International leaders have written their final farewells to Pope Francis on social media at the end of his mass funeral this Saturday in Rome, Italy.
Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz celebrated the “appeal to humanity” made by the pontiff during his lifetime, in a brief message on his X account.
“Gratitude to Pope Francis. Prayers that strengthen and inspire hope. May the Lord hear every sincere heart today!” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his account on the same social media.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic hailed a “pontificate marked by courage, humility, and a constant commitment to peace, justice, and the dignity of every human being.”
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also celebrated a legacy that “will live on within the Church and among communities around the world who will remember him as a messenger of mercy, peace, and profound human compassion.”
For his part, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asserted that the Christian world, which “bows down” in honor of the Pope, will never forget “his courage and commitment to peace.”
Cypriot President Níkos Christodoulidis asserted that “the Pope’s words and actions have consistently contributed to the effort of understanding and cooperation between states, religions, and doctrines.”
“He was a devotee of peace, dialogue, and the coexistence of peoples and cultures. We bid farewell to the Pope with sentiments of respect and appreciation,” he concluded.
“THE GREAT LATIN AMERICAN POPE”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said his final farewell to the man he described as “the great Latin American Pope,” a man “who opened himself up to all of humanity, and was human, simply human, and therefore very sensitive to the problems of others, the problems of the world, the problems of humanity.”
Hours earlier, upon his arrival in Rome, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva understood his trip to the Italian capital as “a way of thanking God for allowing us to share the passing of a Pope who marked history in this 21st century.”
“Pope Francis was emotion and heart. A great religious and political leader against war and inequality,” the Brazilian president added.
Assange attends Pope Francis’ funeral to express his gratitude for his support during his “persecution”
The wife of WikiLeaks founder claims the pontiff offered her husband asylum in the Vatican
The founder of the WikiLeaks website, Julian Assange, joined his family in the mass farewell of Pope Francis, who died on Monday at the age of 88, as a gesture of gratitude for the support he received from the pontiff during his “persecution.”
In a message posted on the organization’s X account, Assange’s wife, Stella, recalls that she and their children had the “honor” of being received by Francis in June 2023 while her husband was imprisoned in London’s Belmarsh prison.
The High Court of London released WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on bail in June last year, following a plea deal with the United States government in which he pleaded guilty to espionage in exchange for a sentence equivalent to the more than five years he has served in a maximum-security prison in the United Kingdom.
“Now that Julian is free, we have all come to Rome to express our family’s gratitude for the Pope’s support during Julian’s persecution,” Assange’s wife wrote, before recalling that Francis wrote to her husband in prison and asserting that the pontiff offered him asylum in the Vatican.
