Statement by Bishop Chad W. Zielinski
on the Death of His Holiness Pope Francis on April 21

NEW ULM [April 21, 2025] - With a heart formed by Christ the Good Shepherd, Pope Francis responded to his call as Shepherd of Souls of the Universal Church with an outpouring of Christ’s mercy. His papal motto, “Miserando atque eligendo” (By having mercy and choosing him), was truly the heart of his pastoral leadership. Just last week, Pope Francis visited Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday, where he typically would wash feet on Holy Thursday. He delivered a message of God’s mercy and hope, being a light of Christ to others.  

In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis unleashed a pastoral vision that invited all into a renewed encounter with Christ.

 “I invite all Christians to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ. . .

“No one should think this invitation is not meant for them since ‘no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord’” (EG, §3).

This renewed personal encounter with Christ is profoundly transformative. It moves us into action to run forth as missionary disciples. The Holy Father saw the Church herself as a missionary disciple on the move to those in need.

He passionately reminded Church leaders, the faithful of God, and the entire world never to forget those on the peripheries. In his first Chrism Mass homily as pope (March 28, 2013), he reminded the priests and bishops that the vulnerable, neglected, and those on the margins are to be of top concern.  Go out into the villages and homes of the faithful of God. He challenged us to be “shepherds living with the smell of the sheep.” I immediately identified with his invitation as one who grew up on a small family farm where we raised a few sheep.

Pope Francis will be forever etched in my heart and soul. While serving at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, I was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks on December 15, 2014. As one who served three combat tours as a military chaplain, I immediately embraced Pope Francis’s vision of the Church as a field hospital that was amidst those suffering, crying for mercy, forgiveness, and hope.  The Holy Father repeated on many occasions that we are missionary disciples of mercy and forgiveness. This personal encounter of Christ’s mercy, forgiveness, and care for the poor will be a constant tug in the hearts and minds of many for years to come. His sacred footprints left in places in the peripheries have changed hearts and minds forever.

I had the honor of meeting Pope Francis in 2015, 2016, and 2020.  He exuded a profound joy, compassion, and love of the Lord. These personal encounters, his preaching, and his witness have transformed me as a bishop to be an ambassador of mercy. 

We entrust Pope Francis to the merciful hands of Christ that he passionately preached about for so many years.