When Pope Francis died Monday morning, the announcement surprised the world. Just one day before, the pope was giving the Easter blessing, waving to crowds in Vatican Square and from the popemobile.

The Rev. Robert Simon, the pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Brodheadsville, said he was surprised by the news of the pope’s death, but not that he was out among his people on Easter.

Both the Rev. Robert George, pastor of St. Joseph Parish of the Panther Valley in Summit Hill, and the Rev. Christopher Zelonis, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Lehighton, felt the same way.

George said, “I think the Holy Father from the beginning always wanted to be out and about with the people.”

“It’s a beautiful witness to his life,” Simon said. “He made a beautiful statement. He knew who he had to be for the city, for the world, for the people. He felt compelled to be with the people. He died the way he lived.”

Simon said the pope had been out during Holy Week, as well. On Holy Thursday, he continued his tradition of visiting inmates in prison. This year, his health prevented him from washing their feet, but not from the visit.

Pope Francis’ doctors had advised him to take it easy following his bout of double pneumonia in February that nearly killed him. But Francis wasn’t one to listen to “no” if he really wanted to do something.

Simon said that not long after Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013, he wanted to visit refugees who were forced onto the Island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. Francis was told by his team in the Vatican that he couldn’t just go there. It would take a year to make the arrangements. Soon after, they discovered that the new pope was looking into taking a commercial flight to the island.

“That’s when they discovered ‘we’re dealing with someone very different,’ ” Simon said.

That wasn’t new for Francis.

George said that when the pope was still a priest and bishop back in his native Argentina, he would take the bus to the office every day, just like everyday people. He wanted to be with the people. He never placed himself above the people.

Pope Francis went on to redefine the type papacy he would live. Instead of living in the Apostolic Palace, he insisted on living in the Vatican guesthouse. And as his health worsened and he needed a wheelchair, he insisted on it being a basic one, just like one anybody would use, Simon said.

Zelonis said he thinks his legacy will be “his outreach to those on the peripheries of society, the needy, both physically and spiritually.”

Pope Francis stressed to priests that they should not “cultivate a sense of superiority over the people, but instead as servants to them,” Zelonis said.

Similarly, George said, “His legacy would be his concern, especially for the marginalized, the poor, the refugee, the prisoner. He had a great concern for those that society misses, walks over, avoids. That’s the very reason he took the name of Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi.”

The saint was known for his dedication to the marginalized in society.

George said that like St. Francis, Pope Francis lived the Gospel, Matthew 25: 35-36 — “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”