Dear Cardinals....can we carry on

Dear Cardinals,    

How presumptuous of me to be writing to you!  Your mourning and level of work in anticipation of the Conclave must be so intense.  And yet I feel I must. I write as a mere parishioner from the middle of the United States, the flatlands of Illinois. I am not a trained theologian. I offer you no credentials to give this letter substance.

I nevertheless join you in your grief at the passing of our Pope. I never met Pope Francis in person, and yet I somehow felt as though I truly knew him. I felt as though he knew me. I could relate to him, and much more importantly, I believed that he related to me and thereby every other soul in his charge. I felt that he truly saw what his church needed, and that he was reaching out to the lost and least, and that the marginalized had hope that they would again be received in Christ’s great church on this earth.  

I pray that the ministry footprint and great guidance that he laid in this extraordinarily troubled world finds a leader to carry on his tradition of inclusion, care for the marginalized, concern for the health of this planet, and a way to work with all the myriad souls placed in his trust with the grace, compassion, and Christ-like leadership that Pope Francis humbly showed us so that perhaps our church can continue to become the beacon for peace and justice in this world.  

I pray for his soul. I pray for your work. May peace be with all of us.