Author: Eric Deabill

ROME (OSV News) – Before he was Pope Francis, the first pope from the Americas, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio – a kid from Buenos Aires cheering for San Lorenzo, going to live games with his dad on Sundays.

In a country where soccer is practically a second religion, little Jorge found his first taste of joy, teamwork and heartbreak not in the sacristy – but on the pitch.

His devotion to San Lorenzo de Almagro isn’t just a nostalgic footnote – it’s a window into the soul of a pope who knew what it meant to love fiercely, hope deeply and stay loyal – win or lose.

Upon Pope Francis’ passing, San Lorenzo issued a poignant statement reflecting on his lifelong bond with the club: “His passion for San Lorenzo always moved us deeply, and unites us in constant prayer for his soul.”

Affectionately known as “El Ciclón,” this team holds a special place in Argentine soccer history, as one of the “big five” teams. Founded in 1908 by Father Lorenzo Massa, the club’s origins are deeply intertwined with the Catholic Church. The fans of the club are known as “the crows,” for the black cassock Father Massa wore.

Young Bergoglio’s passion for San Lorenzo was inherited from his father, Mario José, who played basketball for the club. Even as archbishop of Buenos Aires, the future pope maintained close ties with the club, officiating Mass at the Ciudad Deportiva chapel, confirming young players like Ángel Correa, and even spending $100 to buy a piece of wood from what used to be the bleachers of the original stadium.

In 2024, despite having shunned all but a handful of awards and public recognitions, according to the club’s statement, he accepted the honor of having San Lorenzo’s future stadium named Papa Francisco.

“Emotional, the Holy Father accepted without doubting it,” San Lorenzo said on April 21, hours after the death of the Argentine pontiff.

Pope Francis wrote in his autobiography “Hope” that he had been nicknamed “hard foot,” and often drew parallels between soccer and life’s broader lessons. In a 2019 address to Italian youth and athletes, he remarked: “Soccer is a team sport. You can’t have fun alone. And if it’s lived like that, it can do good for your mind and your heart in a society that is exasperated by subjectivism.”

Despite taking a vow in 1990 to abstain from watching television, Francis stayed updated on matches through the radio and, later, the Vatican’s Swiss Guards. They would inform him of San Lorenzo’s and Argentina’s results, ensuring he remained connected to his homeland’s passion.

For decades, Argentines have joked that when it comes to soccer, they’ve been divinely favored: They had “the Hand of God” in Diego Maradona and found their long-awaited “Messiah” in Lionel Messi.

Now, with Pope Francis watching from above, fans of San Lorenzo might just be wondering if their beloved Ciclón has an intercessor in heaven. After all, if soccer is a religion in Argentina, it only makes sense that one of its most faithful fans ended up a saintly supporter in the skies.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Growing old isn’t something to be feared, but rather something to embrace as a time of grace in one’s life, Pope Francis wrote in a preface for a book that was not released before he died.

“Yes, we must not fear old age. We should not be afraid to embrace growing old, because life is life, and sugarcoating reality means betraying the truth of things,” the pope wrote in the preface for “Waiting for a New Beginning: Reflections on Old Age.”

The book, which was written by Cardinal Angelo Scola, retired archbishop of Milan, was set to be released April 24 by the Vatican publishing house. Pope Francis, who had written the preface in early February, died April 21 at the age of 88.

Cardinal Scola’s reflections on how he was “preparing for his final encounter with Jesus” offered the “consoling certainty” that death was “not the end of everything, but the beginning of something new,” the pope had written.

“It is a new beginning, as the title wisely suggests, because eternal life – which those who love already begin to experience here on earth, in the midst of their daily occupations – is the start of something that will never end. And it is ‘new’ precisely because we will live something we have never experienced fully before: eternity,” he wrote.

Calling Cardinal Scola “a dear brother in the episcopate and a man who has carried out delicate and important responsibilities in the church,” the pope said he was grateful for the Italian cardinal’s reflection which “beautifully weaves together personal experience and cultural sensitivity.”

