St. Maria Goretti Parish

Mass celebrated in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in suffrage for Pope Francis. The Cardinal Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldo Reina: “His love for the Church, his attention to the least, his prophetic courage remain impressed in the hearts of the Christian people”

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An evening Rosary was held in St. Peter’s Square in suffrage for Pope Francis, who passed away this morning. Leading the Marian prayer was the Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica and Vicar General for Vatican City, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti.

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Pope Francis had a big heart for Africa and Africans. He leaves behind a legacy of commitment to Africa’s quest for peace, social justice, and integral development. To crown it all, the Pope’s solidarity with African refugees and migrants, the poor, and the marginalised will live on.

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The Director of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State, Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, releases the official medical report on the death of Pope Francis, which was confirmed through electrocardiographic thanatography.

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A solemn Mass for Pope Francis on the day of his death is celebrated at the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome. In his homily, Cardinal Baldo Reina upholds the late Pope’s legacy of mercy, peace, and service, and encourages the faithful to carry forward his example with hope in the Resurrection.

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Pope Francis' spiritual testament, dated 29 June 2022, has been published, giving indications for his burial in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis died April 21 after suffering a stroke and heart attack, 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.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of 88, gave new energy to millions of Catholics -- and caused concern for some -- as he transformed the image of the papacy into a pastoral ministry based on personal encounters and strong convictions about poverty, mission and dialogue.

U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced that Pope Francis had died at 7:35 a.m.

"His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church," Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived. 

His gestures -- from tenderly embracing the sick to repeatedly visiting prisoners -- touched millions of hearts. But controversy raged over his denunciations of the excesses of unbridled capitalism, his warnings about the human contributions to climate change and his insistence on accompanying, not judging, gay people.

With bronchitis and difficulty breathing, Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital Feb. 14. He was diagnosed with double pneumonia and a complex infection. He had returned to the Vatican March 23 to continue his convalescence.

God's mercy was a constant theme in Pope Francis' preaching and was so central to his vision of what the church's ministry must embody that he proclaimed an extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy for Dec. 8, 2015-Nov. 20, 2016.

Elected March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was the first pope in history to come from the Southern Hemisphere, the first non-European to be elected in almost 1,300 years and the first Jesuit to serve as successor to St. Peter.

In the first three years of his papacy, he published three major documents: "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel"), a detailed vision of the program for his papacy and his vision for the church -- particularly the church's outreach and its response to challenges posed by secular culture; "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," on the environment; and "Amoris Laetitia" ("The Joy of Love"), his reflections on the discussions of the synods of bishops on the family in 2014 and 2015. 

Holiness was the topic of his March 2018 apostolic exhortation, "Gaudete et Exsultate" ("Rejoice and Be Glad") in which he insisted being holy is not boring or impossible, and that it grows through small, daily gestures and acts of loving kindness.

Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Pope Francis was an untiring voice for peace, urging an end to armed conflict, supporting dialogue and encouraging reconciliation. The pope described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "madness" and called on the world's bishops to join him in consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When Hamas militants attacked communities in Israel, killing scores of people and taking more than 200 people hostage in late 2023, and Israel retaliated by attacking Gaza, Pope Francis made repeated appeals for the return of hostages, a ceasefire to deliver humanitarian aid, and a real commitment to a negotiated peace. 

Promoting peace, solidarity and respect for the Earth, the pope insisted people needed to recognize each other as brothers and sisters and issued an encyclical about that, "Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship." He signed the text at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi on the saint's feast day, Oct. 4, 2020.

Pope Francis spent much of the first nine years of his pontificate pursuing two ambitious projects: revitalizing the church's efforts at evangelization -- constantly urging outreach rather than a preoccupation with internal church affairs -- and reforming the central administration of the Vatican, emphasizing its role of assisting bishops around the world rather than dictating policy to them.

On March 19, 2022, the ninth anniversary of the inauguration of his papacy, he finally promulgated "Praedicate Evangelium" ("Preach the Gospel"), his complete restructuring of the Roma Curia, highlighting its mission to serve the church's evangelization efforts at all levels.

His simple lifestyle, which included his decision not to live in the Apostolic Palace and his choice of riding around Rome in a small Fiat or Ford instead of a Mercedes sedan, sent a message of austerity to Vatican officials and clergy throughout the church. He reinforced the message with frequent admonitions about the Gospel demands and evangelical witness of poverty and simplicity. 

Although he repeatedly said he did not like to travel, he made 47 foreign trips, taking his message of Gospel joy to North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital city, Dec. 17, 1936. He earned a chemical technician's diploma from his high school and entered the Jesuit novitiate in March 1958. After studying liberal arts in Santiago, Chile, he returned to Argentina and earned his licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio San Jose in San Miguel.

