Jesuit priest Francisco Cortês Ferreira describes mourning as a continuous process

Father Francisco Cortês Ferreira, director of the Casa da Torre spirituality and culture center, said that mourning is a continuous experience rather than a single event. In an interview with Renascença and Agência Ecclesia, Ferreira noted that mourning is tied to the love experienced for a person's entire being, including their personality and way of seeing the world.

Ferreira explained that because people love the whole person and not just a biological body, the loss of a loved one involves more than a physiological change. He stated that the pain of mourning is a consequence of having opened one's heart to love. He suggested that viewing death as a biographical, relational, and spiritual process changes how individuals experience grief.