HIS HOLINESS, POPE FRANCIS I, R.I.P.

 

"God, Who, in Thine ineffable providence, didst will that Thy servant N... should be numbered among the high priests, grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen."

 

 

Pope Francis - (17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 to 2025. He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

 

Just 20 hours before the Vatican announced his passing, Pope Francis took to social media to commemorate Easter. "Christ is risen! These words capture the entire meaning of our existence, for we were not made for death but for life," he tweeted, also sharing his full Urbi et Orbi blessing, which his aide had read aloud at at Saint Peter's Basilica.

 

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969; from 1973 to 1979, he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina; the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.

 

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis was noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He was known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors by, for instance, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae (House of St. Martha) guest house rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.


Francis made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia. He maintained that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBTQ community, and stated that although blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals can be blessed as long as blessings are not given in a liturgical context. Francis was a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment; he made action on climate change, a leading focus of his papacy. He is widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil, stating that the Catholic Church is committed to its abolition. In international diplomacy, Francis criticised the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party had in appointing Chinese bishops, and supported the cause of refugees. He called protection of migrants a "duty of civilisation" and criticised anti-immigration politics, including those of U.S. President Donald Trump. In 2022, he apologised for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian Indigenous peoples. Francis convened the Synod on Synodality which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.

 

His Holiness, Pope Francis I died at the age of 88 on 21 April 2025, Easter Monday at 07:35. In the weeks before his death, he had been treated for chronic lung disease, including a respiratory crisis and pneumonia.