Local Voices
Franciscan Alliance board chair reflects on Pope Francis’ life, death
Sister M. Aline Shultz recalls seeing Holy Father during mission trips and pilgrimages to Rome
Sister M. Aline Shultz, OSF, intentionally spoke of Pope Francis in the present tense on Monday, just hours after the news broke of his death.
The chairwoman of the Franciscan Alliance Board of Trustees said someone offered her condolences Monday on the Pope’s passing. She thanked them and reminded them, “his presence is still here.”
“The physical presence is a loss but knowing that on Easter Monday he was welcomed into glory by God in Heaven is such a blessing,” Shultz said.
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Shultz has traveled to Rome, Vatican City and Assisi many times for mission trips and pilgrimages with her coworkers in the Catholic healthcare ministry and fellow Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration.
She was in the presence of Pope Francis twice during those trips and said it was a visceral experience.
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“Just listening to him at The Angelus where he leads the faithful in praying from the window of his study overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he radiates this presence of holiness and joy,” Shultz said. “You perceive it with all your senses. As a religious, he really is the presence of Jesus among us. It’s awe-inspiring to be in his presence, just incredibly impactful.”
Shultz said the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration are a papal community, meaning their 19th Century charter was approved by Rome. She said it takes years to fully understand the impact a pope’s life has, “not only on the Catholic church, but the entire world.”
Shultz said she thought it was fitting that one of the Pope’s last acts was visiting those in prison.
“He had a heart for the poor,” Shultz said. “I remember at the beginning of his papacy, he would get into a Fiat and drive around Rome and no one knew where he was. He was visiting the poor.”
The Franciscan Alliance healthcare ministry began in Lafayette, Indiana in 1875. Today, Franciscan Alliance is one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the Midwest with 12 hospital campuses, including Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, more than 19,000 employees and a number of nationally recognized Centers of Health Care Excellence.
