David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, noted the pope’s “prompt and impressive action” on other matters but said the pope’s “genial personality and warm demeanor distracted many from the unhealthy and still essentially unaddressed structural and cultural flaws in the church that cause kids to keep being hurt.”
In a message of condolences following Francis’ death Monday, Mattarella focused on what Francis decided to do on Easter Sunday, when he appeared on the same loggia where he first was introduced to the world after his 2013 election, and delivered the Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing (Latin for “to the city and the world”).
After delivering the blessing, Francis delighted the crowd of some 35,000 people with a long loops of greeting from his popemobile.
“The pope visited Africa five times, acknowledging the strong growth of the Catholic Church there. He often spoke about issues at the heart of the region, from climate change to marginalization.
The pope was “very unambiguous in telling world powers to stop exploiting Africans,” said the Rev. Michael Nsikak Umoh, spokesperson for the Nigerian bishops’ association.
In Congo, where pope visited in 2023 to demand that foreign powers stop plundering Africa’s natural resources, Abbé Camille Esika in the capital, Kinshasa, said Francis “wanted to be the voice of the voiceless.”
The South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has encouraged all Catholics to pray for those choosing his successor. Pope Francis has died. He was history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed
The date will be confirmed when cardinals gather Tuesday morning, for the first time since Francis’ death, to make the first decisions about funeral plans and other urgent matters.
Francis’ coffin will be moved from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel, where he lived, to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
According to a new ritual Francis approved last year, the body of the pope will be placed in a wooden coffin, with a zinc coffin inside. The pope will be dressed in red liturgical vestments, his miter — the traditional headdress of bishops — and the pallium woolen stole, a kind of scarf.
When the body is brought into the basilica, the Litany of Saints chant is sung. The camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, leads the procession.
In a change ordered by Francis, the pope’s body will no longer placed on an elevated bier in the basilica. Rather, the simplified wooden coffin is placed facing the pews, with the Pasqual candle nearby.
No date for the funeral has been announced, but it must be held between four and six days after the death
