Pope’s shared heritage, focus on heaven inspire Latinos around the world
By John Shaughnessy
The moment remains etched in the mind of Felix Navarrete, a moment in which he felt even more closely connected in faith and a shared Latino heritage with Pope Francis.
The emotion of being in the presence of the pope filled Navarrete as he stood among the hundreds of thousands of people during the opening ceremony of World Youth Day in August of 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal.
“Although I could only see him from a distance, his presence was so powerful that it filled the entire Eduardo VII Park,” recalls Navarrete, the coordinator of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
“That day, I witnessed for the first time that his presence alone had brought the joy of the Gospel to thousands of people. It wasn’t just the euphoria of young people, but something more, something greater than emotions. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and you could feel it.”
While that moment has had a powerful, personal impact on Navarrete, he views the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope in 2013 as a momentous time in the lives of Latinos and the history of the Church.
“The joy that flooded the Latin American Church was indescribable,” recalls Navarrete, a native of Nicaragua. “For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, a Latino cardinal assumed no less than one of the world’s major leadership roles.”
Even more, Navarrete believes that Pope Francis’ 12 years as pope revealed him as a leader who energized the Latino Catholic community while leading the Church toward “a new form of discipleship.”
“With Pope Francis, we can see the resurgence of strong Latino leadership, not only in the Church, but also in other structures around the world,” he says. “His leadership has profoundly impacted our Latino community.
“His simplicity and determination have created a new form of discipleship, based on closeness and companionship with the entire Church, but with special attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized.”
Navarrete also offered this praise, “Pope Francis fulfilled his mission of being a herald of Christ’s Gospel and, with humility and courage, confronted a polarized world that clearly demands change.”
Navarrete has personally known the challenges of a polarized world. Committed to their Catholic faith, he and his wife Paholla fled Nicaragua in 2018 with their four children—escaping a Nicaraguan government that increasingly cracked down on the Church in their homeland.
Ever since, after securing visas from the U.S. government, they have created a new life in Indianapolis. Now in his third year of serving the archdiocese, Navarrete is inspired by the way Pope Francis’ strove to serve the Church and the world.
“In our ministry to the Hispanic community, accompaniment is crucial,” Navarrete says. “Working with migrants and people of different social and cultural backgrounds makes our mission even more challenging.
“However, Pope Francis’s invitation to go out to the peripheries has encouraged me to continue the work God has entrusted to me. Francis has helped me see my ministry not only as a job, but as an opportunity to be the Church for others and to heed the call to be a missionary disciple.”
Toward that goal, Navarrete’s initiatives have included training Hispanic lay leaders in evangelization efforts in predominantly Spanish-speaking parishes and in faith communities where Latinos are in the minority.
He has also started an annual Hispanic Family Camp in the hope of drawing families even closer together and into a deeper relationship with Christ
Most of all, his focus is on helping people receive the eternal reward that he believes Pope Francis has received.
“The more I reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis, the more I realize that we are made for heaven,” Navarrete notes.
“His passing on Easter Monday, though somewhat unexpected, fills my heart with joy and hope—hope in the resurrection, hope in the eternal life to which we are all invited. Now, it is up to us how we respond to it. The heavens are open.” †