The late pope noted the 83-year-old cardinal’s “disarming candor” about his own old age and said he found “a sense of kinship with the author.”

“To restore dignity to a word too often seen as negative is something for which we should thank Cardinal Scola,” the pope wrote. “Because to say ‘old’ does not mean ‘worthless,’ as a throwaway culture would sometimes have us believe. Saying ‘old’ instead means saying experience, wisdom, understanding, discernment, prudence, attentiveness, slowness – all values we desperately need!”

Pope Francis said the real issue is not that one grows old but rather “how we grow old” and if it is lived “as a grace, and not with resentment.”

If “we accept this period – which is sometimes long, when our strength wanes, our bodies tire more easily, and our reflexes are not what they once were – with gratitude and appreciation, then even old age becomes a fruitful stage of life, just as Romano Guardini taught us: one that can radiate goodness,” he wrote.

The pope said he also appreciated Cardinal Scola’s reflections on “the human and social value of grandparents,” a subject he spoke about throughout his papacy.

“I have often emphasized how the role of grandparents is crucial to the balanced development of young people and, ultimately, to a more peaceful society,” he wrote. “Amid the frenzy of our societies – so often obsessed with the superficial and the unhealthy pursuit of appearances – the wisdom of grandparents becomes a beacon, shining through uncertainty and offering guidance to grandchildren, who can draw from their elders’ experience a deeper perspective on daily life.”

He also noted the cardinal’s words on the nature of suffering in one’s old age, which he said showed that the book was “born not just of thought but of affection — because it is precisely to this affective dimension that Christian faith points.”

“Christianity is not merely an intellectual exercise or a moral choice, but a loving attachment to a person — Christ, who came to meet us and chose to call us friends.”

Pope Francis concluded the preface saying that he wished “to repeat the gesture I made upon first donning the white robe of the papacy in the Sistine Chapel” and embrace Cardinal Scola “at least in spirit.”

“Now we are both older than we were that day in March 2013, but still united in gratitude to the loving God who offers us life and hope at every age and stage of our journey,” he wrote.

(OSV News) – World leaders offered condolences for Pope Francis almost immediately after the pontiff died April 21 — a reflection of popes’ importance in diplomacy and geopolitics.

Pope Francis exercised an outsized role in world affairs with his pleas for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, advocacy for the rights of migrants and dealing with hostile regimes persecuting the church such as Nicaragua.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid the most viral tribute to the pontiff, saying on his X account: “Millions of people around the world are mourning the tragic news of Pope Francis’s passing. His life was devoted to God, to people, and to the Church.”

In a post accompanied by a picture of him with the pontiff, Zelenskyy said Pope Francis “knew how to give hope, ease suffering through prayer, and foster unity.”

Acknowledging the pope’s special relationship with Ukraine, he said: “He prayed for peace in Ukraine and for Ukrainians. We grieve together with Catholics and all Christians who looked to Pope Francis for spiritual support.”

King Charles III, who recently visited with Pope Francis, sent a condolence telegram reading, “The Queen and I recall with particular affection our meetings with His Holiness over the years and we were deeply moved to be able to visit him earlier this month.”

Other world leaders fondly recalled personal meetings with Francis, too, or working alongside him.

“I saw firsthand his unwavering commitment to placing human dignity at the center of our economic and political systems,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said of his participation in the pope’s Council for Inclusive Capitalism.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who maintained a friendship with the Holy Father, said shortly after his death, “Pope Francis has returned to the home of the Father. We are deeply saddened by this news, as a great man and great shepherd has left us.”

French President Emmanuel Macron lauded Pope Francis, saying, “From Buenos Aires to Rome, Pope Francis wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest. For it to unite humans among themselves, and with nature. May this hope forever outlast him.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda called him a “great apostle of mercy.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the world lost “an advocate for the weak, a reconciling and a warm-hearted person.” He added, “I greatly appreciated his clear view of the challenges we face.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke graciously of Pope Francis, saying, “From a young age, he devoted himself towards realising the ideals of Lord Christ. He diligently served the poor and downtrodden. For those who were suffering, he ignited a spirit of hope.”

