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Pope Francis dead at 88, Vatican says
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.
Pope Francis meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his delegation during an audience at Casa Santa Marta on April 20, 2025, in Vatican City, Vatican. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.»
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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.
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American forces operating in the Indian Ocean intercepted another fugitive tanker ship, the Department of War announced Tuesday.
The development comes after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela in mid-December, as Washington increased its naval presence in the Caribbean to put pressure on now-former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The ship involved in Tuesday’s interdiction — the Bertha — was flagged by The New York Times as leaving Venezuela’s main oil port in early January following the U.S. military operation to capture Maduro.
«Overnight, U.S. forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the Bertha without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility,» the Department of War said on X. «The vessel was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and attempted to evade.»
The Department of War announced on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, that U.S. forces intercepted the Bertha oil tanker. (Department of War)
«From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we tracked it and stopped it. No other nation has the global reach, endurance, or will to enforce sanctions at this distance,» it added.
The Department of War said three boats that tried to flee the scene were captured.
«International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned actors. By land, air, or sea, our forces will find you and deliver justice,» it also said. «The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.»
US KILLS 3 SUSPECTED NARCO-TRAFFICKERS IN CARIBBEAN, PENTAGON SAYS
The Department of War said the interdiction of Bertha unfolded in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. (Department of War)
U.S. forces previously intercepted the Veronica III oil tanker on Feb. 15 in the Indo-Pacific.
According to OpenSanctions, the Veronica III is listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list.
The Department of War said following the interdiction of Bertha that, «International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned actors.» (Department of War)
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That tanker, a large crude oil carrier built in 2006 and flagged in Panama, has been linked to the transport of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of sanctioned Iranian oil and is affiliated with a Chinese ship-management company that has also been sanctioned.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
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Speechwriters from Reagan to Biden agree: Trump’s SOTU is a critical test for his second term
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Former White House speechwriters from both parties say President Donald Trump must decide whether to double down on the rally-style politics that powered his campaign or broaden his message to unify a divided country around his governing agenda in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
As Trump prepares to speak to the nation and the world, a majority of Americans think the country is worse off today than it was a year ago, according to a recent Fox News survey. The challenge he faces Tuesday night is to persuade skeptical voters that his economic policies are bringing costs down, that tougher immigration enforcement is making the country safer and that he has a disciplined, forward-looking plan for the years ahead — a message that could shape Republicans’ prospects as they head into the 2026 midterm elections with narrow majorities in Congress.
Clark Judge, a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan and now chairman of the Pacific Research Institute, told Fox News Digital that Trump should address America’s position in the world.
«Threats to the country and to the economy were growing,» Judge said. «Now, in area after area, those threats have been confronted and defeated.»
President Donald Trump will deliver his fourth State of the Union address across his presidential tenure on Feb. 24, 2026. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Judge said Reagan’s strength was clarity. People «knew where he would come down. One advantage of working with him was that he had been so clear throughout his career on what he was for,» he said.
There are lessons from Reagan that Judge suggested Trump should take to heart. «Know the president, know the administration, know the public — where is the public at any one moment?»
«Where are the Democrats? What are they trying to do — and how do we disarm their arguments?» he said.
The balance needed in a State of the Union is finding a «middle ground» between the president’s Cabinet fighting for their mentions and «trying to create big, thematic connections,» former Jimmy Carter presidential speechwriter James Fallows told Fox News Digital.
Fallows, the Georgia Democrat’s chief speechwriter during his first two years in office, has since been a book, magazine and Substack writer. He said Trump’s challenge, both now and in his previous addresses, is to unite the country around his agenda, not just please his supporters.
Trump’s preferred rhetorical style is a rally-style approach — «where he can digress and weave» and create «us versus them» scenarios to rile the audience,» he said, adding that a State of the Union address requires the opposite.
