Pope Francis in Buenos Aires, Argentine, died Sunday after the second Sunday of the Easter Breaking of the Second Vatican Council
Pope Francis, who passed to his reward on the morning after Easter at age 88, was a version of the liberal pope that many Catholics had earnestly desired all through the long reign of John Paul II and the shorter one of Benedict XVI — a man whose worldview was shaped and defined by the Second Vatican Council and whose pontificate sought a renewal of its revolution, a further great modernization of the Catholic Church.
Francis died early Monday in Rome at the age of 88, just one day after Easter Sunday. His death ends a papacy begun in 2013 after Benedict XVI became the first pope in six centuries to step down.
The Vatican announced that the pope’s body would be placed in a coffin on Monday evening, with Cardinal Kevin Farrell presiding over the rite in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta. A new pope is to be elected and the acting head of the Vatican is a Irishman.
Bianca Lott, from Northfield, Minn., is studying abroad in Rome for her spring semester. Given that Francis died on Easter Monday, she said she felt “a strange happiness at the timing,” which she called “poetic.”
Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger shared: “My heart is heavy as our world has lost a powerful, prophetic, and loving voice. Yet I rejoice in what I pray is a blessed reward of joy beyond all understanding for a truly great and loving Universal Shepherd.”
The first Latin American pope, Francis, served as archbishop in Buenos Aires. In the Argentine capital, the government declared seven days of mourning and citizens gathered for a special mass at the city’s cathedral, Reuters reports.
The pope communicated with many Latino people in Spanish, touching their lives. According to WUNC, Hatciri Lopez told them that Francis grew her faith.
“It’s just easier for the message to get to your heart, instead of hearing it from a translator,” she said. “Just as soon as I heard him speak, it would just strike my heart right away. I would just want to cry and just feel a sense of happiness and hope for the future.”
The First Pope John Paul II Visited Gaza: How he Made a Declaration of Faith, His Legacy, and His Legacy in the War with Israel
Francis was the first pope to use the word “gay” so even the way he speaks has been a radical change, according to the secretary of LGBT Catholics in London.
In besieged Gaza, where more than 50,000 people have been killed in the war with Israel, Christians were moved by Pope Francis’ nightly phone call offering comfort. The Rev. Gabriel Romanelli said that the pope called him the night before he died.
“We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong,” George Antone, at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told the news agency.
Francis was the first pope to ever visit Iraq, where he met with the Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, as well as visiting the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, which is known to be the holiest place in Judaism.
“He has a constant call for peace and coexistence, and his stance against war and violence will leave a positive effect on the world,” according to the author.
In one way, at least, he succeeded. For generations, modernizers lamented the outsize power of the papacy, the anachronism of a monarchical authority in a democratic age, the way the concept of papal infallibility froze Catholic debates even as the world rushed forward. In theory Francis shared those concerns, promising a more collegial and horizontally oriented church, more synodal, in the jargon of the Catholic bureaucracy. He used his authority the same way as his predecessors to police and suppress deviations from his authority, except it was conservatives and not progressives and modernizers that the targets were.
But just by creating that novel form of conflict, in which Catholics who had been accustomed to being on the same side as the Vatican found themselves suddenly crosswise from papal authority, Francis helped to demystify his office’s authority and undermine its most imposing claims.
The first time I ever met Pope John Paul II, I was a radio reporter. It was a gathering of journalists. When he walked by, I pulled out my microphone and asked, “When will you visit the Soviet Union?” The pope moved very fast after he replied with a hint in Latin. I didn’t understand his meaning.
I was much better off with Pope Francis. In 2015, I was among the Vatican reporters onboard the plane for a papal visit to Cuba and the United States. Pope Francis returned to the economy section of the plane shortly after taking off to greet the media individually. Several reporters had photos of family members and asked the pope to bless them. Some people raised theological subjects that were arcane. I didn’t know what I was going to say until he showed up.
I blurted “You know, you and I have something in common.” as he was about to report on me, after stuttering a few niceties. That grabbed his attention. Both of our parents were anti-fascists. Mine left Italy for the U.S. and yours went to Argentina.”
He then told me a story I don’t believe had been publicized before then. When his grandparents and their only son Mario decided to leave Italy in the 1920s, they bought tickets for passage on a ship to Argentina. They were not allowed to go on that trip.
A few months later, Francis told me, the Principessa Mafalda ocean liner that they were ticketed to travel on sank off the coast of Brazil in October 1927, killing hundreds.
In his 12 Years in Mission: Francis, the Dispossessed, and the Refugee: A Memoir of a Faithful Father and a Pious Father
It’s no surprise that throughout his 12-year papacy, Francis spoke out forcefully on behalf of immigrants, refugees and the dispossessed. He was one of their offspring.