Governor-General Samantha Mostyn hopes Pope Francis’s legacy will inspire a global recommitment to peace and compassion, saying the world needs leaders grounded in humility, mercy and courage. Source: The Age.
Speaking after representing Australia at both Francis’s funeral in Vatican City and Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli, Ms Mostyn said the rare convergence of the two solemn events had prompted deep reflection on global leadership and the moral clarity it demands.
“[The Pope] showed that it is possible to be a great world leader but always act with compassion and concern for those that are often marginalised and left out,” she said. “His life, to his church and to his faith, was grounded in humility and care for others.”
Ms Mostyn and her husband, Simeon Beckett, were among the 250,000 gathered in St Peter’s Square to farewell the Pope. She said the service, staged on a warm, cloudless Roman morning, was marked not by grandeur but by the quiet dignity that defined the Pope’s life.
“There was a solemnity and serenity to the Mass and a beauty in every aspect of the event … It felt appropriate for the celebration of this Pope’s life,” she said. “There was something extraordinary about all of us in that moment. To be there in person is something I will never forget.”
For Ms Mostyn, a long-time student of leadership across sectors, the significance of Francis’s final actions carried particular weight.
In one last public appearance on Easter Sunday, he delivered a poignant message of peace, urging world leaders to “use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development”.
“What struck me in his final days over Easter was how he chose to spend them – with those he cared most about: prisoners, children, and the communities he moved among,” Ms Mostyn said.
“His last words were a call for peace at a time when there was so much conflict. To me, that’s the essence of leadership: staying true to your values, no matter the pressures of the moment.”
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Seated among world leaders, governor-general was struck by message she hoped they all received (By Rob Harris, The Age)
