The government, which was represented by the Vice President, Ms Jessica Alupo and the Uganda Law Society (ULS) while holding a mass in eulogy of Pope Francis, has unanimously embraced the message of asking leaders holding public offices to emulate the Holy Father’s style, described as “simple and exemplary.”
In President Museveni’s speech read by Ms Alupo on Thursday, he said, “Pope Francis comforted the weak, visited the sick, supported the disabled and the disadvantaged. So, we, the believers in Christ, know that that’s where Jesus resides, because in his teaching, he says that when you see someone who is naked and you clothe him, you have clothed Him.”
The leaders and members of the ULS, including some who are Members of Parliament who attended mass at ULS House, reiterated the message from the gospel that was preached by Rev Guiseppe Fillippe, Bishop emeritus of Kotido Diocese, who was the main celebrant.
“Pope Francis always made the distinction between the sin which is to be condemned and the sinner who must be saved and rehabilitated while strongly standing up for justice for the marginalised,” Rt Rev Filippe said during the homily.
Mr John Jet Tumwebaze, a senior member of the ULS, and Mr Barnabus Tinkasimire, the Buyaga MP, juxtaposed the humility of Pope Francis and what they called the pomp of government leaders, calling upon them to care about the local community development rather than making themselves at the expect of the local people.
“Pope Francis spent his papacy time visiting the marginalised and down-trodden people, yet our leaders here spend more time flying in first class for trips and holidays abroad than they visit their poor voters in the neighborhood. They even steal from the poor to build themselves palatial houses, and yet the Pope opted for a simple guest house over the expensive housing,” Mr Tumwebaze said.
Mr Isaac Ssemakadde, the president of ULS, who fled the country following his impending arrest from court warrants, attended the mass on Zoom as he shared updates on his official X handle.
“His was a radical gospel—not of platitudes, but of action. He tore through the gilded curtains of tradition with a heart ablaze for inclusivity, welcoming those the world had cast aside: the refugees fleeing war, the prisoners yearning for redemption, the queer souls seeking love in a Church too often cold to their cries,” Mr Ssemakadde said.
He added, “His voice thundered against the excesses of capitalism, calling it what it was—a machine that grinds the bones of the poor to dust while the rich feast. He was a reformer, unafraid to rattle the ancient bones of the Catholic Church. He challenged its hierarchy, its wealth, its silence on issues that mattered—climate change, migration, the dignity of every human soul. Oh, how the conservatives trembled at his audacity. How they scorned his humility—riding a simple Fiat instead of a gilded chariot, living in a guesthouse instead of a palace. But Francis knew what they could not grasp: true power lies not in pomp, but in the quiet strength of standing with the oppressed.”