Irish woman who resigned from Vatican abuse panel says Pope Francis 'met resistance' from within

AN IRISH WOMAN who resigned from a Vatican Commission on protecting minors due to lack of cooperation from Church officials has described Pope Francis as a pontiff who “didn’t brush over things” when meeting with abuse victims.

Marie Collins was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors but resigned in 2017 over what she described as a “shameful” lack of cooperation.

Collins is a child sexual abuse survivor and brought the priest who abused her in the 1960s to justice in 1997.

She is a founder Trustee of the Marie Collins Foundation and has campaigned for the protection of children and justice for survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

Commission

Speaking previously to The Journal, Collins said that there were “a lot of good plans” in the first Commission report which was launched in October.

Among the recommendations of the pilot annual report was the “need for a streamlined process for discharge from office when warranted”.

It also called for the Church to “study damages and compensation policies to promote a rigorous approach to reparations, as part of the Church’s commitment to the healing journey of victims and survivors”.

Pope Francis established the Commission, consisting of an independent panel of experts, in December 2014, amid pressure for more action to tackle clerical child sex abuse.

The Commission was then incorporated into the Roman Curia, the government of the Holy See which assists the pope in the day-to-day exercise of his role as the leader of the Catholic Church.

In 2022, Pope Francis asked for an annual and “reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change” and that the reports need to have a particular focus on the care of survivors of abuse.

‘He didn’t brush over things’

Collins met with Francis on several occasions in the Vatican and also met with him in Dublin in 2018 with a group of abuse survivors during the World Meeting of Families.

“I always found that what you see really is what you get with Pope Francis,” said Collins.

“He was a very normal, down to earth sort of man, and that’s not true of previous popes.

“He was very straightforward and answered straight questions with straight answers, he didn’t brush over things.”

She said that while Francis has done a lot of good, “he also disappointed in many other ways”.

She noted the new document that Francis introduced in 2019 against those who abuse or cover up abuse.

This involved every diocese in the world setting up an “easily accessible systems for submission of reports” concerning abuse or cover-ups.

There is also an obligation to “promptly” report all accusations and ensure that Bishops are “held accountable for their actions”.

In 2019, Francis also made complaints, testimonies and documents from internal Church trials available to lay courts and victims were able to access their files and any judgements.

However, Collins said this ”hasn’t really worked very well and there’s been no follow-up”.

Collins meanwhile also noted that Francis changed the Commission from being an independent group to being part of the Vatican Curia.

The Curia is essentially the government of the Catholic Church and one of the reasons Collins left the Commission in 2017 was because it was due to be separate from the Curia. 

However, it has now been embedded into the Curia and given a “stable and central role”.

The commission’s president is US Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the former archbishop of Boston.

Speaking at the launch of the first annual report, O’Malley described Collins as “one of the most beloved and valuable members of the Commission” and said he was “sorry when she decided to step away”.

“We understood the reasons and all of us have felt that frustration of the slowness of change coming about, but we believe that the change is taking place, even though it’s often an uphill climb,” said O’Malley.

He added: “The fact that the commission is being embedded within the Roman Curia, and given a permanent status, will be very helpful to our work.”

However, Collins said there are “many in the Curia who are quite conservative and traditional and don’t want to see change”.

“They still have that priority that the reputation of the Church has to be protected at all costs, and they’re not really willing to move very far, very fast.

“Francis has moved things forward and I think he’s a good man who has tried, but maybe not hard enough.

“He gave a lot of hope, and things have improved in some areas, there’s no doubt, but not as far as they should have done.”

Collins said that Francis “met resistance from within the Vatican who did not want to move forward”.

“I found that when I was on the Commission and that was the reason I resigned.

“The pope approved things that the Commission recommended to him, but they weren’t carried through by his civil services within the Vatican because they didn’t agree with everything that he wanted to put in place.

“They succeeded in seeing that some things didn’t go forward. It’s a mixed bag, it’s not black and white – he’s done some good stuff but there was a lot more that could have been done.”

Dublin meeting

Collins recalled a meeting between representatives of the Mother and Baby homes and Francis in 2018 during his visit to Dublin.

At the beginning of Mass in the Phoenix Park following this meeting, Francis said: “We ask forgiveness for the children who were taken away from their moms and for all those times when many single mothers were told that to seek their children who had been separated from them – and the same was told to their daughters and sons who were looking for their mothers – that this was a mortal sin.

“This is not a mortal sin but the Fourth Commandment. We ask forgiveness.”

Collins told The Journal: “The next day at the Mass in the Phoenix Park, Francis went off his pre-written script and made a statement saying that no mother who went looking for a child was committing any sort of sin.

“He was willing to do things like that when you approached him directly and I think that meant a lot to those survivors to have Francis say that.”

Meanwhile, Collins said Francis was very forthright in her dealings with him.

“If you put something to him and he agreed with it, he would do something about it.

“If he didn’t agree with it, he would tell you he didn’t agree with it, he was a very straightforward individual from that point of view, he didn’t beat about the bush.”

Conclave

Collins meanwhile warned that “we could do an awful lot worse than Francis following a conclave”.

“I think Francis made efforts in the right direction, he had the right attitude, and he did believe survivors.

“He talked about abusers and abusing priests as being criminal, which we hadn’t had before.

“We maybe forget that he did say and do things like that that did make a difference.

“Maybe he didn’t do enough, and maybe he could have done more, but we could easily get someone in to replace him who will move things back, not forward.”

Collins noted that Francis has been progressive on other issues, such as welcoming the LGBT community and women’s rights, but remarked that “they’re all very small steps”.

“He has brought more women into the Vatican and looking at it from the outside, it looks like a very small movement. But within the Church, it’s not taken as being very small.

“The Church is so wrapped up in tradition and things not changing, that even the small changes he’s made have in some ways shaken some people.

“You don’t need a really big, dramatic change as the Church moves forward very, very slowly.

“Whether his successor will follow up and continue to move things forward, it’s hard to say.”

She expressed hope that Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines might be the new pope but noted that “predictions never work out with the papacy”.

Pope Francis, right, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle during ceremonies at Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Manila, Philippines, in 2015 Alamy Stock Photo

She also noted that Francis has appointed many of the Cardinals who will be voting in the conclave “so the next pope might be closer to his view on the world than not”.

“Francis done a fair amount to move things forward in the areas of child abuse, women in the church and LGBT community, but it’s a very small forward movement.

“I would hope that the next man that comes in would take things much further, because a lot more is needed.”

Abuse survivor Michael O'Brien dies

Michael O'Brien, the child sexual abuse survivor who spoke powerfully of his experiences on an episode of RTÉ’s Questions and Answers in 2009, has died.

Mr O’Brien was a former mayor of Clonmel in Co Tipperary.

