The slide show captures an entire life of service.

In one photo, Pope Francis blesses a baby, cradling its small head in his right hand. In another, Francis addresses the U.S. Congress standing under a colossal American flag. Another still shows the late Pope, then known only as Cardinal Bergoglio, kissing a man’s feet at a mass in Buenos Aires in 2008 that brought together young people trying to overcome addiction.

When members of the Catholic community attend public vigils on Friday to honor the Pope, who died on Monday, they will be met with these images of a spiritual leader beloved for his humility, compassion and inclusivity.

Four Paneuf Funeral Homes and Crematoriums located in Boscawen, Manchester, Nashua and Brattleboro, Vermont, will open their chapel doors to community members from 10 a.m. to noon, offering visitors a peaceful place for solemn remembrance, as many local churches have also done in the days since the pontiff’s death. 

“Our chapels are places of peace and prayer,” said Buddy Phaneuf, president of the funeral company. “As a funeral home rooted in community, we felt it important to provide a space for those who wish to honor him and reflect on his extraordinary life.”

Parishioners from across the state gathered in Manchester on Tuesday at a Mass for the repose of the Holy Father’s soul. Bob Dunne, director of public policy for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, said the service represented a profound moment of unity and offered a reminder of the “central mystery of the faith.”

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, died on Easter Monday, one day after issuing a final Easter address and blessing crowds from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He was 88 years old.

The timing of the pontiff’s death is not lost on Catholics around the world, including Dunne.

“Right now, we’re focused on praying for Pope Francis, but we’re not mourning,” he said. “Easter is a sign that death does not have the last word. When we celebrate the funeral of any Catholic, in particular the death of a pope during the Easter season, we certainly do mourn, but that mourning is always mindful of the belief that, through death, life is changed, not ended.”

As such, the pope’s passing is what Dunne would call a “God-wink,” a seeming coincidence originating from the divine.

He said Pope Francis’s life of integrity — “not just talking the talk, but walking the walk” — has inspired his public policy work in the State House and will continue to inspire the local social work of the Church. 

“One of the things he talked about from the beginning was his desire that the church be a missionary church, that we go out into the peripheries and become what he called ‘credible witnesses to the love of God shown to us through Jesus Christ,’” Dunne said. “Jesus welcomed the outcast, healed the sick, provided people with comfort and hope and mercy and love. We, as the Catholic church in New Hampshire, should also be a credible witness to these things.”

Public vigils will be held on Friday at Phaneuf Funeral Homes and Crematorium locations in Boscawen, Manchester, Nashua and Brattleboro, Vermont, from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, visit www.obits.phaneuf.net/pope-francis.

Rebeca Pereira can be reached at rpereira@cmonitor.com