Sister Geneviéve and the Pope

Many different layers of Pope Francis’ life were spotlighted over the week between his death and funeral, as media outlets assembled teams, made travel arrangements, prepared scripts and researched archived materials to appropriately and respectfully cover his funeral.

But the story that most touched my heart was that of the friendship between Sister Geneviéve Jeanningros and the pontiff.

I was left with a lot of questions needing to be answered and my curiosity piqued when I saw brief — and misleading — references to the nun. A video of a tearful, mourning nun crying at the corner of the roped-off area with the bier bearing the pope’s casket recently made the rounds on social media. Clearly, she was the only woman amid the sea of upper-level clergy present. A headline superimposed over the video said the nun broke protocol in entering the basilica to pay her respects and that no one had the heart to remove her.

But in reality, Sister, in recognition of her long-time and close friendship with Francis, was escorted to the area and allowed time to pray and mourn for her fallen friend. In those moments, Francis was not a pope, not the global leader of Catholics, not a bureaucrat, not a celebrity. He was a friend being respected, mourned and missed by another friend. It was simply a very human experience being played out on a global stage.

Sister was allowed to enter an area usually reserved for cardinals, bishops and Catholic priests, according to online reports, which, of course, excludes all women. Protocol may have been broken, but the nun was not the one to break it. It was broken for her. I for one am glad hearts prevailed and rules were overlooked to allow this moment to happen.

But even with rules broken to accommodate her, she remained outside of the stanchions roping off a smaller area containing the bier. She touched hearts around the world as she stood outside a bordering post, wiping her eyes with a tissue as she gazed upon the body of her friend. In a move that would no doubt have been approved by the pope, she was allowed the time to publicly grieve her personal loss.  

Sister Geneviéve mourns her friend, Pope Francis.
Photo via Yahoo

Sister Geneviéve, 81 and French-Argentine, met then-Bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2005 under tragic circumstances. Geneviéve was the niece of Léonie Duquet, a French nun murdered in the 1970s while Argentina was ruled by a succession of dictators. When Duquet’s remains were found and identified in 2005,  Geneviéve met with the bishop, who granted permission for Duquet to be reburied in Buenos Aires.

Over the years since, their paths crossed often as they championed many of the same causes and attended many of the same gatherings. They were pictured together at many events, with Geneviéve sitting next to Francis, sharing a hug or enjoying a laugh in many of those images.

After being named pope in 2013, Francis often invited her to Mass at the Vatican and was known to visit her at her caravan residence, according to online reports.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, at Francis’ request, Geneviéve worked with fairground workers who lost their incomes because of imposed health restrictions. She also met with Latin American transgender sex workers during that time.

Sister championed the LGBTQ+ community and established the habit of visiting Francis weekly with a group of LGBTQ+ residents, according to the Agence France-Press. “I always wrote to him a little message to tell him who was coming,” she said, according to the AFP.

In an interview with Noticias Telemundo at the Vatican, she described Francis as “a brother, a pope, a friend.”

So as to protocol, in the end, right and good prevailed. This was a moment without job titles, without rigid rules, without a hierarchy that doesn’t value women, without gender exclusivity, without any other kind of bias.

Very simply, a friend had died and a surviving friend was allowed to mourn.

I’d expect nothing less from any church truly walking the walk.