When Archbishop-elect Shawn McKnight woke in the early hours of April 21, he did what he does when he can’t sleep: He said a prayer, checked his email and scrolled through social media. That’s how he learned in those pre-dawn hours that Pope Francis had died.
“I thought at first it was just fake news,” Archbishop-elect McKnight, the bishop of Jefferson City, Mo., told America. After all, he thought, Francis had just met with the U.S. vice president, greeted the faithful in St. Peter’s Square and bestowed his Easter blessing on the world.
But when the archbishop-elect turned on the television and saw that Francis had indeed died, “I had to deal immediately with the reality that he’s already gone.”
In Ohio, there was a similar sense of shock for Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, who was sitting with family on Easter Monday morning in his home state when one of his siblings alerted him to the news.
“There was that moment of disbelief that I felt, and then sadness, and I teared up,” Bishop Lewandowski told America. “He’s done a lot for the church and the world.”
Catholics everywhere shared those feelings after Francis’ passing, but for these two bishops, there is a particular connection with this pope that will forever bind them: they are the final two bishop appointments Francis made for the United States during his decade-long papacy. Just about two weeks before he died, Francis announced that Archbishop-elect McKnight will be the next archbishop of Kansas City, Kan., and that Bishop Lewandowski will become the next bishop of Providence, R.I.
Archbishop-elect McKnight said that when someone pointed out to him that he was one of the last two appointments made by Francis, the timing felt poignant.
“We’re at one end of one papacy and it’s very likely I’ll be installed under the next pontificate, so it’s sort of a natural bridge,” he said.
It’s not uncommon for church observers to use shorthand when describing bishops by noting who named them to their posts, much the way Supreme Court justices are forever linked to the presidents who appointed them to the bench. There are JP2 bishops, B16 bishops and now Francis bishops.
Archbishop-elect McKnight understands that classification system, to some extent.
“Every pope, they have every right to shape the kind of bishop that they want to call forth to implement their pastoral dream and vision for the church,” he said.
As for his own identification as a “Francis bishop,” Archbishop-elect McKnight said that while he holds a special place in his heart for the pope who made him a bishop, he was ordained a priest during the pontificate of St. John Paul II and that he admired Pope Benedict XVI.
“But you know, Pope Francis will always be the one who chose me to be a bishop,” he said.
Archbishop-elect McKnight and Bishop Lewandowski are just two of dozens of U.S. bishops appointed by Francis; by one estimate, Francis has appointed more than half of all U.S. bishops to their first posts.
A member of the Redemptorist religious order, Bishop Lewandowski, 57, said he believes Pope Francis placed a particular emphasis on selecting bishops who had experience as pastors. He recalled meeting the pope in 2022, when his own pastoral instincts kicked into gear.
Bishop Lewandowski recalled feeling sorry for Francis after an hour of questions and comments from other bishops participating in the meeting, who brought to the pope a range of concerns and problems from their people.
“I was kind of feeling bad for him,” Bishop Lewandowski recalled. So when it was his turn to ask a question, he simply asked the pope how he had been feeling following several health challenges. Francis responded with a list of his ailments.
“I felt like he just needed a hug,” Bishop Lewandowski said. So the new bishop asked if he could embrace the pope—who said yes. It was only after the hug, when Bishop Lewandowski eyed the pope’s security guards standing vigilant, that he realized what a bold request it had been. Later, when he greeted Francis in a receiving line, the pope, in apparent response to his warmth, asked if he was an Italian. Francis laughed when Bishop Lewandowski said no, he’s an American.
When asked about what it means to him being described as “a Francis bishop,” Bishop Lewandowski laughed and said that, given his Polish heritage, he had to note for the record that since childhood he has held a special place in his heart for another pope.
“My grandmother, my parents, were just extremely proud of Pope John Paul II, and our Polish pride always shines through,” he said.
(By coincidence, one of Bishop Lewandowski’s predecessors in Rhode Island, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, was the last U.S. bishop appointed by St. John Paul II.)
But he said what he appreciated most about Francis was how he had built on John Paul II’s call to be missionaries and Benedict XVI’s deep love of theology, by showing Catholics how to live out the faith.
“John Paul II was a missionary, Benedict was a teacher, and Francis is a pastor,” Bishop Lewandowski said. “I call him the world’s pastor, in the very best sense of that word.”
Bishop Lewandowski is particularly struck by the planned send-off of Pope Francis by a group of about 40 people in Rome, including migrants, the poor and some transgender people.
“He became friends with people that nobody becomes friends with, people whom others run away from because of controversy, people who are misunderstood, so others avoid them or ignore them,” Bishop Lewandowski said.
On May 20, Bishop Lewandowski will be installed as Rhode Island’s bishop at a Mass in Providence. He said he hopes that whoever is elected pope next will continue to encourage the church to be more synodal, a goal championed by Pope Francis even in the final weeks of his papacy.
“Pope Francis has said there’s a place in the church for everyone, and I don’t think as a church, we’ve figured that all out yet,” Bishop Lewandowski said. “But I think we’ve taken some good steps forward with Pope Francis and his papal ministry.”
As for what comes after Francis, Archbishop-elect McKnight, who will be installed in Kansas City on May 27, said that he will hold the late pope close while continuing his ministry as archbishop. By coincidence, he will be in Rome leading a pilgrimage early next month, perhaps coinciding with the election of Francis’s successor. Should he be in St. Peter’s Square when white smoke rises from the chimney, Archbishop-elect McKnight said he will be ready.
“I think Pope Francis would want me to be a man of the church, and he would want me to be a faithful son of whoever the pope is,” McKnight said. “And that’s how I intend to be.”
Correction, 4/25/25: A previous version of this article reported Archbishop McKnight was the incoming bishop of Kansas City, Mo. He is the incoming bishop of Kansas City, Kan.
