Divine Redeemer Parish

Pope Francis hears confessions of teenagers in St. Peter's Square. / L'Osservatore Romano.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 21, 2025 / 11:41 am (CNA).

The Vatican has announced that despite the death of Pope Francis, the Jubilee of Teenagers is still scheduled to take place in Rome beginning this Friday, April 25, through Sunday, April 27.

According to a statement from the Dicastery for Evangelization, the event is expected to draw upwards of 80,000 teenagers from all over the world to the Vatican.

Several adjustments are being made to the program due to the death of the Holy Father.

Among the changes: The previously scheduled April 27 canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis has been postponed. Due to the time of mourning, the musical celebration at Circus Maximus scheduled for April 26 at 5 p.m. has also been canceled.

Jubilee of Teenagers programming still scheduled to take place includes the April 25 “Via Lucis” prayer time, the “Dialogues with the City” squares on Saturday, April 26, the pilgrimages to the Holy Door and the holy Mass, without the canonization of Acutis, in St. Peter’s Square on April 27.

The first-ever Jubilee of Teenagers figures as one of the most anticipated events of the holy year and is especially dedicated to young people, who will have a unique experience of “faith, spiritual growth, and intercultural exchange.”

The vast majority of those registered come from Italy, although numerous groups are also expected to arrive from the United States, Brazil, India, Spain, Portugal, France, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Nigeria, and many other countries.

The delegations will come from dioceses, youth ministries, associations, and movements such as the Association of Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts, Italian Catholic Action, and the Salesian Youth Movement, among others.

The official program includes several highlights, beginning with the Via Lucis (Way of Light), an act of piety in which the apparitions of the risen Christ are meditated upon, which will take place on April 25 in the EUR neighborhood, just outside Rome.

On Saturday, April 26, there will be a day of thematic events throughout Rome, called “Dialogues with the City.”

One of the culminating moments will be on Sunday, April 27, with Mass in St. Peter’s Square, though without the canonization of Acutis.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Angelus reflection on Oct. 6, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Apr 21, 2025 / 11:11 am (CNA).

The death of Pope Francis begins the so-called “sede vacante,” a period when the See of Peter lies vacant. The time of the sede vacante after the pope’s death brings with it a series of symbols, traditions, and protocols that have existed for centuries and express the papacy’s essence. 

The principal figure of the sede vacante period is the camerlengo, currently the Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is also current prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life and former bishop of Dallas.

The pope appoints the camerlengo, and Farrell was chosen in 2019, replacing the French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran after his death at age 75. 

The tasks and duties of the camerlengo are regulated by Pope Francis’ 2022 apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, which deals with the functions and structure of the Roman Curia’s offices, and another apostolic constitution, St. John Paul II’s Universi Dominici Gregis, issued in 1996 and that governs the sede vacante and the election of a new pope.  

The camerlengo used to head the Apostolic Camera, an institution that dates back to the 12th century, and was entrusted to manage the goods of the Church during the sede vacante. It comprises the camerlengo, the vice-chamberlain, the general auditor, and the college of clerical prelates of the camera.

However, the Apostolic Camera has been suppressed by Praedicate Evangelium. According to the new constitution, the camerlengo is assisted by three cardinals. One is the cardinal coordinator of the Council for the Economy and the other two are “identified according to the modalities provided for by the legislation on the vacancy of the Apostolic See and the election of the Roman pontiff.”

What does the camerlengo do?  

First, when the pope dies, he has to “ascertain the pope’s death, in the presence of the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations, the cleric prelates of the Apostolic Camera, and the secretary and chancellor of the same,” according to Universi Dominici Gregis. 

The camerlengo must also break the Ring of the Fisherman, which the pope wears for the first time at his installation Mass, annulling the seal of the pontificate. The camerlengo will, in addition, seal the pope’s study and bedroom: No one will be able to enter the papal apartments until after his burial.  

It is likely that the process will be slightly different with Pope Francis, who chose the Casa Santa Marta rather than the Apostolic Palace as his residence after his election in 2013. In this case, the camerlengo will have to seal not only the papal apartments, which remained unused during this pontificate, but also the pope’s apartment in the Vatican guesthouse. 

After these procedures, the camerlengo notifies the cardinal vicar of the Diocese of Rome of the pope’s death. The vicar, currently Cardinal Baldassare Reina, must then inform the people of Rome via a special announcement. 

The camerlengo also has to inform the cardinal archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, of the news. The camerlengo must then take possession of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican and the Lateran and Castel Gandolfo palaces. 

It is the camerlengo’s duty to make all the arrangements for the pope’s funeral and burial after having discussed the matter with the members of the College of Cardinals.  

There is no such thing as a “vice pope.” The camerlengo, therefore, does not assume papal authority. Instead, he manages regular administration, with help from the three cardinal assistants, while maintaining contact throughout with the College of Cardinals.

The pope reformed the rite of the papal funeral, too.

First, the certification of the pope’s death does not take place in the room where he dies but in his private chapel. The camerlengo calls the deceased pope three times by his baptismal name. The baptismal name is used rather than the papal name since the deceased pope’s papal identity and function ceases upon his death. The tradition of tapping the deceased pope three times with a small silver hammer has long been in disuse.

The pope’s body is immediately placed inside an open coffin rather than an elevated bier, the so-called cata-letto (death bed), as happened with John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Also, the revised rites eliminate the use of three coffins — one of cypress, one of lead, and one of oak. Instead, the body is placed in a simple wooden coffin with a zinc lining and transferred immediately to St. Peter’s Basilica, without passing through the Apostolic Palace for another exposition, as was done previously.  

The funeral, called the “Missa Poenitentialis,” is celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica or St. Peter’s Square. Delegations from all over the world attend. The pope’s body is borne in a plain wooden coffin, with a silk veil covering his face. 

No one is allowed to take pictures of the deceased pope unless specially authorized by the camerlengo. The image, however, must be taken with the pope dressed in the pontifical robes.  

Until the practice was ended by Pope Pius X, the pope’s internal organs were removed and preserved in special amphorae secured in the Church of St. Anastasio and Vincenzo in Rome before the body was embalmed. 

Once the pope has died, all the cardinals of the Roman Curia, including the cardinal secretary of state, vacate their positions. The only posts that are maintained during the sede vacante period are those of the camerlengo, the major penitentiary, the papal almoner, the cardinal vicars of Rome and Vatican City State, and the dean of the College of Cardinals.

The camerlengo will later summon the cardinals for the general congregations that precede the election of a new pope. Then, within 20 days of the pope’s death, the cardinals eligible to vote gather in the conclave to elect a successor.