He appeared on RTÉ’s Questions and Answers programme in May 2009 where he outlined in detail his experiences of being abused as a child in St Joseph’s Industrial School in Co Tipperary.

Mr O’Brien was addressing then-government Minister Noel Dempsey, following the publication of the Ryan report into clerical abuse.

The report had been published the week before the programme was broadcast, and came a decade after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was set up by the government.

The commission heard thousands of complaints from former residents of predominantly Catholic institutions.

It found that sexual abuse was endemic in boys' institutions, and a chronic problem in some residential institutions.

In the programme, Mr O'Brien talked about his own experiences with the commission.

He said he tried to take his own life after spending five days at the commission.

"They brought a man over from Rome, 90-odd years of age to tell me I was telling lies, that I wasn’t beaten for an hour, non-stop, by two of them," Mr O’Brien said on RTÉ in 2009.

Local councillor Richie Molloy paid tribute to Mr O'Brien for being so outspoken at the time.

He said Mr O'Brien came across so passionately on the Questions and Answers programme and people really identified with that.

He also praised him for his work in assisting people in the area with the redress system over the years and offered his sympathies to Mr O'Brien's family.

Mr O'Brien is predeceased by his wife Mary and sadly missed by his family Geraldine, Peter, Martin and Catriona.

The funeral service for Mr O’Brien will take place on Thursday morning at St Mary’s Church in Irishtown, Co Tipperary.

Whoever succeeds Pope Francis, the genie is now permanently out of the bottle : Opinion

On the evening of March 13th 2013, I was watching television sitting in the presbytery of Moygownagh parish in County Mayo where I was parish priest, as Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican chamberlain, appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s in Rome and declared Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to be the new pope.

As Pope Francis emerged from the shadows, my heart sank. He looked impossibly old for the task that faced him. 

If he had the words “Caretaker Pope” written across his chest on his new white soutane, it couldn’t have been clearer that he was merely expected to keep the throne of St Peter warm, waiting for a more active successor.

Here, I thought, was another elder filling a gap for a few years where a Church – that by every available metric was in what looked like terminal decline – could avoid the hard questions for another few years.

Within a few days it was clear that my assessment was considerably off the mark. A number of signals suggested a more promising pontificate.

Francis declined the sumptuous headquarters of the Papal Palace in favour of a more modest B & B; he rejected a Latin homily prepared for him in favour of a more folksy off-the-cuff chat in Italian; he chose a plain and simple liturgy rather than the “lace and purple” of his predecessor; he asked cardinals to wear black rather than “cardinal red”; he counselled Vatican officials against careerism; he abolished monsignors; he insisted on using a small white car rather than a black Cadillac; he famously advised priests to have “the smell of the sheep” on them; and his great hope, he said, was “a poor church for the poor”.

What was going on? 

Was this really happening? 

Against all the odds, here was a pope who eschewed the role of emperor in favour of that of a parish priest.

After the death of Pope Francis the Vatican enters nine days of mourning followed by a secretive conclave.

In less than a decade, the achievements of Francis’s pontificate were startling. He implemented the vision of Vatican II. He placed a pastoral focus on drawing those on the margins into the centre and a new emphasis on Baptism rather than ordination as the key sacrament.

He established the Amazon Synod and offered a vision of the Church as “a field hospital”. 

He improved the regulation of Vatican finances, targeted clericalism – a toxic corruption of priesthood with its presumption of superiority and entitlement – and put a new focus on the tenderness and mercy of God. 

And then there was what has become Francis’s long-term gift to the Church – a synodal journey.

What Austen Ivereigh calls “the Francis effect” – the change of style and mood from the John Paul and Benedict pontificates – introduced a welcome change from the winter years of his two predecessors.

In simple terms, Popes John Paul and Benedict were convinced that the Second Vatican Council (1962-5) had “gone too far” in reforming the Church. In Benedict’s words it necessitated “a reform of the reform” – effectively a restoration of a pre-Vatican Two mentality and practice.

What Francis was keen to signal – first implicitly and then directly – was his intention to implement the actual reforms implied by that council’s documents, as voted through by an overwhelming percentage of the world’s bishops. 

Francis’s agenda was introducing the fullness of reform envisaged by Vatican Two almost half a century earlier.

The beleaguered and fearful years gave way to, in Ivereigh’s words, “a new liberty to discuss, to criticise, to listen and to discern”.

Suddenly the great unmentionables were no longer off the agenda. These included the ordination of women; mandatory celibacy for priests; acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community; the idea that priests who have left the active ministry be invited to return; access to Communion for those in non-traditional marital situations; problematic aspects of Catholic sexual morality, and others.

Francis – by way of a comment here and a hint there – sent “smoke signals” to indicate a significant change from the John Paul/Benedict era. When he was asked about the Church’s position on LGBTQ+ people, he responded with another question: “Who am I to judge?”

Suddenly, the recognition of the humanity of LGBTQ+ people reached a different level, as individuals and communities were encouraged to support rather than judge.

A sea change was detected too when it became evident that Irish bishops were no longer being summoned to Rome to be dressed down for their “disloyalty” in attempting to surface issues of significant concern for priests and people.

We took our cue from the liberating and refreshing change that Francis’s openness had ushered into church discourse with a confidence that, post-Francis, the genie was now permanently out of the bottle – regardless of who his successor will be.

But perhaps the crowning achievement of the Francis years was his focus on the importance of Synodality, achieved by expanding the tent of belonging to include all the baptised into a People’s Church and which (if given a fair wind) has a huge potential for invigorating the Church and enhancing its mission in the world.

There were mistakes and gaps too in Francis’s legacy. It took him some time to get up to speed on clerical child sexual abuse, but when he did, as on his visit to Ireland, he hit the ground running – placing an unswerving focus on the needs of victims.

He also never quite “got” the women’s issue, in particular the importance of momentum on the long and necessary journey to equality. 

And he could be averse to risk, holding back when even a distant hint of schism hovered.

Despite all that, for me and for many, he was our hero.

Israel deletes condolences over Pope Francis death

The Israeli government shared and then deleted a social media post offering condolences over the death of Pope Francis, without saying why, though an Israeli newspaper linked the decision to the late pontiff's criticism of the war in Gaza.

The verified @Israel account had posted on Monday a message on social media platform X that read: "Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing", alongside an image of the pope visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post quoted officials at the foreign ministry as saying that the pope had made "statements against Israel" and that the social media post had been published in "error".

The foreign ministry, which social media platform X states on its website is linked to the verified @Israel account, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, suggested last November that the global community should study whether Israel's military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel's conduct in its war with Hamas that began in October 2023.

In January the pope also called the humanitarian situation in Gaza "shameful", prompting criticism from Rome's chief Jewish rabbi who accused Francis of "selective indignation".

Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas and other armed groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a far-right coalition of religious and nationalist parties, has not commented on the pope's death.

However, Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Monday sent a message of condolence to Christians in the Holy Land and around the world, describing Francis as "a man of deep faith and boundless compassion".

Relations between the Catholic Church and Judaism have improved in recent decades, after centuries of animosity.

Pope Francis was usually careful during his 12-year pontificate about taking sides in conflicts, and he condemned the growth of antisemitic groups, while also speaking by phone with Gaza's tiny Christian community every evening during the war.

Francis in 2014 visited the Western Wall – the most sacred prayer site in Judaism – and also prayed at a section of a wall built by Israel in the occupied West Bank dividing Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Pope's visit meant 'an awful lot', say volunteers

At the Capuchin Day Centre on Bow Street in Dublin, there are fond memories of when the popemobile made its way up the narrow road in August 2018.

Hundreds of homeless and marginalised people are fed twice daily at the centre and volunteers also make up food parcels to hand out to those in need.

Two volunteers, Mary and Kay, had just finished the very busy lunch service, where more than 800 people were fed.

Mary remembered the day Pope Francis came to visit.

"We lined up, we got dressed up, it was a great atmosphere."

Kay said people were "over the moon, especially Brother Kevin".

Mary said it was wonderful to have the Pope visit.

"We need those things in our life to give us a lift, to have good people come to talk to us."

Kay said it was very special to be so close to the Pope, adding that they were "in about 10 feet of him".

Inside the day centre, manager Alan Bailey pointed out the photos of Pope Francis's visit, which he said was a secret for months before.

"We were afraid of our lives it would get out."

He described how eighty clients of the Capuchin Day Centre won a draw to be there when Pope Francis visited.

It was, he said, a "sight you will never forget, the Pope going around putting his arm around people posing for selfies; really a great day for everyone".

Alan said one of the service users said to him: "if I wasn't homeless I would never have met the Pope".

He said yesterday morning there was an "unbelievable silence" among the approximately 100 clients who were in the centre when news came through of Pope Francis's death.

Alan said all those at the Capuchin Day Centre are sad at his passing.

"His visit here meant an awful lot to us."

And as for the future, Alan Bailey said his hope is that whenever the next Pope visits, there will be no need for a service like the one in the middle of Bow Street, in Dublin's inner city.

Pope Francis's final moments reveal how quickly he deteriorated before death

Pope Francis died little more than half an hour after being taken ill, Vatican sources have said.

Pope Francis woke at 6am on Monday, and was fine for at least an hour, sources said, as they revealed details of the pontiff's final moments.

Around 7am, the Vatican's medical unit received an emergency call from his Casa Santa Marta apartment.

An urgent transfer to the Gemelli hospital, where he was treated for pneumonia earlier this year, was among the options considered.

A request for an urgent escort from the Vatican was received by Rome police after 7am, sources there said, but, given how quickly his condition worsened, it was cancelled by Vatican officials before 7.35am.

Francis died at the age of 88, a day after making his final public appearance at St Peter's Square, where he greeted crowds on Easter Sunday, one of the most important days of the Christian calendar.

The Vatican said he died from a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure.

He is currently lying in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household.

Francis will be laid to rest Saturday, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, after lying in state for three days in St Peter's Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects.

The funeral will take place outside, in the square in front of St Peter's Basilica, and will start with a procession led by a priest carrying a cross, followed by the coffin and ordained clergy.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will lead the service. Nine days of mourning begin afterwards.

Unlike his predecessors, Francis will be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major), as per his final burial wishes, announced on Monday.

The basilica is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and is where Francis traditionally went to pray before and after foreign trips.

He will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century.

In another change from tradition, he will be buried in a simple wooden casket, forgoing the centuries-old practice of burying the late pope in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead, and oak.

Prince William will attend the funeral on behalf of King Charles, Kensington Palace has said.

Cardinals will gather in a conclave to choose his successor afterwards.

Pope Francis’ body to lie in state until funeral on Saturday morning

The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that Pope Francis’ funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM in St. Peter’s Square.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the Mass, which will be concelebrated by Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and priests from across the globe.

The Eucharistic celebration will conclude with the Ultima commendatio and the Valedictio, marking the beginning of the Novemdiales, or nine days of mourning and Masses for the repose of Pope Francis' soul.

The late Pope's body will then be taken into St. Peter’s Basilica and then to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for entombment.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the coffin containing the Pope’s body will be carried from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica, so that the faithful may pay their respects.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of translation on April 23, which will begin at 9:00 AM with a moment of prayer..

The procession will pass through Santa Marta Square and the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, according to the Holy See Press Office.

The procession will then exit through the Arch of the Bells into St. Peter’s Square and enter the Vatican Basilica through the central door.

At the Altar of the Confession, the Cardinal Camerlengo will preside over the Liturgy of the Word, at the conclusion of which the visits to the body of the Roman Pontiff will commence.

St Peter's Basilica will remain open for the faithful who wish to pay their respects to the late Pope on Wednesday from 11: AM to midnight; on Thursday from 7:00 AM to midnight; and on Friday from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

How and where will Pope Francis be buried?

Even his last will and testament breaks with the traditions of his predecessors: Pope Francis, who died on Monday at the age of 88, had long made it clear that he wished to be laid to rest elsewhere than in St. Peter's magnificent basilica, and without the customary pomp and circumstance. 

In his autobiography Hope, published earlier this year, the pontiff said that "when I pass away, I will not be buried in St. Peter's, but in Saint Mary Major" in Rome. He explained that, "the Vatican is the home of my final service, not my eternity."

The pope also explained that he wanted his remains interred in the St. Mary Major Basilica near the Mary Regina Pacis statue, "near that Queen of Peace, to whom I have always turned for help and whose embrace I have sought more than a hundred times during my pontificate."

"I have been assured that everything is ready," he added.

Even after spending 38 days at Gemelli Hospital, where he received treatment for life-threatening double pneumonia earlier this year as the world watched with concern, Francis' drive home to the Vatican took a detour to stop in front St. Mary's, so that at least from the car could pause in prayer near his favorite Madonna icon.

Buried in his favorite church

As so, the late pope's final journey will take him to his favorite church in Rome. The St. Mary Major Basilica is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from from St. Peter's Basilica — just across the Tiber River and not far from Rome's central train station and city center.

The church, consecrated over 16 centuries ago, is one of a dozen buildings that are extraterritorial property of the Catholic Church. Practically anyone in Rome, visitor and local alike, knows the church, which impresses all who visit with its fifth-century mosaic art. Between the 12th and 16th centuries, seven former popes designated this church as their final resting place.

