Pope Francis, 266th successor of Saint Peter as Bishop of Rome and leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics for the last twelve years, died on April 21, Easter Monday, at his residence at the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican at 88.
The official cause of death for Francis, born in Buenos Aires as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse. The pope’s health had seriously declined in recent months, and he spent four weeks in the hospital with pneumonia earlier this spring.
On Easter Day, though, he greeted large crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, when his final Urbi et Orbi Blessing, a message focused on the hope of the resurrection and a call to peace in Gaza, Ukraine, and other troubled regions across the world, was read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, a senior Vatican official.
In accordance with his wishes, a funeral using simplified ceremonial approved last year will be held soon (traditionally between four and six days after the pope’s death). Francis will be buried at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on Rome’s Esquiline Hill, a church dating back to the fifth century and known for its relics of the crib in which the infant Christ was laid.
Francis had a particular devotion to the Salus Populi Romani, an icon of the Virgin and Child housed in a chapel of the church. Traditionally attributed to Saint Luke the Evangelist, the icon was brought to Rome in 590, during the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great. It played a central role in a moving Urbi et Orbi Blessing celebrated by the pope in St. Peter’s Square on March 27, 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Francis will be the first pope to be buried outside of Saint Peter’s Basilica since Leo XII in 1903. At least seven other popes have been buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, most recently Pope Clement IX in 1669. The pope’s final resting place will be a small room that was recently used as a closet for storing candelabra.
His successor will be chosen by a conclave of the College of Cardinals, which will assemble by May 6 at the latest. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, a longtime curial official, will preside as dean of the college, which will have 135 electors.
While canon law states that any baptized Catholic man may become pope, since 1378 the Bishop of Rome has always been selected from among members of the college.
Praise from Anglican Leaders
The Anglican Communion’s Secretary General, Bishop Anthony Poggo, praised Francis as “a man of great faith, humility, and compassion, who brought to the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome the joy of the Gospel.”
Poggo added: “Throughout his papacy Pope Francis has consistently demonstrated a profound commitment to evangelization, to show justice, mercy, love and reconciliation. His words and actions have touched the hearts of millions, transcending the boundaries of Christian divisions and inspiring people of all faiths to join hands in pursuit of a more just and compassionate world.”
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s statement focused on his groundbreaking leadership: “I give thanks for his powerful advocacy on behalf of migrants and refugees. Pope Francis, who was the first Latin American pope, understood these siblings in Christ are never at the edges, fearful and alone. As he once wrote, ‘In the faces of the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, strangers, and prisoners, we are called to see the face of Christ who pleads with us to help.’”
Rowe also highlighted the influence of the pope’s encyclical on the theology of creation, Laudato Si’ (2015), and his controversial declaration Fiducia Supplicans (2023), which gave Catholic priests permission to offer “pastoral blessings” to people in same-sex relationships.
“Pope Francis transformed our theology of the environment and recognized the need for LGBTQ+ people to feel heard, seen, and included in their church,” Rowe said.
Rowe’s emphases were underscored by the Rt. Rev. Anthony Ball, the recently appointed director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, and the Anglican Communion’s official representative to the Holy See.
“His tireless efforts to work to promote the flourishing of the most marginalized, to reach out to those who feel forgotten and to advocate for the proper stewardship of God’s creation are amongst the charisms that have led him to be held in such affection,” Ball wrote.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town, who met with Pope Francis numerous times as one of the Anglican Communion’s most senior primates, described him as “the last globally recognized moral voice in our confused times” and one who “gave leadership to the whole Christian family.”
“We are deeply grateful to him for holding before us the image of the church as a field hospital, and for the incredible ways in which he embraced the marginalized, begging priests to identify with them as ‘shepherds living with the smell of the sheep,’” he said.
“I will always remember the many special moments he spent with us as Anglican bishops and prelates,” Makgoba added, recalling an incident during last May’s Primates’ Meeting, when Francis spoke with senior Anglican leaders about the call to church unity and his own church’s progress toward becoming “a ‘synodal Church,’ an open square where all can feel at home and participate.”
Bishop John Bauerschmidt of Tennessee, who has been the Episcopal Church’s senior representative in Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue for many years, said he was saddened by the pope’s death, and he bid the prayers of his diocese “for this outstanding Christian leader.”
Bauerschmidt is the Episcopal Church’s representative in a worldwide initiative of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, which has paired him with the Rt. Rev. John Michael Botean of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George for shared acts of ministry and mission.
Bauerschmidt and Botean were commissioned together with similar episcopal pairs from around the world at a memorable joint pilgrimage of Anglican and Catholic bishops to Rome and Canterbury in 2024.
Bishop Austin Rios of California served for 12 years as rector of St. Paul’s Within the Walls, the Episcopal parish in Rome. He described his conversations in Spanish with Francis during the early years of his ministry as pope as “very warm.”
“His energy in those early years was infectious and healing. And he was unafraid to take on the powers and principalities that had infected the proclamation of the Church,” Rios said.
Noting the pope’s pronounced physical decline in recent years, he added, “it was clear how much the burden of such servant leadership costs. The electric personality and energetic steps of greeting gave way to the more subdued figure in the wheelchair whose eyes still smiled with the light of heaven, but whose very human body was wearing out. The gregarious voice eventually dimmed to hoarse whispers.
“I give thanks to God that Pope Francis humanized the pontificate,” he said. “May his soul rest in peace and may his spiritual labor be taken up by another good and faithful servant of the crucified and resurrected one.”
Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, the acting primate of the Church of England, recalled the pope’s close relationship with former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in his statement, noting the powerful effect of their joint “pilgrimage of peace” to South Sudan in 2023.
The pilgrimage developed out of a 2019 retreat at the Vatican for senior leaders of the young nation’s opposed factions that was led jointly by Welby and Francis. The gathering closed dramatically with Francis kissing the feet of the participants and Welby presenting each with a Bible, saying, “We have heard the prophetic call of Christ. We now commission you as ambassadors of peace.”
“His encyclicals, writings, and teachings were supported by his deeds and actions. In their humility and focus on those in the margins, those actions, his whole life, was instantly recognizable as those of one who followed Jesus,” Cottrell said.
The Rev. Mark Michael is editor-in-chief of The Living Church. An Episcopal priest, he has reported widely on global Anglicanism, and also writes about church history, liturgy, and pastoral ministry.
