central to his life and service as Pope. First, remember and celebrate your faith in Jesus and his victory over death and the cross. As a simple Easter hymn proclaims: “Roll away the stone, see the Glory of God. Roll away the stone. Despite the doubts and evidence to the contrary, roll away the stone and see the Glory of God, this hymn exhorts.

Pope Francis reviews as few other world leaders do all the pain and suffering in every part of the world – in Gaza, the Holy Land, Yemen, the Congo, Sudan and South Sudan, Ukraine, South Caucasus. He speaks directly to those oppressed around the world and calls for disarmament and an end to violence.  Pope Francis’ model for all the potential of a life of faith. He, like all of us, disappoints and falls short. Yet the hope endures.

A 2022 book, Unruly Saint: Dorothy Day’s Radical Vision and Its Challenges for our Times by D. L. Mayfield, offers another example of the juxtaposition of an unshakeable faith in Jesus and a life devoted to speaking out against oppression and to service to the poor. Dorothy Day practiced her faith by attending Catholic Mass daily and devoting time to morning prayer. She put her faith into action in publishing the Catholic Worker and opening homes for the poor and sick to live at no cost. 

Dorothy held onto what she called the “duty of delight”. A voracious student of the author Dostoevsky, she meditated and was inspired by his quote, “ … the world will be saved by beauty”. 

Dorothy Day faced daily the temptation of despair. Her faith in Jesus and his values and life and resurrection, as made real in the writings of Dostoevsky, allowed her to “… meditate on the good things the world has to offer as a spiritual practice.” Mayfield concludes: “The duty of delight was a way for Dorothy to acknowledge and engage in the totality of a sinful, systematically unequal and unjust world and still find ways to be met with what Dostoevsky called beauty, what others call grace.”

Pope Franics, in his Easter address the day before he died reminded the world: “On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!” his message implored.

 “There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others,” he continued. 

“I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear, which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development. These are the weapons of peace: weapons that build the future, instead of sowing seeds of death!”

There is much to encourage despair today. Yet we each are invited to find a path of hope that allows us to believe in the “duty of delight” and work for good against all odds. Pope Francis and Dorothy Day offer inspiring examples of that possibility.