Pope Francis (1936–2025), who led the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025, emphasized God’s infinite mercy throughout his pontificate. / Credit: EWTN News

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ death today marks the end of a historic 12-year papacy. The first Latin American and the first member of the Society of Jesus to be elected pope, his legacy will be shaped by his efforts to bring the Gospel to the peripheries of the world and the margins of society while shaking up — sometimes vigorously and uncomfortably — what he saw as an unacceptably self-referential, unwelcoming, and rigid Catholic status quo.

After Pope Benedict XVI’s unexpected resignation in February 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires was given a mandate for reform on March 13, 2013, by the cardinals in the conclave convened.

Ahead of the 2013 conclave, the 76-year-old Jesuit from Argentina was not initially considered a front-runner. However, after he presented his vision for Church reform in a speech to the cardinals leading up to the conclave, a majority of electors were persuaded that he would offer a strong response to the ongoing scandals and challenges roiling the Church and provide solutions to collapsing Church attendance and vocations.

Taking the name of the 13th-century Italian saint and founder of the Franciscan order, Francis of Assisi, who adopted a life of radical poverty as he served those in need and preached the Gospel in the streets, the new pope aimed at fostering a Church reaching out to the poor, marginalized, and forgotten and capable of dealing with the complexities of the faith and human relationships in the world today.

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it has been out on the streets rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” Francis stated in Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), his 2013 apostolic exhortation that called for pastoral engagement in slums and boardrooms.  

Evangelii Gaudium was considered a manifesto for the new pontificate. Still, the true blueprint for his pontificate predated his election and was distinctly Latin American: the 2007 concluding document of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American episcopate held in Aparecida, Brazil, that Cardinal Bergoglio was chiefly responsible for drafting.   

The “Aparecida Document” introduced many of the strategies for evangelization later taken up in Evangelii Gaudium and reiterated in Querida Amazonia, his 2020 postsynodal apostolic exhortation written in response to the 2019 Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region. 

Aparecida called for a “great continental mission,” an outward-looking, humble Church with a preferential concern for creation, popular piety, the poor, and those on the peripheries. “It will be,” he wrote, “a new Pentecost that impels us to go, in a special way, in search of the fallen away Catholics, and of those who know little or nothing about Jesus Christ, so that we may joyfully form the community of love of God our Father. A mission that must reach everyone, be permanent and profound.”

Once pope, Francis made the “great continental mission” an undertaking for the universal Church.

Speaking in 2013 at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, he urged his youthful audience to be unafraid of shaking things up in order to evangelize more effectively.

“What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day?” he asked them. “I want a mess. … I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing ourselves off within ourselves, in our parishes, schools, or structures. Because these need to get out!”

In pursuit of this “messy” evangelization, Francis offered a grand vision of decentralization, listening, and accompaniment, a Church of pastoral and merciful engagement over rigid doctrinal precision and clericalism. The pope frequently declared “Todos, todos, todos” (“All, all, all”) as an expression of how the Church must be a welcoming place of mercy.

In December 2015, Pope Francis inaugurated an extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, a special time for the Church to help the whole Church “rediscover and make fruitful the mercy of God, with which all of us are called to give consolation to every man and woman of our time.” Missionaries of Mercy were commissioned in 2016 to preach the gospel of mercy and make that invitation concrete through the sacrament of confession.

The centerpiece of his final years was the ongoing pursuit of synodality for the Church embodied in the three-year Synod on Synodality (2021–2024), aimed at permanently recasting the global Church so that all its members, the people of God, “journey together, gather in assembly, and take an active part in her evangelizing mission.”  

Yet from early on, his pontificate brought to the surface existing tensions within the Church, beginning at the tumultuous 2014 and 2015 Synods on Marriage and the Family, where cardinals debated the controversial proposal to lift the Church’s ban on reception of Communion for the divorced and civilly married. Francis’ postsynodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”) failed to dampen the controversy due to its unclear position on this contentious doctrinal issue.

These divisions deepened further in the years after as some Church leaders, particularly in Germany, seized on Francis’ seeming doctrinal ambiguity to press for changes to Church teachings such as priestly celibacy, homosexual unions, and women’s ordination. Tensions mounted further in the reaction across the Church to the 2021 decree Traditionis Custodes (“Guardians of Tradition”), which sharply curtailed the Traditional Latin Mass, and the 2023 decree Fiducia Supplicans (“The Supplicating Trust of the Faithful”) that permitted forms of nonliturgical blessings to same-sex couples and couples in irregular situations.

The Holy Father, however, drew clear lines in the sand on key teaching areas. With the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2024 document Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”), Francis reaffirmed the Church’s perennial opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and gender ideology. He used a much-publicized CBS “60 Minutes” interview in May 2024 to state again categorically that women’s ordination to the priesthood and the diaconate was off the table.

By the end, he had disappointed Catholic progressives and many in the secular media who had expected a full-scale doctrinal revolution in the Church rather than the process of pastoral reform he pursued.

A child of immigrants

Born on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was one of five children of Italian immigrants. His father, Mario, was an accountant for the country’s railways, and his mother, Regina Sivori, was a housewife.   

Raised in the bustling lower-middle-class Flores sector in the center of Buenos Aires, young Jorge spent a good deal of time with his beloved grandmother, Rosa, whom he credits with introducing him to the faith. 

However, the critical moment in discerning his vocation occurred on Sept. 21, 1953, when he experienced a life-changing encounter with God’s mercy in the confessional. “After making my confession I felt something had changed. I was not the same,” he recalled in 2010. “I had heard something like a voice, or a call. I was convinced that I should become a priest.”

After completing studies to become a chemical technician, he entered a diocesan seminary. He transferred to the Jesuit novitiate in 1958, was ordained a priest in 1969, and made his final profession with the Jesuits in 1973.

In short order, he served in various roles with increasing levels of responsibility. He became provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina in the same year as his final profession, when he was just 36 years old.

He held that office for six years, a period that overlapped with the turbulent aftermath of the Second Vatican Council that convulsed the Society of Jesus’ established practices and with Argentina’s infamous Dirty War (1976–1983), during which the military junta ruling the country tortured and “disappeared” tens of thousands of dissidents and political opponents.

The horrors of the Dirty War forged in the young Jesuit priest a deep and abiding antipathy for political ideologies, whether they originated on the left or the right.

And though some Jesuits in Latin and Central America would later embrace Marxist elements of liberation theology and revolutionary struggle, he and most of his Argentine brethren rejected that path.

The Argentinean “current” of liberation theology “never used Marxist categories, or the Marxist analysis of society,” Jesuit Father Juan Carlos Scannone explained in “Our Brother, Our Friend: Personal Recollections about the Man Who Became Pope.” “Bergolio’s pastoral work is understood in this context.”

Leading with controversies

While navigating the treacherous political landscape of the period, Father Bergoglio stirred enormous controversy as he undertook reforms of the local Jesuit province. By his own admission, much of the disagreement stemmed from his imperious leadership style at the time. “I had to deal with difficult situations, and I made my decisions abruptly and by myself,” he said in a 2013 interview. “My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultra-conservative.”  

