Jesuit Pope Francis Dead at 88

Bells rang through Vatican City Monday morning, signaling the death of 88-year-old Pope Francis, hours after he spoke to and blessed thousands in a crowded Saint Peter’s Square in Italy on Easter Sunday. 

Francis’ cause of death was a stroke which left him in a coma and caused his heart to fail, The Associated Press reported. 

In his Easter statement before his death, Francis reaffirmed his commitment to the Jesuit mission of education and social justice.  

“Love has triumphed over hatred, light over darkness and truth over falsehood,” Francis wrote. “Forgiveness has triumphed over revenge. Evil has not disappeared from history; it will remain until the end, but it no longer has the upper hand; it no longer has power over those who accept the grace of this day.”

Rebecca Pawloski, an adjunct professor of theology at Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center, said she’s taught multiple classes of Roman Catholicism since her hiring in 2022. She said she has lived in Rome for 20 years and vividly remembers the death of Pope John Paul II, which was part of what led her down a path of theology. 

Pawloski said she worked at the Vatican as an auxiliary staff member for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — a commission established by Francis — before her time at Loyola, and she was able to meet him multiple times through her job. 

Pawloski said she’s been regularly discussing what would happen upon the pope’s death with her students since his first hospitalization for respiratory issues in February. He remained in the hospital for 38 days before he was discharged, AP reported.

Pawloski said she found out about his death from the bells at a nearby church. 

“The way I found out that he had died was a very medieval way because I heard strange bells tolling,” Pawloski said. “I knew it was a death knoll.”

Despite his health issues, Pawloski said both she and her students were surprised to hear the news of his death. 

“When it actually did happen, it was shocking because we had just seen him on Easter Sunday, and it seemed like he was on the mend,” Pawloski said. 

The Vatican — which serves as the home of the head of the Catholic Church — is located about two miles from the JFRC, owned and operated by Loyola.

Francis was the first Jesuit and Latin American Pope in Catholic history and was known for his vows to live a modest life, choosing to be the first pope named after St. Francis of Assissi — a friar characterized by simplicity and caring for minorities and outcasts, AP reported. 

As a Jesuit, Francis embodied many of the same values outlined in Loyola’s mission, including a commitment to environmental sustainability. He wrote an encyclical letter titled “Laudato Si’” in 2015, condemning the harmful use of the Earth for human gains. 

“The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22),” the encyclical letter reads. “We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”

Loyola has used this letter to shape plans for climate action, according to a remembrance article published Easter Monday.

Father Jerry Overbeck, S.J., a resident chaplain at Loyola, said he feels grateful for the kind of life Francis lived. 

Overbeck said he wants to remain a support system for students and community members who are greatly affected by Francis’ death while also continuing to share Francis’ message of love for the poor and minority communities.

“I was proud of him as a fellow Jesuit because, like I said, I think his Ignatian spirituality is manifest, especially in his ways of praying and discerning next best moves,” Overbeck said.

Overbeck said he hopes whoever the next pope is will also see the value in reaching out to those on the margins. 

In February, Francis wrote a letter addressed to American bishops condemning the deportations carried out by the Trump administration. Loyola Jesuits supported the statement from the pope, The Phoenix reported. 

Second-year environmental policy major Andrew Conover is currently studying at JFRC and identifies as Catholic. He said he’s currently interning with the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat. 

Conover, who identifies as gay, said Francis was a beacon of hope for him in his faith and made him feel welcome in the religious community. He thought of Francis as someone who was open-minded. 

“It was a lot for me,” Conover said. “I got my first communion under him, and then confirmed under him, and started college under him, and I feel like my experience as a Catholic who identifies as gay, I feel like his approach to Catholicism really made me not hate myself.”

Although Conover said he wishes he could stay in Rome for the conclave and selection of the next pope, he’ll be returning home in the next couple of weeks. 

Pawloski said the conclave — the process for the selection of the next pope — is incredibly secretive. The cardinals are locked into the Vatican and repeat a voting process until a two-thirds majority is met to elect the next pope.

To announce the results of the papacy, smoke is released from the top of the Sistine Chapel everyday — black smoke if no candidate was selected and white smoke when a new pope has been elected. 

Conover said he hopes to see a pope in the next papacy who has Francis’ same Jesuit values of outreach and love. 

“It’s scary to think that what he did could be reversed at the flip of a dime,” Conover said. “It’s a whole institution, and that’s the only institution I know.”

In a letter from the Office of the President to the Loyola community, President Mark Reed shared the news of Francis’ death and emphasized the university’s personal connection to his values and papacy. 

“Pope Francis had a special affinity for young people and showed us the way to accompany new generations into a hope-filled future,” Reed wrote in the letter. “Through generous interactions with our faculty and students, he personally encouraged all of us to engage with the world in a spirit of peace and understanding.”

In 2022, Francis joined a Loyola virtual event with students from all over the western hemisphere, where a select few students were able to ask him questions, The Phoenix previously reported. 

Fourth-year cognitive and behavioural neuroscience major Maria Haddad, who also has minors in theology and psychology, said she’s a practicing Roman Catholic who’s very involved in her faith. 

Haddad said she was sad to hear about Francis’ death because he’s been such a big part of her faith journey. She said she even remembers when he was elected. 

“He really did a lot of work opening up the Catholics’ minds to the margins of society and the people who live on those margins, and just really emphasizing the idea of love and charity within our faith,” Haddad said.  

Haddad said she thinks these values of aid and charity are what she tries to emulate in her own life, and she hopes the church continues to emphasize those values as they begin the steps to elect the next pope. 

Reed, who wrote that he had met Francis on multiple occasions, described the pope as approachable, intelligent and warm. 

Second-year history and criminal justice double major Bryce Lepkowski is currently studying abroad at JFRC. She said although she was saddened to hear about the pope’s death, she wasn’t shocked by the news due to his recent health problems. 

Lepkowski said although she isn’t religious, she visited Vatican City a few months ago for a campus-planned outing and saw the pope speak.

While some of her friends will be attending Francis’ funeral April 26, she said she doesn’t plan to join. However, she said she’s supportive of the values the pope promoted in his life including charity and outreach. 

Overbeck said he’s received messages from people of a variety of faiths in the days since Francis’ death expressing their appreciation for the late pope and all he stood for.