In the wake of Pope Francis’ death on April 21, America staff and contributors offered diverse reflections on his pontificate. We have collected some of our favorite analyses and remembrances of Francis’ papacy as a resource for Catholics mourning the church’s loss.
Obituary
Pope Francis, trailblazing Jesuit with a heart for the poor, dies at 88
By Gerard O’Connell
“Francis considered himself first and foremost as ‘the world’s parish priest.’ He was always a pastor at heart and remained so to the end. He revealed this in myriad ways as pope by reaching out with tenderness and compassion to persons grieving or in great difficulty. He invited many to come to talk with him; he contacted others by phone or with a handwritten note. I experienced this in the way he accompanied my own family.”
How Pope Francis touched people’s lives
A final goodbye to my friend, Pope Francis
By Gerard O’Connell
“We lost a friend on earth, but we now have a friend in heaven.”
I’m a Gen-Z Catholic. Pope Francis changed my despair about the world into hope.
By Connor Hartigan
“How providential that, even though I came of age in a time of rancor, rising extremism and demagogic politics, I had the example of Pope Francis to model for me faith, hope and love, to show me what goodness on earth looks like.”
Pope Francis changed my life—and the lives of countless L.G.B.T.Q. people
By James Martin, S.J.
“Like Jesus, Francis taught not only in words but in deeds. And L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and their families have told me repeatedly what a difference this change in approach has meant.”
What a Spanish-speaking pope meant to my Spanish-speaking family
By Leilani Fuentes
“There was something special about my family being able to listen to Pope Francis address the church in his native language, and ours.”
What Pope Francis meant to kids like me
By Benjamin Trotta
“Meeting Pope Francis made me realize how magnanimous he was because everyone wanted to engage with him—and he wanted to encounter everyone. World leaders should continue to look to his papacy and example for guidance, to be champions of acceptance and human rights like he was.”
How Pope Francis brought me back to the Catholic Church
By Robert Buckland
“Through Pope Francis and ‘Laudato Si,’ I began to reconcile with a church I had held at arm’s length for so long. I discovered that Catholicism could speak meaningfully to contemporary issues, that it could challenge power rather than embody it.”
What Pope Francis meant to me and the Muslim world
By Amir Hussain
“In his first Holy Thursday as pope, in 2013, he washed the feet of a female, Muslim prisoner in Rome. That simple act of humility spoke volumes about Pope Francis, both in terms of his connection to Muslims and his concern for those on the margins.”
Understanding the Francis pontificate
Pope Francis never stopped being a Jesuit
By James Martin, S.J.
“Francis entered the papacy as a Jesuit, governed as one and died as one. To understand him was to remember that he was a Jesuit. And to misunderstand him was to forget he was one.”
The global impact of Pope Francis: from migration to taxes to A.I. weapons
By Kevin Clarke
“To many, Francis seemed one of the last credible moral voices able to speak with clarity and authority on a gamut of global challenges and concerns. Who can now take his place and continue to hold up the plight of migrating people and care for creation, the challenge of addressing global inequities? Who will be a trusted voice for peace?”
Pope Francis wanted the church to be a field hospital. Will this legacy endure?
By Erin Brigham
“The image of a field hospital presents the church as dynamic, outward-extending and responsive to the needs of the world. This movement toward the margins was central to Francis’ ecclesiology. He described a church that not only welcomes humanity but meets them where they are, responding in mercy to their deepest wounds.”
Pope Francis canonized 942 saints during his papacy. What do they tell us about him?
By Kathleen Sprows Cummings
“In 1989, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he wondered whether John Paul II’s assertiveness in canonization had led to ‘troppi santi’ (‘too many saints’), and not long after his election, he suggested he was going to be more selective on that front. Francis, by contrast, relished the power of saint-making and frequently harnessed it to express his vision for the Catholic Church.”
In African culture, ‘ancestor’ is a coveted designation. Pope Francis earned it.
By Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator
“In Africa, a person of Francis’ moral caliber and spiritual substance holds the coveted designation of ‘ancestor,’ whose role includes everlasting solicitude for the community he or she leaves behind. The church and the world can rejoice to have a good disciple, a faithful servant and a beloved ancestor praying and interceding for us in the presence of God.”
How Pope Francis changed the place of women in the church
By Colleen Dulle
“Francis made significant progress on the advancement of women in the Vatican during his pontificate. His fundamental separation of governance from sacramental authority, while codified in his revised constitution for the Roman Curia, continues to be worked out in canon law, where the two types of authority remain intertwined.”
Pope Francis pushed the church to move beyond the U.S. culture wars—with mixed results
By Michael J. O’Loughlin
“Even though Francis was able to appoint many bishops, his vision for the church did not take hold among church leaders.”
Pope Francis loved literature and film—and artists loved him for it
By Angela Alaimo O’Donnell
“The theory of art that Pope Francis articulated was simple, heartfelt and very much in keeping with the social gospel that he preached.”
Interviews with Pope Francis
A Big Heart Open to God: An Interview with Pope Francis
By Antonio Spadaro, S.J.
“The best summary, the one that comes more from the inside and I feel most true is this: I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.”
Exclusive: Pope Francis discusses Ukraine, U.S. bishops and more
By The Editors
“Dialogue is the way of the best diplomacy…And for this reason I try to dialogue, because it is not that we are going to conquer people.”
