Pope Leo XVI met with pilgrims from Egypt on Saturday, after learning one of the members of their group died on her way to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee.

Pascale Rafic, who was only 18, died between on the night between Friday and Saturday of cardiac arrest in the southern suburbs of Rome. She had suffered from a heart condition.

Meeting with the group of pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, Leo said sadness that death brings to all of them “is something that is very human and very understandable, especially being so far away from home and on an occasion like this when we really come together to celebrate our faith with joy.”

He said but then, “all of a sudden,we are reminded in a very powerful way, that our life is not superficial nor do we have control over our own lives nor do we know as Jesus himself says, neither the day nor the hour when for some reason our earthy life ends. But as we also learn in the Gospel, what Martha and Mary discovered when their brother Lazarus had died, and when Jesus was not with them at first but then came several days after his death, and their understanding was that Jesus is life and resurrection.”

“And so in a certain way, as we celebrate this Jubilee year of hope, we are reminded in a very powerful way how much our faith in Jesus Christ needs to be part of who we are, of how we live, of how we appreciate and respect one another, and especially of how we continue to move forward in spite of such painful experiences,” Leo added.

The pope said Saint Augustine says that when someone dies of course it is very human and very natural to cry, to feel that pain, to feel the loss of someone who is dear to them, “and yet he also says, do not mourn as pagans do, because we too have seen Jesus Christ die on the cross and rise from the dead.”

He told the pilgrims that the death of the young woman has touched their lives in a very personal and direct way.

“So, we thought at least, in the midst of this pain, that you all experience for the loss of your friend, that at least to have this opportunity to come together to pray, to renew our faith, and to ask God both for the eternal rest of our sister but also for strengthening and consolation, strengthening of our faith and to be renewed in hope and as Church, as brothers and sisters, we therefore have gathered together for that reason,” Leo said.