Philip Freier
12 May 2025
I thought that travelling to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait was a big trip to make when I responded to Bishop Keith Joseph’s invitation to preside at the Easter services at the Old Cathedral of All Souls and St Bartholomew this year. Little did I realise that just a few days after Easter I would receive a request from the Anglican Communion Office to be part of the Anglican representation at Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome the following weekend.
Planning had to proceed quickly, and I flew out on the Wednesday on flight legs that added up to around 24 hours in the air before arriving in Rome on the Thursday afternoon. Our delegation, led by the Primate of Brazil, Archbishop Marinez Bassotto, assembled at the Anglican Centre, Rome before we were taken to St Peter’s Basilica to pray where Pope Francis’ body lay in state in an open coffin.
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From my discussions with people and our group as we’d gathered at the airport, I could sense the mix of solemnity and celebration as people remembered Pope Francis and anticipated his funeral. I met Pope Francis 10 years ago when on a visit to the Anglican Centre in Rome I attended one of the regular Wednesday papal audiences in St Peter’s Square, along with Archbishop David Moxon, the then Director of the ACR.
I was introduced to the Pope, and he was keen to ask for my prayer. I thought that this was a humble response from someone who had such a public and international role. It has certainly given all the members of ARCIC III, the international theological dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics that I co-chair, encouragement to carry out our work in the knowledge that the leaders of our respective Communions approach the hurts and divisions of the past as wounds to be healed and to treat them as ones that can be overcome by love and shared Christian discipleship.
The ARCIC meeting that was intended to be hosted in Melbourne this month needed to be deferred to October on account of the death of the Pope and the then subsequent vacancy in the See of Rome. So significant is the sense that we carry out our work on behalf of the whole church that the period of sede vacante puts such discussions on hold. This was even more significant since this was the first time since 1691 that both sees of Rome and Canterbury had been vacant at the same time.
I was glad that our group that gathered to represent the Anglican Communion included the chair and deputy chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, the General Secretary of the Communion, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London amongst others. I was also pleased we could be joined by the new Director of the ACR, Bishop Anthony Ball and the Bishop in Europe who co-chairs IARCCUM, an international enactment of journeying together between Catholic and Anglican pairs of bishops across many regions and nations.
The scene from our seats on the dais level of St Peter’s Square was truly breathtaking. To our right were crowds of people that seemed to defy numbering, filling the square and as far down the Via Della Conciliazione as the eye could see. Ahead of us international leaders, Monarchs, Prime Ministers and Presidents filed in and took their places. Immediately to our left were the bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church, I was glad to speak with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth and Bishop Joe Caddy of Cairns as the crowds dispersed after the funeral. Swiss Guards still wearing their Medici coloured uniforms of blue, yellow and red were in ceremonial attendance and the whole atmosphere was electric for the duration of the requiem Eucharist. The committal prayers were led by the eastern-rite Catholic prelates including Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Melbourne.
All this was on account of the life and death of just one person, Pope Francis. Certainly, he held the highest office in the Catholic Church, but I think foremost in the hearts of many in attendance, there was a recognition that he lived and spoke Christ’s love and mercy. Thankfulness to our Lord was evident in the responses of the many people with whom I spoke. I was glad to see a Christian man so amazingly honoured and through that Christ proclaimed as a living Saviour for all people and in all times.
Bishop Philip Freier was Archbishop of Melbourne from 2006 until February 2025.
