Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Religious sisters gather to pray the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).

Throughout his papacy, Francis took steps to appoint and integrate women into leadership roles in the Vatican. From the time he took office in 2013, the number of female employees working in the Vatican increased from about 850 at the beginning of Francis’ papacy to nearly 1,200 in 2023, according to a report by Vatican News. 

As of 2023, more than 1 in 4 employees of the Roman Curia — the group of bureaus that support the pope in governing the Church — are women.

While increasing the opportunities for women in the Church, Pope Francis consistently maintained the Catholic teaching that the priesthood is reserved for men. Francis said the Church needed to preserve its masculine “Petrine principle” in regards to ministry as well as its feminine, spousal nature, which he called the “Marian principle.” Notably, Francis believed women were highly capable of participating directly in the Church, especially in an “administrative way.” He said women make better managers than men and “have been running things since the Garden of Eden.”

In a 2022 interview, Francis spoke of the dignity of women as reflecting the spousal, feminine nature of the Church.

“A Church with only the Petrine principle would be a Church that one would think is reduced to its ministerial dimension, nothing else,” he said. “But the Church is more than a ministry. It is the whole people of God. The Church is woman. The Church is a spouse. Therefore, the dignity of women is mirrored in this way.” 

In March 2022, the pope established in Praedicate Evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”) that any member of the faithful could be eligible to lead a Vatican dicastery. 

Women became voting members in a 2023 synod for the first time in the Church’s history. The pope also opened to women “full membership” roles in the Vatican dicasteries — previously reserved for cardinals and bishops. In January, Pope Francis marked another milestone in his pontificate by appointing Sister Simona Brambilla, the first-ever woman to head a Vatican dicastery — the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.  

As the Church reflects on Francis’ legacy and the confidence he placed in women to help lead the Church, CNA took a closer look at four religious sisters appointed to some of the highest-ranking leadership roles in the Vatican. 

First-ever woman to lead a dicastery 

In January, Sister Simona Brambilla became the first woman to head a Vatican dicastery. 

As prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, she  oversees about 700,000 religious men and women throughout the world.

Brambilla, 60, is a member of the Consolata Missionaries religious order and served as superior general of the order for more than a decade. She was a missionary sister in Mozambique in the late 1990s and as a professional nurse taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University in its Institute of Psychology.

Pope Francis appointed Brambilla in December 2024 as a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, which helps prepare the ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops. In July 2019, she — alongside six other women — became the first female members of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. She later became secretary of the dicastery. 

When asked about her appointment as secretary in a 2024 interview, Brambilla said that for peace to grow, it “needs the fertility of a primordial soil: the healthy, good, trusting, respectful, reverent, tender, and vital relationship between man and woman.”

“A bit as it must have been at the beginning of time, in that garden in which God loved to walk in the breeze of the day, looking for the man and the woman, his blessed image,” Brambilla said. 

Brambilla works with a cardinal who serves as pro-prefect, an unprecedented structure in the Holy See. Church law calls for ordination to carry out certain governing powers. 

Pope Francis made it possible for laypeople including women to lead a dicastery — a role previously reserved for cardinals and archbishops — in the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium in 2022.

Vatican City’s first female governor 

At the beginning of 2025, Pope Francis appointed Franciscan religious sister Raffaella Petrini as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and governor of Vatican City State, making her the first woman to ever hold the position.

Petrini served as secretary of both institutions since November 2021 — a second-ranking role in which she oversaw administrative offices, the police department, museums, and other services in Vatican City.

In her new role, Petrini reports directly to the pope and manages the Vatican budget and finance. As president of the Governorate of Vatican City, she runs the executive body of the papal city and leads the pontifical commission. She is the legislative authority of the city state. The governorate encompasses security and public order, health, economic issues, and infrastructure as well as the Vatican Museums and the Pontifical Swiss Guard. 

Petrini, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, replaced Cardinal Fernando Vérgez in the role beginning on March 1.

Petrini, 56, is a professor with both academic and administrative experience. She was born in Rome on Jan. 15, 1969, and graduated with a degree in political science from the Guido Carli International University of Studies. She has a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in social sciences, where she has taught economics and the sociology of economic processes.  

From 2005 to 2021, Petrini worked at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which was responsible for missionary work. 

Pope Francis announced Petrini’s appointment in January during an interview, where he said: “Women know how to manage things better than us” and shared how “we now have many women” in leadership roles in the Vatican.  

Pioneering woman in key social development role

In August 2021, Pope Francis appointed Italian economist and Catholic religious sister Alessandra Smerilli to a second-ranking position in the Vatican’s social development office — one of the highest posts ever held by a woman at the Holy See. 

Smerilli, a Salesian Sister of Don Bosco, was appointed “ad interim” secretary of the Vatican’s social development office, the dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. 

The office helps promote Catholic social teaching around the world by addressing various social justice issues including human rights, the safeguarding of creation, human trafficking, and other charitable works.  

The 50-year-old Salesian sister is an economist and professor. She has been an undersecretary at the human development dicastery since March 24, 2021, and was one of the principal organizers of the 2020 Economy of Francesco event. 

When asked in 2024 by Angelus News about women in leadership in the Church, Smerilli said: “We need both men and women in order to have a more complete picture and a different perspective on the reality we face.”

Since 2019, Smerilli has also served as a councilor of the Vatican City State and a consultant to the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. In spring 2020, she was asked to coordinate the economic task force of the Vatican COVID-19 Commission.

Forbes’ ‘most influential religious sister’ 

French religious sister Nathalie Becquart became the highest-ranking woman to ever work in the Synod of Bishops after Pope Francis appointed her to the second-ranking position in February 2021. 

