In this special deep-dive episode of Inside the Vatican, host Colleen Dulle guides listeners through the rituals, rules, and hidden dynamics that unfold when a pope dies.

So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night.

A church that dialogues is “much more interesting than a church where things fall from up high,” Jesuit Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Jesuits, said.

The pope’s attention to migration and climate change were well known, but the pope was also attentive to a number of other global issues and challenges like nuclear disarmament, tax justice, development, and the rise of autonomous (A.I.) weapons systems.

The canonization Mass for the first “millennial saint,” originally scheduled for this Sunday, has been delayed indefinitely.

Pope Francis centered the poor and elevated joy in the mission of the church. These characteristics help us understand what a field hospital church is about. As a field hospital, the church’s structures and actions should always be in service of its mission.

A Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy, by Terrance Klein

On this week’s episode of “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Zac are joined by magazine’s editor in chief, Sam Sawyer, S.J., and America editor at large James Martin, S.J., to discuss “the people’s pope.”

My wife and I lost a friend on earth, Gerard O’Connell writes, but we now have a friend in heaven.

I know adults tell children not to take candy from strangers. But I decided to amend the rule: Never take candy from strangers unless that “stranger” is the pope!

A Reflection for Thursday in the Octave of Easter, by Michael J. O’Loughlin

Growing old isn’t something to be feared, but rather something to embrace as a time of grace in one’s life, Pope Francis wrote in a preface for a book that was not released before he died.

In this special Inside the Vatican roundtable, Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle join producer, Ricardo da Silva, S.J., for a heartfelt conversation about the life, legacy and final days of a pope who changed the church—and them.

A person’s heroes often point to their values. In Pope Francis’ case, the people he singled out for their heroic virtues reveal a great deal about his papal priorities.

For many Catholics older than me, Francis represented a cultural shift from previous pontificates. As a Gen-Z Catholic, Francis is the only pope I’ve known.

Although overtly campaigning to be pope is discouraged and would be counterproductive, the cardinals do a lot of politicking in private prior to the conclave.

Pope Francis’ final moments were peaceful, and he managed to give one last farewell to his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, before slipping into a coma early April 21, Vatican News reported.

All of Pope Francis' gestures, meetings and desires for encounter were themselves a form of “teaching.” And L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and their families have told me repeatedly what a difference this change in approach has meant. 

A Reflection for Friday of the Octave of Easter, by Sam Sawyer, S.J.