Southern Nebraska Register
Father Andrew Schwenka and Father Joseph Wahlmeier, priests of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln studying in Rome, recounted learning of the April 21 death of Pope Francis.
“I learned about the Holy Father’s death when I went downstairs to get a mid-morning cup of coffee,” Father Schwenka said. “One of the priests in the house said to me, ‘Did you hear? The pope has died!’
“I was stunned,” he continued. “The most recent updates had indicated that the Holy Father was slowly improving following his recent health crisis.”
During Holy Week, he said, there was a sense among many in the city that Pope Francis, though still weak, was gradually returning to public life after his recent hospitalization. Just the day before his death, the pontiff met with Vice President JD Vance, and he gave his Easter urbi et orbi blessing. He even rode in the popemobile, blessing the crowds.
But when the Holy Father died, “word spread fairly quickly that morning,” Father Wahlmeier said, “from texts from other priests, news alerts, and finally the tolling bells of Rome.”
The pair decided to go to the chapel and pray a rosary for the Holy Father—remembering his often-repeated request: “Do not forget… pray for me!”
In the evening, they joined the crowds in St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for the happy repose of the Holy Father.
There was “a certain fittingness” to the Lord’s timing, Father Schwenka said.
“The Holy Father passed on Easter Monday, just after celebrating the Lord’s Resurrection—during the Jubilee of Hope. As the city and the world mourn the loss of our spiritual father, we are reminded that our hope is rooted in Christ and His promise of everlasting life.
“The next few weeks will certainly be historical and it’s a gift to be able to witness it first-hand in the Eternal City,” he added.
Hannah Theisen
Hannah Theisen, from Hastings, Neb., was in the square praying the rosary, as well. She moved to Rome last August, and is studying at the American University of Rome. While the last eight months have blessed her with many spiritual experiences, she said, the most powerful have come since Easter Sunday.
Theisen attended Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square with approximately 35,000 others. Cardinal Angelo Comastri presided over the Mass, but at its conclusion, she said, “the square was filled with great emotion — cheering, clapping, tears, and shouts of joy — as Pope Francis made a surprise appearance.”
Though visibly frail, the Holy Father wished everyone a happy Easter and gave the traditional urbi et orbi blessing, which included a plenary indulgence. He then passed through the square in the popemobile, greeting and blessing the crowds.
“As I stood just 15 feet away from Pope Francis,” Theisen said, “I was overwhelmed with deep joy and gratitude — but also a profound sense of sorrow. He looked and sounded gravely ill, yet His Holiness continued to bless and wave to all of us.
“In those moments,” she continued, “he seemed to offer up every ounce of his pain and suffering. It is difficult to put my thoughts and emotions from this experience into words, but I am deeply grateful to have witnessed Pope Francis’s final public appearance and blessing firsthand.”
When news of the Holy Father’s death broke on Easter Monday morning, she said, the city of Rome entered a period of deep mourning. Flags were flown at half-staff, public events were suspended, sporting events postponed, and many restaurants and grocery stores closed for the day.
“As you can imagine, Rome is always busy and buzzing, yet the city was different,” she said. “Despite the crowds and traffic, a sense of stillness was present.”
She described the atmosphere at the evening rosary as one of “reverence and unity.”
“I’m incredibly thankful to have prayed alongside so many.”
She encouraged Catholics to continue to pray for the repose of the Holy Father’s soul.
“Additionally, remember in your prayers the cardinals, Church officials, clergy, religious, and all those making difficult decisions and preparations, as well as the many security and law enforcement agencies working to ensure public safety and order,” she said. “Our collective prayers are crucial, especially as the Holy Spirit descends upon the conclave to guide the election of the next successor to St. Peter.”
Others throughout the Diocese of Lincoln who had experiences with Pope Francis shared their reflections with the Register.
Fr. Morin
“I had the privilege of being in St. Peter’s Square when Pope Francis was elected,” recalled Father James Morin, vice chancellor. “I remember the excitement in the crowd as we waited for the new pope to emerge, and the cheer that erupted when he was finally announced. But the most striking moment that evening was when the new Holy Father asked everyone to pause for a moment to pray for him. Immediately, the crowd of several hundred thousand people went completely silent, and for an entire minute no one shouted or stirred.
“I remember watching the pope bow his head,” he continued, “and I had an almost palpable sense of the world praying for our new shepherd. I think at that moment, I became more aware of the great burden that the papacy must be for a man to take upon his shoulders.”
