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'It was just love:' Locals in mourning after passing of Pope Francis
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BATON ROUGE - As the leader of the world's largest Christian denomination, Pope Francis' death leaves a lasting impact on Catholics around the globe and right here in Louisiana.
"Pope Francis was a pope of firsts. He was the first pope from Latin America. He was the first Jesuit pope. He was a person who took seriously the idea of the pope as a pastor, someone who is compassionate and caring about the humanity of all of us and our ability to sin, and also our ability to thrive," Micheal Pasquier, LSU professor of religious studies and history, said.
That compassion from the Vatican is felt in Catholic churches in Baton Rouge.
"His contact with the crowd, you can see the compassion. He would grab a child and just look into that child's eyes, and it was just love. It's very indescribable," Charlotte Berard, a Catholic parishioner, said.
Pope Francis passed at the age of 88 from a cerebral stroke and Easter Sunday was his last public appearance.
"Happy and blessed he was able to make it through the Easter season. I imagine that gave him peace," Pam Mistretta, another catholic, said.
Reverend Alex Harb at St. Sharbel hoped that the parishioners at his Monday mass took this message from his homily: "We are celebrating the resurrection, and as Christians, we can celebrate the resurrection and mourn at the same time."
Pasquier says it will be up to the College of Cardinals to pick the next pope.
"This is a private and secretive gathering of the church's greatest leaders, and they are going to meet in a conclave and think about, pray about, and ask for the guidance of the holy spirit to choose the next pope," he said.
There will be nine days of mourning following the passing of the pope.
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