He was ordained a priest Dec. 13, 1969, and after his perpetual profession as a Jesuit in 1973, he became master of novices at the Seminary of Villa Barilari in San Miguel. Later that same year, he was appointed superior of the Jesuit province of Argentina, a role in which by his own account he proved a divisive figure because of an "authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions."

In May 1992, Father Bergoglio was named an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. He was appointed coadjutor archbishop five years later and became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998; Pope John Paul II named him to the College of Cardinals in 2001.

As leader of an archdiocese with more than 2.5 million Catholics, Cardinal Bergoglio strove to be close to the people. He rode the bus, visited the poor, lived in a simple apartment and cooked his own meals.

His international reputation was enhanced by his work at the 2007 assembly of the Latin American bishops' council, CELAM, and particularly by his role as head of the committee that drafted the gathering's final document on reforming and reinvigorating the church's evangelizing efforts on the continent.

Cardinal Bergoglio was a known and respected figure within the College of Cardinals, so much so that no one disputed a respected Italian journal's report that he received the second-highest number of votes on all four ballots cast in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Eight years later, Pope Benedict retired. At the cardinals' meetings prior to the 2013 conclave to elect his successor, the need to reform the Vatican bureaucracy was a common theme of concern.

Addressing the gathering, Cardinal Bergoglio warned against "self-referentiality and a kind of theological narcissism" in the church and argued the next pope "must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the church to go out to the existential peripheries" to spread the Gospel.

His election March 13 came on the second day of the conclave, on its fifth ballot. He chose the name Francis to honor St. Francis of Assisi, "the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation," he said.

"Go out" was Pope Francis' constant plea to every Catholic, from curial cardinals to the people in the pews. More than once, he told people that while the Bible presents Jesus as knocking at the door of people's hearts to get in, today Jesus is knocking at the doors of parish churches trying to get out and among the people.

But he faced criticism for what many saw as a lack of consistency in dealing forcefully with the clerical sexual abuse crisis, especially when it came to holding bishops accountable for handling allegations and removing priests credibly accused of abuse.

And while his pontificate marked major progress in the Vatican's attempts to reach an agreement with China's communist government on the appointment of Catholic bishops, a provisional accord signed in September 2018, and renewed in 2020, 2022 and 2024, was denounced by critics as a betrayal of Catholics who risked their lives for refusing any cooperation with the communists.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis was a strong defender of the sacredness of human life. Meeting Catholic physicians in November 2014, for example, he insisted that in "the light of faith and the light of correct reason, human life is always sacred and always of 'quality.' There is no human life that is more sacred than another" and no "human life qualitatively more significant than another."

For Pope Francis, helping the defenseless also meant paying special attention to prisoners, victims of war and, particularly, Christians and other religious minorities persecuted for their faith.

When Islamic State forces and other terrorist groups began specifically targeting Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, and later in North Africa, Pope Francis demanded the international community act.

He frequently cited figures that the number of Christian martyrs is greater today than in the first centuries of Christianity, and he insisted the international community cannot "look the other way."

WASHINGTON – Upon the news from the Holy See announcing the passing of Pope Francis on April 21, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued the following statement in remembrance:

Pope Francis will long be remembered for his outreach to those on the margins of the Church and of society. He renewed for us the mission to bring the Gospel out to the ends of the earth and offer divine mercy to all. He has also taken advantage of the present Jubilee to call us to a profound hope: one that is not an empty or naïve hope, but one grounded in the promise of Almighty God to be with us always. 

Even with his roots in the Piedmont region of Italy, the first Pope from our American Continent was marked by his experience as a Jesuit and a shepherd in Buenos Aires. He brought that experience and vision with him to his ministry for the universal Church.

Recently, he expressed anew prayerful hope in his letter of support to the Bishops of this country in our attempts to respond to the face of Christ in the migrant, poor, and unborn. In fact, he has always used the strongest and clearest expressions in the defense of the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.

I last saw him at the Jubilee Mass for the Armed Forces, Police, and Security Personnel. Despite the challenges of his health, he was with us and even used a slight gesture to salute the group of bishops who concelebrated the Mass before he boarded the vehicle to return to Santa Marta.

The passage from this life of the Bishop of Rome calls us to pray for his eternal rest and to continue on our path to a deeper union with the Lord Jesus. We remember his leadership in inspiring nations, organizations, and individuals to a renewed commitment to care for each other and our common home. 

The Bishops of the United States unite in prayer with Catholics here and around the world and all people of good will in gratitude for the life of our revered shepherd. We mourn the passing of our Holy Father and beg Saint Joseph to accompany him. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord.

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Following the announcement his passing away on Easter Monday, we offer an overview of the highlights of Pope Francis' pontificate, his journeys, reforms, writings, work for peace and human fraternity, and outreach to the poor and migrants.

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