Father Morin later met Pope Francis in person on three occasions. Two of those meetings included long question-and-answer sessions between the pope and the priests Father Morin was living with.
“While the superior of our house wanted to provide the pope with a prepared set of questions,” he recalled, “he said he preferred to do it spontaneously, and that we ask whatever was on our mind.”
Fr. Kane
Father Brian Kane, now rector of St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward, had just arrived for a new assignment at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia in 2015 when Pope Francis visited the city – and the seminary.
“For three days, we were filled with anticipation as we awaited the Holy Father,” he said. “His parting words to us priests and seminarians still resonate with me: ‘Never forget, fasting and penance have not gone out of style.’”
He added that Pope Francis’ 2013 Chrism Mass call to priests— “be shepherds with the smell of sheep”—profoundly shaped his priesthood.
“It inspires my work with seminarians and new priests, urging us to get our hands dirty, meet people where they are, and guide them toward Jesus, pouring ourselves out,” he said.
Father Kane added that Pope Francis’ 2017 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, or The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, has deeply influenced seminary formation, including at St. Gregory the Great Seminary.
"This renewed guideline for forming seminarians emphasizes a profound intimacy with Jesus, fostering future priests to live as men of virtue, integrity, strength, and humility in their priestly vocation," he said.
Fr. Schilmoeller
Father Matthew Schilmoeller, assistant pastor of St. John the Apostle Parish in Lincoln, met Pope Francis in 2020 when he was a seminarian studying in Rome. Archbishop George Lucas had come to Rome on behalf of the Diocese of Lincoln as apostolic administrator. When he met with the Holy Father, the archbishop invited the three Lincoln seminarians being formed in Rome at the time, along with two seminarians of his archdiocese.
“This first occasion on which I was blessed to meet the Holy Father was an encounter with his bright humor,” Father Schilmoeller recalled.
“Upon receiving his cheerful and genuine greeting, he turned to Archbishop Lucas and remarked, ‘Lui è qui per la sua prima comunione, no?’ (‘He’s here for his First Communion, no?’).
“I knew enough Italian to understand the phrase and we all broke into laughter,” he said. “He was happy to discover that there were young, childlike vocations sprouting from the Midwest. I keep a photo of this engagement on my desk.”
Father Schilmoeller was also able to serve a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in November 2021, and he served as a deacon for the Chrism Mass in 2023, over which the pope presided. He was also present with the whole North American College in an audience with Pope Francis in January 2023.
“Though I never enjoyed an interaction quite like the first,” he said, “I would be happy to share with him that not only have I received my First Holy Communion, but now Holy Orders to the sacred priesthood of Jesus Christ.”
Father Schilmoeller said Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium was particularly influential in encouraging his perspective on the call to the priesthood as a vocation to constant discipleship to Jesus Christ, filled with zeal for evangelization.”
Editor's note: Read more about Father Schilmoeller's time at the North American College here.
Lauren Gage
Lauren Gage, a member of the Cathedral of the Risen Christ Parish in Lincoln, saw that zeal in person, as well.
“Ever since I learned of the sposi novelli (‘newlywed couples’) blessing tradition,” she said, “I dreamt of the day I could walk the streets of Rome with my new groom, in my beautiful wedding dress, to receive a special newlywed blessing from the Holy Father.”
While she said she had to wait for that day a little longer than expected, “it finally came in the summer of 2023.”
“My husband Taylor and I traveled to Italy for our honeymoon and arrived in the Eternal City on what had to be the hottest week of the year.”
As they waited for the Wednesday audience, she said they worried Pope Francis would cancel, due to a hospital stay the week earlier.
“But there he was, ever committed to tending to his flock,” she recalled. “Although he was in a wheelchair and in poor health, he addressed and blessed us, full of the same joy he exhibited the day he was elected pontiff. This was the joy we read about in his encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium: ‘Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.’”
Her husband, a newly confirmed Catholic at the time, was moved to see that, in spite of physical difficulties, the pope took time “in the harsh Roman sun to greet each of the newly married couples – numbering nearly 100. At one moment, he paused and tenderly blessed a pregnant mother and her unborn child.”
Lauren said they think of the day with grateful affection for Pope Francis, and for his witness to love and encouragement in the midst of suffering.
“May he rest in the peace of Christ, and may his legacy of joy endure for generations to come,” she said.