He continued, “I fondly recall my meetings with him and was greatly inspired by his commitment to inclusive and all-round development.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog expressed condolences to all Christians and expressed thanks to Pope Francis for peace efforts in Gaza. “I very much hope that his prayers for peace in the Middle East and for the safe return of the hostages will soon be answered,” he said, adding: “May his memory continue to inspire acts of kindness, unity, and hope.”

Pope Francis was remembered by Catholics in his native Argentina as a pastor who prioritized the poor. But politicians often tried to pull him into domestic disputes.

President Javier Milei, who spoke ill of the pope prior to winning office in 2023, said on social media: “Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his kindness and wisdom was a true honor for me.”

Pope Francis became the first Latin American pope with his 2013 election. He was remembered fondly in the region by leaders on all sides of the political spectrum.

“For me, he is a companion in struggle, in travel, in history,” leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X.

“A humanist who opted for the poor, peace and equality,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who identifies as non-religious, said of Pope Francis on X. “For Catholics and those that are not, it is a great loss.”

Even leaders with difficult or strained relations with the church expressed condolences.

Nicaragua’s co-presidents signed a surprising statement mourning the death of Pope Francis, despite persecuting the Catholic Church, severing ties with the Vatican and forcing bishops and dozens of priests into exile. “Our relations … were difficult, eventful, unfortunately influenced by adverse and painful circumstances that were not always understood,” said the statement from co-Presidents Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo.

Nicaraguans on social media blasted the condolences as cynical.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded the pope for promoting dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. He said in a telegram, “Pope Francis enjoyed great international respect as a faithful servant of Christian teachings, a wise spiritual leader, statesman, and a consistent advocate of the high values of humanism and justice.”

Relations between the pope and the Vatican became strained after Russia’s 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

At his final “urbi et orbi” (to the city and to the world) message, Pope Francis said: “May the risen Christ grant Ukraine, devastated by war, his Easter gift of peace, and encourage all parties involved to pursue efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Religious leaders from around the world mourned the death of Pope Francis April 21, hailing him as a tireless advocate for interreligious dialogue and unity among faith traditions.

From Buddhist monks to Protestant bishops and Muslim scholars, tributes highlighted the late pope’s deep personal commitment to building bridges between religious communities, often through historic meetings and joint declarations that left a lasting mark on the global religious landscape.

Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque and university considered to be a preeminent scholar in Sunni Islam, called Pope Francis “a brother in humanity” who led a “life devoted to the service of humanity, championing the causes of the vulnerable and promoting dialogue among religions and cultures.”

“Pope Francis was a humanitarian icon of the highest order,” the grand imam said in a statement posted on Facebook April 21. “Under his papacy, the relationship between Al-Azhar and the Vatican experienced remarkable growth, beginning with His Holiness’s participation in the Al-Azhar International Conference for Peace in 2017 (in Cairo, Egypt), and followed by the historic signing of the Document on Human Fraternity in 2019 (in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates).”

Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, remembered the late pope as “a true moral leader, a man of deep faith and humanity, and a steadfast friend to the Jewish people.”

“From his early years in Argentina to his papacy,” Lauder wrote, “Pope Francis was deeply committed to fostering interfaith dialogue and ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust remained a guiding lesson for future generations.”

Among Pope Francis’ closest interreligious collaborators was Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Batholomew of Constantinople, who said the pope was “a faithful friend, companion and supporter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

In a statement delivered via livestream on Facebook, the patriarch recalled their meeting in Jerusalem in 2014, where they prayed before the tomb believed to be where Jesus resurrected.

