Pope Francis rings a bell called “the voice of the unborn,” before his general audience at the Vatican on October 27, 2021. PHOTO/VATICAN NEWS
When Pope Francis passed away, the Catholic world mourned, and tradition called for bells to toll in cathedrals across the globe. In Uganda, however, many looked up to Rubaga Hill, the symbolic seat of Catholicism in the country, expecting the solemn clang of the great cathedral bells, but they did not toll.
The Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala in Uganda, Rev Fr Pius Male, confirmed on April 24 that the bells were never rung due to a timing fault, where the incident was announced by the Vatican in the middle of the Easter Monday mass.
“The Vatican official channels announced the death of the Holy Father as the Cathedral was conducting the Easter Monday mass. Additionally, the Uganda Catholic Fraternity had not received official communication of the death until the official communication from the Vatican through Rt. Rev. Luigi Bianco, the Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda,” he said.
He adds: “The message had circulated everywhere, and what we did instead of ringing the bells, we had to wait for official letters and then convey the message to the public and talk to the media.” Rev Fr Male explains that the significance of ringing the bells is to inform the faithful and sound a mourning period for the Church as they embark on other mourning preparations as directed by the Vatican church.
“When a pope dies, the tolling of church bells is not just tradition, but it is the voice of the Church breaking the silence of death. It alerts the faithful, calls them to prayer, and unites Catholics across the world in mourning. Here in Uganda, the sound of Rubaga’s bells would have echoed the grief felt in Rome,” he said.
Why do bells toll in the Vatican?
With the death of Pope Francis, announced by the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church began to elaborate rituals steeped in tradition that mark the end of one papacy and lead to the start of the next one. The sounding of bells, particularly in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, marks the death of a pope and signals the beginning of the process of electing a new one.
This ancient tradition serves as a public acknowledgement of the Pope’s passing and the church’s transition into a period of announcing the papal throne as being empty. On April 21, the Vatican’s bells rang from St Peter’s Basilica to officially announce the death of Pope Francis.
The recently restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris rang its bells 88 times on Easter Monday, once for each year of the Argentine pope’s life. The sound of the bells echoed across Vatican City, signalling not only the loss of the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics worldwide but also inviting the faithful into collective prayer and reflection.
The tolling is deeply symbolic, representing both the end of a papal era and the Church’s call to unity in grief. During the bell tolling at the cathedral, Catholics engage in mercy blessing prayers to the Pope. The Vatican’s bell tolling is expected to continue in the days leading to the Pope’s funeral on April 26, forming part of the official mourning liturgy, setting the stage for a solemn ceremony that will draw leaders from around the world.
Background
Pope Francis, the first Latin American and Jesuit pope, assumed the papacy in 2013 as the 266th Pope in the history of the Catholic Church. He is known for promoting humility, social justice, and inclusivity in the Church. The pontiff spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year, suffering from double pneumonia, and appeared to be slowly recovering. Pope Francis’s health had gradually declined since 2021.
History of the church bells tolling
The practice of tolling church bells at the time of death is ancient, with the use of bells in British churches dating back to 680 AD. The ringing of bells has been part of British heritage for much earlier on, dating back even farther to the days when the missionaries rang small handheld bells to call the faithful to prayer. The practice of ringing church bells is elsewhere said to have been employed in 400 AD by Paulinus, Bishop of Nola in Campania.
In the Middle Ages, bells were thought to have supernatural powers. The tradition is rooted in the belief that the sound of bells warded off evil spirits. This practice was common in pagan traditions, and the association between bells and death has persisted through the centuries, evolving into a solemn ritual. The specific details, such as the number of tolls or the timing, likely varied across regions and denominations, reflecting local customs and beliefs related to death and the afterlife.
THE POPE AND JOY
Pope Francis often spoke of the importance of joy. He warned his priests of the danger of losing joy in their lives and becoming sour, as if pickled in vinegar. His was a papacy of joy, and that will remain a defining feature of his tenure as Pope.
He wanted Catholics to embrace the gift of Christian joy, even in the midst of life’s struggles — not a faux smile or a forced happiness, but a recognition that their identity and their future is shaped by a person and a world that transcends this transitory life.