Becquart became the first woman undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, the advisory body to the pope himself. She went on to become the first woman to be a voting member in a Catholic synod, which is usually made up of bishops, priests, and some religious men, and Becquart was among many women who actively participated in the 2023 and 2024 Synod on Synodality.

Becquart holds a master’s degree in entrepreneurship from the HEC business school in Paris. Before she joined the Xavière Sisters at age 26 in 1995, she worked as a marketing consultant. 

In 2024, the magazine featured Becquart in its Forbes Most Influential Women “50 over 50” list, calling her “the highest-ranking woman in the Vatican.”

Because of her extensive background in youth ministry, Becquart was involved in the preparation for the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith, and vocational discernment in 2018 and was general coordinator of a pre-synod meeting, taking part as an auditor. 

Before her 2021 appointment, Becquart worked in the Synod of Bishops as a consultant to the general secretariat beginning in 2019. From 2012 to 2018, she oversaw the French bishops’ National Service for the Evangelization of Youth and for Vocations, a program designed to evangelize young people and cultivate a culture of vocations.

The tomb of Pope Francis in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 25, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ tomb is made of Ligurian (Italian) marble with the sole inscription “FRANCISCUS” and a reproduction of his pectoral cross, according to new details released by the Vatican.

The burial place is located in the niche of the side aisle, between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of Our Lady of Health of the Roman People) and the Sforza Chapel in St. Mary Major Basilica. It is also located near the altar dedicated to St. Francis. 

Work to receive Pope Francis’ coffin began a few days ago, fulfilling the pontiff’s wish for a simple burial in this church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

In his autobiography, “Hope,” published earlier this year, Pope Francis made it clear that his burial place upon his death would be St. Mary Major Basilica.

“The Vatican is the home of my final service, not that of eternity. I will be in the room where the candelabras are now kept, close to that Queen of Peace, whose help I have always asked and by whom I have let myself be embraced during my pontificate more than a hundred times,” he stated.

“I thought they were going to bury him inside the crypt of the basilica, but it’s here,” said Valentina, one of the members of the faithful who visited the church.

She’s from Rome and pointed out that, with this gesture, Pope Francis wanted to seal his relationship with the Eternal City of which he was bishop.

Beside her, her husband, Francesco, said that during the Mass they attended a few minutes ago, they heard “the sounds of the workers at work.”

“The pope wanted to be buried at ground level and without ornamentation. It’s another example of the humility he has demonstrated throughout his 12 years of pontificate,” she noted.

The tomb is very close to the chapel of the “Salus Populi Romani” (“Health of the Roman People”), the Marian devotion where the pope regularly went to pray.

Antonieta, who said she was the same age as Pope Francis at 88, also came to the church to pray for the pontiff before a copy of the image of their shared, favorite Marian devotion.

The Holy Father entrusted all his apostolic journeys to Mary under this title every time he left from or returned to the Vatican.

He confided his concerns to her but also his physical pain. During the four times he was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he wanted to offer his suffering to the Virgin Mary. He also did so at other difficult times, such as the pandemic.

“He had a great devotion to this church, and it wasn’t unusual to see him praying before its icon. His devotion is contagious and now, although I live near the Vatican and used to go to St. Peter’s, I often come to Mass here,” Antonieta said.

For Antonieta, also an octogenarian, the three kilometers (close to two miles) separating the Vatican basilica from St. Mary Major are no problem. The cortege accompanying the pope’s coffin will travel that same route after the funeral on Saturday, April 26.

But in addition to housing the Byzantine icon “Salus Populi Romani,” few know, for example, that St. Ignatius of Loyola also chose St. Mary Major to celebrate his first Mass as a priest. He later founded the Society of Jesus, for which this basilica was very important. In the aftermath of the Protestant revolt, the Marian image became a symbol of identity that clearly demonstrated adherence to the pope.

St. Mary Major Basilica also houses the remains of the architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the greatest exponents of Baroque art, and Pauline, the sister of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Starting Saturday, they will share their final resting place with Pope Francis.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence in the film “Conclave.” / Credit: Focus Features

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).

“Conclave” was a surprise hit upon its theatrical release last October. And following the April 21 death of Pope Francis, the film, now on streaming platforms, has attracted a new wave of interest from viewers, with streaming rates of the film reportedly tripling in the days since the pope’s death was announced. 

Directed by Edward Berger and based on a 2016 novel, the film is a character-driven story focusing on several of the Church’s cardinals as they elect a new pope — with plenty of political jockeying and intrigue, ideological clashes, and dramatic turns throughout. The film garnered eight Academy Award nominations this spring, winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Even before its release, “Conclave” garnered heavy criticism from Catholics who decried the film’s twist ending — which, spoiler alert, sees a biological woman inadvertently elected pope — as well as the film’s depiction of the various ideologies of the cardinals, especially the obvious lionization of characters who espouse views contrary to the Church’s teaching. 

Beyond those criticisms, anyone using the film to educate themselves on how the actual conclave process will work in the coming weeks will find that the film contains a couple of key inaccuracies — but not everything in the film is fiction.

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at what “Conclave” gets wrong — and gets right — about the process of electing a new pope. 

FICTION: Cardinal caricatures; spiritual wasteland

One of the most widely-cited “inaccuracies” of the film, at least according to prominent Catholics, is its depiction of the College of Cardinals as deeply divided among ideological factions and the papacy as a highly political rather than a spiritual office. 

The film paints an inaccurate picture of the Church’s cardinals as cliquey, petty, ambitious, and “drably ideological,” said Matthew Bunson, a Church expert and editorial director for EWTN News (CNA’s parent company). 

