Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis.
VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.
PHOTOS of Governor Hochul and His Holiness Pope Francis are available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
I did want to also acknowledge that as a Roman Catholic, I join billions across the globe as we mourn the passing of a true spiritual leader, and my recollection of meeting Pope Francis as a man of great humility, but also love of people.
And he made a comment that struck me, he says, “God does not abandon any of his children.” And that means he was fighting for the marginalized: members of the LGBTQ+ community, migrants, people who are impoverished, people who are in prison. Those were the ones that he gave God's compassion to. That's how I was raised as a Catholic, as a social justice Catholic. He was a man of peace but a fighter for justice, and we mourn his passing. May he rest in peace.
And grateful for the special blessing he gave my husband and I on the anniversary of our wedding, 40 years, when I met him in person last year during an invitation I received from him to speak at a climate conference. Again, a reminder of his outward view of the world that we all, regardless of religion, have a responsibility to the other countries that have not been responsible for creating climate change, but need our help as well. Just want to acknowledge his passing.