The Vatican announced that Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, died early Monday morning at 88 years old.
Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina. In 2013, he became the first pope from the Americas and the first Jesuit to hold the position. He was elected after Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in nearly 600 years.
Francis had been dealing with numerous health issues in recent months. He was hospitalized on February 14 for several weeks for bronchitis, but was then diagnosed with pneumonia in both of his lungs. He was eventually released from the hospital on March 23 and was thought to be making a recovery.
Vice President JD Vance visited Pope Francis on Easter shortly before his death. Vance said that it was “an honor to meet with Pope Francis” at the time.
“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” Vance, who recently converted to Catholicism, posted on X. “I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul.”
President Donald Trump also offered his condolences to Pope Francis and his supporters. “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” the President posted on Truth Social.
The White House shared photos of both Trump and Vance with the pope on X with the message, “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also joined Fox News to discuss the pope’s death. “And so, it’s a solemn day for Catholics around the world, and we are praying for all those who love the pope and believed in him,” she said.
An official cause of death has not been provided yet. Dr. Marc Siegel explained on Fox News that Pope Francis may have suffered from a “respiratory failure event” that led to his death.
“What I heard from inside sources… I heard that there was a respiratory failure event this morning, Rome time, in the morning. 5 to 7 am, where he was unable to catch his breath,” Siegel explained. “We don’t know what caused that. It was likely due to another asthma-type event like he had in the hospital.”
Francis took a number of controversial stances during his tenure that angered some conservative Catholics, including approving blessings for same sex couples and criticizing President Trump’s deportation policies. Axios noted Monday that Francis will be remembered for having “advanced several progressive causes within the Catholic Church from immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights to climate change and technology ethics.”
The Catholic Church’s top bishops, known as the College of Cardinals, will gather and vote for the next pope. The election is known as a “Papal Conclave” and involves the cardinals remaining in isolation from the outside world until a new pope is chosen. These cardinals work quickly to ensure the church is not left without a leader for too long.
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
Hope the cardinals will pick a non- Communist this time. Problem is Francis elevated many of the cardinals and picked “deep-state” ones!
Sorry to hear of his passing. God have mercy on his soul ! I hope the Church will lean more conservatively with a new pope. Francis was leaning more and more to the left and pushing unpopular causes in the eyes of many, many Catholics. The Church did not have to become a spokesperson for leftist ideals as Francis was inclined to make it. He was not a true Jesuit.
lets us hope we get a pope for the people and religion and not a political one.
As a Catholic I can and will pray for the repose of his soul, But I must also acknowledge that he was a terrible pope. His pontificate is replete with problematic positions that are in direct opposition to the long-held teachings of the Catholic faith. The Catholic church so badly needs another Pope Saint John Paul II. But given the current makeup of the College of Cardinals, I fear we may end up with a pope more antithetical to the tenants of the teachings of Catholic faith than Pope Francis.
How can a Pope or any Christian leader endorse same sex marriage or LGBTQ? The Bible calls it sin. I pray the Catholics will get a Pope that preaches God’s word, not WOKE nonsense.
Hopefully the Church “deep state” won’t interfere this time as they did with Pope Benedict XVI. I question Benedict really resigned or the “deep state” orchestrated his resignation.
Please, Catholics, get to praying as of today! We know that Pope Francis was leaning too far left, and he often was chastised by Catholics and others when he gave a speech that was too UNTRADITIONAL. Pope Benedict retired from activities when he personally stepped down, but never retired from the Seat of Peter and he kept good eyes on what Francis was doing. Trust that in these times, the Good Lord will hear our prayers for a strong, traditional, blessed, knowledgeable Bishop who will lead us in these times of spiritual war!
The Divine Mercy Himself is the one to pray to now for a successor to our Church. We should always pray for our Church, our Priests and Hierarchy because they are more vulnerable to the evils in the world than the normal person.
We can only hope that the next pope will bring his flock back to the Catholic Teachings rather than the WOKE IDEOLOGY that this Pope transitioned to! He, God bless his soul, damaged the Catholic Church the same as what Biden did to the United States!
I;m not a big fan of Pope Francis, I hope he is replaced with a Pope similar to Saint Pope John Paul;
It is not the TOP BISHOPS is it the CARDINALS that make up the College of CARDINALS.
If what was in his mouth was in his heart then he was at the wrong pulpit.
He needs to be the last pope. He was a communist and not a Christian. He has done more to impoverish people than any other in his position. And all the while he was living in luxury and sitting on tons of precious metals.
never underestimate your breath, no matter your posturing or judgements, all life begins and ends with each breath!
RIP, Pope Francis.. Sadly, many of his rulings and pronouncements were to the Left of RCC established doctrine and many Catholics disagreed with them. GOD willing, the next Pope will be much less controversial, more centrist, and more established Catholic doctrine oriented.
With all the un-Christian things he was doing and advocating I doubt seriously if he will be happy with where he spends eternity.
It seems like the cardinals who choose the pope need to read up on what makes a person a good Christian before they pick the next one.
One of many Popes destined for Hades. Too bad, so sad.
I always felt that all religious leaders need to teach the Bible and not politics. I have no problem with any of them having their own political leaning or opinion, but this is not something that should be taught by any religious leader over a pulpit, just stick to teaching the word of God and let God lead each individual in their hearts how to vote. Philippians 2:12, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
Hopefully the next (and last?) Pope will not be a Jesuit. There had never been a Jesuit Pope before and after seeing Francis in action we can see why!
May he rest in peace in heaven, Amen. And may the Holy Spirit guide the Cardinals in their votes for the next Pope to do the WILL of God and not their own.
God Bless Pope Francis RIP but we need a Pope this time that does not get involved in political views like immigration and LGBTQ this is not what most want to see in the church.I think a Pope that just stays in with church dealings and make things better will make everyone happy and it will solve in church problems.This is still a sad time for everyone Pope Francis was still head of all Catholic churches everywhere he will be missed.
Next the last Pope?? NT Rev Bible
I remember in 2013 when Pope Francis was chosen to succeed Benedict XVI. Pundits and mainstream news were talking to Catholics who seemed excited about Pope Francis. It was predicted that many fallen away Catholics and Catholics who attend Mass occasionally would return in droves and vocations in several places would increase exponentially. Did that happen? Uh, no.
Many non-Catholics do not know that the “average pew sitting Catholic” has only about a 6th grade education in his or faith and at least in the United States only about 1 in 4 Catholics attends Mass regularly.
There are good Catholics out there and there are quite a few myths floating around pertaining to Catholic beliefs. I was glad I attended Easter Sunday Mass yesterday and I did my best to be welcoming to those who had not attended Mass in a long time. Maybe they will return next week.
As a FORMER Catholic, I would like to think that VANCE would know better than to become a member of the RCC but maybe he is not as smart as Trump thinks he is.
No such thing as “Easter Monday” … just sayin’
He was a criminal and probably part of the deep state. Not a nice man.