“The banter among the cardinals is banal. It’s uninteresting, it’s political, it’s drably ideological on both sides. Every one of the major characters, unfortunately — despite the brilliance of the actors themselves — is uninteresting, incurious, and lacks a serious theological or philosophical spiritual depth,” Bunson told CNA. 

“They are cartoon characters of what cardinals — and I know many — actually talk about, and the types of issues they’re likely to discuss in a conclave,” he said. 

Over the course of the movie, the cardinals split into factions to try to get their “man” elected pope, with one coalition led by Stanley Tucci’s progressive-minded Cardinal Bellini seeking to reform the Church by rejecting many of the Church’s orthodox teachings; while the brash, rude, and openly racist Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) advocates, ultimately unsuccessfully, for more traditionalist views.

Sparks fly onscreen as the factions clash with each other, skeletons tumble from closets, and the cardinals scheme to try to “win” the papacy for their ideological side. Any characters appearing to stand for an orthodox view of the Church’s teaching, Bunson noted, are “pushed out of the way” or outright “destroyed” within the narrative — such as a morally stern Nigerian cardinal who loses any hope he had for the papacy after it is revealed he hypocritically fathered a secret child.

Though a casual observer might be drawn in by the ideological clashes depicted on screen, Bunson said the film suffers from a “lack of intellectual and spiritual dimensions to almost any one of the characters.” Even Ralph Fiennes’ central character, Cardinal Lawrence, “stands down morally on multiple fronts” throughout the film, he said. 

Characters invoke God’s name many times throughout the film, but Jesus is barely mentioned; none of the cardinals, despite being priests, are ever shown celebrating Mass; and the Holy Spirit — who is meant to be the “protagonist” of any conclave, in the words of (real-life) Cardinal Kurt Koch — is not mentioned once (apart from when characters make the sign of the cross). 

The one fundamentally spiritual character, Cardinal Vincent Benítez (more on him later) is the sole character that “fundamentally couldn’t even be elected pope,” Bunson noted. 

Ultimately, the lack of true spiritual depth in the writing of the characters makes their conversations, arguments, and speeches “rather drab,” Bunson continued.

In reality, Bunson said that despite some real ideological differences among the College of Cardinals’ more than 250 members from every corner of the globe, “the cardinals from around the world, even though they don’t know each other, have [a] remarkable fraternity and collegiality as members of the College of Cardinals.”

“If this had been a genuine film on an authentic, Catholic conclave, that might have been truly historic and superb,” Bunson added.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, expressed a similar criticism about the film’s ideological presentation on social media last year, quipping: “If you are interested in a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of the New York Times, this is your movie.”

In the world of the movie, Barron continued, “the hierarchy of the Church is a hotbed of ambition, corruption, and desperate egotism … Conservatives are xenophobic extremists and the liberals are self-important schemers. None can escape this irredeemable situation.”

FACT: The process immediately after the pope’s death

The film, unsurprisingly, commences with the death of the (previous) pope. Bunson said the film’s depiction of the process that takes place immediately after the pope dies is reasonably accurate. 

The key figure in any papal transition is the camerlengo, or chamberlain, who is a cardinal given the key role of organizing the process during the papal vacancy. Cardinal Tremblay, the camerlengo in the film, breaks the dead pope’s ring of the fisherman — a real and famous process symbolizing the breaking of the seal of the late pope’s pontificate.  

The film skips the certification of the pope’s death, which under new papal funeral norms does not take place in the room where he dies but in his private chapel. As part of this process, the camerlengo calls the deceased pope three times by his baptismal name, confirming there is no response.

And later on, the film conflates some aspects of the role of the dean of the College of Cardinals with the role of the camerlengo, giving some of the camerlengo’s duties in arranging the conclave to Ralph Fiennes’ Cardinal Lawrence. (Bunson said he is willing to let slide those small details, which were likely changed slightly to make the scenes more impactful for Fiennes’ character.)

FICTION: ‘In pectore’ cardinal

Cardinal Benítez, who is strongly telegraphed as a papal candidate from the moment his character is introduced, says he was made a cardinal by the late pope “in pectore” — that is, in secret. He offers no documentation and no proof that he is who he says he is, and yet the other cardinals embrace him almost immediately. 

In reality, Bunson said, a cardinal created “in pectore” cannot take part in a conclave unless the pope makes the cardinal’s name public prior to his passing. 

“So right from the start, this character is ineligible to be a participant in this conclave, because he should not be a cardinal to begin with,” he said. 

FACT: The setting and voting process

The fictional conclave takes place in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel — though the filmmakers had to recreate the priceless chapel for the film — as does the real conclave. 

The conclave system was formalized in 1274, and its procedures are minutely governed today by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis of Pope John Paul II, as amended by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, and allows for no innovations on the part of the cardinals. 

By tradition and law, the conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel, and votes are taken once or twice in a morning session and once or twice in an afternoon session. During the vote, cardinals individually approach Michelangelo’s painting of the Last Judgment, say a prayer in Latin, and drop their ballot into a large urn. Three designated cardinals then read each ballot aloud. A Catholic man needs two-thirds of the votes to be elected the next pope. 

When a session concludes without a man reaching the required majority, the ballots are burned, causing black smoke to emanate from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. However, if a pope is elected they are burned with the addition of a chemical agent, producing the characteristic white smoke signaling the election of a pope. (All of this is pretty well depicted in the movie, though Bunson said some things were “a little truncated for the sake of the audience” and for the sake of dramatic tension.)

Just as the movie depicts, once the doors of the Sistine Chapel close, it does indeed normally fall to the dean of the College of Cardinals to move the process along. (Though perhaps with fewer speeches as are depicted in the film, as those would have been done during the preceding general congregations). 

In the case of the imminent real-life conclave, however, things will look a little different because of the advanced ages of some of the key figures. 

