Rome, 21 April (LaPresse) – “Alongside the pain of Pope Francis” death, I feel, as I said this morning, a sense of emptiness, a sense of deprivation of a point of reference to which I looked. He won over the world from the very first moment, already with his choice of name’. These were the words of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in a video message on the Quirinale website on the passing of Pope Francis. ‘A Jesuit, son of the spirituality of St Ignatius,’ recalled Mattarella, ‘he referred to St Francis, emphasising the richness of charisms, which are integrated in the Church.’ ‘How can we forget Laudato sì on the equitable use of natural forces, or Fratelli tutti on the uniqueness of the human family, his constant attention to the peripheries of the world, to the poor, to the weakest,’ he emphasised, ’to migrants, certainly also remembering his ancestors, who emigrated from Piedmont to Argentina, or his prayer alone in St Peter's Square during the days of Covid.’