For Mary Carmen Gallegos, this journey isn’t just a trip — it’s a farewell to someone she considered a spiritual father.
Early Tuesday morning, Gallegos boarded a flight to Rome to say her final goodbye to Pope Francis, who passed away earlier this week. For many Catholics around the world, this marks the end of a papacy that redefined leadership in the Church with compassion, humility and inclusion. But for Gallegos, it’s deeply personal.
“I’m not a president, I’m just a normal person,” she said. “But he looked at me. He took a rosary I gave him — one made by Indigenous people in Mexico — and gave me one of his in return. That moment was a gift from God.”
Gallegos, who attends a small immigrant church in Houston, says Pope Francis was more than a global figure — he was someone who helped reopen and restore her very own parish.
“When he came to the church, we were able to rescue and get back, by the grace of God, our church. He included everyone. Women, the humble, the overlooked — and he never judged.”
Her connection to the late Pope stretches back years, with trips to the Vatican and moments of brief but powerful encounters. One such moment was when she hand-delivered a letter and told him that Our Lady of Guadalupe loved him.
“He turned to me and said, ‘Pray for me,’” she recalled tearfully. “That was the best gift I could ever give — my prayers.”
Though she’s visited the Vatican before, this trip holds a different weight.
“It’s going to be very sad,” she said. “Every time I’ve been to Rome, I thought, ‘Pope Francis is there.’ Even when he was traveling, it felt different. But now… he’s truly gone.”
Gallegos plans to stay in Rome for several days and attend the funeral, which is expected to draw millions from across the globe. Though she won’t be present for the conclave — the papal election — she says she’ll be praying for the next leader of the Catholic Church to carry the same spirit Pope Francis embodied.
“He said, ‘Go out and make noise.’ He believed in a Church that wasn’t afraid to fall, to get back up, to love without conditions,” Gallegos said. “He led with simplicity and forgiveness. He made all of us feel like we mattered.”
She’s bringing one small item with her — a cloth from a previous papal visit to Mexico that reads “México te quiere” (Mexico loves you). She says it’s her way of bringing a piece of home with her on this emotional pilgrimage.
While Gallegos may not return for the next papal election, she says this moment — this goodbye — was one she had to make.
“It’s not just about death,” she said. “It’s about closure. About honoring a man who made our Church feel alive again.”
