'Closer to God,' Goshen principal attends Pope Francis' funeral

GOSHEN, Ind.-- For one Goshen principal, Virginia Munoz, her recent trip to Rome and Vatican City was not a vacation, but a pilgrimage.

Her trip with her daughters was to experience Holy Week and the canonization of the youngest saint to date, Carlo Acutis, but those plans changed with the death of Pope Francis. Instead, plans quickly changed to include the funeral of the leader of the Catholic Church.

They witnessed his surprise appearance on Easter Sunday.

"Just to see the pope, it just brings you closer to God," Munoz said. "He came, and appeared through the balcony, and he gave his blessing. You could tell that he was either fatigued or tired, but it was special."

The pontiff passed away the very next day.

"A couple hours before, we saw him, and we were so close," she said. "Like, we just went through the whole process of a pope funeral. So that was just very profound, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we weren't imagining, that's not why we went."

Munoz is the principal at St. John's Catholic School in Goshen. A framed photo of Pope Francis adorns her office wall. She is Hispanic and told ABC57 the student population is predominantly Hispanic.

"He was the first Hispanic, Latino pope," Munoz said, "so he understands our culture, our language."

We believed at ABC57 it was important to ask what it meant to have a Hispanic pope, in Spanish ,with the help of ABC57 assignment editor, Dulce Carrillo.

"Nos ayudar ver, para ver que los hispanos especialmente aquí en los estados unidos a ver que uno puede alcanzar ciertas cosas que tal vez no podíamos ver en otras ocasiones. Por qué él pudo ser y sabía mucho de la fe, sabia de nuestra cultura, entonces entendía, uno sentía como lo entendía a uno, el idioma, y pero también la cultural," Munoz said.

(Translation: He helped us see that Hispanics, especially here in the United States, can see someone reach those high places that we normally don’t see ourselves being in these occasions. Because he was able to see, do, and know so much about our faith and our culture. Which he was able to understand, and one felt like he was able to understand them, the language, and the culture.)

Francis was a pontiff, dedicated to those on the margins.

"Y aquí en estados unidos tenemos muchos inmigrantes. Entonces es ser con ellos compasivos. Somos católicos, tenemos que querer a toda la gente... uno como católico, está viendo al dios el projimo," Munoz said.

(Translation: And here in the United States there are many immigrants, which means to be compassionate towards them. We’re Catholics, we have to love all people... As a Catholic, you’re seeing god as your neighbor.)

It's a trip she'll never forget, for a pope with a legacy she'll forever cherish, and a message she'll continue to spread.

"Now, looking back, I just think that maybe he just knew that this was going to be his last appearance like this, and he just wanted to be with the people," she said. "He was a pope for the people."