Francis is the first pontiff not to be buried in St. Peter's Basilica in about 150 years. The last to break with this tradition was Pope Pius IX (1846-1878). While his body was initially laid to rest in St. Peter's, it was transferred to the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence outside the walls) three years later.

Humble in life and in death

In his typical style, Francis not only designated his desired burial site but also distanced himself from the established Vatican funeral rites, which he described as "too elaborate."

Instead, he wished "no catafalque, no ceremony for sealing the coffin," and no entombment in the customary three coffins made of cypress, lead and oak. In his writing, he stated he preferred being buried "with dignity, but like any other Christian."

As Francis explained, his role was "that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world."

The piecemeal, by-the-by way in which he communicated his wishes for his funeral was also typical of Francis' humble style. For while he was announcing something important, he did not require an official Vatican statement or public address as the head of the Church to do so.

Reshaping papal rites

Instead, Francis merely addressed the issue in one of the many interviews he gave before the 10th anniversary of his papal election in March 2023.

Speaking with Swiss broadcaster RSI, he cited the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who died on New Year's Eve 2022 after nine years in retirement, as the reason for his decision to reshape the papal funeral rites.

At the time, he said, the offices of the Vatican responsible for planning his burial had racked their brains over how to organize the funeral of a non-reigning pope.

Francis told RSI that this occasion prompted him to simplify the burial rituals for himself and future popes, with church experts having removed all elements that were not considered to "fit litugically."

The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI was already less grandiose, while still honoring his former papal dignity.

Farewell at St. Peter's Basilica

In the fall of 2024, everything Pope Francis had revealed in his previous interviews was published in an updated liturgical book titled "Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis" ("Rite of burial for Roman pontiffs").

The faithful will still be able visit the remains of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica. But unlike his predecessors', Francis' wooden coffin will be closed. At his funeral in early 2023, the former Pope Benedict was elevated on a catafalque and was placed in the customary triple coffin after viewing.

For the last three popes who died in office (John Paul II in 2005, John Paul I in 1978, Paul VI in 1978), as well as for the retired Pope Benedict, the burial took place six days after news of their death was made public. In the case of Pope Francis, this timing is likely to remain the same.

The clergy serving at St. Mary's, as Pope Francis determined while he was still alive, are to focus primarily on Marian devotion, confession and liturgy. They will also maintain the traditional Gregorian chants and Latin liturgies.

Vatican power struggle: will an ‘anti-Francis’ pope emerge from conclave?

The death of Pope Francis will throw into sharp relief the internecine power struggle that has been a hallmark of his papacy.

In the coming days, a ferocious battle for the future of the church will be played out with the highest of stakes within the sanctity of the Sistine Chapel.

There are more than 250 cardinals in total, but those over the age of 80 are ineligible to take part in the conclave. That leaves 135 eligible cardinals, who will begin making their way to Rome in the coming days.

In the 12 years after Francis became pope, he appointed about 110 of those eligible, casting his net wide across the globe. Some Vatican observers have suggested he stacked the conclave in favour of a successor likely to embrace his outlook and continue his work.

The appointments make it “difficult for an ‘anti-Francis’ pope to emerge”, said Iacopo Scaramuzzi, a Vatican journalist with La Repubblica newspaper and author of the book Tango Vaticano. La Chiesa al Tempo di Francesco (Vatican Tango. The Church in the Time of Francis).

“But it doesn’t mean this group is unanimous and cohesive, or that they have the same ideas. Almost all the cardinals he has chosen are pastors from great dioceses around the world.” There were conservatives as well as progressives among them, Scaramuzzi added.

For example, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, a German cardinal Francis appointed, clashed with the late pope on numerous issues, including blasting the decree to allow the blessing of gay couples as “heresy”.

From the moment he was elected, Francis infuriated conservatives and traditionalists with a new style of papacy, a message of compassion and tolerance, and a challenge to centuries of privilege at the helm of the Roman Catholic church.

In his public pronouncements, he championed the poor and marginalised, criticised the impact of global capitalism on people’s lives, demanded action on the climate crisis, urged mercy for sinners, and called for compassion towards migrants and refugees.

In the Vatican itself, Francis cut a very different figure. Where previous popes had favoured red leather slippers and ermine-trimmed capes, he preferred stout shoes and a plain white cassock. While his predecessors had resided in the lavish papal apartment waited on by devoted nuns, Francis chose to live in the simple Santa Marta guesthouse and eat in a self-service cafeteria.

For much of Francis’s papacy, the figurehead for conservatives who opposed him was none other than his immediate predecessor. Benedict had promised to remain “hidden from the world” after vacating the papal throne in 2013 – the first pope to resign in 600 years – but had stayed at the Vatican, holding meetings, giving interviews and writing books and articles – and expressing views sharply at odds with those of Francis.

But the staunch opposition to Francis did not fade after Benedict’s death on New Year’s Eve in 2022, or after the death just 10 days later of the influential cardinal George Pell, who described Francis’ papacy as a “catastrophe” in a memo published under a false name.

Francis occasionally made stinging references to his enemies. In his autobiography, Hope, which published in January, he noted that a clue to the state of mind of his critics was evident in the ostentatious way they dressed. “These ways of dressing up sometimes conceal mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioural difficulties, a personal problem that may be exploited,” Francis wrote.

Conservatives were infuriated by his softening of the church’s stance on divorced and remarried Catholics, opening the door to some of them receiving communion. Enraging those who adhered to the doctrine that divorce is a sin, the move prompted a group of conservative clerics to accuse Francis of heresy for that too.

The heresy charge was repeated in a 20-page open letter in 2019, signed by prominent priests and scholars in response to “the accumulating harm caused by Pope Francis’s words and actions over several years, which have given rise to one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic church”.

Foremost among his critics was the US cardinal Raymond Burke, who has long pushed back against the pope’s stance on gay rights and social justice issues and who, like Müller, aligns with the views of Donald Trump. Francis marginalised Burke, even stripping him of his salary and Vatican-subsidised apartment. But Burke is still popular among conservative Catholic Americans.

Cardinal Robert Sarah emerged as another arch-rival in January 2020 when he published a book, apparently co-authored with Benedict, which defended clerical celibacy at the moment when Francis was considering a relaxation of the rules. The Guinean cardinal has also railed against Islam, migrants, gay people and the role of women.

Several variables will influence the outcome of the conclave, especially world politics.

“Trump, China, nationalists … these are variables that will somehow count,” said Scaramuzzi. “Also, maybe there is a desire for someone more orderly, and less charismatic [than Francis]. Several things can carry weight at the time of the vote, which can either move towards a more progressive or conservative choice.”

Why Pope's death leaves Argentines 'orphaned' in more ways than one

When the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, left Argentina's capital to participate in the Vatican conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor, he did not know it would be the last time he would see his hometown.