Only cardinals who are younger than age 80 are eligible to take part in the conclave; these are the “cardinal electors.” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, is the current (again, real-life) dean — i.e., the most senior member of the College of Cardinals, elected from among the ranks of the cardinal bishops and confirmed by the pope. 

Re is too old to take part in the conclave, as is his vice dean, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri. So, the upcoming conclave will be directed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the next eligible most senior cardinal bishop and the Vatican’s secretary of state. 

FICTION: The big twist

At the film’s climax, the cardinals inadvertently elect to the papacy a person who they believed to be a man — but in reality, the cardinal they elect, Benítez, is a biological woman who was raised as a male by her parents because she was born with an intersex condition.

CNA covered this aspect of the film in detail last October, with seminary rector Father Carter Griffin telling CNA that the Church’s constant teaching on this question, reiterated strongly by recent popes including Francis, is that the Church won’t — and in fact, can’t — ordain women.

In the case of the scenario depicted in the movie, Griffin explained that “a stable, secure, and well-ordered sexual identity is a necessary condition for priestly formation and ordination.” A biological female identifying as a male would not, in fact, be a male — and thus would be ineligible for the priesthood.

“It is our individual and unique creation as either male or female that identifies us as man or woman, not our subjective feelings or choices,” he said.

In priestly ordination, Griffin explained, a man is conformed to Christ in such a way that Jesus truly becomes present through him. Throughout his priestly ministry, but especially at Mass, the priest stands in the place of Christ who, as a bridegroom, lays down his life for his bride, the Church.

The priesthood, then, is a visible sign meant to point to the invisible reality of Christ’s presence as the “spouse” of his bride, the Church, which has always been understood to be female.

“Priests are conformed and united to Christ in such a way that they exercise their spiritual fatherhood in union with the feminine Church. Ordaining women would obscure that priestly paternity as well as the femininity of the bride of Christ,” Griffin said. 

While the Church is unable to ordain them, there are countless ways that women have long served and continue to serve the Catholic Church, such as through religious orders, in parish life, education, health care, in other Catholic ministries, and within Catholic families.

“God created us differently in part so that we could exercise different roles and complement one another as mothers and fathers. This is true in the natural sphere but also in the order of grace,” Griffin said.

Pope Francis' body is blessed in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 10:13 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ coffin will be sealed in a liturgical rite this evening ahead of his solemn funeral, set to take place the next morning on Saturday, April 26. 

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, will preside at the Rite of Sealing of the Coffin beginning at 8 p.m. Rome time April 25, the Vatican announced. After his death on April 21, the pope’s body — dressed in red liturgical vestments with the miter and pallium — had been placed in a simple wooden coffin with a zinc lining. 

Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re, Pietro Parolin, Roger Mahony, Domenique Mamberti, Mauro Gambetti, Baldassare Reina, and Konrad Krajewski have been invited to attend the ceremony, according to Vatican News. Other Holy See officials will be present to assist with the ceremony. 

The liturgy closing the coffin will end the three days of Pope Francis’ lying in state at St. Peter’s Basilica, during which a massive number of Catholics from around the world have come to pay their respects. As of Thursday evening, an estimated 90,000 people have entered St. Peter’s Basilica — many waiting hours in line — to catch a glimpse of the late pope. 

According to a booklet provided by the Holy See that lays out the liturgy, the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, will read what is known as the “rogito,” or deed, a document summarizing the life and works of the pope that “recalls [Francis’] life and his most important works, for which we give thanks to God the Father.”

After the reading of the deed, the Canticle of Zechariah will be sung. Then Ravelli will offer prayers as a preface to covering Pope Francis’ face with a white silk veil. 

“May his face, which has lost the light of this world, be forever illuminated by the true light whose inexhaustible source is in you,” the prayers include. 

After covering Pope Francis’ face, the celebrant — Farrell — will sprinkle the pope’s body with holy water. Then Ravelli will place in the coffin a bag containing coins and medals minted during Francis’ pontificate, and a metal tube with a copy of the rogito, after having affixed the seal of the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.

The zinc lid will be placed on Francis’ coffin. On the lid is a cross, Pope Francis’ coat of arms, and a plaque bearing the name of the pontiff, the length of his life, and the length of his ministry as pope.

The zinc lining will then be soldered and the seals of the Cardinal Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, of the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, and of the Chapter of St. Peter will be pressed in. The wooden coffin will also then be closed; on the wooden lid are a cross and Francis’ coat of arms. 

An antiphon, several psalms, and the Regina Coeli (for the Easter season) are then prayed. 

The fact that Francis will have only a single coffin represents a departure from previous tradition — prior to reforms put in place by Pope Francis in 2024, popes had three nested coffins: one of cypress, one of lead, and one of oak, each with its own symbolism and function. 

The new papal funeral process instituted only months ago by Pope Francis stemmed from a desire “to simplify and adapt some rites so that the celebration of the funeral of the bishop of Rome better expresses the Church’s faith in the risen Christ, eternal Shepherd,” Ravelli has previously said.

The funeral itself, called the “Missa poenitentialis,” will be celebrated at 10 a.m. local time April 26 in St. Peter’s Square and marks the first day of the “Novendiales” — nine consecutive days of mourning for the pope.

Following the funeral, Pope Francis will be interred in the Basilica of St. Mary Major at his request, because of his strong devotion to Mary.

A dire wolf puppy bred by Colossal Biosciences. / Credit: Colossal Biosciences

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A Texas-based bioengineering company sparked headlines across the world earlier this month when it announced it had done the seemingly impossible: brought a long-extinct species, the dire wolf, back from the dead. 

Here’s what Catholics should know about the dire wolves and what the Church might have to say about “resurrecting” extinct species of animals. 

