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

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 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.