La muerte del papa Francisco activó el mecanismo más antiguo y simbólico de sucesión de poder aún vigente en el mundo occidental: la sede vacante, un periodo excepcional en la historia de la Iglesia católica en el que no existe un pontífice y todo queda en manos del Colegio de Cardenales.

Este proceso no solo implica una transición espiritual en el liderazgo religioso de más de 1.300 millones de católicos, sino también una transformación en la jefatura del Estado Vaticano.

Para comprender los pasos que se suceden desde el fallecimiento de un papa hasta la elección de su sucesor, es necesario familiarizarse con una serie de términos, muchos de ellos en latín, que forman parte del protocolo vaticano.

La expresión “sede vacante” (del latín sede vacante Apostolica) define el periodo entre la muerte o renuncia de un papa y la elección de un nuevo pontífice. Durante este tiempo, cesan todas las funciones del Santo Padre y la administración de los asuntos ordinarios de la Iglesia queda en manos del Colegio de Cardenales, con funciones restringidas. Es un tiempo de espera, luto, oración y organización para la sucesión papal.

El camarlengo, también conocido como “camarero”, es el cardenal encargado de verificar formalmente la muerte del papa y de custodiar sus efectos personales. Administra los “bienes y derechos temporales” de la Santa Sede hasta que se elige al nuevo pontífice. Es quien manda a sellar la habitación del papa fallecido y convoca a los cardenales. Actualmente, este rol lo desempeña el cardenal Kevin Farrell, de origen irlandés y nacionalizado estadounidense.

El Colegio de Cardenales es el cuerpo compuesto por todos los cardenales de la Iglesia católica. Hoy cuenta con 252 miembros, de los cuales 135 son electores, es decir, tienen derecho a votar en un cónclave por tener menos de 80 años. En la actualidad, 108 de esos cardenales fueron nombrados por el propio papa Francisco. Aunque todos los cardenales participan de las llamadas congregaciones generales, solo los electores ingresan al cónclave.

El cónclave es la asamblea cerrada en la que los cardenales electores eligen al nuevo papa. El término proviene del latín cum clave, que significa “con llave”, en referencia a que los cardenales son encerrados en el Vaticano —sin contacto con el mundo exterior— hasta que se llega a una decisión. Se celebra en la Capilla Sixtina, y según la constitución apostólica Universi Dominici Gregis, debe comenzar entre 15 y 20 días después de la muerte del papa.

Las Congregaciones Generales son reuniones previas al cónclave que incluyen a todos los cardenales no impedidos por razones de salud. Se celebran en el Palacio Apostólico del Vaticano y en ellas se discuten los asuntos administrativos urgentes, la organización del funeral y los preparativos logísticos del cónclave. Todos los asistentes deben prestar juramento de secreto.

El decano del Colegio de Cardenales, actualmente el cardenal Giovanni Battista Re, es quien informa oficialmente la muerte del papa a los demás cardenales y a los embajadores ante la Santa Sede. También convoca al cónclave y preside la votación. Si se elige un nuevo papa, es el decano quien le pregunta si acepta el cargo y qué nombre adoptará.

La frase “extra omnes”, que en latín significa “todos fuera”, es pronunciada por el maestro de las celebraciones litúrgicas papales —hoy el arzobispo Diego Ravelli— justo antes de cerrar la Capilla Sixtina. Es la señal para que todos los presentes que no sean cardenales electores abandonen la sala. Luego comienza el escrutinio secreto.

Cuando se elige un nuevo papa, el protodiácono del Colegio de Cardenales —hoy el cardenal Dominique Mamberti— se asoma a la logia central de la basílica de San Pedro para pronunciar las palabras “Habemus papam”, que significa “tenemos papa”. Luego anuncia el nombre de nacimiento del elegido y el nombre que ha decidido adoptar como pontífice.

La Domus Sanctae Marthae es la residencia del Vaticano donde viven los cardenales durante el cónclave. También fue el lugar de residencia elegido por el papa Francisco, en lugar del tradicional apartamento papal en el Palacio Apostólico. Ocupaba la suite 201, un gesto de sobriedad que definió su estilo pastoral.