The fact that Pope Francis never returned to his country after becoming the pontiff left some Argentines with a heavy heart.

Speaking on Monday, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva said his parish were "orphans of a father who profoundly loved his country and had to learn to become the father of the whole world".

He also added that Francis becoming Pope "cost us as Argentines a little bit... Bergoglio left us to become Francis".

It came as a surprise to many – including Bergoglio himself – that he was elected to the highest office in the Catholic Church in the first place.

At 76 years old at the time - one year older than the typical age of bishops and cardinals when they submit their resignation to the pope - he was not seen as a real candidate to fill the vacancy, according to analysts.

"When he left Buenos Aires for the conclave, he seemed somewhat sad; he was getting ready to retire in a room at the Priests' Home in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Flores," Guillermo Marcó, a priest from the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, told Argentine newspaper Clarín.

However, Bergoglio would soon begin a papacy that lasted 12 years.

His death has been particularly keenly felt in his home country, where seven days of national mourning have been declared - as Argentina grieves a man many regarded as simple and humble, despite holding one of the most powerful offices in the world.

Those qualities were praised by Elenir Ramazol, a nun who spoke to BBC Mundo during a vigil at the Buenos Aires cathedral on Monday.

The fact he did not return to his homeland was "a sign of the total commitment he made to the whole Church, not just to his people, to his country", Ms Ramazol said.

Gustavo Vera exchanged hundreds of letters with Francis, having become friends with him when he was still archbishop. He agreed that the pontiff always showed an enduring interest in what was happening in his home country.

"Sometimes he commented on soccer, sometimes on tango, sometimes on cultural events," Mr Vera, the leader of La Alameda, an Argentine anti-trafficking and slavery organisation, said. Francis followed Argentine news "in detail", he added.

During his papacy, Francis visited four of the five countries that border Argentina - but never his home country, despite continuing to take a keen interest in it.

He was loved by many there who now mourn him, but others remember him as a controversial figure.

The initial pride felt by most Argentines after the announcement that a fellow countryman would be the first Latin American pope gave way to disenchantment among some over the years.

A Pew Research Center survey suggested that the proportion of people who held a positive view of the pontiff fell from 91% in 2013 to 64% in 2024.

Of six Latin American countries surveyed, the largest drop in favourable attitudes was recorded in Argentina.

Conservatives in Argentina accused him of undermining historical traditions they held sacred, while reformers hoped for more profound changes.

Critics felt he failed to do enough to oppose the country's brutal military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s and to criticise the complicity of some figures in the Church.

Every time he was asked about a possible trip, Pope Francis gave vague answers.

"I would like to go. It's my people, but it hasn't been planned yet. There are several things to sort out first," he said the last time he was publicly asked about the subject, in September 2024.

Some fellow Argentines found this hesitation difficult to understand.

The pontiff's absence has been felt more acutely in recent years, as Argentina has endured a profound economic crisis, with annual inflation reaching nearly 300% and a sharp increase in poverty.

Mr Vera suggests that Francis was planning to visit, but had not yet done so because he wanted to avoid his presence being used for political purposes.

"He always used to say he would go to Argentina when he felt that he was an instrument to bring about national unity, to help overcome the rift, to try to bring Argentines back together," Mr Vera said.

The "rift" refers to the vast, decades-long gulf in Argentine politics and society between supporters and opponents of the populist political movement Peronism, founded by late President Juan Perón in the 1940s.

There is a widespread belief in the country that Pope Francis was a Peronist - something he denied in a book in 2023, while adding: "If we had a Peronist conception of politics, what would be wrong with that?"

The comment was seized upon by conservative detractors who accused him of being too closely aligned with social justice causes and left-wing politics.

Before taking office, Javier Milei, the current president who has demonised left-wing politics, even called Pope Francis "the representation of evil on Earth" - although he softened his tone after coming to power.

The two had a cordial meeting in the Vatican and President Milei officially invited the pontiff to Argentina. And following the Pope's death, Milei said he was deeply pained by his loss, and praised the pontiff's benevolence and wisdom.

Some Argentines accused him of being too close to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a divisive left-leaning populist politician, who was president from 2007 to 2015.

But according to Mr Vera, the Pope met with people "from the whole political and social spectrum of Argentina".

The late pontiff's friend also pointed out that, while there was some criticism of Pope Francis in the media and major urban centres, he was loved in other parts of the country.

Although he maintained his connection with Argentina, Mr Vera said, Pope Francis no longer felt he belonged to just one country.

"Argentines believe he was Argentinian, but in reality, he was a citizen of the world," he added.

It is a view shared by Alejandra Castro, a social worker who was among the mourners who gathered on Monday night at Buenos Aires cathedral.

Argentina was "always in his prayers", Ms Castro said. "In one way or another, he was always present, and I think that shows that in his heart, Argentina was always present."

But Mr Vera acknowledged that not everyone felt the same way, and suggested it was up to Argentines to look within themselves for answers: "Rather than blaming Francis, we Argentines should ask ourselves what we were doing that meant we did not deserve the Pope's visit."

Child sexual abuse scandal cast long shadow over Francis’s papacy

In 2002, the Boston Globe published a series of articles exposing the scale of child sexual abuse in the local Catholic church. It shone a spotlight – the title of a later movie based on the investigation – on the church’s dark shameful secrets.

Eleven years later, Francis became pope. Wave after wave of abuse revelations continued to crash at the Vatican’s doors amid mounting anger and revulsion among the faithful and beyond. The issue threatened to derail Francis’s papacy and dominate his trips abroad. He was slow to grasp the scale and systemic nature of the issue and apparently reluctant to take firm action to deal with abusers and those who covered up abuse.

Within hours of Francis’s death on Monday, survivors of clerical sexual abuse sounded a discordant note amid the lavish tributes. They said the pope failed to fundamentally change the culture of deference that allowed abusers to flourish and failed to deliver decisive action. It was the “tragedy of his papacy”, said one organisation.

Among the scandals that erupted in the first half of Francis’s papacy were a damning report on the sexual abuse of potentially thousands of children by priests in Pennsylvania and the subsequent cover-up by the church; the resignation as a cardinal (and later defrocking) of Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, over alleged sexual assaults; a police raid on the Catholic church’s HQ in Chile; and the conviction of an Australian archbishop of covering up child abuse.

In 2018, George Pell, a cardinal and ally of Pope Francis, became the highest ranking Catholic to be convicted of child sexual abuse. He spent a year in prison in Australia before his convictions were overturned in 2020. He died in 2023.

In another crushing blow, a French archbishop and cardinal, Philippe Barbarin, was found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse in 2019. He was later acquitted on appeal.

