Dear friends,

All of us at the Dorothy Day Guild are deeply saddened by the news that Pope Francis died early this morning, on Easter Monday. The Holy Father used his final Urbi et orbi Easter message and blessing yesterday to proclaim the joy of the Resurrection and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. During this time of grief, we are also filled with gratitude for the courage and tenderness with which Francis shepherded our Church these past twelve years. 

We are particularly grateful for Pope Francis’ support of Dorothy’s cause for canonization. During his papacy, Pope Francis frequently upheld Dorothy’s method of living out the Gospel as worthy of our emulation. In his address to the US Congress ten years ago, the Holy Father named four men and women as steadfast exemplars of goodwill for the American people: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Merton, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Dorothy Day. What the Pope said then is as true today as it was a decade ago: 

“In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.”

Last fall, for US Catholic, Robert Ellsberg reflected on what he might have told the Holy Father about Dorothy prior to his 2015 visit to the United States, seeing in Dorothy the incarnation of Pope Francis’ dreams of “a poor Church for the poor,” which constantly went out to minister to Christ on the margins. But then Robert asked what he might have said if he,

“could have sat down with Dorothy Day to tell her about Pope Francis? How thrilled she would have been to learn of a pope who took his name from St. Francis. So often she criticized the ecclesial trappings of power and privilege. How she would have delighted in Francis’s gestures of humility, his call for shepherds “who have the smell of the sheep,” his washing the feet of prisoners (including women and Muslims!). With her lifetime among the poor and discarded, how she would have resonated with his words: “I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” How moved she would be to learn of his deep friendship with a Jewish rabbi, his love for opera and Dostoevsky, and his exhortation to spread the “joy of the gospel.”’

As we remember and reflect on Francis’ papacy, we encourage each of you to watch or read the transcript of the Holy Father’s powerful and prophetic remarks. Pope Francis understood Dorothy as an ardent defender of the dignity of the poorest and most forgotten of our brothers and sisters. Two years ago, he wrote a new foreword to Dorothy’s memoir, From Union Square to Rome, identifying in Dorothy’s narrative of conversion a living witness to what St. James writes in his epistle: “Show me your faith without works and I by my works will show you my faith.” (2:18). Dorothy’s “whole life was devoted to social justice and human rights, particularly for the poor, the exploited workers, and the socially marginalized,” Pope Francis wrote.

Many people around the world have felt unsettled and anxious over the past few days and months. Here, too, Pope Francis has left us words of assurance from his reflections on Dorothy’s life and legacy: “Dorothy Day teaches us that God is not simply a comfort or a form of alienation to turn to amidst life’s difficulties, but that he abundantly meets our yearning for joy and fulfilment. The Lord comforts restless hearts, not bourgeois souls who are content with things as they are.”

In a time when the people of the United States are much beset by questions of what it means for America to be great, we would do well to remember what Pope Francis told us when he visited:

“A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to "dream" of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton.”

In the coming days and weeks, please join us at the Dorothy Day Guild in praying for the repose of Pope Francis’ soul, for the comfort of all who mourn him, and for the college of cardinals as they prepare to elect a new shepherd for our Church. We ask all these things through Dorothy’s intercession.

Thank you, Pope Francis, for being our Holy Father: a Pope for the poor and a shepherd after Dorothy’s own heart. 

In Christ’s peace,

The Dorothy Day Guild