Everyone at Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust and our family of schools are deeply saddened by the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday.

Bishop Terry led the tributes in our diocese after Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday, speaking of his shock at hearing the news after the Holy Father had seemed to be recovering from his recent illness.

“I truly believe that from the moment he was elected Pope right up until the last breath he accepted the role of Peter, the papacy, as a gift from God and trusted that he would be given all that was needed to fulfil the role,” he said. “He was not afraid to show his own weakness and vulnerability right up to the end, believing God could work through his frailty and teaching us all the lesson that the same is true of us. 

“He will surely be known as the Pope of the poor and the marginalised, for he spent so much of his ministry for and behalf of them. Francis by name and Francis by nature; he brought a real breath of radical fresh air to the ministry of Peter in the Church of today.”

Bishop Terry will celebrate a Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis at St Mary’s Cathedral in Middlesbrough on Tuesday morning.

The cathedral will be open until 6pm daily until Friday for private prayer and a Book of Remembrance will be available for all to sign.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.