Tributes paid to the Pope across the region

Tributes have been paid to Pope Francis from some of those in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire who met him.

Roman Catholics around the world have been in mourning since the Vatican confirmed the pontiff died at 07:35 local time (06:35 BST) on Monday.

He had addressed crowds at an Easter Sunday service a day earlier, despite being discharged from hospital only recently after weeks of treatment for an infection.

Sir Edward Leigh, MP for Gainsborough, met the Pope in his role as co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See, and he said the pontiff's final appearance showed "how kind he was".

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"He was in fine form yesterday and made an effort to go out to St Peter's Square in the Vatican even though he must have been feeling very ill, so it shows how kind he was," Sir Edward said.

"He devoted his life to a very humble way of looking after people and caring for them.

"I think he was determined when he took over the papacy to make it more human, and he moved out of the papal apartments and lived a very ordinary life devoted to other people, so he is a great loss."

Sir Edward recalled an audience he had with the Pope.

"He wasn't very comfortable speaking in English so I said a few words to him in Italian about a forthcoming debate, and he said he would pray for me, so that was very nice.

"He was trying to take the Church forward, [although] his main legacy will be that he didn't really change much of the Church's fundamental teaching."

Canon David Grant, Dean of Hull and East Yorkshire and the parish priest of St John of Beverley Catholic Church, remembered meeting the Pope in Rome in 2021.

"I was staying at the English College over there, which is where people from the UK and other English speaking countries attend for training," he said.

"I went with the new students to meet the Pope at an audience, and he saw these young men and then he saw me and we shared a joke about the age difference.

"It was very brief and then he moved on, but he came across as humorous, warm, and he had been a teacher himself, so he showed an affinity with students and that came across."

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Right Reverend Stephen Conway, said: "I am profoundly saddened to learn about Pope Francis's death on Easter Monday. His proclamations of unity, justice and fairness for all humanity have held such profound significance for bringing about the Kingdom of God on Earth.

"His outreach to the marginalised has been felt across the world, and holds a special place in my heart, as it will do for many.

"Today, I mourn with my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ, thinking particularly of my Roman Catholic colleague Bishop Patrick and all the priests and people in the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham.

"I pray that Pope Francis will rest in peace and rise in glory."

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