Durante el cónclave, los cardenales electores eligen por sorteo a grupos de tres que cumplen distintas funciones:

• Infirmarii: recogen los votos de los cardenales enfermos.
• Revisores: controlan la validez de las papeletas y su correcto conteo.
• Escrutadores: leen cada voto en voz alta y los contabilizan. También son responsables de quemar las papeletas.

Para elegir a un nuevo papa se requiere una mayoría de dos tercios.

El anillo del pescador es una joya simbólica que recibe el papa al iniciar su pontificado. Lleva el nombre porque san Pedro fue llamado a ser “pescador de hombres”. Tras la muerte de un papa, el anillo se anula mediante una marca, para evitar su uso fraudulento como sello oficial.

El rogito es un documento redactado en latín que detalla los aspectos más importantes de la vida y el pontificado del papa fallecido. Se introduce dentro de su ataúd antes del entierro y se guarda una copia en los archivos vaticanos. Lo elabora el maestro de ceremonias litúrgicas.

Fue el lema episcopal y luego papal de Francisco. En latín significa “habiendo tenido misericordia y eligiéndolo”, y está tomado de las homilías de san Beda el Venerable, en referencia al llamado de Jesús a san Mateo, el recaudador de impuestos.

Es una de las cuatro basílicas mayores de Roma. El papa Francisco eligió ser enterrado allí, en la Capilla Paulina, cerca del ícono de la Salus Populi Romani, una imagen bizantina de la Virgen. Rompe así con la tradición de enterrar a los papas en las grutas vaticanas.

La Universi Dominici Gregis es la constitución apostólica promulgada por san Juan Pablo II en 1996. Regula todo lo relacionado con la muerte de un papa y la elección del siguiente. Fue modificada por Benedicto XVI, quien eliminó la posibilidad de elegir con mayoría simple tras varias votaciones infructuosas.

La fumata blanca anuncia al mundo que se ha elegido un nuevo papa. Se produce al quemar las papeletas de votación junto con sustancias químicas específicas en una estufa dentro de la Capilla Sixtina. Si no hay acuerdo, el humo es negro. También suenan las campanas de San Pedro cuando hay elección.

(Con información de The Associated Press)

President Trump is fighting a war with many battlefields.

It’s a nine-front crusade, although I could easily double that number.

If there’s a common thread here, it’s the president taking on elite institutions that he has long resented or reviled.

That’s why his first three months seem stuck on hyperspeed – critics would say chaos – because he’s broken with the traditional model of tackling one or two issues at a time. Voters gave him a second term to shake things up. It’s the first Trump term on steroids.

EDUCATION DEPT. TO RESUME COLLECTIONS ON DEFAULTED FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2020

The president is surrounded by loyalists who encourage his flood-the-zone approach, unlike some of the more traditional figures (Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, Gary Cohn) who tried to restrain him the last time he lived in the White House.

One advantage is that he uses Truth Social as a weapon, unloading on those who displease him.

And yet he still finds time to abolish rules limiting shower pressure, call for the abolition of pennies, and come out against changing clocks (though his stance on daylight savings is unclear) – all matters that affect people’s daily lives.

Here, in no particular order, are Donald Trump’s nine battlegrounds: 

1. TOP PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

Although Trump himself went to the Wharton School, he is constantly attacking Columbia and other top Ivy colleges. Harvard, where he has frozen more than $2 billion in federal funding and another $7 billion is at risk, is fighting back. Plus, the IRS is looking at revoking the university’s tax-exempt status.

The White House now admits that the letter a Trump official transmitted to Harvard was «unauthorized» and should not have been sent. Harvard officials were stunned because they thought they were in the process of negotiating a settlement with the administration. 

2. LAW FIRMS

One giant law firm after another, under pressure from Trump, has caved and reached settlements with the White House. This involves agreeing to provide up to $100 million or even $125 million in pro bono services on matters important to the administration. The alternative is an executive order pulling its members’ security clearances, making it impossible to serve their corporate clients without access to secret data. A few firms have fought back, and some attorneys have resigned in protest, but most are volunteering to settle.

