Pope Francis, 1936-2025

 

The Pope whose mission was to reform the Catholic Church has passed away at the age of 88:

Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88.

Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement, which was read out by Cardinal Kevin Farrell from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived.

“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church,” said Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, who takes charge after a pontiff’s death.

Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

He made his last public appearance on Easter Sunday — a day before his death — to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, drawing wild cheers and applause. Beforehand, he met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.  [Ed.:  we're sure it's a coincidence that the Pope passed away only hours after seeing the face of pure evil.]  [snip]

Francis was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. “Who am I to judge?” he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest.

The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. “Being homosexual is not a crime,” he told The Associated Press in 2023, urging an end to civil laws that criminalize it.

Stressing mercy, Francis changed the church’s position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances. He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was “immoral.”...

Some of the Pope's positions were less than "progressive" (i.e., on abortion, on all-male celibate priesthood), and he admittedly "stumbled" in his response to the Church's burgeoning sex scandals. But the fact that he was opposed by the reactionaries/ Christofascists in the Church and criticized the rise of right- wing populism demonstrated that, as imperfect as his Papacy was, he was moving the Church in the right direction, albeit at a slower pace than reformers would hope. 

In our opinion, only Pope John XXIII was a more change- effecting Pope in the past century.  May Francis rest in peace.

UPDATE:  The mouth-foaming fascists bid him good riddance (the mildest epithet).  They seem nice.