Newswise — As the world continues to mourn the passing of Pope Francis, many are surprised by the feeling of deep personal loss they feel for a Pope they never met ahead of his funeral this weekend. While his declining health has been a topic of discussion in recent months, his activity the day before his passing on Easter filled many with optimism and reassurance.
Pope Francis spent Easter morning greeting the faithful in St. Peter's Square, appearing energetic and engaged. He also held meetings within the Vatican, seemingly demonstrating a renewed strength. This apparent vigor, followed by his sudden passing just hours later from a stroke and subsequent heart failure, shocked many who believed–and hoped–he had turned a corner. All over the world, people from all walks of life and faiths expressed sadness and grief, with many saying they felt as if they’d lost a beloved family member.
Pope Francis was a symbol of faith, tradition, and spiritual guidance for millions of people. Such symbolic losses are heightened by our ubiquitous, immediate and graphic social media feeds.
“Many Catholics, as well as non-Catholics, had what’s called a parasocial connection with the pope – even though they had never met him,” says Dr. Gary Small, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center. “His constant media exposure, and ability to come across as accessible and relatable, in great part because of his widely publicized interactions with everyday people, created a sense of intimacy in their relationship with him.”
Pope Francis was widely known as the “People’s Pope” for his down to earth and approachable nature and advocacy for poor and marginalized groups.
“These one-sided emotional relationships are common with public figures – the person truly feels like they know the luminary and is often comforted by the connection, so when the celebrity dies, they mourn their death as if a close friend or relative passed.”
Hackensack Meridian Health mental health experts can discuss why and how our brains form a bond with figures who don’t know us, and what about leaders like Pope Francis tugged at the hearts of even those who are expressing their grief on social media while sharing that they are not religious.
They can also offer tips for how to discuss the pope’s death with children at a time when the ubiquitous presence of news–through notifications on their tech devices, among other things–makes it almost impossible to be shielded from current events.
HMH experts are available for interviews on these and other topics relating to grief.
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