The death Monday in Rome of Pope Francis, age 88, brought to end one of the most controversial pontificates in recent history. Despite recently being released from a lengthy hospital stay, on Easter Sunday he met with Vice President JD Vance, who became a Catholic in 2019. “I know you have not been feeling great, but it’s good to see you in better health,” Vance told him.
According to the Vatican, they discussed Francis’ opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. In February, Vance defended the actions as consonant with Catholic doctrine. Francis then sent a letter to American bishops criticizing the mass deportations.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote in the letter.
On Easter, Francis was strong enough to bless those gathering in St. Peter’s Square and sat as an aide read his Easter Message, which continued his criticism of U.S. and other countries’ policies restricting immigration. He said, “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants!”
Although Francis’ political stances made headlines, as the leader of a church with 1.4 billion members, a pope’s duties largely are spiritual. He stressed mercy and compassion, saying the church ought to be a “field hospital” for wounded souls. The first pope from the Western Hemisphere, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina he took public transportation. He emphasized humility and urged his clergy to go among the people and be “shepherds with the smell of the sheep.”
Quoting Jesus’ Beatitudes, he said we ought to care “for the least of these.” And he advanced ecumenism with Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians, as well as with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and those of other faiths.
Bishop Kevin Vann of Orange County said Francis inspired the church to be “one that goes out, serving the poor, welcoming the lost and walking alongside all who seek Christ.” Archbishop José H. Gomez remembered, “It was just in January that he offered prayers and words of consolation as we faced the destruction caused by the wildfires in the Palisades and Altadena.”
More controversial was his attitude toward some church doctrines. Wrote Anthony Faiola for the Washington Post, “He was more broadly embraced by liberals, even if they felt his personal ecumenism never translated into the radical reform they sought, especially on the role of women.” He also discouraged saying Mass in the 1962 Latin rite instead of the more common vernacular.
For his own funeral, Francis reduced the ceremonial pageantry used for his predecessors. Within 15 to 20 days from now, the 135 members of the College of Cardinals under 80 will meet in a secret “conclave” to choose his successor. It’s sort of like the American Electoral College. For the past century the process has taken three days or less.
Another non-European pope is a strong possibility, as 53 cardinal-electors are from Europe, but 23 from Asia, 20 from North America, 18 from Africa, where the church is growing fastest, 17 from South America and four from Oceania. Even non-Catholics will be watching closely to see who will be heading the church, and in what direction he will take it.
For now, though, may he rest in peace.
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