A Colossal claim

Colossal Biosciences, a private company based in Dallas, announced April 7 the births of three genetically-modified puppies they say are not merely wolves but dire wolves — a species that roamed the Americas as a top predator for tens of thousands of years but which went extinct naturally around 12,500 years ago. 

The company was cofounded by the famed Harvard geneticist George Church, who has been active in the field of species “de-extinction” for decades. (Its investors include George R. R. Martin, author of the “Game of Thrones” fantasy series; dire wolves feature prominently in those stories.)

To create the puppies, scientists extracted and sequenced ancient DNA from two dire wolf fossils, compared the ancient genomes to those of several living relatives including present-day wolves, and identified gene variants specific to dire wolves. They then edited a donor genome from a gray wolf and cloned those cells into dog eggs before finally transferring the embryo into a surrogate dog.

Colossal says the puppies were born in October 2024 and are currently “thriving” on a vast, secure ecological preserve in an undisclosed location. (Comparisons to “Jurassic Park” were swift and inevitable.) 

Long term, Colossal says it plans to restore the species “in secure and expansive ecological preserves, potentially on Indigenous land.”

Scientists, journalists, and critics were quick to scrutinize Colossal’s claims that the creature they had created was truly a dire wolf — i.e. the first truly “de-extincted” species. National Geographic said the puppies are “better understood as slightly-modified gray wolves rather than true dire wolves.”

Nevertheless, some scientists have hailed the announcement as a major breakthrough and have expressed hope that the technology Colossal is perfecting could be used to help existing endangered species come back from the brink.

The Church’s response to gene editing

“Gene editing” is not in itself a new technology, and the Church has addressed its use several times in recent decades, noting that the practice holds promise for curing and preventing diseases, alleviating suffering, and promoting the common good, even among human beings. 

Recent technological advances, such as CRISPR, have made gene editing simpler, cheaper, and more effective — but also has brought with it serious new ethical concerns. 

In 2018, for example, a Chinese scientist announced the birth of CRISPR-modified babies whose genes had been edited while they were still embryos. The announcement was widely criticized in the scientific community as unethical and the scientist, He Jiankui, later faced punitive measures from the Chinese government for violating regulations surrounding gene editing. 

From a Catholic perspective, the technology is addressed chiefly in the Church’s 2008 instruction Dignitas Personae. 

In a section on gene therapy, Dignitas Personae notes that gene editing procedures used on somatic (body) cells “for strictly therapeutic purposes are in principle morally licit,” while at the same time firmly rejecting the editing of human “germ line” cells such as sperm and eggs, since such alterations could be heritable and harm the resulting babies. The instruction also warned against a “eugenic mentality” that aims to improve the human gene pool. 

So the Church has said that the use of gene editing in humans can be beneficial within certain ethical parameters, but what about a Catholic view of its use in animals?

Taking a broad view, the Church teaches that mankind was granted dominion over the “mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2456) but that this dominion is “not absolute” and comes with important moral obligations, particularly a view to “the quality of life of [one’s] neighbor, including generations to come,” as well as “a religious respect for the integrity of creation” (CCC, 2415). 

Pope Francis in his expansive 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ further addresses a Catholic view of ecology as it relates to the natural world. In his encyclical, Francis notes that humans are called to respect creation and its inherent laws, recognizing that God founded the earth “by wisdom” (Prv 3:19). Creatures are not to be “completely subordinated to the good of human beings, as if they have no worth in themselves” (Laudato Si’, 69). 

Father Tad Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, commented to CNA that while Colossal’s claims are, from a biotechnology standpoint, very impressive, he has “lingering questions about the basic motivation behind the endeavor.”

“Biodiversity is a feature of the planet that has waxed and waned over eons. During the history of the earth we have had, by some estimates, 5 billion different species. The majority of these species have been wiped out by a range of forces, whether volcanic eruptions, habitat destruction, disease, asteroid impacts, etc. Why presume we have a duty to bring any of them back?” Pacholczyk said in emailed comments to CNA. 

Other scientists have pointed out that breeding an animal with many of the same traits as an extinct animal — in the dire wolf’s case, chiefly a white coat and large size — is not the same as “bringing back” a long-gone species. Scientists could breed elephants with hairy brown coats, for example, but those would still be elephants, not wooly mammoths. 

“To bring back the real dire wolf would require synthesizing and manipulating billions of DNA base pairs and arranging them into chromosomes, which current technology is unable to do,” Pacholczyk said. 

Moreover, Pacholczyk opined that Colossal’s decisions to focus their efforts heavily on animals with broad cultural appeal, such as dire wolves and wooly mammoths, may be driven by the need to attract investors, because “the expenses involved in de-extinction efforts are staggering.”

“Ethically speaking, one wonders if such enormous expenditures can really be justified, when far lower financial commitments could safeguard habitats and bio-niches of currently threatened species,” Pacholczyk said. 

(Back) home on the range

OK, so what about Colossal’s plans to someday reintroduce the wolves into the natural environment? After all, there have been success stories when it comes to human-led reintroduction of species previously dislodged from an ecosystem — including, perhaps most famously, the reintroduction of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park in 1995.

Practically speaking, if Colossal’s reintegration does happen, the dire wolves will find themselves in an ecosystem that is dramatically different from the one in which they previously lived — not least because of the fact that almost the entirety of human society has arisen in the time since it went extinct. Also, as the New York Times notes, they would encounter an environment where they would potentially have to compete with existing gray wolves.

The upshot is that despite many advances in recent years, scientists’ grasp of the “intricacies of ecosystems on the planet is quite limited, because these systems involve a plethora of complex variables, and to suppose we can really forecast which ecosystems would benefit from the reintroduction of certain de-extincted animals is highly doubtful,” Pacholczyk said. 