3. MEDIA 

President Trump has sued CBS, NBC and Gannett. He won a $16-million lawsuit against ABC–approved by Disney–after George Stephanopoulos repeatedly called him a rapist when he was actually held liable for sexual abuse. Even if the suits go nowhere, journalists and news outlets have to hire lawyers and go through an ordeal.

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Trump has long used the press as a foil, but now he ridicules the likes of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she tries to ask questions. He refused to take a question from an NBC reporter, saying the network has no credibility. And yet Trump provides an absolutely stunning degree of access. He takes questions virtually every day and has taken over the press pool (with the AP still excluded). The coverage is overwhelmingly anti-Trump–sometimes that’s self-inflicted–but that also boosts clicks and ratings. It’s a love-hate relationship.

4. FEDERAL RESERVE

The markets nose-dived again yesterday as Trump stepped up his personal assault on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in an obvious attempt to pressure him into resigning. Powell’s job is to worry about inflation, not to goose the economy because the president wants him to cut interest rates.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responds to a question from David Rubenstein (not pictured) during an on-stage discussion at a meeting of The Economic Club of Washington, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S, February 7, 2023. (REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo)

The entire tariff war has spooked Wall Street and alienated such allies as Canada (the 51st State???), Mexico and the European Union. He repeatedly promised a tariff war during the campaign, but no one expected tariffs of this magnitude, even against China, which has retaliated. Now Trump says he’ll even work out a deal with China. The 90-day pause briefly seemed to stabilize things, but whether the president can strike deals with 90 countries in 90 days remains to be seen.

5. COURTS

Donald Trump has a long history of attacking judges and prosecutors. Now he is going up to the line, and perhaps crossing it, when it comes to challenging court rulings, even with a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

The other day, the president deflected questions about the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, telling reporters to speak to the lawyers. The next day, he unloaded at length on Abrego Garcia, saying he’s a violent man who deserves to be in prison and criticizing Chris Van Hollen’s trip to visit him in a carefully staged photo op.

Abrego Garcia may well be a gang member, but a previous court ruling had found he should not be sent to El Salvador. Politically, this is a winning issue for Trump. But when SCOTUS ruled 9-0 that he should «facilitate» Garcia’s return, Trump pretty much ignored it.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S ‘NOT HAPPY’ WITH FED CHIEF JEROME POWELL

In a separate case, the Supreme Court, 7-2, ordered Trump not to move a second wave of Venezuelan migrants from where they are being held. This time, the administration agreed to follow the ruling. 

6. FORMER AIDES

The president is going after two of his appointees from the first term.

He has ordered an investigation of his former cybersecurity chief, Chris Krebs, for «falsely and baselessly» denying that the 2020 election was rigged. He called Krebs a «significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority,» meaning Krebs found what every other probe, including one by Attorney General Bill Barr, found–no evidence of significant fraud.

Trump also ordered a probe of Miles Taylor, better known as «Anonymous,» for the New York Times op-ed he wrote ripping the president. 

Taylor, a former Homeland Security official, «wrote a book under the pseudonym ‘Anonymous,’ making outrageous claims both about your administration and about others in it,» the president was told in a memo. So he too is under investigation. Trump even accused Taylor of committing «treason.» 

7. HILL REPUBLICANS

The president has pressured members of his own party into going along with just about anything he wants. Other than the Matt Gaetz fiasco, that has meant approving all his nominees, despite doubts about the likes of Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to give a television interview outside the White House, on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

He has openly warned that he will use Elon Musk’s money to launch primary opponents against those who defy him. Musk has been a heat shield for Trump, though he has broken with him on tariffs. Remember that Musk poured money into that Wisconsin Supreme Court battle and lost. The chainsaw looks very different now.

While the violent attacks against Tesla have been despicable, Musk has also had to admit, after vowing to cut $1 trillion, that he’ll only be able to save $150 billion. Musk also admitted firing and having to rehire bird flu experts and nuclear bomb specialists, but remains the world’s richest man.

