My wife and I lost a friend on earth, Gerard O’Connell writes, but we now have a friend in heaven.

I know adults tell children not to take candy from strangers. But I decided to amend the rule: Never take candy from strangers unless that “stranger” is the pope!

A person’s heroes often point to their values. In Pope Francis’ case, the people he singled out for their heroic virtues reveal a great deal about his papal priorities.

For many Catholics older than me, Francis represented a cultural shift from previous pontificates. As a Gen-Z Catholic, Francis is the only pope I’ve known.

All of Pope Francis' gestures, meetings and desires for encounter were themselves a form of “teaching.” And L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and their families have told me repeatedly what a difference this change in approach has meant. 

A Reflection for Wednesday in the Octave of Easter, by Robert Buckland

Pope Francis was a great lover of literature: He peppered his homilies, talks and even encyclicals with literary references from Dostoyevsky, Proust, Hopkins, Dante and more, and he also encouraged his flock to read broadly and often.

Joining host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., on this episode of “Preach” ahead of the Second Sunday of Easter, Casey Stanton argues that the Acts of the Apostles are “a way to recover something that feels lost right now: a common life together.”

“Pope Francis entered the papacy as a Jesuit, governed as one and died as one,” Father James Martin writes.

Pope Francis published official documents on the environment, the family, young people and more. Here is a list of some of his major documents.