“There also remains the perennially important ‘law of unintended consequences,’ where we could end up reintroducing a de-extincted species only to be caught off guard when it suddenly expanded out of control, ravaged specific habitats and wiped out other species.”

Echoing Pacholczyk, Laura Altfeld, an associate professor of biology and ecology and chair of the Department of Natural Sciences at St. Leo University, a Catholic college in Florida, told CNA in written comments that there could be potential downsides to reintroducing extinct species to existing ecosystems, both for the introduced animals and for the rest of the ecosystem. 

This is because, in part, most ecosystems as they exist today are highly modified and degraded as a result of human activities, which could pose challenges for reintroduced species if they lack the necessary adaptations that modern species have developed to deal with a world dominated by humans.

If done right, however, there is potential that reintroduced species could aid in “restoring ecosystem functions and boosting biodiversity in some of our ecosystems,” Altfeld continued, especially in high latitudes, such as the Arctic, where climate change continues to rapidly alter ecological conditions.

Whatever happens next in terms of a potential reintroduction, a program as ambitious as Colossal’s should be driven by “ecological expert consensus” and not commercialism, she cautioned. 

“This technology is incredibly powerful and should absolutely be used with caution, and with serious forethought into animal welfare considerations and clear connection to purpose (conservation, for example).”

Altfeld did go on to add, however, that Colossal’s technology could be helpful as a means of saving existing species at risk of or on the verge of extinction. 

Among some endangered species which have very small remaining populations, a lack of genetic diversity caused by inbreeding can be a big problem. Scientists are already using a technique called genetic rescue, which involves introducing genetic material from a similar species, through outbreeding, in order to try to save an endangered one. 

“There are endangered animal species whose wild and captive populations are so significantly genetically bottlenecked that they will most certainly go extinct without intervention. Any technology that can be used to reintroduce genetic diversity has the potential to be of extreme benefit,” she wrote.

The potential use of Colossal’s technological advances to aid in the genetic diversity of endangered populations “is the most valuable, in my opinion. And the fact that they are willing to work with conservation researchers globally to aid in species conservation is impressive,” Altfeld said. 

Altfeld said she plans to continue to engage her zoology students in conversations about the ethics of gene editing, with the dire wolf announcement just the latest in a continuing line of “rapid advancement” in the field that she expects will continue. 

“Our students will be moving into careers that may directly engage with the technologies that are being developed by Colossal, so engaging them in conversations about the ethical and scientific issues surrounding genetic engineering are essential for us as educators,” she concluded.  

“I encourage everyone to do the same, whether they are Catholic or not. There is never a downside to becoming knowledgeable and conversant with one another, even about the most challenging and controversial of topics.”

This article was updated on April 25, 2025, at 12:42 p.m. ET to note that the modified wolf genome was cloned into dog eggs and implanted into a surrogate dog, not wolf eggs and a surrogate wolf as originally written.

Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis was the 265th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:

2013

March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”

March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.

July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.

July 23-28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.

July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.

Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.

2014

Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.

March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.

Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.

Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”

2015

Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.

March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.

May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato Si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.

Sept. 19-22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”

Sept. 22-27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.

Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.

Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.

Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.

2016

March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.

April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.

July 26-31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.

Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.

Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.

2017

May 12-13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.

July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.

Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.

Nov. 27-Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.

2018

Jan. 15-21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.

Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”

Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.

Aug. 25-26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”

Oct. 3-28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.

2019

Jan. 22-27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.

Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.

Feb. 21-24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.

Oct. 6-27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.

Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.

2020

March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.

March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary “urbi et orbi” blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.

2021

March 5-8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.

July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.

July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.

July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis Custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Dec. 2-6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.

2022

Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.

March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate Evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.

May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.

July 24-30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.

2023

Jan. 31-Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.

March 29-April 1 — Pope Francis is hospitalized for a respiratory infection. During his stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he visits the pediatric cancer ward and baptizes a newborn baby.  

April 5 — The pope appears in the Disney documentary “The Pope: Answers,” which is in Spanish, answering six “hot-button” issues from members of Gen Z from various backgrounds. The group discusses immigration, depression, abortion, clergy sexual and psychological abuse, transgenderism, pornography, and loss of faith.

April 28-30 — Pope Francis visits Hungary to meet with government officials, civil society members, bishops, priests, seminarians, Jesuits, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers. He celebrates Mass on the final day of the trip in Kossuth Lajos Square.

June 7 — The Vatican announces that Pope Francis will undergo abdominal surgery that afternoon under general anesthesia due to a hernia that is causing painful, recurring, and worsening symptoms. In his general audience that morning before the surgery, Francis says he intends to publish an apostolic letter on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “patroness of the missions,” to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth.

June 15 — After successful surgery and a week of recovery, Pope Francis is released from Gemelli Hospital.

Aug. 2-6 — Pope Francis travels to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day 2023, taking place from Aug. 1-6. He meets with Church and civil leaders ahead of presiding at the welcoming Mass and Stations of the Cross. He also hears the confessions of several pilgrims. On Aug. 5, he visits the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, where he prays the rosary with young people with disabilities. That evening he presides over the vigil and on Sunday, Aug. 6, he celebrates the closing Mass, where he urges the 1.5 million young people present to “be not afraid,” echoing the words of the founder of World Youth Days, St. John Paul II.

Aug. 31-Sept. 4 — Pope Francis travels to Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. The trip makes Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.

Sept. 22-23 — On a two-day trip to Marseille, France, Pope Francis meets with local civil and religious leaders and participates in the Mediterranean Encounter, a gathering of some 120 young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries.

Oct. 4-29 — The Vatican hosts the first of two monthlong global assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church. Pope Francis celebrates the closing Mass of the synod at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29. The second and final global assembly will take place at the Vatican in October 2024.

