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The one thing the world will remember about Pope Francis is that he stood with the poorest of the poor. He gave voice to the vulnerable, suffering, and forgotten people in orphanages, prisons and the battlefields of Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Congo. Such courageous and authoritative voices are sorely needed in the world today.
Pope Francis’s was one of the strongest, and it will be missed. The death at age 88 of the Argentina-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who rose to become one of the world’s most powerful religious figures, caught many by surprise. It came after what appeared to be a successful battle with double pneumonia.
And he summoned enough strength on Easter to bless thousands of well-wishers in St. Peter’s Square as they cheered “Viva il Papa!” “Long Live the Pope!” Pope Francis delivers his Urbi Et Orbi Blessing blessing from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square on April 20, 2025, in Vatican City, Vatican.
It was his final public appearance. Getty Images Throughout his 12 years, the shepherd of an estimated 1.4 billion Catholics was unflinching in reaching the basic doctrines of Christianity: that Christians are to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry and help the poor and downtrodden of the earth.
In these times, it took courage even for a Pope to do so. Pope Francis’s teachings often put him at odds with the world’s rich and powerful, including some inside his own church. The day before he died, Pope Francis met at the Vatican with U.
S. Vice President J.D.
Vance, who was baptized Catholic in 2019. Reports are the Pope used the meeting to call for compassion and mercy for migrants. It was Vance’s first and last meeting with the religious figure whose teachings Catholics are supposed to revere as infallible.
Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
(Vatican Media via AP, HO) AP It was not surprising for Pope Francis to speak out for refugees and immigrants. He has repeatedly chided the Trump Administration for what he saw as its lack of compassion. He labeled the Trump Administration’s mass deportations that Vance staunchly supports as a “ disgrace” and a “grave sin.
” And he said they violate the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.” A lot of American Catholics, Vance included, didn’t like some of the Pope’s teachings, not only on immigration but on human sexuality. While holding that marriage is between a man and a woman, Pope Francis permitted priests to bless homosexual unions.
Many found his stance contradictory and confusing. Guests gather to eat during a Lenten Fish Fry at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church on Friday, March 21, 2025.
Jackson Ranger | MLive.com A recent Pew poll reported the Pope’s popularity among American Catholics was about 78 percent. But he was clearly more popular among Democratic Catholics in this county, at 88 percent.
An estimated 68 percent of Republicans approved of the Pope’s leadership. The question now is who will take his place? And will the new pontiff have the same bold commitment to the poor and marginalized people as Pope Francis? The decision of the cardinals now meeting to determine their next leader is important, not only for Catholics but for millions of suffering people around the globe. Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, second from left, flanked by, from left, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Substitute for the Secretariat of State, Cardinal Edgar PeÒa Parra, and Vatican Master of Ceremonies, Archbisop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, announces the death of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Vatican Media via AP We have no doubt the cardinals are feeling the immense weight of their responsibility to the church and to the world. We pray they choose a man as worthy of being called “il Papa” as the one the world now mourns. Quality local journalism has never been more important.
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