At Joliet Mass, shared praise for Pope Francis and hopes for the next pontiff

Catholics came from near and far to the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus on Thursday for a Mass in remembrance of Pope Francis, many of them sharing their thoughts about the late pontiff and what they hoped for in his successor.

“A good man, a really good man,” Wally Papciak said of the late pope. “I think he really set the course for things.”

Papciak had bicycled for more than three hours from his home in Des Plaines to the Mass in Joliet.

“He was about the people. I admired him. That’s why I’m here,”

—  Randy Aguilar, Frankfort resident

The next pope will have to go a long way to settle the quandary in Papciak’s mind as to what he hopes from Francis’s successor.

“I’m torn between a more conservative approach and a more liberal approach that will allow women to be priests,” Papciak said.

Kathryn Kolb, who walked to the cathedral from her home in the neighborhood, said she hoped the next pope “will continue the work of Pope Francis.”

“He was so humble,” Kolb said of Pope Francis, noting that he gave up the papal apartments when he lived and arranged for a wooden casket in his death.

“He was the people’s pope,” Kolb said. “I guess they say that about every pope, but he really was.”

Ann Kilgast drove from Elmhurst with her mother to the Mass at the cathedral, which serves as the seat of the Diocese of Joliet.

“I deeply loved Pope Francis,” Kilgast said. “I felt that he brought me back to the Church. I was drawn by his humility and his spirituality and his love for the environment and everything in the environment. I truly believe he cared about all of creation.”

Kilgast said her hope for the next pope is that “he’s pastoral.”

Maria Martinez of Bolingbrook also spoke of her hope for a pastoral pope.

“I’ve been praying for a true pastor – someone who is in love with our faith, someone who is ready to go against all odds to respect and protect our faith,“ Martinez said.

Katie Choudhary, director of religious education at St. Raymond, said Catholics “ought to fast and pray for our church leaders as they are guided by the Holy Spirit to select the next person who will lead us.”

“I would like to see the next pope continue being merciful and recognizing people who are invisible in this world.”

—  Laura Davidson, Aurora resident

A woman from Joliet who did not want to provide her name said the next pope “is in God’s hands. God chooses what we need.”

“I hope it goes quickly,” Carol of Crest Hill, who did not want to provide her last name, said of the selection of the next pope.

Other than that, Carol said she hoped for a pope who is “more conservative this time – a little bit."

Randy Aguilar of Frankfort said he would be happy to see another pope like Francis.

“We definitely had a pope who was a true Christian leader, loving the people and tending to their needs. He was about the people. I admired him. That’s why I’m here,” said Aguilar.

Many more felt the same way, and the parking lot outside the cathedral was filled with the cars of people drawn to the Mass for Pope Francis.

“He was just a total embodiment of Jesus Christ and Jesus’s teachings,” Pat DeAngelo of Aurora said. “He welcomed everyone and saw everyone as equals.”

DeAngelo came to the Mass with Laura Davidson of Aurora who said Pope Francis “had an impact on me, on my life – the way he served.”

“I think he really transformed the church into a more open environment,” Davidson said. “I would like to see the next pope continue being merciful and recognizing people who are invisible in this world.”

Whether the next pope will come from Latin America, the United States, Africa, Asia or Europe was something hardly mentioned by those interviewed outside of the cathedral.

Kolb, who is of Polish ancestry, talked about how exciting it was when Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II in 1978 and recognizing how exciting it was for much of the world when the papal conclave went outside Europe to choose Jorgo Mario Bergoglio as pope in 2013.

Her own preference for the next pope is Cardinal Luis Tagle from the Philippines, but mainly because Tagle is someone who was close to Pope Francis.

“I think he will carry Pope Francis’s mission forward,” Kolb said.