Nov. 25 — Pope Francis visits the hospital briefly for precautionary testing after coming down with the flu earlier in the day. Although he still participates in scheduled activities, other officials read his prepared remarks. The Vatican on Nov. 28 cancels the pope’s planned Dec. 1–3 trip to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, due to his illness.

Dec. 18 — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which authorizes nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and couples in “irregular situations.” Various bishops from around the world voice both support for and criticism of the document.

2024

Jan. 14 — Pope Francis for the first time responds publicly to questions about Fiducia Supplicans in an interview on an Italian television show. The pope underlines that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”

Feb. 11 — In a ceremony attended by Argentine president Javier Milei, Pope Francis canonizes María Antonia of St. Joseph — known affectionately in the pope’s home country as “Mama Antula” — in a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The president and the former archbishop of Buenos Aires embrace after the ceremony. Pope Francis, who has not returned to his homeland since becoming pope in 2013, has said he wants to visit Argentina in the second half of this year.

March 13 — Pope Francis celebrates 11 years as supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

April 8 — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith releases Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”), a document that reaffirms the Church’s perennial opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and gender ideology. 

May 19 — Pope Francis appears on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview with Norah O’Donnell, where he states categorically that women’s ordination to the priesthood and the diaconate is off the table.

June 14 — Pope Francis becomes the first pope to address the G7 Summit in the southern Italian region of Puglia. In his remarks, he stresses that human dignity requires that the decisions of artificial intelligence (AI) be under the control of human beings. During the three-day event, the pope also meets with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Sept. 2-13 — Pope Francis embarks on a 12-day trip of more than 20,000 miles over seven flights through Asia and Oceania. The trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore is his most ambitious international trip yet and the longest of his 11-year pontificate. In East Timor, 600,000 Catholics attend Mass with the Holy Father.

Oct. 2-27 — The three-year Synod on Synodality concludes with the final session in Rome and the adoption of the final report, which in a surprise move Pope Francis signs immediately, stating he will not issue a separate postsynodal document.

Dec. 7 — Pope Francis holds a consistory at the Vatican in which he creates 21 new cardinals, including Archbishop Frank Leo of Toronto; Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu of Tehran-Isfahan, Iran; and Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, reflecting the pope’s emphasis on the Church’s global mission.

Dec. 24 — On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opens the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica to officially launch the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

2025

Jan. 14 — “Hope,” Pope Francis’ autobiography, is released. The book marks the first time a pope has provided a first-person narration of the episodes that have marked his entire life, in this case from his childhood in Argentina in a family of Italian immigrants to becoming the successor of St. Peter.

Feb. 14 — Pope Francis is hospitalized with bronchitis and later develops double pneumonia.

March 13 — While still in Gemelli Hosptial in Rome for treatment for respiratory illnesses, Pope Francis celebrates the 12th anniversay of his election to the papacy.

March 23 — Pope Francis is released from Gemelli Hospital. Before returning to his apartment at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, where he is expected to convalesce for several months, the Holy Father appears on a fifth-floor balcony of the hospital, marking his first public appearance in weeks.

April 6 — Pope Francis makes a surprise appearance in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of the Sick, sharing profound reflections on suffering, care, and the transformative power of illness.

April 9 — King Charles III and Queen Camilla meet with the pope in a brief encounter, where they wish one another well at the pope’s private residence.

April 10 — Pope Francis makes a surprise second appearance at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, arriving in a wheelchair around 12:30 p.m. local time. In videos posted on social media, the pope is seen without his usual white cassock and skullcap, wearing dark pants and a white shirt covered with a striped poncho. A Vatican spokesman says the pope had simply wanted to get some air and then spontaneously decided to extend his time outside of his Vatican residence by going to the basilica “as he was” to pray at the tomb of Pope Pius X and before the Chair of St. Peter.

April 12 — The pope makes a prayerful pilgrimage to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore ahead of Holy Week celebrations.

April 13 — On Palm Sunday, Pope Francis briefly greets thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Palm Sunday. In his prepared homily, read by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the pope exhorts Christians to “experience the great miracle of mercy” by accompanying Jesus in his journey to the cross.

April 16 — Pope Francis meets with medical teams who cared for him at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and thanks them for their work and prayers for his health and recovery.

April 17 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday, continuing his long-standing tradition of beginning the paschal Triduum with prisoners despite his ongoing health concerns.

April 20 — U.S. Vice President JD Vance meets the pope briefly in the morning at the Casa Santa Marta. Afterward, Pope Francis appears at the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica in a wheelchair, where he gives the traditional “urbi et orbi” blessing and wishes the pilgrims below a happy Easter. After the blessing, the pope greets jubilant pilgrims from the popemobile to shouts of joy from the crowd.

April 21 — Pope Francis passes away at 7:35 a.m. local time on Easter Monday at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.

This story was last updated on April 22, 2025.

Pope Francis laughs outside of St. Peter’s Basilica during the general audience on April 1, 2015. / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis’ pontificate was marked not only by historic events and memorable themes but also by his personality, character, and style. A look at these more personal moments — many of them unscripted and spontaneous — reminds us that beneath the white cassock is always a man who brings his own charisms to the role. 

Francis was a pope of notable firsts — the first Jesuit to be elected pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first shepherd of the Catholic Church from outside of Europe since the eighth century. He orchestrated numerous significant first-time events — such as welcoming the Coptic Orthodox pope to speak during a general audience and to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at St. John Lateran, the Latin pope’s cathedral. 

Francis was also a pope of technological firsts — the first to use video conferencing to attempt to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia, and the first to take personal phone calls in the middle of general audiences. There were reports he was the first to snap a papal group selfie, though it appears that was false. (Benedict XVI appeared in a selfie, but only after retirement.)  

