Description: Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), April 21, 2025 (ANI): On the passing away of Pope Francis, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Cardinal Cleemis Baselois Thottunkal expressed his heartfelt condolences and prayers on Pope Francis demise on April 21.He stated, " Let me express our heartfelt condolences and prayer for solidarity as Pope Francis has passed away. As the leader of the church and entire humanity, especially a champion of the people who are at the periphery, he stood firm in re-reading the gospel, trying to find our Jesus and his approaches towards human beings, focusing on those marginalised...I personally recall with gratitude that after his meeting with the Prime Minister of India, Pope Francis told me that your country is a great country. Such an affection he had in his mind for India..."
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00:00Let me express our heartfelt condolence and our prayerful solidarity as Pope Francis has passed away.
00:12As the leader of the church and the leader of the and their humanity and especially a champion of the people who are at the periphery.
00:24As the leader of the church, he has stood firm in re-reading the gospel, trying to find out Jesus and his approaches towards human beings,
00:41especially focusing on those who are really sidelined and marginalized.
00:48For a common man, he is a leader par excellence, especially speaking for justice and peace.
01:00If you remember, the last function which he attended was the Easter Sunday where he came to greet the people giving blessings to the city of Rome and to the entire world.
01:19During the message of the Easter, he said, by all means, the war in Gaza should be stopped, bring in peace so that every human being is respected.
01:34And also he requested both sides to release the hostages and also to stop the war in all its depth.
01:49Pope Francis is fondly remembered by those cross-section of the society, the poor ones, as he stood firmly for the immigrants,
02:05the people who fled from different contexts, who had no shelter of their own.
02:12Pope Francis personally took two families with him in the aircraft to the Vatican, that was a symbolic act, thereby telling everyone we have a responsibility towards these people who have no land of their own at the moment.
02:35Such a leader is no more with us physically and we thank the Lord for the gift of this great person who spoke firm even to the rulers of the first world who stood for the developing countries
02:55and a leader who stood for countries like India.
03:02And I personally recall with gratitude that after the meeting with the Prime Minister of India, after a week I met the Holy Father in the Vatican and I asked the Holy Father about the meeting.
03:18And Pope Francis told me, your country is a great country and your culture and your culture is a great culture.
03:28Such an affection he had in his mind, in his heart towards our great country, India.
03:36We all joined together, thanking the Lord for such leadership and we look for such leadership further for the entire humanity to lead us with great hope, charity and collaborative fraternal gestures.