Abilene woman marks Jubilee Year at the Vatican, sees Pope Francis in his final days

Yahoo

30-04-2025

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Abilene resident Rochelle Johnson grew up in the country with a strong Catholic faith.
'I'm a cradle Catholic, and my parents were Catholic, and our life centered around the church. We were raised out on a farm, and there were many things that we didn't do because we were raised out of our country. But we went to church every Sunday. Where I was raised, we were out so far in the country that sometimes we didn't have a priest, and we were a mission church. So even with that, the community gathered at church, and we said the rosary, or we said the Stations of the Cross. It's very important to me,' added Johnson.
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While she knew she wanted to visit Rome one day, it was her son, Garrett Johnson, who visited last spring and saw Saint Peter's Square and the Vatican. He called her during his 2024 vacation to plan a trip for Easter 2025.
'He called from there and said, 'Mom, you need to come here next year.' It's a Jubilee year in the church, once every 50 years. He said, 'I want to bring you here next year for Easter, so that we can celebrate Easter at the Vatican.' So, we called his brother and made it a family trip,' shared Johnson.
Leaving the Tuesday before Easter, Johnson said her family celebrated Holy Thursday at Saint Peter's Basilica, Good Friday at a different church, and Easter Sunday at the Vatican. Although Pope Francis was not present at Mass due to health complications, Johnson shared that after Mass, no one left. Crowds waited at St. Peter's Square, and all of a sudden, Pope Francis came out of a window and blessed the crowd. Another priest read Pope Francis' Easter message, but then Pope Francis decided to greet the crowd even closer.
'We didn't think that we would see him at all. So, the fact that he came out in the window was something. But then to come down in the popemobile, we were able to get right up on the fence, on the one on one of the lanes that he came by. So, my son took a selfie of us with the pope,' explained Johnson.
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The next morning, news spread quickly that Pope Francis had died, and Johnson immediately noticed a change.
'Monday, I got a text. One of my sons and his wife were staying in a different Airbnb than we were. They texted and said the pope passed away. I was like, you're kidding. So, I opened up the link that they had sent me, which was a news link in Rome, and read it. We had some other tours planned in the Vatican. We had done a lot of stuff at the Vatican prior to Easter, but we had some other stuff planned in the week, and that was all canceled because of the preparations for the funeral and so forth,' explained Johnson.
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While Johnson said that there were some things she disagreed with the Pope, she understood why he is often referred to as the people's Pope. She shared that the experience was very emotional, from visiting the Vatican to climbing the sacred stairs, and seeing all the different churches in Rome with her sons and their wives.
'He had a lot of love and concern for those who are less fortunate than us. I think that's very important. Certainly, a tenant of the church, the corporate works of mercy that were taught to visit the poor, to visit the sick, and to visit those in prison. He had a lot of good things to teach us,' explained Johnson.
Now, back in Abilene, Johnson stresses this is an experience that was once in a lifetime — looking forward to sharing stories with family, friends, and members of her church.
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