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Faithful commemorate Pope Francis in Bern service

The faithful remember the late Pope Francis in Berne
The faithful remember the late Pope Francis in Berne Keystone-SDA

Several hundred people commemorated the late Pope Francis in Bern on Tuesday evening. The Swiss Bishops' Conference had invited people to this commemorative mass in the Church of the Trinity.

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Archbishop Martin Krebs, Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, presided over the mass, which lasted around an hour. The Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation Viktor Rossi and representatives of the diplomatic corps were among those present.

Krebs described the deceased as a well-liked, cordial and open man, as the many obituaries devoted to him have shown. Francis also went to his limits in every respect, “including the physical”, noted Krebs. One day before his death, the Pope again gave the Easter blessing to the faithful.

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Open-mindedness praised

The homily was delivered by Charles Morerod, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg and President of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference. He paid tribute to Pope Francis for his open-mindedness. According to him, Francis has always been interested in people, whatever their characteristics.

All the members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference were present, with the exception of Alain de Raemy, Apostolic Administrator in Lugano, and Jean Scarcella, Abbot of St-Maurice.

Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, was buried last Saturday in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

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Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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