Following his time as provincial, he served from 1980–1986 as rector of the Jesuit seminary in San Miguel. His tenure as rector was again divisive, with critics accusing him of trying to reshape the institution along pre-Vatican II lines that conflicted with contemporary Jesuit practices elsewhere in Latin America.

“He was not, as some have accused him of being, a conservative who wanted to take them to the preconciliar era but a renewalist, like Benedict XVI, who resisted attempts to conform the Church to the world in the name of modernity,” papal biographer Austen Ivereigh told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, as he discussed Father Bergoglio’s estrangement from the local Jesuits and his subsequent “internal exile” from his religious order that endured until he was elected pope.

After leaving his seminary post, he traveled to Germany in 1986 with the goal of finishing his doctorate. After his return, he initially maintained a position of influence among the local Jesuits. But in 1990, now in his early 50s and with his critics also now in a position of dominance, Father Bergoglio was sent away from Buenos Aires to serve as the spiritual director and confessor of the Residencia Jesuita community in Córdoba, Argentina. It was a disciplinary move, undertaken with the approval of Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, that Francis recalled as “a time of great interior crisis” in a 2013 papal interview.

Still, Father Bergoglio’s no-frills austerity, closeness to the poor and prodigious capacity for humble hands-on service inspired a cadre of young Jesuit disciples to emulate his priestly gifts during and after his rocky tenure as provincial and seminary rector.  

“When we would get up at 6:30 or 7 to go to Mass, Bergoglio would have already prayed and already washed the sheets and towels for 150 Jesuits in the laundry room,” recalled Jesuit Cardinal Ángel Rossi, a former student at the Residencia Jesuita community, in “Pope Francis, Our Brother, Our Friend: Personal Recollections about the Man Who Became Pope.”

Episcopal service

In 1992, at the request of Cardinal Antonio Quarracino of Buenos Aires, Pope John Paul II unexpectedly plucked Father Bergoglio from his exile in Córdoba by appointing him auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. In 1997, John Paul II named him coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires with the right of succession. Upon Quarracino’s death in February 1998, Bergoglio became the metropolitan archbishop of Buenos Aires. John Paul II elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 2001.   

As archbishop, he famously eschewed the trappings of office, traveling on the subway, residing in a simple apartment, and devoting much of his time to the poor and those living in the city’s slums.  

Meanwhile, he showed himself to be politically astute, unafraid to confront Argentina’s political leaders, and a practitioner of elements of Peronism — the “third way” nationalist platform of the late Argentine strongman Juan Peron, who celebrated Argentina’s Catholic roots and ramped up social spending while eschewing both Marxism and capitalism.    

“Power is born of confidence, not with manipulation, intimidation, or with arrogance,” Cardinal Bergoglio said in a 2006 homily that took aim at Argentina’s Kirchner government, which had adopted a more left-wing approach to Peronism than his own position and had clashed with the archbishop on moral issues.  

Beyond Argentina, his major role at the 2007 Fifth General Conference of the Latin American episcopate in Aparecida, Brazil, thrust him into greater prominence in the global Church. Writing in First Things in 2012 about the final document, Catholic commentator George Weigel highlighted its evangelical focus.   

“The first thing to note about the Aparecida Document is its strongly evangelical thrust: Everyone in the Church, the bishops write, is baptized to be a ‘missionary disciple,’” Weigel said approvingly, in words that presciently anticipated Francis’ vision for the papacy. “Everywhere is mission territory, and everything in the Church must be mission-driven.”  

A pontificate of the peripheries

Eight years after reportedly finishing as the runner-up in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Bergoglio was picked by the College of Cardinals to succeed the German-born pope. The newly elected pontiff — the first non-European pope since Gregory III in 741 — immediately set the tone for his pontificate. “You know that the duty of the conclave was to give a bishop to Rome,” he declared from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on the evening of his election. “It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world to get him. But here we are.”  

Many of the concerns he pursued in Argentina and at Aparecida became foundations for his papacy. He shunned traditional papal garments and moved into the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican guesthouse, instead of the traditional papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. He continually emphasized the need for a Church that “goes out of herself to evangelize,” searching out and accompanying those on the “peripheries” of human existence. Important maxims from the Francis pontificate — the Church as a field hospital, “going out to the margins,” and the need for Church leaders to “smell like the sheep” — were complemented by a series of powerful images, such as the Holy Father washing the feet of prisoners and a young Muslim on Holy Thursday, embracing a disfigured man in St. Peter’s Square, and posing for selfies with young people.  

Francis repeatedly reemphasized the centrality of this evangelical approach. “The true Church is at the peripheries,” he stated in Disney’s documentary “The Pope: Answers,” released in April 2023.   

His first trip outside Rome after his election was to the small Mediterranean Italian island of Lampedusa, where he drew attention to the plight of undocumented migrants crossing deadly seas to enter Europe. He often spoke of the terrible plight of migrants and refugees, the divide between the global north and south and between the developing and wealthy countries, warning against economic policies that exploit poorer nations, a reflection of his familiarity with capitalism from a Latin American perspective. He criticized sharply what he called a “globalization of indifference” — an attitude that ignores people’s suffering on the margins of society and a “throwaway culture” that viewed the weak and vulnerable as disposable.  

One similar recurring feature of this focus on the peripheries was his framing of efforts by wealthy nations to impose abortion, contraception, and gender ideology on developing countries in return for aid and development as manifestations of “ideological colonization.”   

Such condemnations demonstrated that Pope Francis’ outreaches to the margins of human society defied efforts to cast him as a supporter only of progressive political and social agendas. During his April 2023 visit to Hungary — a European nation whose conservative alignment supposedly conflicted with his papal priorities for that continent — he denounced “the baneful path taken by those forms of ‘ideological colonization’ that would cancel differences, as in the case of the so-called gender theory, or that would place before the reality of life reductive concepts of freedom, for example by vaunting as progress a senseless ‘right to abortion,’ which is always a tragic defeat.”  

The Holy Father’s informal communication style — highlighted by interviews such as the ones he gave to the late Italian atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari and his off-the-cuff comments, especially his press conferences on the papal plane — made possible the rise of a parallel, media-generated quasi-magisterium in which secular and progressive Catholic media used his comments to claim that he was calling for major changes to Church teaching.  

One legacy-defining example occurred during an in-flight press conference on the way home from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, when the Holy Father was asked to comment about a specific repentant Vatican official and the rumored existence of a gay lobby at the Vatican.   

Francis offered a nuanced response to the query, distinguishing between a person simply being gay as opposed to participating in a lobby. “If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge?” he said. Instead of seeing it as a pastoral gesture toward homosexual persons, many news reports characterized the remark as a softening of the Church’s moral prohibition of same-sex acts, with no meaningful clarification provided afterward from the Vatican.  

