Pope Francis has died. He died in the early morning today, Easter Monday, Rome time. He was 88.
BY NICOLE WINFIELD
Now Pope John Paul II died before Easter when he passed away in 2005. I actually met him when I was a senior in high school in 1981 at a private Ash Wednesday service in the Vatican. Private meant 100 people. It was this small like church like reception room in one of the lower levels of the Vatican with an altar.
It was really cool and amazing experience and we got into it because my father’s classmate from Saint Joe’s Prep the late Cardinal John Foley was in Rome back then. He was the voice of midnight mass for years. So for years and years, if you ever turned on midnight mass from Rome on Christmas Eve, it was a Philadelphia guy narrating.
I wouldn’t necessarily say I was anything other than a disillusioned Catholic (versus a lapsed Catholic), although I admit since I came to Chester County, I have not joined to church because I have not found a church I really like. I have my faith, but I spent my formative years in a Jesuit parish, which is probably why I always found Pope Francis so appealing.
The Jesuit order was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and six companions, with the approval of Pope Paul III. The Society of Jesus is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 countries. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. Missionary, educational, literary works are their ministry.
The church I was baptized in Old Saint Joseph’s on Willings Alley Philadelphia is a Jesuit Parish. my catechism before I made my first communion was done by aJesuit priest, Father Drain. I still remember his name.
I find the churches in Chester county somewhat impersonal and I don’t like a lot of what I see, especially when it comes to the dead baby posters along Boot Road in West Chester. That is Saints Peter and Paul. The church I have liked the best is Saints Philip and James in Exton, but none of them have struck that cord of belonging or did they even wanted me to belong.
But I’m thinking that the Catholic Church in the United States is more business than anything else these days and I don’t know that a lot of people feel like they belong in their parishes. What I learned living on the Main Line before I moved here courtesy of someone I used to refer to as Monsignor Lexus, was you were only as good as the check you could write.
But Pope Francis was someone I actually admired. He didn’t just talk the talk he walked the walk, but that’s what Jesuits do. He tried to take accountability for past wrongs, including pedophile priests, and those unwed girls homes in Ireland, where they worked them like slaves and abused them, and then stole their babies. He also tried to bring the Catholic Church out of the shadows and into more modern times.
Francis was a peacemaker and he literally tried so hard. As an American, I am embarrassed one of his last visitors was the current Vice President. Here’s hoping he taught Vance something.
So now the process starts of choosing a new Pope. Conclave. So within 20 days of the pope’s death, a conclave consisting of 120 cardinals out of the 138 who all must be under age 80 and can vote will gather at the Vatican to pick his replacement. They will vote four times a day until they choose a new Pope.
https://nypost.com/2025/04/21/world-news/who-will-be-next-pope-after-francis-vatican-conclave/
It was announced a little while ago that Pope Francis died of a stroke and heart failure, the Vatican’s press office said in a statement.
Requiescat in pace.
