Dear Leaders of Integrity,
I write with heartfelt condolences to each of the Catholics among you, and the non-Catholics.
For in the passing of Pope Francis, we have all lost a leader of courage and integrity.
Regardless of where some of us may have stood vis-a-vis some of his positions, he championed the downtrodden and the suffering, he urged each and all to be better humans and stewards and keepers of one another, he took on the biggest of the world’s bullies with honesty, he sought to remind, time and again, that God demanded us to be servants of all of His creation. He was the first Pope to do many things – many very brave and thoroughly decent things.
From where I stand, having had the privilege of a proper audience with him twice, in those precious conversations, I felt his vast love of God. And my well of love for God deepened in sensing that. In my last meeting, he told me we do not choose to serve God – God chooses us – but we are obliged to love one another, no matter of what faith or difference.
Pope Francis may well be the last of the world leaders we know, to speak truth to power. And to dare to embrace all kinds of ‘the other’ – including the religious other – as brothers from the same God. His outreach with the Muslim communities to evolve a discussion and a joint manner of seeing our obligations here and now, and enjoining us to live together in brotherhood, was not dared, for centuries. He dared. And in doing so, he became a brother of Muslim leaders, and a leader of Muslims too, as he was an inspiration of all people of all faiths.
I pray Pope Francis rests in peace, and I pray that as we each mourn him in our own ways, we also seek to endeavour to honour his many legacies of seeking to be an agent of Mercy.
With Gratitude and Appreciation,
Azza
Prof. Azza Karam, PhD.
TOU Board member
President of Lead Integrity