What happens during the interregnum period? Tom Reese, S.J., explains the time between one pope's death and the succession of the next pope.

What happens when a pope dies or resigns? Tom Reese, S.J., explains the steps in detail of what will occur at the Vatican after a pope's death.

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.