Pope Francis, Requiescat in Pace December 17, 1936 – April 21, 2025 He was in many ways a "Pope of the Heart" – but the heart has its own paradoxes By Christina Deardurff Pope Francis embraces Vinicio Riva, a disfigured man who attended the Pope’s general audience November 6, 2013 When the Cardinal Archbishop [...]
My visit to the Pope, lying in death at the Casa Santa Marta, was the closest I had ever come to this man of contradictions By Aurelio Porfiri It may seem strange to some, but yesterday, April 22, was the occasion in which I was closest to him. While for my “Vatican predecessors” I had more [...]
Among his last words were a simple “Thank you” to the nurse who stayed continually by his side By Salvatore Cernuzio (Vatican News) Pope Francis appears from the Loggia of Benedictions of St. Peters Basilica on Easter Sunday to participate in the Easter message and “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. Vatican City, 20 April 2025. In [...]
Letter #28, 2025, Monday, April 21: Pope Francis has died Pope Francis passed away this morning at 7:35 a.m. Here is the statement issued by Matteo Bruni, the head of the Vatican Press Office: Statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, 21.04.2025 (link) At 9:47 this morning, His Eminence Cardinal [...]
Pope Francis continues to undergo treatment for pneumonia at Gemelli Hospital in Rome (the photo above is outside of the hospital; the Pope's room is on the 10th floor). Francis is in "stable" condition after three weeks in the hospital, the Vatican said. Today Francis issued a recorded message of thanks to all who [...]
It's the memoir of "a complex and contradictory mind" By Christina Deardurff Jorge Mario Bergoglio, pictured as a young priest (in back, second from left), and his family members. Pope Francis’ latest book has been released: a memoir entitled Hope: An Autobiography On January 14, in time for the beginning of the [...]
From the November election of Donald Trump to the February speech of JD Vance in Munich, the pace of history has accelerated. And now Pope Francis has fallen ill... By Christopher Hart-Moynihan Pope Francis, who found common cause with Joe Biden’s administration on issues like migration, now faces failing health [...]
By Christina Deardurff Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, newly appointed bishop of Washington, DC (photo: Diocese of San Diego) Pope Francis announced January 6 that Cardinal Robert McElroy, 70, the former ordinary of San Diego, California, and a vocal critic of Trumpian policy regarding the U.S. borders, would be the new bishop of Washington, [...]
By Leonid Sevastianov Pope Francis in 2019, before the Ukraine war, meeting with Leonid Sevastianov and his wife, Russian opera singer Svetlana Kasyan Leonid Sevastianov, 46, is a leadeer of the “Old Believers” in Russia, a Russian Orthodox religious community which maintains liturgical rites in their pre-1660s form. Sevastianov, husband of international opera star [...]
Pope Francis greets Microsoft President Brad Smith today in Vatican City. | Vatican Media Letter #48, 2024, Monday, November 11: Microsoft Microsoft and several other companies, in collaboration with the Fabbrica of San Pietro, spent the last two and a half years creating a stunning new visual presentation of the St. Peter's Basilica using drones [...]
