Pope Francis dies at age 88
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 5 days ago • 18 commentsBy: Astha Rajvanshi (NBC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Astha Rajvanshi
Pope Francis, a reformer from Argentina who rattled the Catholic Church's traditionalists and inspired progressives by reaching out to gay people and championing the rights of immigrants and the poor, has died, the Vatican announced.
He was 88.
Francis' body will be put on display in an open coffin in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, one of Christianity's holiest sites, where pontiffs have been buried for more than 100 years. But in accordance with Francis' wishes, he is expected to be buried at the ancient Basilica of St. Mary Major, which lies outside the Vatican walls.
His successor will be chosen during a conclave, a gathering of cardinals who are charged with electing a new pope in strict seclusion at the Vatican.
Toward the end of his life, Francis battled a host of health issues that left him weakened and often forced to rely on a wheelchair or canes. Most recently, he struggled with diverticulitis, pneumonia and bronchitis, and at times needed his aides to read his speeches because he was out of breath.
Pope Francis delivers his homily during a Mass at Rio de Janeiro's Cathedral in 2013.Domenico Stinellis / AP file
The son of Italian emigrants to Argentina, Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936.
As a young man, Bergoglio worked as a bouncer and a janitor, and trained as a chemist and a food technician before being ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969.
He rose through the ranks in Argentina and in 1998 was appointed head of the archdiocese. In 2001, Pope John Paul II named him to the Sacred College of Cardinals, which elects new popes.
In 2013, Francis succeeded retired Pope Benedict XVI as the 266th pontiff, becoming the first Jesuit and non-European to hold the church's highest office in more than 1,000 years, leading more than 1 billion Catholics around the globe.
Francis took the reins of a church tarnished bythe clerical sex abuse crisis and financial scandals, and reeling from the abrupt resignation of Benedict, the first pontiff to step down in 700 years.
Instead of following in the footsteps of Benedict, a strict conservative, Francis angered many traditionalists by reaching out to gay and lesbian people, and trying to shake up the church bureaucracy.
In 2015, he became only the third pope to visit the White House and the first to address Congress, where he urged lawmakers to tackle climate change, a theme he returned to often.
In December 2023, Francis announced a radical change in Vatican policy by allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, alienating many Catholics, including in the United States.
He took on the church's sprawling clerical child sexual abuse crisis by issuing the most extensive revision to the church's laws in four decades, and insisted that bishops take action against clerics who sexually abuse minors and vulnerable adults.
But he did not do enough for many victims of abuse and their families. In 2019, advocates criticized Francis' mandate that priests and nuns report clerical sex abuse to their superiors, instead of notifying law enforcement.
Francis also faced stiff resistance from archconservative American clerics when he urged people to get vaccinated against Covid. He also found himself being accused of heresy for, among other things, softening the ban on giving Communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.
Still, like his predecessors, Francis also held conservative clerical values. He was against abortion, saying the procedure was like "hiring a hit man to solve a problem." He was also in favor of clerical celibacy and was opposed to ordaining women, although he was open to giving them a greater role in running the church.
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One thing of note that he did was to allow the outside world a glimpse of the Church's finances.
I see him a bit differently than Astha Rajvanshi (the author) in that he continued the trend of liberalizing the Catholic Church, specifically by supporting same-sex civil unions and allowing priests to bless gay couples. He also restricted the use of the old Latin Mass which is a shame. That was Mass for so many of us growing up.
So he was about spreading the message of love... What a monster...
/s
gee, you'd think the celibate hand of god on earth would at least be guaranteed a century of grifting ...
God's Blessings to him!
OMG. If a holy man like the Pope died at the age of 88, then maybe it's something I should be concerned about.
I saw a news story last week about a 100 year old woman who can hold a full push up position ( a plank) for 6 minutes.
So you never know. You seem to still have a lot of life left in you.
Tell my back and knees that. As I posted a few months ago I made it to be an Olds 88, so I'm on my way to graduate to an Olds 98 - then I'd be a classic.
Buzz, stating the obvious but no one gets out of here alive, Enjoy you life to the fullest possible and hug your loved ones as often as you can. Don't worry about how much time you have, but how you live the time you have, you are a good man who will leave a legacy that will out liive us all i'm betting.
Thank you George.
Maybe I'll leave a legacy, I sure as hell won't be leaving an estate unless I win the lottery between now and then.
It's not about the money, but the lives you have touched and made better.
Nicely done George.
Well said, George. A person is judged by their deeds.
Thanks again George for the wisdom and the compliment, and thanks to all who voted up George's comments, and commented in agreement with him, You've all made my day, now that I'm about to eat breakfast.
His work on this earth was done. I hope the next one keeps the same advocacy for the poor and marginalized groups. The places in the world where the Catholic Church is strongest are often very poor places.
RIP, Father Frank.
You were one of the good ones. You almost brought me back to the Church
Pope Francis, you did good. A man who was true to simplicity and people-centric in his own way, in my opinion.
He was a good man.
As Paul instructed: 'As much as it lied within Pope Francis to treat all with peace. He did so.