He added that he had proposed to the pope that they celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea together in Turkey, to which Pope Francis enthusiastically responded: “This is an amazing thought, an amazing idea and proposal,” according to a translation by The Orthodox Times. Now, however, the Catholic Church’s participation in the celebration will be left to Pope Francis’ successor, the patriarch said.

Anglican Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, said Pope Francis’ legacy included “renewal of the Church’s structures through synodality and the voice of women and lay people” — developments that drew strength from ecumenical friendships.

“His commitment to dialogue, understanding and shared mission opened new avenues of collaboration between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion,” Bishop Poggo said. The pope traveled with the then-Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and the Rev. Iain Greenshields, former moderator of the Church of Scotland on what he called a “pilgrimage of peace” to South Sudan in 2024.

Leaders of the World Methodist Council reflected on a private audience they had with Pope Francis in December 2024, recalling how he addressed historical suspicion between Catholics and Methodists with honesty and warmth, saying, “We are progressing together in knowledge, in mutual understanding and love.”

In a joint statement, Methodist Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, president of the council, and Rev. Reynaldo Leão Neto, council secretary-general, called the late pope “a voice for unity in love and diversity.”

The Lutheran World Federation noted the pope’s pivotal role in ecumenical milestones such as the 2016 joint commemoration of the Reformation in Lund, Sweden. The Rev. Anne Burghardt, LWF secretary-general, said, “We give thanks for his life and legacy of reform, renewal and unity, which opened doors of dialogue and brought the church closer to people from all walks of life.”

Nearly all the leaders expressed hope that the strengthened relations forged under the late pope would continue to grow deeper; Patriarch Bartholomew prayed for God to “raise up on the throne of St. Peter a worthy successor who will embrace the ideals of Pope Francis and continue his valuable work for all humanity.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ final moments were peaceful, and he managed to give one last farewell to his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, before slipping into a coma early April 21, Vatican News reported.

Among his last words were his thanks to Strappetti late April 20 when he said, “Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” referring to the pope’s surprise appearance after giving his Easter blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The 88-year-old pope, who was still recovering from pneumonia, did not attend the Easter Mass April 20, but he did appear shortly after noon to give the solemn blessing. With his voice still weak, he wished everyone a Happy Easter and he barely raised his arms as he made the sign of the cross.

“The pope wanted to make one last significant surprise by going to St. Peter’s Square for a ride in the popemobile,” Vatican News said in a report April 22. However, the pope was a little unsure and asked Strappetti, “Do you think I can do it?”

The nurse, who had been by his side for the 38 days he was hospitalized in Rome’s Gemelli hospital and then by his bedside 24/7 at the pope’s residence in the Domus Sanctae Marthae since his return March 23, reassured him that he could, Vatican News reported.

For 15 minutes, Pope Francis rode around St. Peter’s Square and a portion of the wide boulevard leading to the square, filled with about 50,000 people. He blessed a few babies and tried to wave; the crowds were thrilled, waving and running where possible to get a closer view.

Even though the pope made a number of surprise appearances in his wheelchair in St. Peter’s Basilica after he was discharged from the hospital and he appeared briefly in the square in his wheelchair at the end of the closing Mass of the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers April 6 and Palm Sunday April 13, Easter marked his first open popemobile ride since his one-day trip to Corsica in December.

Vatican News reported the pope returned to his residence April 20 “tired, but happy” and he thanked Strappetti for “bringing me back to the square.” The pope hired him to be his personal nurse in 2022.

The pope then rested that afternoon and had a relaxing dinner, Vatican News said.

The first signs that something was wrong happened the next day around 5:30 a.m. followed by “prompt intervention by those watching over him,” it said.

More than an hour later, the pope, who was lying on his bed in his apartment, gestured to wave farewell to Strappetti and slipped into a coma, it said.

“He did not suffer, everything happened quickly,” according to those who were with the pope those final moments, Vatican News reported.

The pope died at 7:35 a.m. from a stroke, the coma and heart failure, the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Cardinals already present in Rome and those who were able to get to the city after Pope Francis’ death April 21 held their first meeting at the Vatican April 22.