Pope Francis also sought to build bridges with the international community through his words and actions. The two encyclicals written entirely during his pontificate, Laudato Si' (2015), on caring for our common home, and Fratelli Tutti (2020), which emphasized fraternity and social friendship, were well-received by the international press. 

In total, Francis authored four encyclicals during his reign, complemented by seven apostolic exhortations and 75 motu proprio documents, making him one of the most prolific popes in terms of magisterial teaching.  

His March 2020 urbi et orbi address and blessing, delivered amid the COVID-19 pandemic as he stood in an empty, rainy St. Peter’s Square, as well as playing the role of peacemaker by working to restore U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties and offering to mediate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, helped establish the pope as a spiritual father figure not only for the Church but also for the wider world. In 2024, he became the first pope to participate in the G7 meeting of world leaders, urging them to be aware of the threat and the promise of artificial intelligence.  

The pope’s desire for negotiation and dialogue also led him to sign a secret agreement with Beijing on appointing bishops in 2018 — for which he received strong opposition. The agreement was slammed by human rights advocates and other critics as an “incredible betrayal” and “absolutely incomprehensible” as Beijing further clamped down on religious freedom and violated the agreement on numerous occasions. The Vatican did not back down, however, insisting that patience was needed for the initiative to bear fruit despite frequent violations of the accord by the Chinese communist regime and the increasingly draconian application of its program of “sinicization,” which mandates that all religions must conform to communist precepts and be independent of foreign influence.   

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Dicastery for Bishops during much of Francis’ reign, said the late pope’s ability to generate interest in the Church from those on the outside was a sign of his “missionary style.”

“A missionary is at the borders; he is looking for those who are far away,” he told EWTN News in a February 2023 interview.

Pope Francis’ global missionary spirit was evident in his many papal travels. The late pope made 47 apostolic journeys outside Italy, visiting 61 total countries, averaging six countries per year. The rate was even higher than the five-per-year pace of the original “traveling pope,” St. John Paul II. Francis’ visits, which included places like war-torn Iraq, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan, indicated a preference for the Global South and nations plagued by conflict.   

This preference for the global margins was further reflected in Pope Francis’ selection of many new members for the College of Cardinals. Through 10 consistories, he created 149 new cardinals, dramatically reshaping the college’s composition. During his pontificate, the makeup of the college underwent a historic transformation, falling from 52% European at the start of his papacy to just 35% today. The college now reflects a more global Church, with South America and Asia each representing 15% of cardinals, North America 17%, Africa 12%, and Oceania 7%.  

Pope Francis was responsible for selecting 108 of the 135 cardinals who will now vote for his successor. 

His global vision was particularly evident in his appointments of cardinals from countries with tiny Catholic populations, such as Mongolia and Morocco, from the peripheries, such as Tonga and Haiti, and from places of strife, such as Myanmar, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.  

Francis’ tendency to appoint members to the College of Cardinals based on personal instinct, recommendations, or connections over standing custom also led him to pass over candidates from long-standing cardinalatial sees. For instance, in the U.S., Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of the largest archdiocese in the U.S., never received the red hat. At the same time, Pope Francis made Bishop Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego a cardinal in 2022. Likewise, Archbishop Mario Delpini, a Francis appointee as head of the Milan Archdiocese, the largest in Italy, was also conspicuously deprived of the cardinalate.    

But just as erroneous assumptions abounded about his supposed intent to abandon core points of Church teaching, there was also a mistaken belief that his appointments to the College of Cardinals were uniformly progressives. Many Francis appointees, such as McElroy, Cardinal Leonardo Steiner of Brazil, and the Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, are committed progressives. At the same time, Francis named several known conservatives, including Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Carmelite Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden; and Capuchin Franciscan Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who led the African bishops’ opposition to Fiducia Supplicans in 2024.   

That balance in his appointments was similarly mirrored in the canonizations throughout his pontificate. Pope Francis canonized three of his predecessors, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. He also canonized a total of 942 saints. These include the 813 Martyrs of Otranto; Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, a courageous critic of government human rights abuses; the great English convert and cardinal John Henry Newman; and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The pontiff also added two new doctors of the Church: the Armenian St. Gregory of Narek and the Church Father St. Irenaeus of Lyon. He called Irenaeus the “doctor of unity.”  

Internal reform

Francis’ outward emphasis was matched by serious efforts to reform the inner structures of the Catholic Church to free it up for a greater focus on mission and service. Early on, he appointed a council of cardinals to advise him on curial and Church reform. Its labors culminated in March 2022 with the promulgation of a new apostolic constitution for the Holy See, Praedicate Evangelium, that allowed dicasteries, or Vatican departments, to be headed by lay baptized Catholics and placed greater emphasis on evangelization. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which dates to 1622, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, created by Benedict XVI in 2010, were combined to form the Dicastery for Evangelization, presided over directly by the pope and superseding the long-standing position of preeminence of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the ranks of Vatican offices.   

Francis tackled some aspects of Vatican finances, even as ongoing scandals overshadowed that progress. The pope himself was drawn into one high-profile fraud case that led to the trial and 2023 conviction of one of his closest cardinal collaborators, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, on allegations of financial misconduct.  

Francis also undertook a series of reforms related to the scourge of clergy sexual abuse, beginning in 2014 with the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, headed by Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston, who was also a member of the pope’s Council of Cardinals. Francis convened a global Vatican summit on the issue in 2019, which gave rise to his new Vos Estis guidelines intended to strengthen provisions for bringing abusive priests to justice and holding bishops accountable for their handling of abuse allegations.   

But the Holy Father’s style of governance — which often relied upon going with his gut instead of following established procedures and a tendency to keep all decision-making in his own hands — arguably led to blind spots in his crackdown on abuse.  

“A handful of priests, bishops, and cardinals whom Francis has trusted over the years have turned out to be either accused of sexual misconduct or convicted of it, or of having covered it up,” AP Rome correspondent Nicole Winfield reported in 2020. This referred to Francis initially disbelieving allegations against a bishop in Chile that turned out to be true and also reportedly turning a blind eye to reports of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual misconduct until allegations were made public in 2018. Questions were raised as well about Francis’ awareness of the case of the famed Slovenian Jesuit mosaic artist Marko Rupnik, who was accused of sexual misconduct, briefly excommunicated, and finally expelled from the Society of Jesus. At the end of the pontificate, the wider sex abuse scandal was still swirling in several countries, including Bolivia and Portugal.  

Criticism of his handling of the abuse crisis reached a new level of severity in 2018 when Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, accused Pope Francis of negligence in handling allegations of sexual misconduct involving McCarrick and called on the pope to resign. By 2024, Viganò’s extreme rhetoric — including calling Francis a heretic — led to his condemnation as a schismatic by the Vatican.   