Lisa Murkowski just came out and said it: They are all afraid to criticize Trump for fear of political retaliation. 

8. KENNEDY CENTER

It’s never been done, but the president fired all the Democratic board members and named himself chairman. He’s even suggested that he should host the annual awards given out for the glittering building on the Potomac named for JFK – not because he needs the attention, he says, but because it would be good for ratings.

The board has always been bipartisan, but that doesn’t bother Trump. 

Some performers, led by Lin-Manuel Miranda of «Hamilton» fame, have already pulled out. Will only conservative performers get the green light?

I’ve picked the Kennedy Center as an example of Trump’s culture wars, but he’s also taken aim at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo. 

9. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY

The president, with help from JD Vance, utterly humiliated the Ukrainian president during that meltdown meeting at the White House. Now Zelenskyy bears a good bit of responsibility for the clash – he should have kept his mouth shut and walked away with an agreement, but took the bait. 

Trump went a step further, kicking him out of the White House and sending him home.

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Now Trump, through Marco Rubio, says he may give up on negotiating a cease-fire in Ukraine. That’s exactly what Vladimir Putin wants, so he can keep on seizing land from the brave Ukrainians. One thing that Trump said he would do, but hasn’t done, is pressure his pal Putin. He still blames Zelenskyy and Ukraine for having the temerity to be invaded by the Kremlin. 

That’s the list. Feel free to create your own. Sometimes it works for Donald Trump, sometimes it doesn’t. But it helps explain the dizzying pace of change and sends an unmistakable message that he is in charge.

Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, who worked to instill progressive influences on the global church while maintaining unity with conservatives amid years of turmoil, died Monday morning, Vatican camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced. 

He was 88 years old.

«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 His Church,» Farrell announced.

«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.»

U.S. Vice President JD Vance had just met with the pope on Sunday.

«I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul,» Vance said early Monday morning in a post on X.

The pope preached frequently on the Catholic virtues of mercy, kindness and humility. He did not shy away from controversy, and American presidents, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, were not immune from his views. 

Less than a month into President Donald Trump’s presidency, the pontiff criticized the Republican’s plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and «will end badly.» 

In a strongly worded letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops, the pope appeared to counter remarks made by Vice President JD Vance — who had recently converted to Catholicism — after he suggested Americans should care for family, communities and the country before caring about others. 

«Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,» the pontiff wrote. «Worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations.» 

POPE FRANCIS EXPOSES CONFIDENTIAL DETAILS ABOUT HIS ELECTION AND RELATIONSHIPS IN LENGTHY INTERVIEW 

Pope Francis meets with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians and pastoral workers in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Reuters/Pavel Mikheyev)

Pope Francis in 2015 became the first pontiff to ever address a Joint Meeting of Congress where he spoke on a range of topics including immigration, family, the death penalty, climate change, extremism, religious freedom and the refugee crisis. 

He joined American bishops and urged American leaders to abolish capital punishment and said Congress has a «role to play» in addressing global warming. 

In 2022 he questioned then President Biden’s conscience on abortion in an interview during which he described the commander-in-chief’s religious identity and views on abortion as incoherent. «A month after conception, the DNA of the fetus is already there and the organs are aligned. There is human life,» the pontiff said in the interview with Spanish-language outlet Univision. 

He also weighed in on candidates Trump and Harris during the election campaign, where he bashed them both, saying, «Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ he said, according to the Associated Press. 

Just weeks before President Trump’s second inauguration, he appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy to be the Archbishop of Washington. McElroy had been critical of Trump’s immigration policies during his first term as president. 

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents in Argentina, Francis made history as the first pope from the Americas — as well as the first Jesuit to hold the office.  

He was elected pope in 2013 after the almost unprecedented retirement of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.  

Bergolio’s father, Mario, was an accountant for the railway industry, and his mother, Regina, was a homemaker and caregiver for her five children.  

