Pope Francis Dies

His body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica. Mourners can pay their respects there. His funeral will be held Saturday. He requested a simpler funeral than usual for a Pope, with a coffin that is simple rather than ornate. He asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major rather than the more often chosen St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. “The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, bearing only the inscription: Franciscus.”

A conclave of the College of Cardinals, up to 135 cardinals of the highest ranking less than 80 years old, will meet in the Vatican to choose the next Pope and will return to contact with the outside world only after they have done so.

Pope Francis has been regarded as relatively liberal, to the displeasure of conservatives in the Catholic church, despite his traditionalist stance on many teachings of the church. He described his goal as “a poorer Church” that would “include the excluded.” Among the most controversial changes he brought, he expressed support for same-sex unions for gay couples, but did not want to call it marriage.

Setting an example, he lived in modest Vatican guest quarters instead of in the papal apartment. He refused to use a bulletproof “popemobile” car to go out, saying “I cannot greet people from inside a sardine can, even if it is made of glass.” He ate with homeless people, washed the feet of inmates, provided shelter in Italy for refugees, spoke out against consumerism and individualism, called “unfair economic structures” a violation of human rights, published a formal letter about climate change, and reformed the Vatican so that more lay people could work in its administrative roles.

When a wave of sex abuse scandals emerged in the church, after a slow start he stepped up to get new Vatican rules and procedures into place to combat any further such abuse. Among those changes, he eliminated top-level confidentiality of the “pontifical secret,” which had cloaked the scandal in secrecy.

Under Pope Francis, the Catholic church became more popular and exerted considerable influence toward peace and compassion in the world. He will be remembered for that.