In Chile, Francis defended a bishop, Juan Barros, who had been accused of being an accomplice of that country’s most notorious paedophile priest, Fernando Karadima. Francis only changed his stance after a disastrous trip to Chile in January 2018. He admitted “grave errors” of judgment, and summoned all the Chilean bishops to Rome and receiving their resignations en masse.

Later that year, Pope Francis’s two-day trip to Ireland, once a devoutly Catholic country, was dominated by protests by abuse survivors who demanded that the pontiff take responsibility for the church’s failures. Francis made repeated pleas for forgiveness at public events.

As his trip came to an end, archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a retired Vatican diplomat, demanded Francis’s resignation, claiming he had failed to act on abuse allegations against a prominent figure in the church hierarchy.

After the Pennsylvania report, Francis issued a 2,000-word letter to members of the global church. It spoke of sorrow and shame at atrocities committed by priests, and begged for forgiveness.

The following year, he summoned bishops from around the world to Rome for a summit on clerical sexual abuse. He told them survivors deserved “concrete and efficient measures”, not mere condemnations.

That was followed by a decree that all Catholic priests and nuns must report sexual abuse and its cover-up to church authorities – although not to police.

But for survivors it was too little, too late.

Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) said after Francis’s death on Monday that his papacy “fell short of delivering the decisive action needed”.

Its statement added: “Words without action ring hollow. Under [Francis’s] leadership, the church failed to hold bishops accountable for their roles in enabling, concealing, and perpetuating abuse. Systemic change remained elusive.

“The resignation of a few prelates behind closed doors is no substitute for public accountability. His refusal to remove or discipline those complicit in cover-ups betrayed the church’s moral obligation to protect the vulnerable.”

Snap, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, said victims and survivors were mourning the “tragedy of [Francis’s] papacy” – children and vulnerable adults who were abused during his tenure.

Shaun Dougherty, Snap’s president, said: “The bishops of the world – including the 137 cardinals who will choose the next pope – collectively possess knowledge of thousands of abusive priests still serving in parishes and schools. A true zero-tolerance policy would mean removing these offenders immediately and holding bishops accountable for keeping them in ministry.”

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the US-based group BishopAccountability, said Francis had “supreme power” but “refused to make the necessary changes”.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer representing hundreds of abuse survivors, told the BBC: “There really hasn’t been any substantive change within the Catholic church. There hasn’t been any transparency. Pope Francis said the right things, he meant the right thing, but the bureaucracy just shut him down.”

There have been fewer scandals and revelations in recent years, but the fury and pain of survivors is undiminished and the repercussions for the church continue to reverberate.

Members of the conclave that will meet in the coming days to choose a successor to Francis will know survivors will be watching closely.

“The next pope must act where Pope Francis did not,” said ECA. “He must implement a universal zero-tolerance policy – one that holds clergy fully accountable for abuse and its concealment. He must reject secrecy and complicity and place the protection of children and vulnerable adults at the heart of the church’s mission.”

Dougherty said: “We cannot afford another papacy that makes promises but fails to deliver real protection for children and justice for survivors.”

‘A signal of simplicity’: Pope Francis’s funeral will be his final humble gesture

When the late Pope Francis stepped on to the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to give his first speech as leader of the Catholic church in March 2013, he cast away formality by dressing in simple white robes instead of the regal ermine-trimmed cape usually worn by newly elected pontiffs.

The next day, Francis – a name chosen in honour of Francis of Assisi, the Italian saint who renounced a life of luxury to help the poor – returned to the Rome hotel in which he had stayed before the conclave to pick up his luggage and pay his bill. 

He substituted a plush apostolic apartment for a simple room within the Vatican walls and, unlike his predecessors, did not spend his summers in Castel Gandolfo, an opulent 12th-century fortress close to Rome.

These humble gestures set the tone for much of Francis’s 12-year papacy, with one of his final acts being to simplify papal funeral rites, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition.

“If you think back to just a few years ago when [the former] Pope Benedict was buried, we saw all the pomp and circumstance of the Vatican on display,” said Chris White, the Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter. “But Francis has done away with all of that.”

Benedict abdicated in 2013, the first pope to do so in 600 years, but he was still given a papal funeral in 2022. His embalmed body, dressed in red papal mourning robes, was laid out on a casket covered with a gold cloth and raised on a pedestal in front of the altar in St Peter’s Basilica, where people could pay tribute.

Traditional papal funerals involved dead popes having three coffins – one made out of cypress wood, one of lead and one of elm, which are placed one inside the other before the body is placed inside and then buried in the Vatican grottoes beneath St Peter’s.

But Francis shunned these rituals when he approved the simplified rules in April 2024. 

People will still be able to see his body in the basilica, but his remains will be placed in one simple coffin made of wood and lined with zinc, and will not be raised on a platform. 

The coffin will remain open until the night before the funeral.

“Francis made it very clear that he didn’t want his body put on display, he didn’t want to be idolised, so there will be none of that sort of ritual,” added White. “I think he was very conscious, as he was throughout his whole papacy, of the theatrics of [the Vatican], and especially with a funeral, when all the eyes of the world are on the Catholic church – he wants to send a signal not of riches, not of wealth, but of simplicity.”

The past two papal funerals, including that of Pope John Paul II in 2005, were held about six days after the death, and the same is expected for Francis.

However, in an interview in late 2023, Francis said he would not be buried in the Vatican and had instead prepared his tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, where he went to pray before and after trips overseas.

The procession involving the transfer of his coffin from the Vatican to Esquilino, which would mean a journey of two or three miles through central Rome, would inevitably involve the Vatican’s Swiss Guards, the world’s smallest army, although it is unclear if a plan was drawn-up before Francis’s death. 

“We follow papal funeral protocol but we don’t know exactly what that might be until a pope has died,” said a source for the guards.

However, White expected the procession to be “very scaled back”.

“It won’t be a long, elaborate procession,” he said. “Past popes in decades and centuries gone by have had their body taken from village to village. Francis will have none of that, it will be a very simple ceremony.”

End of the world? Death of Pope Francis brings Irish saint's 900-year-old prophecy into focus

The death of Pope Francis has brought into focus an Irish saint’s 900-year-old prophecy claiming to herald judgement day and the end of the world.

St Malachy is believed to have dreamt a vision of the papal line of succession up to the present day. 

At this time, the prophecy predicts when ‘Peter the Roman’ is pope, then Rome will be destroyed. The people will face a dreadful judgement, according to the lore.

It may sound like a chapter from Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code except for one curious detail. This week, among the favourites to be pope next are Cardinal Peter Erdo, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson.

It all started with a document titled the Prophecy of the Popes, which was only unearthed in the Vatican Archives in 1590. This details a vision credited to St Malachy and was recorded in a series of 112 cryptic or metaphoric verses.

Each verse is understood to refer to different popes starting with Pope Celestine II. One verse – linked to Pope Sixtus V – describes this pope as “axle in the midst of a sign’.