Pope of synodality

One of Pope Francis’ most significant projects in the second half of his pontificate was his implementation of “synodality” in the life of the Church.   

Reflecting the ecclesiastical vision that was articulated at Aparecida and in Evangelii Gaudium, Francis used the Synod of Bishops to craft a more listening Church, an “inverted pyramid” that took the people of God as its starting point and significantly raised the profile of the General Secretariat of the Synod under its secretary general, the Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech.   

But many critics feared that his approach departed from St. Paul VI’s vision of a Synod of Bishops, could undermine Rome’s authority, lead to further confusion among the faithful, and open a path to change Church teaching in a host of areas.   

Synods covering the family and marriage, youth, and the Amazon featured unfettered discussions, with some Church leaders openly demanding a change to Church discipline to address new pastoral realities on the ground, and even calling for granting women access to a form of the diaconate.  

Francis’ 2016 postsynodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”), following from the sometimes contentious 2014 and 2015 Synods on the Family, made headlines for what critics saw as the creation of conditions in which the divorced and civilly remarried could receive Communion. Church leaders and dioceses offered dueling interpretations of the document’s pastoral guidance, and four cardinals’ September 2016 submission of five questions, or “dubia,” asking for clarity amid “grave disorientation and great confusion,” went unaddressed by the pope. Subsequent dubia sent to Rome in 2023 were answered by Francis’ new doctrine chief, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, in terms that seemed to confirm the broadest interpretation possible.     

Meanwhile, some radical lay German Catholics, with the support of most of the German bishops, found inspiration in the pope’s approach and launched their own Synodal Way to demand changes to Church teaching on priestly celibacy, homosexual unions, and women’s ordination. Despite being rebuked by Francis as “elitist,” “unhelpful,” and “ideological,” the Germans pushed ahead with their process and risked a schism.   

At the same time, Francis faced disapproval from some conservative prelates who feared that his doctrinal ambiguity, his handling of the abuse crisis and his disparagement of some in the Church for clericalism and rigidity were confusing the faithful and demoralizing priests and seminarians.   

Francis similarly created ripples with his treatment of Catholic communities attached to the Traditional Latin Mass. Traditionis Custodes, his 2021 decree restricting its celebration, shocked adherents to the rite and prompted even some of the pope’s liberal allies to characterize the document’s stern language and severe suppression as a stunning departure from the pope’s call for a synodal listening approach. Others, like the Dominican and longtime Vatican official Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, have argued that the pope’s intervention was necessary to head off the false idea that the pre-Vatican II Mass is the true liturgy for the true Church.  

Immense controversy likewise surrounded the document issued by Fernández at the end of 2023, Fiducia Supplicans, that allowed nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and couples in irregular situations. The decree sparked strong disagreements among the world’s bishops, with almost all African bishops refusing to implement the decree, saying in a formal statement in January 2024 that “it has sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons, and even pastors.”

Francis, however, also was consistently clear on key areas of Church teaching. Through the 2024 decree Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”) issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, for example, Francis reiterated the Church’s perennial teachings on the dignity of the human person.

Undeterred by the critics, the Holy Father pushed ahead with his vision for a synodal Church launching in 2021 a multiyear, global consultative process, which ended in two “Synods on Synodality” in Rome in October 2023 and October 2024.

Francis made the unprecedented decision to forgo writing a postsynodal apostolic exhortation at the conclusion, choosing instead to directly implement the synod’s final document. “What we have approved in the document is enough,” he declared, marking a historic shift in how synodal reforms may be implemented.  

Francis clearly intended to place the Church on a path from which, institutionally and even theologically, it would be difficult to turn back. This was especially apparent in his choice in 2023 of his friend, then-Archbishop Fernández, an Argentinian theologian and ghostwriter of several of Francis’ major writings, including Laudato Si’ and especially Amoris Laetitia, to be the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a member of the College of Cardinals. In the letter accompanying his appointment, Francis called on his new prefect “to verify that the documents of your own dicastery and of the others have an adequate theological support, are coherent with the rich humus of the perennial teaching of the Church and at the same time take into account the recent magisterium,” meaning Francis’ writings over the last decade, many of which Fernández himself helped write.   

‘With doors always wide open’

Pope Francis’ health declined in his last years due to several medical challenges, including sciatica, respiratory issues, ligament damage in his knees, and two bouts of intestinal surgeries. Mobility issues forced him to start using a wheelchair in 2022. Still, he remained impressively active almost to the very end, maintaining a demanding schedule of audiences and travel, even while moderating his pace in his final months.

Many around the world will retain vivid images of Francis embracing the poorest and most stricken, a champion of mercy and accompaniment. He declared on the night of his election that he had come from the ends of the earth. In his unexpected and often unappreciated pontificate, he reached out to the ends of the earth to declare a place of welcome for all, “todos, todos, todos.” 

“The Church is called to be the house of the Father,” he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium, “with doors always wide open. One concrete sign of such openness is that our church doors should always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit, comes there looking for God, he or she will not find a closed door.”

On Dec. 24, 2024, as the first “pilgrim of hope,” he opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, inaugurating the 2025 Jubilee Year. In a historic first, he also opened a Holy Door within Rome’s Rebibbia prison, demonstrating his continued commitment to those on society’s margins.

The pontiff’s final medical challenge was a bout of pneumonia that led to a lengthy hospitalization in early 2025 from which he ultimately never recovered. His last public appearance was on Easter Sunday, where he took part in the traditional urbi et orbi. He struggled to be close to the Church and its people until the end, pushing to be present to the world in his frailty. 

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, in his apartment at Casa Santa Marta.

The pope’s death leaves the massive project of synodality and the curial reforms unfinished. It now falls to the cardinals to choose a successor who will decide how or whether to carry the Francis agenda forward. He bequeaths a polarized Catholic community beset by the crises of modernity and relativism. Still, his vision for a Church of the peripheries that listens and walks with the suffering with mercy unquestionably disrupted the status quo and launched a process that will continue to impact global Catholicism long after he is laid to rest.

EWTN Chairman and CEO Michael P. Warsaw meets with Pope Francis during an audience with participants in the plenary meetings of the Dicastery for Communication, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Apr 21, 2025 / 08:40 am (CNA).

EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Warsaw on Monday mourned the passing of Pope Francis, calling the pontiff’s death at 88 on Monday a “moment of personal grief for Catholics around the world.”

“Together with our entire EWTN family, I mourn his passing and join the Church in prayers for the repose of his soul,” Warsaw said in a statement. EWTN is the parent company of CNA.

Warsaw said he was “privileged to be able to meet Pope Francis a number of times throughout the years” and was “always struck by his kindness and good humor in our encounters.”

