Pope Francis has refused the advice to slow down for the last few years, preferring to “die with his boots,” according to a close helper.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Archbishop Paul Galachar, the Vatican Foreign Minister since 2014, said the Pope was forced to continue because he knew he was able to help powerless.
As he describes a polite, gentle and compassionate man, Archbishop Galaher also said that Pope Francis knows his own mind and often opposes the advice of the people around him.
“One thing I always admired on him – though he did not always agree at first – it was that he was not running away from difficult things,” said Archbishop Galaher.
“He will face the problems and this showed remarkable courage,” he added.
Pope Francis, the first of his kind Latin American Pope, died on Monday 88 years after a period of poor health, which led to the fact that he spent five weeks in a hospital with double pneumonia.
Sitting in his reception in the Vatican, Archbishop Galaher said that he was even stunned by the magnitude of the void he feels was left by the death of the Pope.
“He was very voice of the voiceless, and it was very aware that the greater part of the people were powerless and did not have their fate in their hands. I think he feels that he could contribute to something to make things a little better for them,” he added.
The Vatican employee, who accompanies the Pope of his foreign trips, said he was more attracted to the plight of migrants and women and children caught in conflict, saying that they feel that their suffering is “in a very real way”.
Archbishop Galacheer suggested the meaning of Pope Francis that he could have a hand to help relieve suffering was what made him continue to work at a full pace, even when he did not say it, saying that it was “66 or 67 years” because the Pope had taken a break.
Pope Francis' first trip outside Rome was to meet with migrants on the Italian island of Lamudusa. But then he travels widely abroad, visiting more than 60 countries, and not always those his assistants wanted him to go.
Archbishop Galaher remembered the time when the Pope wanted to visit the Central African Republic and a meeting where many advisers told him it was too dangerous to go.
“He just said,” Well, I go and if no one wants to come, well, I will go alone, “which of course was more ashamed to us,” said Archbishop Galachar.
Pope Francis Visit the Central African Republic in 2015. As he wanted.
“He was always ready to surprise us with who he was ready to meet and speak. Sometimes this institution (Vatican) would say that one should be a little more reasonable and he would not listen to it.”
The Vatican Foreign Minister described the Pope's ability to jump through difficult objects with clarity, reminiscent of employees, for example, to remember migrants as human beings, not just “numbers” in their discussions about them.
During foreign trips over the years, Pope Francis could sometimes see how nodding for sleep during official events with politicians and heads of state or carrying an expression that he assumed he was not enjoying the moment.
Archbishop Galacheer has acknowledged what observers have long suspected that the pope will soon be surrounded by regular people, but especially young people, not to meet the “great and good”.
He believes that Pope Francis' heritage has many dimensions, but certainly involves the destruction of the barriers between the public and the institution of the church, and more in particular his leader, which he described as “very accessible, quite normal.”
“I liked to tell anecdotes before, and he also liked things like that. The last thing you once told me two weeks ago was,” Don't lose your sense of humor. “
The Vatican said more than 250,000 people were respecting Pope Francis between Wednesday and Friday during his laying state in the basilica of St. Peter before his funeral on Saturday.
- You can watch and follow the live funeral here on the website and the BBC News application. In the UK there will be a live coverage of the BBC One from 0830-1230 BST, presented by Reeta Chakrabarti, available to watch iplayerS There will also be live coverage of BBC News Channel Represented by Mariam Moshiri. You can also follow the funeral coverage of the funeral BBC World Service