This has been interpreted to mean he is in the middle of the papal line. He was pope some 442 years after Celestine II. It is claimed this means the papal line will end 442 years after Sixtus V which brings the prophecy to the present time.

The verses conclude rather ominously: 

In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed, and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.

Rome is widely known as the city of seven hills. There are certainly “many tribulations” facing the Catholic Church in the modern day.

The reference to ‘Peter the Roman’ is not so clear. Some say it means the 112th and last Pope will be called Peter while others say it refers to Francis himself. 

That is likely because many believe Pope Benedict was the 111th pope described in the vision. The reference is “the glory of the olive” and the Order of St Benedict is also known as the Olivetans.

The prediction linked to Pope John Paul II refers to “from the toil of the sun” with supporters highlighting his birth during a solar eclipse as a link.

However, there are sceptics. In 2013, Joseph McHugh, writing in the magazine US Catholic, said: “The prophecies were quite accurate up to about 1590 (conveniently the point at which they were found), but then became rather vague, lending credence to the theory that they are a 16th-century forgery.” 

Others question why St Malachy’s biographer Bernard of Clairvaux — who knew him — does not mention the visions.

Whatever people's thoughts on the prophecy, St Malachy was very much a real-life figure (1094-1148). He was a bishop and archbishop who later became the papal legate to Ireland.

The Archdiocese of Armagh describes him as a strong reformer on its website, saying he faced “great opposition from the traditionalists” during his career. He travelled from Ireland to Rome in late 1139 or early 1140 and it said “Pope Innocent II received him graciously in Rome”.

Those who credit him with this vision say it happened on the road to Rome. 

The document is also known as Prophetia Sancti Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus or " Prophecy of Saint-Archbishop Malachy, concerning the Supreme Pontiffs".

He was papal legate for six years. He is described as “holding synods, making new church laws and generally renewing the life of the Church in Ireland".

Gardaí attend mobile home of child sex offence suspect Fr Edward Gallagher

Gardaí have attended a mobile home in Co Donegal owned by child sex offence suspect Fr Edward Gallagher and removed a number of items.

The priest has been suspended from his post in the Derry Diocese after he was charged with attempted sexual communication with a child.

Fr Gallagher appeared before a special sitting of Derry Magistrates Court charged that on dates between April 2nd, 2025, and April 17th, 2025, that he attempted sexual communication with a child.

The 58-year-old is the curate for the Camus, Clonleigh and Leckpatrick parishes, which include St Patrick’s Church in Murlog, Lifford, in Co Donegal where he is the regular celebrant.

His arrest and charge follows an incident involving ‘paedophile hunters’ outside a Derry hotel on Thursday last, which saw a number of allegations put to him.

In that video, various allegations are put to the priest about his alleged sexual activity, and he is seen visibly shaken and staggering back against a wall.

Shortly after the confrontation, Fr Gallagher was arrested, questioned and then appeared in court.

The priest, with an address at Orchard Park in Lifford, spoke only to confirm his identity and that he understood the charge while no application for bail was made with the case being adjourned until May.

Following his arrest on Thursday last week, uniformed gardaí and detectives visited a mobile home in Buncrana on the Inishowen Peninsula owned by the priest.

Eye-witnesses told how they saw gardaí enter the mobile home and later remove a number of items from the property.

The Garda Press Office was contacted for a reaction to the development.

However, a spokesperson said they do not comment on inquiries which may relate to ongoing investigations.

A spokesperson for the Derry Diocese has confirmed Fr Gallagher had been suspended as criminal proceedings continue.

“The Diocese of Derry is aware that Fr Edward Gallagher has appeared in court in relation to serious charges of a sexual nature in relation to attempted sexual communication with a child.

“The diocese takes such matters very seriously and as such has, in addition, commenced its own internal investigation, which will only take place in a manner which does not impede the criminal investigation. Fr Gallagher is suspended from ministry.”

“As charges are now before a court, it would not be appropriate for the diocese to comment further until the completion of the criminal proceedings.”

“If anyone has any allegations or concerns regarding child abuse, they should contact the PSNI and Social Services in Northern Ireland, or An Garda Síochána and Tusla in the Republic of Ireland.”

Terminology of a conclave: From electors to Habemus Papam

Following the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church will engage in a number of elaborate rituals, involving terms that are rare to common parlance.

The conclave will include such terminology.

During the upcoming event, the cardinal-electors will gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect a successor to the Pope in a highly-secretive process that could take several days, potentially longer.

Here is a brief glossary of the conclave's key terms:

Conclave: From the Latin "cum" (with) and "clavis" (key), and meaning a "room that can be locked", this is the closed-door meeting in which cardinals elect the next pope.

Camerlengo: Between the death or resignation of a pope and the election of his successor, the cardinal camerlengo takes over the day-to day-running of the Vatican. 

The role is currently filled by Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who was appointed by Pope Francis in 2019.

Candidates: In theory any baptised male Catholic can be elected as pope, but the last time a non-cardinal was picked was Pope Urban VI in 1378.

Dean: The conclave is traditionally presided over by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, a position currently held by the Italian Giovanni Battista Re. 

But as he is over 80 years old, the task falls to Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

Electors: Pope Francis's successor will be elected by cardinals aged 80 or under, in accordance with rules laid down in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

Extra omnes: This Latin phrase meaning "everyone out" is used by the master of liturgical ceremonies to order all those not taking part in the conclave to leave the Sistine Chapel.

Fisherman's Ring: The pope's ring, used in the past to seal documents, is rendered unusable after each pontiff dies or resigns. After the election, the camerlengo places a new one on the new pope's finger.

General Congregations: These are meetings prior to the conclave, held behind closed doors, which allow the cardinals to get to know each other better and drum up support for their pick for pope.

Habemus Papam: The phrase means "we have a pope" in Latin. It is the phrase with which the church tells the world it has a new leader.

Holy Spirit: Catholics believe that the pick of a new pope comes from the Holy Spirit, invoked by the cardinals as they enter the Sistine Chapel.

Nomen: The name the newly elected pope chooses for himself, often in homage to a previous pontiff to whom he feels a close affinity. Jorge Bergolio picked the name Francis as a tribute to St Francis of Assisi.

Oath of secrecy: The vow taken by the cardinal electors, as well as by those who serve them during the conclave.

Protodeacon: This is the cardinal who announces the name of the new pope from the loggia of St Peter's Basilica. The current protodeacon is Cardinal Dominique Mamberti.

Room of Tears: The freshly-elected pope shuts himself in a tiny room adjoining the Sistine Chapel, called the 'Room of Tears', where he can give free rein to his emotions.

Sistine Chapel: The 15th century chapel decorated with Michelangelo's frescoes, where the conclave is held.