About 60 cardinals met in the Vatican Synod Hall at 9 a.m. to decide when to move the pope’s body from the chapel of his residence to St. Peter’s Basilica and when to hold the funeral, Matteo Bruni, head of the Vatican press office told reporters.

They decided the funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square after the deceased pope’s body is taken into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing and prayer early April 23. The public viewing was scheduled to end late April 25 with another prayer service to close the coffin.

During the cardinals’ meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half, the cardinals also drew lots to determine the three cardinals who will serve a three-day term to assist the chamberlain of the church, U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, with the general governance of the church during the period without a pope.

The three cardinals chosen April 22 were Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, former Vatican secretary of state; Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, archpriest of Rome’s Basilica di St. Mary Major; and Italian Cardinal Fabio Baggio, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. After three days, cardinals present in Rome will draw lots once again for the three cardinals to serve the next three-day term, Bruni said.

The meeting began with a prayer of suffrage for the pope and a reading of the “Adsumus, Sancte Spiritus,” a prayer invoking the grace of the Holy Spirit for an assembly, he said.

Paragraphs 12 and 13 of the apostolic constitution, “Universi Dominici Gregis,” were read, offering guidance on how the formal pre-conclave meetings of cardinals, called general congregations, will work. They read aloud the oath written in paragraph 12 that is taken by cardinals entering the general congregations, Bruni said.

Cardinal Farrell also read aloud Pope Francis’ brief final testament in which he had asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major and had offered his suffering for peace in the world.

The cardinals also decided that all beatifications that had been scheduled are postponed until the next pope decides the new date for the ceremonies.

Many cardinals arrived at the Synod Hall at the Vatican through a back entrance, while just a few passed through the Petriano entrance to the Vatican next to St. Peter’s Square and the flock of journalists crowding around it.

Among them was retired Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi who, at 82, is no longer eligible to vote in a conclave.

“The first meeting is less theoretical, it will be the ones that follow — once cardinals arrive from all over the world — that there will be indications on the points of view that will be taken up by who participates in the conclave, as happened in 2013,” he told reporters before entering the Vatican.

The first meeting of cardinals “is more organizational,” focusing on the ceremonies associated with a papal death, he explained, “also because Pope Francis wanted them to be simplified and calmer.”

The cardinal said that Pope Francis’ decision to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major “with a particular simplicity” is a kind of “final message that he gives, above all recalling that he wanted to be buried in the shadow of a woman, in this case Mary, and this is significant also for the desire that the church do more for women.”

Cardinal Ravasi, who was president of the Pontifical Council for Culture from 2007-2022, said the late pope had an “instinctive sensibility regarding contemporary culture,” particularly in cultural matters concerning women, young people, science and technology, including artificial intelligence, and communications.

“He was above all someone who was innovative with the language of the church itself,” the cardinal said, recalling phrases the pope would often invoke: “Third World War in piecemeal, the smell of the sheep, the field hospital.”

“All of these expressions were very influential and allowed people to feel directly and immediately in sync” with the church, he said.

The next closed-door meeting for all cardinals who are able to be in Rome will be April 23 in the afternoon, Bruni said.

The faithful were invited to gather in St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for the repose of Pope Francis’ soul led by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, at 7:30 p.m. local time April 22.

ROME (OSV News) – In the last years of his papacy, the world saw the more serious, concerned and suffering face of Pope Francis. But with one group he was always beaming, always smiling and always cheerful: the poor.

“Pope Francis put the poor in the center of his papacy because this meant precisely being in the center of the Gospel,” Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, kept repeating throughout the pontificate when asked about initiative after initiative for the Roman homeless and disadvantaged.

For Francis, taking care of those in need meant turning the Vatican upside down. The poor were regularly welcomed inside Casa Santa Marta, where the pope lived, and the Swiss Guards were saluting them as they made their way to the Elemosineria Apostolica – the Apostolic Almsgiving office – for lunch with Cardinal Krajewski. Francis made it perfectly clear – they’re one of us, and they deserve the Vatican to be their home.

