JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The funeral for Pope Francis brought some Catholics along the First Coast to a place they found fitting to reflect at — church.

A few parishioners at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Mandarin mentioned they watched some of the funeral coverage, then felt like going to church would give them a chance to pray for the pope and think about the impression he made.

“It’s an interesting time,” Parishioner Cole McCurdey said. “I’m actually a convert to the faith as of seven years ago.”

Pope Francis is the first pope McCurdey watched be laid to rest since he converted to Catholicism.

He felt compelled to head to St. Joseph’s in Mandarin for Mass shortly after the funeral ended.

“No matter where you are in the world, no matter what language you speak, no matter what nationality you are, every single Catholic is unified,” McCurdey said. “It’s universal. Catholic means universal. There’s a peace in it.”

He wasn’t the only one who came a little early for some time to pray.

“Definitely offer up prayers for his soul, and I think that he’s at rest,” Parishioner Mickey Willman said. “He’s with God now. That’s good. I think it’s a good place to be is in Church.”

Father Tom Willis from St. Mark’s The Evangelist says he’ll have a message of hope in his homilies for his congregation to help them cope.

“Pope Francis was with us for Easter Sunday and died the next morning within the joy of the resurrection for Christians is a great sense of hope for us to take,” Willis said.

Some felt heading to church gave them a place to think about what the future holds for the Catholic Church, and what they’d like to see in the first new pope in more than a decade.

“Bridges the gap between the traditionalists and the more progressive sides of the Catholic Church,” McCurdey said. “Lead the church into a new light, the diplomatic light as the one, true, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”

“I really think we need someone who follows the doctrines of the church a little better than he did,” Willman said.

“Whoever is elected has to be a man of deep faith, realizing he is an instrument of God to the people of the church, as well as the people of the world,” Willis said.

The conclave to select a new pope traditionally starts about 15-20 days after a pope passes away. Francis passed away Monday, April 21st.