Santa Marta guest house: This is where Pope Francis chose to live rather than the papal apartments and where cardinals stay during the conclave.

Smoke: Cardinals vote using ballot papers, which are counted before being burned in a stove. 

If no one wins the necessary two-thirds majority of votes, a chemical is added to blacken the smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel chimney. 

Once a new pope is chosen, a different chemical is added to turn the smoke white, announcing the election to the crowds waiting in St Peter's Square.

Pope Francis remembered as a leader who ‘knew how to give hope’

Pope Francis has been remembered as a leader who “knew how to give hope” following his death on Monday aged 88.

The remains of the pontiff, who Vatican doctors said died of a stroke and heart failure, are expected to be transferred to St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Wednesday morning to allow the faithful to pray in their presence.

Francis, known for shunning the trappings of the papacy, requested that his body be placed in a zinc-lined coffin, which will remain open until the night before his funeral, rather than lying on a raised platform in St Peter’s, as was the case for previous popes.

His funeral could take place as early as Friday, with Vatican authorities expected to confirm the details later on Tuesday.

During his papacy, Francis clashed with traditionalists as he pushed for a more inclusive Catholic Church. He spoke out tirelessly for migrants and the marginalised, urged an end to global conflicts and highlighted the need to protect the environment.

President Michael D Higgins led tributes from Ireland following news of the pope’s death, saying Francis had shared important messages with the world “with a unique humility”.

World leaders also paid tribute, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the pope “knew how to give hope, ease suffering through prayer, and foster unity”.

“He prayed for peace in Ukraine and for Ukrainians. We grieve together with Catholics and all Christians who looked to Pope Francis for spiritual support,” he said.

Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin said Francis “didn’t shy away from tackling” the impact of clerical abuse, and that he leaves a lasting legacy. The Association of Catholic Priests described him as the pope who “helped Catholicism to smile again”.

The formal rite of ascertainment of the pope’s death took place at 8pm on Monday in the chapel at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guest house, where Francis had resided since his election in March 2013.

The ceremony was presided over by Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, exercising one of his duties on the death of a pope as Camerlengo. He will oversee the running of the Vatican until a new pope is elected next month.

In revising procedures for the conduct of papal funerals last year, Pope Francis did away with the practice of a pope’s cypress coffin being placed inside a zinc coffin and then inside a coffin made of unspecified wood. He will, instead, be buried in the same zinc-lined wooden coffin used at his funeral.

Normally, following a papal funeral, the coffin is taken to the grotto of St Peter’s Basilica for burial. However, Francis explicitly requested that he be buried at the Basilica of St Mary Major in the centre of Rome.

In the book Hope, published last January, he said: “I will not be buried in St Peter’s but at St Mary Major. The Vatican is the home of my last service, not my eternal home.”

He said he wished to “go in the room where they now keep the candelabra”, a small storage space between a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, and the chapel featuring the Marian icon Salus Populi Romani, which he prayed at before and after each of his foreign trips.

It was also the first place he went to upon his election as Pope 12 years ago, and where he went to pray again on March 23rd last after his 38-day stay at Rome’s Gemelli hospital due to double pneumonia.

He appeared in his wheelchair to bless the faithful in St Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, just hours before his death.

His funeral Mass is the first of nine formal Masses, called the “novendiali” (nine days), celebrated following the death of a pope. When the nine days have passed, the church begins the Ordo Rituum Conclavis, the Rites of the Conclave.

The conclave at which his successor will be elected is not expected to take place for some time after the funeral. Ahead of his election in 2013, there were seven “general congregations” of cardinals between March 4th and 12th before the conclave began.

A total of 76 countries are represented among the 252 members of the College of Cardinals who will decide the next pope. Just 138 cardinals are aged under 80, a requirement for being entitled to vote. Ireland’s only cardinal, former Archbishop of Armagh Seán Brady, is 85 and cannot vote.

The European considered most likely to be next pope is thought to be Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech (66). As secretary general of the Synod of Bishops since 2020, he has overseen the ongoing synodal process initiated by Pope Francis, which many see as probably the great legacy of his pontificate.

Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (67), a former archbishop of Manila representing Asia’s most Catholic country, is also regarded as a contender. He is currently prefect at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

A favoured Italian is Cardinal Matteo Zuppi (69), Archbishop of Bologna and president of the Episcopal Conference of Italy. A long shot could be Cardinal Peter Turkson (76), from Ghana, whose age may go against him.

Pope Francis RIP

CAUSE OF DEATH

The medical certificate confirms that Pope Francis passed away on 21/04 at 7:35 a.m. at Casa Santa Marta, due to cerebral stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.

He had a history of respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, including pneumonia, hypertension, and type II diabetes.

Cathedral bells ring out 88 times as people pay respects to Pope in Armagh

As the bells at St Patrick’s Cathedral rang out 88 times to signify each year of Pope Francis’s life, inside young and old sat in silent reflection to mark the death of the pontiff.

Outside the landmark twin-spired cathedral, flags of the Vatican City flew at half-mast as people arrived to pay their respects.

Among those stopping by to say a prayer and light a candle were members of the local congregation but also others from further afield who felt drawn to the seat of the Catholic Church on the island of Ireland.

Shortly before 2pm, the Catholic primate of all-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin and the Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell led an impromptu prayer service ahead of formally opening a book of condolences.

“Over the next few days, I imagine many people will come here just to sign their names because I think we all loved Pope Francis and he was a great witness to us,” said Archbishop Martin.

“Even in the last few months with his own illness and being able to carry that suffering and show resilience in the face of suffering. I know it meant a lot to a lot of people who were like him, frail and maybe struggling and suffering in their final days.

“He was very, very convinced that God was merciful and he kept saying that ‘I am sinner’. So I am just hoping and praying that the merciful God today is welcoming him into his heavenly home.”

One of those who came to pay respects was local Armagh man Patrick Douglas.

He travelled to the Knock Shrine in Co Mayo in 2018 to see Pope Francis just as he had journeyed to Galway in 1979 when Pope John Paul II had visited Ireland.

“It’s just lovely to come up here to the cathedral today,” he said.

“Just to light a candle and say a prayer.”

Claire and Barry O’Neill came to the church with their children, Clara and Ben Og and nephew Conan McGerr.

The family had been away on holiday for a few days in Carlingford, Co Louth and decided to divert to the cathedral on their way home to Moneymore in Co Derry.

“He was a man that changed the world,” said Mrs O’Neill.

“He wanted to make a difference, no matter what you were, to guide everybody, whatever your faith is, just to bring everybody together.

“He was very humble, very empowering.”

Mrs O’Neill said it had been an uplifting experience to be in the cathedral on such a day.

“Everybody’s here to pay their respects to a really nice man,” she added.