“As Catholics, we thank God for the life and pontificate of Pope Francis, and in particular for his tireless advocacy for those on the peripheries,” Warsaw said.

Warsaw noted that EWTN in the coming days will air programming “to honor Pope Francis’ life and legacy as well as coverage of the many devotions and Masses from the Vatican, including the Holy Father’s funeral Mass.”

“We invite our global audience to join us in this period of mourning,” he said. “May God have mercy on his servant and grant him eternal rest.”

A reliquary containing relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis at the Church of Sant'Angela Merici in Rome, Oct 11, 2021. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2025 / 08:20 am (CNA).

The Vatican announced Monday that the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis has been postponed following the death of Pope Francis.

“Following the death of Supreme Pontiff Francis, notice is hereby given that the Eucharistic celebration and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, scheduled for April 27, 2025, II Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Adolescents, is suspended,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement on April 21.

More than 80,000 teenagers were expected to gather in Rome for the April 27 canonization amid the Vatican’s Jubilee of Teenagers, according to the Dicastery for Evangelization, with young people registered from the United States, Brazil, India, Spain, Portugal, France, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, and Nigeria.

News of Pope Francis’ death broke as pilgrims were beginning to arrive for the planned canonization, including a group of students from St. Joachim Parish in Sydney, Australia, who traveled more than 10,000 miles to attend the canonization.

With the death of the pope, the Catholic Church has entered a mourning period. Pope Francis’ funeral is expected within the next week. A conclave to elect his successor typically begins approximately 15 days after a pope’s death.

While the canonization is suspended due to the sede vacante, the Vatican has confirmed that the Jubilee of Teenagers will still go ahead with a few changes to the schedule. Due to the mourning period, a musical celebration in Circus Maximus on Saturday night has been canceled, but a special Mass for the Jubilee of Teenagers will still take place on Sunday, April 27, without the canonization of Acutis.

Cora Croson, 14, from Alexandria, Virginia, arrived in Rome on the morning that Pope Francis died with a group of 30 other Americans from the Basilica of St. Mary Catholic School for the Jubilee of Teenagers. She said that she was “shocked” to learn that Acutis’ canonization had been postponed but said she was still looking forward to her group’s pilgrimage to Assisi, where she can pray at his tomb and at the tomb of her new confirmation saint, St. Clare.

Blessed Carlo Acutis

Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, is known for his devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Born in 1991 in London and raised in Milan, he is the first millennial to be beatified by the Church.

Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Carlo told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.” To accomplish this, Carlo sought to attend daily Mass as often as possible at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.

Carlo called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” and he did all in his power to make this presence known. His witness inspired his own parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptized.

Carlo was a tech-savvy kid who loved computers, animals, and video games. His spiritual director has recalled that Carlo was convinced that the evidence of Eucharistic miracles could be persuasive in helping people to realize that Jesus is present at every Mass.

Over the course of two and a half years, Carlo worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II and has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.

Many of Carlo’s classmates, friends, and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. They remember Carlo as a very open person who was not shy to speak with his classmates and anyone he met about the things that he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and heaven.

He is remembered for saying: “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”

Carlo died at the age of 15 in 2006 shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Carlo told his mother: “I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the pope and for the Church in order not to go to purgatory but to go straight to heaven.”

The Vatican has not yet given an alternative date when the canonization could take place. The Church’s Jubilee of Youth will take place in Rome from July 28 to Aug. 3, during which another beloved young person, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, is set to be canonized.

Pope Francis dies at 88: The Holy See has confirmed the passing of the first Latin American pontiff. / Credit: EWTN News

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2025 / 05:48 am (CNA).

Pope Francis passed away at 7:35 a.m. local time on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta, as confirmed by the Holy See Press Office. The 88-year-old pontiff led the Catholic Church for a little more than 12 years. 

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, officially announced the pope’s death in a video message. “At 7:35 this morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” Farrell stated.  

“His entire life was dedicated to the service of God and his Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.” 

The Vatican has not yet announced details regarding the funeral arrangements for the first Latin American pope in history. A conclave to elect his successor will be convoked in the coming days. 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and entered the Society of Jesus at age 21. Following his ordination in 1969, he served as a Jesuit provincial, seminary rector, and professor before St. John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992. He became archbishop of the Argentine capital in 1998 and was created cardinal in 2001. 

The surprise election of Cardinal Bergoglio on March 13, 2013, at age 76 marked several historic firsts: He became the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first to choose the name Francis, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi’s devotion to poverty, peace, and creation. 

His 12-year pontificate was characterized by a focus on mercy, care for creation, and attention to what he called the “peripheries” of both the Church and society. He made 47 apostolic journeys outside Italy, though he never visited his native Argentina. 

During his tenure, Pope Francis canonized 942 saints — more than any other pope in history — including his predecessors John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. He published four encyclicals and seven apostolic exhortations while promulgating 75 motu proprio documents. 

Throughout his papacy, Francis significantly reshaped the College of Cardinals through 10 consistories, creating 163 new cardinals. His appointments reflected his vision of a global Church, elevating prelates from the peripheries and creating cardinals in places that had never before had one, including Mongolia and South Sudan. 

Health challenges marked the pope’s final years. He underwent surgery in July 2021 and in June 2023. In November 2023, he suffered from pulmonary inflammation, and in February 2025, he was hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for bronchitis and a respiratory infection. 

His papacy faced unprecedented challenges, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, during which he offered historic moments of prayer for humanity, notably the extraordinary urbi et orbi blessing in an empty St. Peter’s Square in March 2020. He also repeatedly called for peace amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Holy Land. 

Francis convoked four synods, including the Synod on Synodality, whose second session concluded in October 2024. He implemented significant reforms of the Roman Curia and took several steps to address the clergy abuse crisis, including the 2019 motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi. 

Following the pope’s funeral and the traditional nine days of mourning, cardinals from around the world will gather in Rome for the general congregations and subsequent conclave to elect his successor. 

This is a developing story. 

U.S. Vice President JD Vance meets Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media/Screenshot

CNA Newsroom, Apr 20, 2025 / 07:26 am (CNA).

Pope Francis met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Easter Sunday morning at the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican confirmed.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the private audience took place at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time and lasted only a few minutes. The pope and the vice president exchanged Easter greetings and spoke briefly in English.

Vance thanked the Holy Father for receiving him and noted: “It’s good to see you in better health.” Pope Francis responded warmly. Both wished each other ‘’happy Easter.”

During the encounter, the pope presented Vance with several gifts: a Vatican tie, a red rosary for him, white rosaries for his children, and a set of three large chocolate Easter eggs. A separate white rosary was designated for his wife.

Vance replied: “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

The meeting followed a formal conversation the day before between Vance and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state. That discussion focused on international relations, religious freedom, and humanitarian concerns.