The revolution was easy to predict as the cardinal who became Pope Francis was a regular guest in the slums of Buenos Aires and a priest who wouldn’t replace his glasses until they were falling apart. For the Vatican however, the scale of the revolution was shocking.

“The task of the Apostolic Almsgiving is to empty the account for the charity of the Holy Father for the poor, according to the logic of the Gospel,” reads the main banner on the website for Cardinal Krajewski’s office.

Five months into Francis’ papacy, in August 2013, the Polish prelate was picked for the job of distributing charity funds of the Vatican — an appointment that started a whirlwind of initiatives.

“The Holy Father told me to sell my desk,” Cardinal Krajewski told OSV News in November 2023. “You won’t need it,” he recalled, pointing to the pope’s primary directive – to go out and be there where the poor need you.

In November 2014, the news broke that showers for the homeless would be built under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter’s Square — the decision following a request by the pope that showers for the poor be built in 10 Roman parishes. Over the years, an outpatient clinic for the poor was built in that same spot, in the touristy center of the Vatican.

“Around 150 people are treated there by doctors daily. Those doctors all work as volunteers, eight to 10 doctors every day — dentists, gynecologists, podiatrists, often professors of medicine! And you know what they tell me — that this is more important to put in their resume than the famous Gemelli clinic,” Cardinal Krajewski said in November 2024 of the privilege the doctors feel to serve the poor in the name of the pope.

“I remember that in one of the first public appointments with the press, Pope Francis said how he would like a poor church, which is poor and for the poor,” Massimiliano Signifredi, Community of Sant’Egidio’s coordinator of services for the homeless, told OSV News.

Sant’Egidio, founded in 1968 by the young Andrea Riccardi, now an esteemed professor of history, intellectual and successful negotiator of peace agreements, over the years has become a network of communities that tend to the poor, including migrants, and advocate for peace in more than 70 countries around the world.

For Francis, Sant’Egidio was a natural ally.

“The Holy Father got to know St. Egidio in the villas miseria, Spanish for shanty towns, in Buenos Aires, and he met many times with our community,” Signifredi stressed.

In 2016, when the pope unexpectedly took Syrian families with him to Rome on a papal plane from the Greek Lesbos island, Sant’Egidio was facilitating the visit and took care of the families in their new life journey.

A year later, Francis announced the first World Day of the Poor.

“The poor are not a problem: They are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practice in our lives the essence of the Gospel,” Francis wrote in the message for the first observance Nov. 19, 2017. He asked the world to celebrate World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time — usually the third Sunday of November.

“This Sunday, if there are poor people where we live who seek protection and assistance, let us draw close to them: it will be a favourable moment to encounter the God we seek,” the pope said, adding, “Let us never forget that, for Christ’s disciples, poverty is above all a call to follow Jesus in his own poverty.”

The pope practiced what he preached – every year making the Vatican press corps happy with unusual pictures of the pontiff dining with thousands of the poor, joking with children from disadvantaged families and sincerely laughing with migrants from all corners of the globe.

In 2019, another milestone of the revolution hit. The pope had an empty Roman palace to allocate.

“It is a beautiful building that overlooks the colonnade at St. Peter’s Square. You can see the dome perfectly,” Signifredi said, adding it could easily become a neat Vatican curial office or a five-star hotel, “maybe even more given the location.”

“Do you know how much money he could make if he turned this place into a hotel?” Silvano, a homeless man from Romania, asked OSV News in March 2023 in the premises of Palazzo Migliori. “Millions! But instead he renovated it and gave this place to us, to the poor.”

After extensive renovation carried out under the supervision of Cardinal Krajewski, and which left historical frescoes on the walls, Palazzo Migliori was opened in November 2019 in time for the third World Day of the Poor.