POPE FRANCIS FUELS NEW SPECULATION ON FUTURE OF PONTIFICATE 

Pope Francis, born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is shown here with his family. From left to right, standing, brother Alberto Horacio, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Oscar Adrian and sister Marta Regina, sitting, sister Maria Elena, mother Regina and father Mario Jose Francisco. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Throughout his early years, the future pope worked a number of menial jobs. He labored briefly in the stocking factory where his father was an accountant before moving on to other opportunities, including jobs as a bar bouncer and janitor.  

He eventually sought a career as a chemical technician, receiving a diploma in chemistry from the secondary school Escuela Técnica Industrial N° 27 Hipólito Yrigoyen. He also worked briefly in a food laboratory. However, his career in chemistry was short-lived. 

He entered the priesthood at the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto in Argentina. Francis was ordained a priest in 1969 and made his final profession with the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, in 1973. The same year, he was appointed as a provincial for the order.  

His appointment as provincial was concurrent with the Dirty War, a period of intense state-led persecution of left-wing leaders and political dissidents. Bergolio experienced constant threats to his own safety as he worked to hide or aid in the escape of government targets, including many Catholic faithful.  

Pope Francis’ is a fan of Argentina’s San Lorenzo Futbol Club. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

During that time, two Jesuit priests under his supervision were disappeared by the government, drugged and left barely alive in a field five months after their kidnapping. Pope Francis has said he was forced to negotiate with the regime for their release.  

Bergolio would spend the next two decades bouncing from position to position at the direction of his superiors. He served as a professor of theology, seminary instructor, rector, doctoral student and parish priest.  

In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed Bergolio as titular Bishop of Auca and as an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. This was done at the request of Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who consecrated him to the episcopacy.  

Bergoglio proved vital to the nation’s Catholic community, and he was quickly raised to the dignity of Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving alongside Quarracino and taking over the archdiocese entirely after his death the following year.  

Bergoglio was given the crimson hat of a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.  

In 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Bergoglio was elected to the papacy, selecting the pontifical name «Francis» after St. Francis of Assisi — a choice that set the tone for the rest of his papacy.  

POPE DERIDES BIDEN’S ABORTION VIEWS, CATHOLIC SELF-IDENTITY AS ‘INCOHERENCE’

Newly elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, at the Vatican on March 13, 2013. White smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney, and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out, signaling at the time that the Roman Catholic cardinals had elected a pope to succeed Benedict XVI. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)

Pope Francis’s teachings as a priest, bishop, cardinal and pope were deeply influenced by his Jesuit vocation — viewing each person as a unique creation of God, with whom they can have a personal relationship. His ministry and leadership were committed to keeping doors open and making the church approachable to the public.  

It was not only American politics that he had strong opinions of. 

He faced criticism for specific remarks he made against Israel’s military operation in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave «very serious and shameful.» During that same speech, he condemned the growth of antisemitism throughout the world, Reuters reported. He also called for an end to the war in Ukraine and expressed concerns over climate change.

In 2023, seemingly looking to strike a balance, he formally allowed Catholic priests to give same-sex couples a blessing, which was seen as being a radical shift in church policy, the Associated Press reported at the time.   

Pope Francis is also remembered for living a life of intense simplicity, denying himself a lavish papal apartment in the Vatican upon his election, and opting instead for a two-room suite in the Domus Santa Marta, a residence built by Pope John Paul II.  

Pope Francis celebrates the traditional rite of the washing of feet at the Casal del Marmo juvenile penitentiary on April 6, 2023, in Rome, Italy. On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis went to the outskirts of Rome to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Casal del Marmo juvenile penitentiary, where he carried out the traditional rite of the washing of the feet of twelve of the young people there. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

In contrast to his immediate predecessors, Pope Francis eschewed ornate robes or luxurious clothing. His outfit rarely consisted of more than a plain, white cassock tied with a papal fascia.  

Pope Francis even dressed down his Ring of the Fisherman — a piece of gold jewelry worn by popes to signify their office — by having it made with silver and only wearing it for ceremonies.  

Francis’s tenure continued the ongoing efforts to investigate decades of sexual abuse claims against priests across the world, including in the United States, with Francis vowing transparency in 2019. 