Both parties expressed hope for continued positive collaboration between the U.S. government and the Catholic Church in America.

During his time in Rome, Vance and his family also participated in the solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday evening at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis wishes the crowd a “happy Easter” from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Apr 20, 2025 / 07:12 am (CNA).

Pope Francis decried the numerous conflicts plaguing the planet and appealed to world leaders “not to yield to the logic of fear” in his Easter message “urbi et orbi“ (“to the city and to the world“) on Sunday.

The pope’s traditional blessing, “urbi et orbi,” was read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations, as the 88-year-old pontiff, still convalescing, was present but physically limited.

Francis, who arrived at the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica in a wheelchair, greeted the faithful with a brief “Brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!” before asking Ravelli to read the message on his behalf.

“I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear, which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger, and to encourage initiatives that promote development,” the message stated.

Earlier in the morning, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Pope Francis held a brief private meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the Casa Santa Marta, according to the Holy See Press Office.

The meeting, which lasted only a few minutes, provided an opportunity for the two to exchange Easter greetings.

Vance met Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Saturday regarding international relations, religious freedom, and humanitarian concerns.

The pope’s Easter address — delivered amid a confluence of global conflicts — focused particularly on war-torn regions, including Ukraine, the Holy Land, Myanmar, and various parts of Africa.

Regarding Gaza, where “the terrible conflict continues to generate death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” Francis called for concrete action: “I appeal to the warring parties: Call a ceasefire, release the hostages, and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”

The Holy Father also lamented the “growing climate of antisemitism throughout the world” while expressing closeness to “the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”

The pope’s message emphasized that “there can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and respect for the views of others.” He added that peace is also impossible without “true disarmament,” warning against the “race to rearmament” that threatens global stability.

Reflecting on the spiritual significance of Easter, Francis reminded the faithful that Christ’s resurrection represents “the basis of our hope” and that “hope does not disappoint!” He characterized this hope not as “an evasion but a challenge” that “does not delude but empowers us.”

The message “urbi et orbi” concluded with the pontiff’s customary invocation for a peaceful world: “Let us entrust ourselves to him, for he alone can make all things new.”

This year’s Easter celebration held particular significance as it coincided with this year’s 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and was celebrated on the same day by Catholics and Orthodox Christians following the Julian calendar.

After the blessing, Pope Francis greeted jubilant pilgrims from the popemobile to shouts of joy from the crowd. It was the first time the pontiff used the popemobile to visit the square since his hospitalization.

Last updated on April 20, 2025, with further details.

Iman Hijaze and her mother, Hadidza, at St. Joseph’s House. / Credit: Alexey Gotovskiy/EWTN Vatican Bureau

Rome Newsroom, Apr 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In 2017, while working at the World Food Program office in the Azarieh building in downtown Beirut, Iman Hijaze spotted her colleague’s rosary lying on the floor. Alex Imad, a former Shiite Muslim who had converted to Christianity, had accidentally dropped it.

“When I touched it, I felt an electrical shock through my body,” Hijaze recalled.  

Instead of returning the rosary to Imad, Hijaze slipped it into her pocket. Later, Imad checked the security camera footage and discovered what happened. When he confronted her, he hugged her gently and drew the sign of the cross on her back. 

“I felt another electrical sensation,” Hijaze said when recalling the encounter. “It was the first time I actually felt something religious.”

Raised in a culturally Shiite household in southern Lebanon, Hijaze had long considered herself an atheist. “I used to mock believers,” she admitted. “I told Alex, ‘There’s no God. You left Islam to become Christian? Why?’” 

But something had shifted. She asked to accompany Imad to church to see how Christians pray. The next day, he gave her three books: the Bible, the Quran, and a small Arabic-language booklet explaining how to pray the rosary. 

“I didn’t even open the Quran — I already knew it,” she said. “But when I read the rosary book, I felt like I was entering another world. I knew then that I had to start praying.” 

Hijaze shared her growing interest in Christianity with a Christian gym coach named Ravid. She recalled that he was surprised she hadn’t been baptized. Given that she rode motorcycles, lifted weights, and dressed freely, he had assumed she was already a Christian since such a lifestyle is less common among Shiite Muslim women in Lebanon’s more conservative communities. Seeing her curiosity, Ravid introduced her to a Catholic priest, Father Francis, who became her spiritual guide on the path to baptism. 

Father Francis began accompanying her to Christian shrines throughout Lebanon. But after visiting the Monastery of St. Veronica Giuliani in Qsaybeh, Hijaze began having terrifying dreams. “I saw the monks with the faces of mummies and beasts,” she said. “A red devil appeared and beat me. Alex was in the dream, trying to protect me.” 

The experiences left her overwhelmed. “I couldn’t sleep. Every night I saw horrible things,” she said she told Father Francis. “I told him I didn’t want to pray anymore, didn’t want to be baptized. It was destroying my life.” 

But Father Francis stayed faithful to her journey. “Every day after work, he picked me up to pray the exorcism prayers. He told me I was in a spiritual battle — and I must never surrender.” 

She also faced opposition at home. “My family saw me reading the Bible. They knew I wanted to change my religion. I suffered for three years.” 

In early 2021, Hijaze returned to the monastery, hoping to be baptized, and while at first she mistakenly thought it would not happen, three days later, three candidates — including Hijaze — were baptized at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa. Hijaze chose the Christian name Rita, in honor of St. Rita of Cascia. She said she felt a connection with the saint as both had suffered because of their husbands. 

“After I was baptized, the dreams stopped,” she said. “But the devil tried another way. People around me became more aggressive. He couldn’t reach my mind anymore, so he worked through the unbaptized.”

Her mother, Hadidza, was the first to confront her when Hijaze told her that she had been baptized. She came home carrying a Bible, images of saints, and baptismal gifts. A friend warned her not to go home, fearing her family might kill her. But she went anyway. She said she didn’t care anymore.

Her mother didn’t speak to her at first but later that night had a vivid dream. “I saw a tall and handsome man, wearing a crown of gold,” Hadidza recounted. “He stood silently at the door. I didn’t understand what he said, but I felt it was Isa al-Masih [Jesus the Messiah]; peace upon him!”

Soon after, she had another dream — this time of the Virgin Mary.

“She looked exactly like the statue at Harissa, except she was holding the child Jesus,” Hadidza said.

“I approached and kissed the child on the forehead,” she said. “After what I saw, I said to myself: Leave her be — let her believe in what she believes. Let her live her religion freely. I won’t interfere anymore.”

War breaks out

In September 2024, war in Lebanon broke out. Israeli bombs struck their hometown of Douris.  

“We left just in time,” Hijaze said. “Ten days later, our home was gone.” She had just sold her car to finish building a small restaurant next to the house. “Everything I worked for was destroyed.” 