“It is not only a roof on top of their heads, or a bed with a bedside table, but it is the chance to start a new life,” Signifredi said.

There, in Palazzo Migliori, alms given to the homeless are transformed into “real change,” he said.

“When you give alms, you touch someone’s hand. In Palazzo Migliori, the Lord touches the hand of the poor, and with that — he touches their heart. He touches their life so that their life changes,” Signifredi explained.

“It’s not a shelter, it’s home,” added Silvano, who only gave his first name.

The biggest change for the homeless is the fact that after stepping through the threshold of the palazzo, they regain their dignity.

“The first thing you need to do with a homeless man is to accept him, talk to him,” Cardinal Krajewski said.

That is why when the cardinal was told in the spring of 2023 that “a homeless man without a face” lives in the Aventino area, he rushed to see him.

Miroslav, a Slovak man, had his face covered with cloth since his face was disfigured by cancer. “We took him to Palazzo Migliori and took care of him for two months,” Cardinal Krajewski told OSV News in September 2023.

“He was blind as the disease took his eyes, he didn’t have a nose, but for the last two months of his life he was surrounded by friends. Slovak bishops were paying visits to him. He had constant care and attention,” Cardinal Krajewski recalled.

“He would have his window open and would listen to Wednesday audiences of the Holy Father. And every time someone would come he just said, ‘Thank you.’ He never cursed his fate, did not hold a grudge against the doctors, because he was not surrounded by procedures, but people,” Cardinal Krajewski said.

The Polish cardinal celebrated Miroslav’s funeral in Rome’s St. Monica Church on Sept. 16, 2023. He was buried in the Prima Porta cemetery in Rome.

“At the beginning tending to people like Miroslav seems difficult, but only going against the current you will see that this is precisely being in the center of the Gospel,” he said.

“Over 20 centuries of Christian history reveal that the full adherence to the Gospel has gone along with love for the poor. When the church turned away from the poor, it also lost the Gospel,” Signifredi added, underlining Francis’ legacy that he hopes will last for decades and centuries to come.

Miroslav became a symbol of dozens of homeless men, whose funerals were celebrated by Cardinal Krajewski and other cardinals in multiple Roman churches — a goodbye on behalf of the Holy Father.

Community of Sant’Egidio volunteers and collaborators filled the churches on those occasions “dressed in their best clothes, like they were saying goodbye to their own family members,” Cardinal Krajewski emphasized.

“I think Pope Francis has renewed a tradition of the church that has been there since the beginning, and with great human wisdom he has led the church to rediscover the treasure – that is – the poor,” Signifredi told OSV News.

For Signifredi, Pope Francis has shown that “the poor are not a social category, but they are faces. They are hands to be held, to be accompanied. He showed this very concretely when on many occasions he just hung out with them.”

For some, this approach was “uncomfortable,” Cardinal Krajewski said of the many critics of the showers, clinics and shelters surrounding St. Peter’s.

“Jesus loved people so much he went to the cross for them. And why did people crucify Jesus? Because they did not understand him. The fact that someone did not understand Pope Francis does not mean we shouldn’t have done on his behalf what was done,” the Polish prelate emphasized in September 2023.

“The most beautiful thing in life is to become a purpose for another human being.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the liturgy, which begins a nine-day period of official mourning and daily memorial Masses.

The deceased pope’s body, which was taken to the chapel of his residence late April 21, the day of his death, will be carried into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing and prayer early April 23.

The public viewing was scheduled to end late April 25 with another prayer service to close the coffin.

The rites and rituals for dressing the body, moving it to St. Peter’s Basilica and celebrating the funeral are published in the “Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis” (“Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff”).

The rites originally were approved by St. John Paul II in 1998 but were released only when he died in 2005. Modified versions of the rites were used after Pope Benedict XVI died Dec. 31, 2022, and Pope Francis revised and simplified them in 2024.

