Cover Story
Pope Francis, trailblazing Jesuit with a heart for the poor, dies at 88
When the cardinals voted to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 265th successor of St. Peter on the evening of March 13, 2013, few of them imagined what kind of pope he would be.
The Weekly Dispatch
The global impact of Pope Francis: From migration to taxes to A.I. weapons
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.
Of Many Things
Waiting in line to say goodbye to Pope Francis—with pilgrims from around the world
Editor in chief Sam Sawyer, S.J., reflects on praying with Pope Francis’ body in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Your Take
Language, poverty and discernment: Pope Francis as a Jesuit
America’s readers discuss the influence of Pope Francis’ Jesuit formation on his papal ministry.
Editorials
Farewell Francis, a pope of surprises
As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new leader, the editors of ‘America’ remember an extraordinary and beloved pontiff: Francis, a pope of monumental surprises.
Dispatches
Pilgrims from around the world visit Pope Francis’ tomb to thank God for his pontificate
“He has given a great witness of humility, of closeness to the people, of living out the Gospel values. He has left a great example for us to follow,” a priest from Honduras told America.
Pope Francis pushed the U.S. church to move beyond the culture wars—with mixed results
Pope Francis was overwhelmingly popular with ordinary Catholics in the United States. But Francis’ priorities often failed to take root here.
How Pope Francis changed the place of women in the church
As Pope Francis’ legacy is debated in the coming weeks, one key area for examination will be his advancements of women in the Vatican, whether his changes were sufficient and whether they will last.
Features
Catholics and infertility: The spiritual and ethical challenges of trying to conceive
And how the church can accompany couples struggling with infertility
Faith and Reason
What Pope Francis taught us: Church teaching finds clarity and power in acts of mercy
Pope Francis taught the church that the magisterium finds its clarity not merely in propositions but in acts of mercy.
Pope Francis canonized 942 saints during his papacy. What do they tell us about him?
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.
Faith in Focus
What Pope Francis taught me as a new mother
Somehow, incredibly, this celibate, elderly man often doled out some of the best and most valuable parenting advice I’ve received along the way.
Pope Francis changed my life—and the lives of countless L.G.B.T.Q. people
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.
Books
Review: The spiritual exercises of liberalism
In ‘Liberalism as a Way of Life,’ Alexandre Lefebvre argues that for secular people, liberalism, if practiced intentionally, can be the grace they are seeking in their ordinary lives.
Review: Recognizing our lives as pilgrimages
in ‘Finding God Along the Way,’ Christine Marie Eberle masterfully weaves together Scripture, poetry and Ignatian spirituality.
Review: Bridging the Catholic gap
In ‘Cultural Catholics,’ Maureen K. Day works to answer the question of who “cultural Catholics” really are—and how to connect with them.
Review: Short stories about going nowhere fast
Jared Lemus’s robust, melancholy debut short story collection ‘Guatemalan Rhapsody’ gives us characters who strive for love, respect or mere survival in tales that unfold in Guatemalan towns or among immigrant communities in the United States.
Film
What makes a movie Irish?
Questions of Irish identity and “Irishness” are, and always have been, in a state of flux.
Poetry
Catalog of Cures in Ordinary Time
Like little sunsets, like a song of ascents, I wish to remember my father.
The 2025 Foley poetry contest: Lyric questions about grief
These are poems that grip your heart, stretch your mind and startle your soul awake.
Last Take
In African culture, ‘ancestor’ is a coveted designation. Pope Francis earned it.
In Africa, a person of Pope Francis’ moral caliber and spiritual substance holds the coveted designation of “ancestor,” whose role includes everlasting solicitude for the community he or she leaves behind.
Faith
Catholics and infertility: The spiritual and ethical challenges of trying to conceive
And how the church can accompany couples struggling with infertility
Language, poverty and discernment: Pope Francis as a Jesuit
America’s readers discuss the influence of Pope Francis’ Jesuit formation on his papal ministry.
Farewell Francis, a pope of surprises
As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new leader, the editors of ‘America’ remember an extraordinary and beloved pontiff: Francis, a pope of monumental surprises.
What Pope Francis taught me as a new mother
Somehow, incredibly, this celibate, elderly man often doled out some of the best and most valuable parenting advice I’ve received along the way.
Pilgrims from around the world visit Pope Francis’ tomb to thank God for his pontificate
“He has given a great witness of humility, of closeness to the people, of living out the Gospel values. He has left a great example for us to follow,” a priest from Honduras told America.
What Pope Francis taught us: Church teaching finds clarity and power in acts of mercy
Pope Francis taught the church that the magisterium finds its clarity not merely in propositions but in acts of mercy.
Waiting in line to say goodbye to Pope Francis—with pilgrims from around the world
Editor in chief Sam Sawyer, S.J., reflects on praying with Pope Francis’ body in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Francis canonized 942 saints during his papacy. What do they tell us about him?
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.
Pope Francis changed my life—and the lives of countless L.G.B.T.Q. people
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.
In African culture, ‘ancestor’ is a coveted designation. Pope Francis earned it.
In Africa, a person of Pope Francis’ moral caliber and spiritual substance holds the coveted designation of “ancestor,” whose role includes everlasting solicitude for the community he or she leaves behind.
Pope Francis pushed the U.S. church to move beyond the culture wars—with mixed results
Pope Francis was overwhelmingly popular with ordinary Catholics in the United States. But Francis’ priorities often failed to take root here.
How Pope Francis changed the place of women in the church
As Pope Francis’ legacy is debated in the coming weeks, one key area for examination will be his advancements of women in the Vatican, whether his changes were sufficient and whether they will last.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts