Pope Francis passes at age 88; fought to make church more inclusive
On Monday, April 21, 2025, the Vatican announced that, at the age of 88, Pope Francis died the day after Easter Sunday and a month after his release from the hospital for chronic lung disease.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell said in the Vatican. Farrell, an American, becomes the Vatican’s de facto administrator.
Francis cared a lot about migrants and heavily criticized the Trump administration’s deportation plans, saying that it would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity, according to PBS.
The Pope’s progressive commitment to making the Catholic Church more inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community, and putting more women in senior roles in the Catholic Church caused him to clash with conservatives, according to The Independent.
In 2022, Pope Francis openly spoke to American editors about African Americans for the first time, saying racism was “an intolerable sin.” Even if we didn’t hear him say it out loud, black folks always knew he was on our side which makes his recent death such a shock and another painful loss.
During that 2022 interview with American editors, he also responded to reports that black Americans were the group likely to leave the Catholic church.
“I would say to them that I am close to the suffering they are experiencing, which is a racial suffering. And [in this situation], those who should in some way be close to them are the local bishops,” Francis said.
The shocking news of Pope Francis’s passing left black Americans feeling they have lost another supporter during a time when racial division is high.
“I haven’t processed it yet I’m still thinking an Easter miracle will happen and he’ll come back,” one user wrote on X.
Pope Francis had chronic illnesses; he even had to get part of his upper right lung removed in his early 20s after suffering from pneumonia, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
His death has led to questions about who will be the next Pope and whether that Pope will be as compassionate as Pope Francis. One user begged, “please let the next pope be as good as Francis was. We already have enough demons in power.”
