Predicting when the smoke will rise from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel is not an exact science.

St. Óscar Romero's spiritual convictions on the resurrection can be categorized in four ways. First, resurrection is an act and fruit of the Spirit, even now; second, resurrection is a communal, historical reality; third, resurrection is a process of ongoing conversion; and fourth, resurrection is always an eschatological event.

Cardinal Becciu issued a statement the morning of April 29 saying, “I have decided to obey—as I have always done—the will of Pope Francis not to enter the conclave, while remaining convinced of my innocence.”

A conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis will begin on Wednesday, May 7, the Vatican announced Monday.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin told some 200,000 people in St. Peter’s Square that Pope Francis had made the message of God’s limitless mercy the heart of his pontificate.

Francis has always been known as “the pope of surprises.”

“Pope Francis is the pope of the people,” Rosa de los Ríos told America in Spanish before the funeral Mass. “He is very close to the people.... That’s why he was so loved. People felt he was very close to them.”

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met inside St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of the funeral for Pope Francis on the morning of April 26.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily for the funeral of Pope Francis.

The day before he died, Pope Francis made one final circuit through St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile. “That’s my last image of him alive,” Gerry O’Connell remembered. “He drove among the people.”

Universities need to change. But Trump is attacking the wrong problems.

Editor in chief Sam Sawyer, S.J., reflects on praying with Pope Francis’ body in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Just about two weeks before he died, Francis announced that Archbishop-elect McKnight will be the next archbishop of Kansas City, Mo., and that Bishop Lewandowski will become the next bishop of Providence, R.I.

Pope Francis’ face was forever hidden from the world when his coffin was closed at 8 o’clock on Friday evening, April 25, just as the sun was setting over Rome. 

We've collected some of our favorite analyses and remembrances of Francis’ papacy as a resource for Catholics mourning the church’s loss. 

A Reflection for Saturday in the Octave of Easter, by Julian Navarro

Pope Francis trusted the imagination and regarded it as a gift from God. Instead of being suspicious and fearful of its power, he urged artists to follow its promptings.

I discovered that Catholicism could speak meaningfully to contemporary issues, that it could challenge power rather than embody it. I began to pay attention again.

The language of our faith was Spanish. So you can imagine the fervor that erupted in our home when Papa Francisco was elected to the papacy on March 13, 2013. I was only 10 years old at the time, but I already understood why this meant so much to us. 

I never met Pope Francis, but I was one of millions who admired his work.