Today marks the fifth anniversary of one of the most shocking and moving scenes in recent history: Pope Francis walking alone through a completely empty St. Peter’s Square on a rainy and silent afternoon, praying for all humanity. It was March 27, 2020, in the midst of global confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people were following the live broadcast from their homes, seeking comfort, meaning and hope.
In the midst of uncertainty, the Pope gave the world a moment of prayer in which many found relief. Francis’ words resonated in the hearts of believers and non-believers alike. Today, as we recall that moment, we hear them again as a compass for our memory and our present.
“At dusk… everything went dark.”
With these words from the Gospel of Mark (Mk 4:35), the Pope began his reflection: 
“For some weeks now it seems that everything has gone dark. Dense darkness has covered our squares, streets and cities… We find ourselves frightened and lost.”
In the midst of the pandemic, Pope Pope Francis reminded us of our shared fragility.. “We realized that we were in the same boat,” he said, “all fragile and disoriented, but important and necessary, all called to row together.”
Pope Francis’ prayer: a plea for hope
In the midst of the pain, Pope Francis did not limit himself to describing the fear, fragility or discouragement that enveloped us. He went further. He turned suffering around, and with the power of the Gospel invited us to look to the Lord, to embrace the cross, to trust in Him even in the storm. He reminded us with clarity of a truth that continues to resonate strongly:
“No one is saved alone.”
In that prayer, the Pope also gave a name and a face to hope: the silent and generous dedication of so many men and women who, from their own place, supported the world when it seemed that everything was collapsing. Health workers, essential workers, nuns, priests, volunteers… ordinary people, often invisible. So many saints next door! Those who, without making noise, with small daily gestures, were light in the darkness.
Anonymous heroes who, without knowing it, incarnated God’s love in the midst of fear, reminding us that hope is built with concrete hands, with available hearts, with dedicated lives.
A message not to forget: “Why are you afraid?”
The force of that message is still valid five years later. It was not a simple homily or a symbolic act: it was a living word, spoken in the heart of the storm, that still challenges us today. 
“Why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith?” Jesus asked his disciples in the midst of the troubled sea.
Pope Francis made those words his own, and addressed them to all of us, as an urgent call to wake up, to trust, to turn our hearts to God.
“With Him on board…you don’t get shipwrecked.”
In his prayer, Francis did not only console: he invited us to to return to the essentials. To rediscover what really sustains our life when everything is shaky: faith, community, solidarity. He encouraged us to leave behind the false securities, the empty haste, the routines that anesthetize the soul.
“We have an anchor: on his Cross we have been saved.
We have one hope: in his Cross we have been healed and embraced.”
That message did not expire with the end of confinement. It is a compass for the road. A word we must not forget.
Five years later, what have we learned?
That day, the world stopped… and also woke up. In the midst of fear, loneliness and loss, something profound ignited in millions of hearts: the desire to return to what is essential, to care for others, to trust beyond the storm. The voice of Pope Francis, in that empty St. Peter’s Square, was not just a plea: it was an echo of the Gospel that reminded us that we are not alone, that we are in the same boat.
Today, five years later, as we listen again to that prayer that marked a milestone in the spiritual history of the world, we wonder:
Have we learned to live with more faith, more solidarity, more compassion?
The memory of that afternoon is not only a memory: it is a living flame, a living flame for hope. In this Holy Yearlet us look back with gratitude and respect. Let us remember those who departed, let us embrace the pain we experienced and let us give thanks to God for not having let us out of his hand. Because, as the successor of Peter said on that night of rain and silence:
“Do not be afraid. Let us trust in the Lord. For with Him, life never dies.”
*Images courtesy of: VaticanMedia.