U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, the chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, presided over a prayer service for the formal verification of the pope’s death April 21 in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis celebrated an early morning Mass most days before his final illness.

Cardinal Farrell will lead the prayerful procession to take the pope’s body, already in its coffin, from the chapel, into St. Peter’s Square and then into the basilica.

According to the book of rites, he will say, “Dearest brothers and sisters, with great emotion we accompany the mortal remains of our Pope Francis into the Vatican basilica where he often exercised his ministry as the bishop of the church that is in Rome and as pastor of the universal church.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In his brief final testament, Pope Francis asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major and said he had offered his suffering for peace in the world.

“I offered the suffering present in the latter part of my life to the Lord for world peace and brotherhood among peoples,” he wrote in the document dated June 29, 2022, and published by the Vatican April 21, hours after he had died.

“Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in eternal life, I wish to express my testamentary will only as to the place of my burial,” he wrote.

The document made no mention of the disposition of any possessions or of his personal papers.

As he had said publicly on several occasions, Pope Francis asked to be buried at St. Mary Major because he had entrusted his “priestly and episcopal life and ministry” to Mary.

“I wish my last earthly journey to end at this very ancient Marian shrine  where I would go to pray at the beginning and end of each apostolic journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and to thank her for the docile and maternal care,” he wrote.

Pope Francis then specified that “my tomb be prepared in the niche in the side aisle between the Pauline Chapel — the Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani — and the Sforza Chapel.”

“The tomb should be in the earth; simple, without special decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus,” he wrote.

Pope Francis said a benefactor already had covered the expenses for his burial and that he already had given specific instructions to Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, the coadjutor archpriest of the basilica.

“May the Lord give a well-deserved reward to those who have loved me and will continue to pray for me,” he wrote.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis died April 21 after suffering a stroke and heart failure, said the director of Vatican City State’s department of health services. The pope had also gone into a coma.

“I certify that His Holiness Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936, resident of Vatican City, Vatican citizen, passed away at 7:35 a.m. on 4/21/2025 in his apartment at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Vatican City, from: cerebral stroke, coma, irreversible cardiovascular collapse,” said the statement, signed by the director, Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, and published by the Vatican press office.

The doctor said the pope also had a history of: “a previous episode of acute respiratory failure due to polymicrobial bilateral pneumonia; multiple bronchiectases; arterial hypertension; and type II diabetes.”

A heart monitor or ECG was used to ascertain his death, that is, that there was no longer any heart activity, he wrote on the signed declaration.

The doctor also read the statement aloud during a special prayer service that began at 8 p.m. local time April 21 in the late pope’s residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, presided over the rite, which included the formal verification of the pope’s death, the placement of his body in a coffin, and its transfer to the chapel on the first floor of his residence. The pope died in his third-floor apartment at 7:35 a.m. April 21.

Others present at the closed-door ceremony included Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals; the late pope’s aides, assistants and members of the papal household; Dr. Arcangeli; and Dr. Luigi Carbone, deputy director of the Vatican’s health department and the pope’s personal physician.

This was the first of three rites that are divided into three “stations” based on the place they occur: “at home, in the Vatican basilica and at the burial place,” according to the “Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis” (“Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff”). There will be separate services for transferring the body to St. Peter’s Basilica, the funeral, the burial and the memorial Masses that follow the funeral for the next eight days.

The Vatican press office confirmed that, according to instructions guiding what happens after the death of a pope, the funeral and burial should take place “between the fourth and sixth day after death,” which would be between April 25 and 27.

The exact date will be determined at a meeting of all the cardinals able to reach the Vatican immediately after the papal death. The first meeting was being held at 9 a.m. April 22 in the Vatican Synod Hall.

The press office said the coffin would probably be brought to St. Peter’s Basilica April 23 for public viewing and prayer before the funeral. Instead of lying on a catafalque, that is, a kind of decorated platform, the body will be placed inside a zinc-lined coffin, which will remain open until the night before the funeral, which will be celebrated by Cardinal Re.