Funeral for Pope Francis Held in Vatican City

Roman Catholic Church officials and foreign dignitaries gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City Saturday to bid farewell to Pope Francis, who died at 88 this past week after suffering a stroke.

Francis was the first pope born outside Europe since 741.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, emphasized in his homily Pope Francis’s legacy as a bridge-builder and advocate for the marginalized. He recalled Francis’s repeated exhortation to “build bridges, not walls,” and his unwavering commitment to social justice, peace, and dialogue across divides.

Notable people in attendance included current US President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (with whom Trump met while in Rome), and Argentinian President Javier Milei.

Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires in 1936 into an Italian Argentinian family. He was the eldest of five children. As part of his schooling, he earned a chemical technician’s diploma, working in a laboratory. He also worked as a janitor and as a bouncer.

In his twenties, he entered seminary and joined the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. By 1998, he had become the archbishop of the Diocese of Buenos Aires, and he was made a cardinal in 2001.

Bergoglio was considered a contender for the papacy in the 2006 conclave to replace the late John Paul II, in which German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected and became Benedict XVI. When Benedict stepped down from the papacy in 2013, Bergoglio was elected and chose Francis as his papal name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who inspired his dedication to serving the needs of the poor.

 

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Dies at 95

Pope Benedict XVI, who was the first pope to resign the position in centuries and took the title 'pope emeritus,' died Saturday at 95. 

Benedict, who was born Joseph Ratzinger in Bavaria, Germany, on April 16, 1927, wished to become a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church since age 12. His life took a detour in childhood, when he was forced into Hitler Youth during Hitler's rule. Never an enthusiastic member of the organization, he was later drafted into the German military and was trained in the infantry. He managed to desert the army just prior to Allied victory, and was held as a prisoner of war until the war's end. 

Ratzinger entered seminary after the war, and he was ordained in 1951. Over the next few decades, he established himself as an intellectual force in the Catholic Church, seen as a leading liberal prior to 1968, supporting the reforms of the Vatican II conference. After 1968, he shifted to a more conservative point of view, for which he would be well known in his later years as cardinal and as pope. 

In 1977, Pope Paul VI elevated Ratzinger to cardinal shortly after Ratzinger becoming Archbishop of Freising and Munich. In 1981, Pope John Paul II made Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he became an influential voice in the Vatican under John Paul II's papacy.

In 2005, he was elected pope following the death of John Paul II. His papacy was noted for a staunch adherence to conservative theology and tradition. 

Benedict's papacy also was marked by an increased effort to tackle sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, though he was criticized for the slow pace of progress on that front. 

Benedict also made headlines in December 2012 when he joined Twitter under the handle @Pontifex.

In February 2013, he announced his resignation as pope, the first to do so completely voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294. He would take the title 'pope emeritus,' and his successor, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, was elected in March 2013. Bergoglio, who would take the regnal name 'Francis,' was the second place finished in the 2005 papal conclave which elected Benedict.

Benedict lived a quiet life between 2013 and 2022, remaining in the Vatican. He became the longest living pope (former or reigning) in 2020, and he celebrated his 70th anniversary as a priest in 2021.

Pope Francis had requested prayers for Benedict on December 28, 2022, announcing the former pontiff was in poor health. Benedict died three days later on December 31.