Maryland Catholic Conference leader witnesses reflective, reverent mood settle over Rome 

April in Italy is always a busy time, with events around Holy Week and Easter drawing extra thousands of visitors to Rome.

Pilgrims and tourists who had just one day earlier flocked to St. Peter’s Square awoke to the news that Pope Francis, who had greeted them there on Easter Sunday, had died. Pope Francis died at at 88, a few weeks after returning to his apartment at the Vatican following a five-week hospitalization for pneumonia.

Jenny Kraska, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, had been in Rome for about a week leading up to Easter, for a combination of a speaking engagement and vacation, she told the Catholic Review. The MCC is the public-policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops.

“The sudden death of Pope Francis has definitely changed the tone across the city,” Kraska said. “There’s a more reflective, even reverent mood in the air.”

Many people went to Rome this week for the canonization of Carlo Acutis, scheduled to become the first millennial saint on April 27. Acutis, who died in 2006 at age 15, was a computer prodigy who used his skills as an evangelization tool, for instance by creating a website documenting 150 miracles that later became an exhibit that has traveled the world.

His canonization has been postponed, but Kraska said the youth’s story “is very present here right now.”

She said the mood in the city has become more reflective and reverent. 

“People are still talking about Carlo and the excitement around his canonization, especially among the young people,” she said, “but it’s now mixed with a deeper sense of mourning and uncertainty.”

Kraska said conversations on other topics in Rome turn to Pope Francis “his legacy, the impact of his papacy and what comes next for the church.”

On Monday afternoon Kraska joined others in St. Peter’s Square for a rosary for Pope Francis.

“It’s such a significant moment,” she said. “It feels important to be prayerfully present in some way.”

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