Pope Francis

Pope Francis died April 21 after suffering a stroke and heart failure, said the director of Vatican City State's department of health services. The pope had also gone into a coma.

With his death April 21, Pope Francis marked yet another first in the history of the Catholic Church: he became the first pope to open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica without living to close it.

Asserting that the Catholic Church needed the gifts and experiences of women, Pope Francis appointed several women to top positions in the Roman Curia, including the first female prefect of a major dicastery.

It is with profound sadness that I join my brother Bishops, as well as the Catholic faithful in Canada and those around the world, to mourn the loss of our Holy Father, Pope Francis.

The 12-year papacy of Pope Francis has been like a freight train. It began slowly with more smoke than movement. However, as time passed, the Pope built a full head of steam and rumbled through the Catholic Church in ways that will not be easily halted.

The Canadian Catholic community is lamenting the loss and heralding the legacy of Pope Francis, who passed away at age 88 on Easter Monday at 7:35 a.m.

Our Catholic family worldwide is in mourning following the death of our spiritual father, Pope Francis.

Pope Francis' funeral rites, like those for any pope or any Christian, are meant to "reinforce the hope and witness to the faith" that those who have been baptized in Christ "will rise with him to new life."

U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, the "camerlengo" or chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced to the world that Pope Francis had died April 21 at the age of 88.

The hope Christians have is not a sign of avoiding reality but of trusting in the power of God to defeat sin and death as the resurrection of Jesus clearly shows, Pope Francis wrote in his Easter message.