She and her mother moved from school to school, sleeping in overcrowded shelters. “We are clean people. It was so hard to sleep among 60 others,” she said. 

Hijaze’s godmother helped them escape a basement shelter during the conflict and arranged for their relocation to “Beit Youssef” — St. Joseph’s House, an old monastery just steps away from the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa. Currently the site is being transformed into a retreat center for families and youth by Doud and Kate Tayeh, a Lebanese-American couple raising six children. 

“At first, I was nervous [about the center],” Kate Tayeh admitted. “What if they bring someone from Hezbollah? What if we’re targeted? What if the neighbors see people in hijab and hate us? But the biggest [loss] ...would be if we lost our humanity. We’re not going to let that happen.” 

They welcomed Hijaze and her mother with open arms, on the condition that no men would stay.  

“And they were happy with that,” Kate said. 

A few weeks later, Hijaze’s sister also arrived — fleeing another bombing — with her four young children. Another sister remains safe in Beirut. 

“When Shiite villages are bombed, families flee to churches in the mountains,” Kate said. “They believe churches are less likely to be hit.” 

When Hijaze arrived at St. Joseph’s House, she noticed Doud wearing a rosary and asked him for it.  

Hijaze, along with her mother and sister, is currently staying at St. Joseph’s House, facing an uncertain future. She never parts with the rosary Doud gave her, which she wears around her neck. Today, she asks for prayers — and holds onto hope for a safe and stable future for herself and her family, whether in Lebanon or elsewhere in the world. 

Pope Francis speaks the Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, April 20, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Apr 20, 2025 / 06:48 am (CNA).

On Easter Sunday 2025, Pope Francis did not deliver his speech in person, though he briefly greeted the faithful with a brief “Brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!”

The pope’s traditional “urbi et orbi” was read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations, as the 88-year-old pontiff, still convalescing, was present but physically limited. Pope Francis briefly blessed the crowd after the message was read.

“Urbi et orbi” means “To the city [of Rome] and to the world.” It is a special apostolic blessing given by the pope every year on Easter Sunday, Christmas, and other special occasions.

Here is the full text of the pope’s message:

Christ is risen, alleluia!

Dear brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!

Today at last, the singing of the “alleluia” is heard once more in the Church, passing from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, and this makes the people of God throughout the world shed tears of joy.

From the empty tomb in Jerusalem we hear unexpected good news: Jesus, who was crucified, “is not here, he has risen” (Lk 24:5). Jesus is not in the tomb, he is alive!

Love has triumphed over hatred, light over darkness and truth over falsehood. Forgiveness has triumphed over revenge. Evil has not disappeared from history; it will remain until the end, but it no longer has the upper hand; it no longer has power over those who accept the grace of this day.

Sisters and brothers, especially those of you experiencing pain and sorrow, your silent cry has been heard and your tears have been counted; not one of them has been lost! In the passion and death of Jesus, God has taken upon himself all the evil in this world and in his infinite mercy has defeated it. He has uprooted the diabolical pride that poisons the human heart and wreaks violence and corruption on every side. The Lamb of God is victorious! That is why, today, we can joyfully cry out: “Christ, my hope, has risen!” (Easter Sequence).

The resurrection of Jesus is indeed the basis of our hope. For in the light of this event, hope is no longer an illusion. Thanks to Christ — crucified and risen from the dead — hope does not disappoint! Spes non confundit! (cf. Rom 5:5). That hope is not an evasion, but a challenge; it does not delude but empowers us.

All those who put their hope in God place their feeble hands in his strong and mighty hand; they let themselves be raised up and set out on a journey. Together with the risen Jesus, they become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love and of the disarmed power of life.

Christ is risen! These words capture the whole meaning of our existence, for we were not made for death but for life. Easter is the celebration of life! God created us for life and wants the human family to rise again! In his eyes, every life is precious! The life of a child in the mother’s womb, as well as the lives of the elderly and the sick, who in more and more countries are looked upon as people to be discarded.

What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world! How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children! How much contempt is stirred up at times toward the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!

On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life, and ideas! For all of us are children of God!

I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible! From the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Resurrection, where this year Easter is being celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox on the same day, may the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world. I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. The growing climate of anti-Semitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation. I appeal to the warring parties: Call a ceasefire, release the hostages, and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!

Let us pray for the Christian communities in Lebanon and in Syria, presently experiencing a delicate transition in its history. They aspire to stability and to participation in the life of their respective nations. I urge the whole Church to keep the Christians of the beloved Middle East in its thoughts and prayers.

I also think in particular of the people of Yemen, who are experiencing one of the world’s most serious and prolonged humanitarian crises because of war, and I invite all to find solutions through a constructive dialogue.

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.

On this festive day, let us remember the South Caucasus and pray that a final peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will soon be signed and implemented, and lead to long-awaited reconciliation in the region.

May the light of Easter inspire efforts to promote harmony in the western Balkans and sustain political leaders in their efforts to allay tensions and crises, and, together with their partner countries in the region, to reject dangerous and destabilizing actions.

May the risen Christ, our hope, grant peace and consolation to the African peoples who are victims of violence and conflict, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Sudan and South Sudan. May he sustain those suffering from the tensions in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and the Great Lakes region, as well as those Christians who in many places are not able freely to profess their faith.

There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and respect for the views of others.

Nor is peace possible without true disarmament! The requirement that every people provide for its own defense must not turn into a race to rearmament. The light of Easter impels us to break down the barriers that create division and are fraught with grave political and economic consequences. It impels us to care for one another, to increase our mutual solidarity, and to work for the integral development of each human person.

During this time, let us not fail to assist the people of Myanmar, plagued by long years of armed conflict, who, with courage and patience, are dealing with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Sagaing, which caused the death of thousands and great suffering for the many survivors, including orphans and the elderly. We pray for the victims and their loved ones, and we heartily thank all the generous volunteers carrying out the relief operations. The announcement of a ceasefire by various actors in the country is a sign of hope for the whole of Myanmar.

I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear, which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development. These are the “weapons” of peace: weapons that build the future instead of sowing seeds of death!

May the principle of humanity never fail to be the hallmark of our daily actions. In the face of the cruelty of conflicts that involve defenseless civilians and attack schools, hospitals, and humanitarian workers, we cannot allow ourselves to forget that it is not targets that are struck but persons, each possessed of a soul and human dignity.

In this jubilee year, may Easter also be a fitting occasion for the liberation of prisoners of war and political prisoners!

Dear brothers and sisters,

In the Lord’s paschal mystery, death and life contended in a stupendous struggle, but the Lord now lives forever (cf. Easter Sequence). He fills us with the certainty that we too are called to share in the life that knows no end, when the clash of arms and the rumble of death will be heard no more. Let us entrust ourselves to him, for he alone can make all things new (cf. Rev. 21:5)!

Happy Easter to everyone!