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!
Pope Francis
Posted inFaith, News
Vatican releases unpublished papal reflection on old age
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.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Remembering Pope Francis: an ‘Inside the Vatican’ roundtable
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.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
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.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
I’m a Gen-Z Catholic. Pope Francis changed my despair about the world into hope
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.
Posted inFaith, News
In last words, Pope Francis thanked his nurse ‘for bringing me back to the square’
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.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
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.
![20160811T1325-1001-CNS-POPE-SYRIAN-REFUGEES [web]](https://i0.wp.com/www.americamagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20160811T1325-1001-CNS-POPE-SYRIAN-REFUGEES-web.jpg-388895.jpg?resize=770%2C480&ssl=1)
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Pope Francis the bookworm
Pope Francis was a great lover of literature: He peppered his homilies, talks and even encyclicals with literary references from Dostoyevsky, Proust, Hopkins, Dante and more, and he also encouraged his flock to read broadly and often.
Posted inFaith, 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.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis’ funeral set for April 26, first photos of his body released
The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced.