On Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at 9:45 a.m. (3:45 a.m. ET) in Vatican City Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, announced the death of Pope Francis from the Casa Santa Marta with these words:
Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.
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The Most Rev. Joseph Roesch, MIC, Superior General, speaks on Pope Francis' passing.
Fr. Mark Baron, MIC, offers prayers on the death of Pope Francis.
Where the Marian charism met Pope Francis
By Chris Sparks
Mary. Mercy. Purgatory. Serving the Church where the need is greatest.
Pope Francis’ pontificate was relatively long and eventful, but the Marian Family will always remember those times where our charisms found special expression in his pontificate.Here's a look back.
Beginning
Pope Francis had the Archbishop of Lisbon consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima on her feast day, May 13, 2013, and consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Oct. 13, 2013, the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.
From nearly the beginning of his pontificate, every papal journey began and ended in front of Our Lady, Salus Populi Romani, the ancient icon of Our Lady housed in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. His love of the devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots , caused that novena and image to spread across the Catholic world like wildfire.
Early in his pontificate, Pope Francis prescribed the Divine Mercy Chaplet to the world as a medicine for what ails us. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he had welcomed the Marian Fathers to his city as the Congregation opened a vicariate in Argentina, saying that there was a great need for Divine Mercy in the area, according to then-Provincial Superior Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC.
During Pope Francis’ 2015 papal visit to the United States, he went to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. He summoned our Congress to observe the Golden Rule, leading to a standing ovation, a remarkable thing from that body. He visited the imprisoned and the sick, and challenged the throwaway society, asserting the dignity of every human person.
Extraordinary Jubilee
The Holy Father called us all to an extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which ran from Dec. 8, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, to Nov. 20, 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King. The bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, offers rich, deep teaching on Jesus, the Divine Mercy Incarnate, whose Holy Face is the face of the Father’s Mercy. Pope Francis instituted the Missionaries of Mercy, a cadre of priests sent forth to proclaim Divine Mercy to the world, and specially empowered to absolve even sins normally reserved to the Holy See.
The Holy Father canonized St. Stanislaus Papczyński (1631-1701), the Founder of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, on June 5, 2016.
Pope Francis expanded access to the annulment process, ordered it be made as inexpensive as possible, and extended to all priests the faculty of absolving people of the sin of abortion.
That year, Pope Francis led the international World Youth Day in Poland, visiting St. Faustina’s tomb at the International Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki. The Divine Mercy Image was front and center behind the Holy Father at the main Mass, and images of St. Faustina and St. John Paul II, the Great Mercy Pope, lined the city streets.
He canonized the champion of the Rosary and hero of the works of mercy, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta on Oct. 19, 2016.
Evangelization
Under Pope Francis, the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM) was made part of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization , which later became the Disastery for Evangelization, and Divine Mercy was written into the governing statutes of the Dicastery in Praedicate Evangelium:
Evangelization takes place especially by the proclamation of divine mercy, in a variety of forms and expressions. In a particular way, the specific activity of the Missionaries of Mercy contributes to this end; the Section promotes and supports their training and provides criteria for their pastoral activity.
On May 13, 2017, the Holy Father marked the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of the Rosary’s first apparition in Fatima, Portugal, by canonizing two of the three shepherd children who saw her: Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, making them the youngest non-martyr saints in the Church’s history. The third and longest lived of the visionaries, Sr. Lucia dos Santos, was beatified in 2023.
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pope Francis led the world in renewing the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a renewal that has been repeated annually since on the Solemnity of the Annunciation. His prayer reads in part:
O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God's peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart
His powerful and timely 2024 encyclical on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, Dilexit Nos (He Loved Us), will remain a touchstone of theological work and prayerful devotion related to the Sacred Heart. It will also support and inspire all Divine Mercy devotees, since the Holy Father wrote:
Here I would also mention the experiences of Saint Faustina Kowalska, which re-propose devotion to the heart of Christ by greatly emphasizing the glorious life of the risen Lord and his divine mercy. Inspired by her experiences and the spiritual legacy of Saint Józef Sebastian Pelczar (1842-1924), Saint John Paul II intimately linked his reflections on divine mercy with devotion to the heart of Christ: “The Church seems in a singular way to profess the mercy of God and to venerate it when she directs herself to the heart of Christ. In fact, it is precisely this drawing close to Christ in the mystery of his heart which enables us to dwell on this point of the revelation of the merciful love of the Father, a revelation that constituted the central content of the messianic mission of the Son of Man.” Saint John Paul also spoke of the Sacred Heart in very personal terms, acknowledging that, “it has spoken to me ever since my youth.
Throughout his pontificate, he was a strong proponent of the works of mercy, empowering the papal almoner in unusual ways, making him a cardinal, and sending him to the front lines wherever the need was greatest — at times, quite literally. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski has made a number of trips into Ukraine to deliver ambulances and other humanitarian aid.
Meeting the Marians
The Holy Father addressed the 2023 General Chapter of the Marian Fathers, encouraging the Congregation in living its charisms. “I encourage you to keep fidelity to your origins alive in this prophetic attention to today,” Pope Francis said. “You have done so in recent times by including openness to the laity, the protection of life from conception to death, attention to the least and support for families in difficulty — this is very important, today the family is always in difficulty — among your pastoral priorities.”
Pope Francis concluded his address by recommending three Marian devotions: Mary “Seat of Wisdom," Mary “Consoler of the Afflicted," and Mary “Mother of Mercy.”
These devotions, he told the gathered members of the Congregation, will help “make you firm and solid in your evangelical witness”, allow the “people of our time to find in you love and understanding”, and “make you rich in maternal compassion for the souls entrusted to you.”
As we nead the mid-point of the Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis’ contributions especially to our love of and service to Jesus, the Divine Mercy Incarnate; Mary Immaculate; the Holy Souls in Purgatory; and the Church wherever the need is greatest will continue to inspire and guide us, even as we pray for the repose of his soul and the election of the next successor to St. Peter.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
May he rest in peace.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace. Amen.