MIKE JOHNSON REVEALS SPECIAL GUESTS FOR TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION
Lawmakers arrive for a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. Donald Trump’s primetime address Tuesday night from Capitol Hill, billed as a chronicle of his «Renewal of the American Dream,» comes at a critical juncture early in his second term, as voters who elected him to tackle inflation and improve the economy are beginning to weigh the impact of his agenda. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Former Joe Biden speechwriter Dan Cluchey expressed skepticism that Trump would be able to rise to the occasion.
«President Biden has a deep reverence for both the constitutional role of Congress and the dignity of the presidential office, so he approached the State of the Union as an opportunity to rise above the fray and bring Americans together,» Cluchey said, pointing to what the Delawarean considered the «Unity Agenda» laid out in his 2022 address.
When asked what could surprise him about Trump’s Tuesday address, Fallows said sticking to his script would be a novelty.
«[Also,] given what the next day’s news will describe as a ‘big tent speech’» à la Reagan, the Carter speechwriter said.
Former George W. Bush speechwriter and current Wall Street Journal editorial board member Bill McGurn said presidents do tend to differ, sometimes greatly, from each other in style, contrasting the president with his former boss.
«George W. Bush was very driven by logic — the speech had a flow and had a logic that was coherent.»
«He’d always say, ‘make it so Bubba would understand what that meant’ — don’t dumb it down; but make it so an intelligent person listening can get the idea of what you’re about.»
Trump, he said, will likely repeat what many presidents often say, that «the State of the Union is strong.»
«Even if it is a laundry list, there’s ways to make it more compelling if you find a unifying thread to it.»
Fallows told Fox News Digital there are many «structural challenges» for any president and his team crafting a State of the Union.
«So much to cover and only so much time you can hold the attention of even a captive audience.»
Fallows, who now writes «Breaking the News» on Substack, said the SOTU is a rare moment for a president to address the nation as a whole, not just partisan supporters.
BILL MAHER CALLS FOR COMPLETE END TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS AHEAD OF TRUMP SPEECH
President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address. (Ricky Carioti/Getty Images)
McGurn agreed.
«For all the grandiosity and the important things they cover, they’re usually not remembered,» he said, noting how many more Americans remember Bush’s 9/11 speech or his brief address through a bullhorn atop the rubble of the Twin Towers.
«A dirty little secret is most speech artists hate the State of the Union for the laundry list kind of thing,» he added.
Sometimes, a State of the Union may not be remembered itself, but it may lead to something much more memorable.
Judge recalled drafting Reagan’s 1988 address, thinking «this is technical and dull — what I need is an image.»
Settling on the phrase, «1,000 sparks of genius in a 1,000 communities,» the line went viral in then-fledgling «dial» polling — to the extent that Reagan’s protégé, the future President George H.W. Bush, borrowed the line for his «Thousand Points of Light» speech, Judge said.
JOHNSON PRAISES TRUMP’S ‘BOLD ACTION’ IN FORMAL STATE OF THE UNION INVITATION LETTER TO CONGRESS
While the public may not remember everything from every SOTU, the speechwriters collectively said there are parts they still recall today. Cluchey said his best memories are of Biden choosing to share stories of everyday Americans he helped, «in order to illustrate the impact of his policies.»
In other cases, there are times the world takes notice.
Working with Reagan near the end of his successful bid to stifle the Cold War, Judge said crafting the speech was important not just for Congress in front of him and the American people at home, but everyone at once.
«Behind the cameras are the editors and producers — even if they’re hostile, how do I frame something so it gets through? Behind them is our world leaders — what will catch them and move them in the direction you want?»
With Reagan pushing hard to end the Soviet Union, he was also speaking to both the leaders and those to the East.
Reagan would later be greeted by Soviet dissidents in public who would tell him, «You don’t know how important that was – the speeches gave us courage.»
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Fallows said that Trump may have to overcome some habits to give an effective address this year.
«State of the Unions are best in areas that are not Donald Trump’s strengths. They’re meant to be embracing the country as a whole. They’re meant to be delivered from a prompter but without seeming too scripted.»
«We’ll see how this goes.»
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