«Transparency is now being implemented at the highest level,» said Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Archbishop of Malta and Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after Francis gave legal authorities access to documents about sexual abuse cases and abolished the «pontifical secret» of the cases.  

POPE FRANCIS DEFROCKS NOTORIOUS BISHOP WHO CONFESSED TO ABUSING HIS NEPHEW 

Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump during his first term in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace with his wife, Melania, his daughter, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.  (Vatican/Pool/Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori via Getty Images)

He continued Benedict’s work to root malicious clerics out of the Church hierarchy «with the wrath of God,» appointing task forces and establishing victim aid groups.  

Pope Francis proved frustrating for a wide variety of conservatives, liberals, traditionalists and progressives. 

His gentle — at times vague and confusing — language on key social issues, such as sexuality and divorce, frustrated conservatives hoping for a more aggressive champion of Catholic moral teaching. 

In July 2017, a group of Catholic clergy and academics sent Pope Francis a «Filial Correction» document alleging seven serious theological mistakes made by the pontiff in public statements. The document’s assertions proved controversial within the Catholic Church and the document was never explicitly addressed.  

Conversely, his refusal to back down from traditional church teachings on abortion, gay marriage, women’s ordination and priestly celibacy frustrated progressives hoping for a more modern church.  

Echoing his time as a prelate in Argentina, Pope Francis was at times criticized from both sides of the aisle for his heavy hand enforcing Catholic unity on national and international levels.  

Traditionalists voiced intense opposition to his apostolic letter «Traditionis custodes,» which restricted the celebration of the traditional Latin mass in an attempt to squash increasingly separatist conservative movements within the Church.  

Pope Francis meets with then-President Joe Biden during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 29, 2021 in Vatican City.  (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool)

He similarly shut down discussion of many social issues that progressives have sought to reform.  

In 2019, Pope Francis told a nun asking him to approve the ordination of women that «if the Lord didn’t want a sacramental ministry for women, it can’t go forward,» adding, «We are Catholics, but if anyone wants to found another church they are free [to do so].»  

The hyper-progressive leadership of the Catholic Church in Germany was a target of his ire after the country’s clerical leaders attempted an upheaval of traditional teachings regarding gender and sexuality. The Vatican issued a series of letters, approved by Pope Francis, accusing the German church of risking separation from the Catholic Communion.  

The conflict with German bishops encapsulated his papacy’s recurring themes of authority and unity, best exemplified in a passage from his «Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany.»  

POPE FRANCIS URGES CATHOLIC VOTERS TO ‘CHOOSE THE LESSER EVIL’ BETWEEN TRUMP AND HARRIS

Pope Francis delivers a speech during the Holy Mass with newly appointed Cardinals.  (Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In the letter, Pope Francis wrote, «The universal Church lives in and of the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church. If they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die. Hence, the need always to ensure that communion with the whole body of the Church is alive and effective.»  

Pope Francis visited dozens of countries, including the United States and Cuba in 2015, and went as far afield as Papua New Guinea, as well as visits to predominantly Muslim countries including Egypt, Morocco and Jordan. 

Pope Francis struggled with health complications throughout his reign.  

The pontiff dealt for many years with sciatica, a nerve condition that caused immense pain in his leg and at times hindered his ability to walk.  

In 2021, Pope Francis was hospitalized for an intestinal surgery that removed 13 inches of his colon. 

In March 2023, Francis was again taken to the hospital after experiencing intense chest pain and difficulty breathing. He was treated for a respiratory infection and released after antibiotic treatment. 

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Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at the Apostolic Prefecture on Sept. 1, 2023 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. According to the Vatican, the trip was Pope Francis’s 43rd Apostolic Journey abroad and the 61st country he visited as Pope.  (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

In June of the same year, the pope was brought back for another abdominal surgery to repair an incisional hernia. He was released after making a full recovery.  

He took a fall at his residence and suffered a contusion on his right arm in January 2025.   

In February, he was once again hospitalized after a bout of bronchitis.  

Following Pope Francis’ death, the Vatican has entered a time of sede vacante — in English, «empty seat.»  

The Associated Press, Reuters and Fox News’ Annie Butterworth contributed to this report.