As the Church and the world reflect on the legacy and papacy of Francis, CNA highlights some of his more personal moments — glimpses into the man and shepherd who took the name of the best-known saint in Christendom and led the Church during difficult times. 

Kissing a disfigured man  

Francis constantly invited the faithful to seek out the disenfranchised and to always witness to the value of every human life, including the weakest and most vulnerable. Francis put that into practice in a particularly powerful way one day in St. Peter’s Square when he embraced and kissed an Italian man named Vinicio Riva. 

Riva, who suffered from a condition called neurofibromatosis type 1, which caused disfiguring sores all over his body, told CNN that Francis didn’t hesitate to embrace him. “He didn’t have any fear of my illness,” Riva said. “He embraced me without speaking … I quivered. I felt a great warmth.” 

Visiting a Rome record shop 

Reuters reported that on Jan. 11, 2022, Francis left his living quarters at the Vatican hoping to pay a quick visit to friends who own a small record store in Rome. The pope reportedly had visited the shop many times before he was elected, sometimes purchasing classical music records and CDs. 

While there is no verification of him buying anything during his 15-minute visit as pope, a Rome Reports TV reporter happened to be in the area waiting for a taxi and spotted Francis coming out of the store. He filmed Francis with his smartphone and posted it on Twitter, where it went viral.  

Later, the journalist wrote to the pope to apologize, according to the Reuters article. Francis replied that the situation was just “bad luck” and that “one should not lose one’s sense of humor.”  

Clowning around 

Francis had a soft spot for newlyweds. In 2013, he wore a red nose to greet a newly married couple who were volunteers at a charity that serves children through clown therapy. The image of him joking around with a clown nose spread across the globe as papal watchers remarked at how much Francis seemed to love wisecracks. The Pontifical Mission Societies even launched a #JokeWithThePope initiative in September 2013.

In fact, joy was a theme Francis liked to focus on as he called on the faithful to be joyful and not be “sourpusses.” In fact, Francis’ first encyclical was called “The Joy of the Gospel.”

Holy matrimony 35,000 feet up 

In January 2018, while on a papal visit to Chile, Pope Francis was asked by a Catholic couple — two flight attendants on his flight — if he would bless their marriage.  

The couple had been married legally but told BBC they were unable to conduct a religious ceremony because of the damage an earthquake did to their church in the Chilean capital of Santiago. 

Pope Francis offered to perform a short marriage ceremony for the couple during one of their flights together. A cardinal traveling with him provided a handwritten marriage document that was signed by the newly married couple and their witness.

Interviewed by the homeless  

Indicative of his great affection for the poor, Pope Francis granted a group of homeless and disadvantaged people the opportunity to interview him at his residence, Domus Sanctae Marthae (Casa Santa Marta).

Members of Association Lazare, a French organization whose young members help provide shelter to those without homes and jobs, asked questions gathered from impoverished persons from 80 countries. The questions included queries about his salary as pope, his favorite saint (St. Thérèse of Lisieux), and whether he used to have any girlfriends.

The questions, along with the pope’s answers, were then published in a book released in Italian, Spanish, and French on April 1, 2022, called “In dialogo con il mondo: Il Pape Risponde” (“In Dialogue with the World: The Pope Replies”).

A letter to an artisanal pasta maker 

In late January 2025, ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, reported on a letter Pope Francis sent to an Italian woman named “Nunzia” who has dedicated her life to keeping alive a long-standing tradition of making orecchiette, a pasta from the Apulia region of southern Italy. Orecchiette has become a symbol of the gastronomic tradition of Bari Vecchia where many women prepare it on the streets of the historic town.  

The pope, known for his love of pasta, expressed in his personal letter the importance of “keeping roots and ancient traditions alive and encouraging their integration so they can last over time.”   

Moved by his letter, Nunzia said the pope’s words had “made her proud” and “given her strength.” 

Personal calls of encouragement and support 

Pope Francis reached out to many people by phone during his pontificate — especially those affected by illness and the death of a loved one. He called earthquake victims, the dying, and parents who had lost their children. Sometimes he made calls to encourage, to say happy birthday, or to find out more about a project or event. 

One of Francis’ personal calls was to a young parish priest in Naples, Father Michele Madonna, who was organizing “Christian raves” for young people in his community. The pope was curious about this popular ministry and called to ask the priest about it. 

A couple of months later, the pope called another priest from Naples — Father Maurizio Patriciello — who had been threatened by the local Mafia and needed security to go about his day. Francis wanted to encourage him. 

One Christmas Day Francis also called a young husband and father in the southern Italian town of Pezze di Greco whose 41-year-old wife died of childbirth complications a week after giving birth to twins. The pope’s call was facilitated by the couple’s parish priest, who thought such a gesture would bring comfort to the grieving husband.  

Perhaps the personal calls that made the biggest impression were the daily check-ins that Pope Francis made to Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza. Romanelli said for the past 19 months, the pope maintained constant contact with him.  

“He was concerned about how we were doing, whether we had eaten, about the children,” the priest said.  

Pope Francis didn’t stop calling to console them even when he was sick in the hospital for 38 days with double pneumonia.  

He made his last call to the Gaza parish on Saturday night, April 19, moments before going to St. Peter’s Basilica to pray before the Easter Vigil. “He told us he was praying for us, blessed us, and thanked us for our prayers on his behalf,” Romanelli said.

Blessing the world from St. Peter’s Square when the world shut down 

One of the most iconic moments of Pope Francis’ pontificate was the night he walked alone into an empty St. Peter’s Square in the rain at the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdown to deliver a blessing to the world. 

The pope’s “urbi et orbi” (“To the city and to the world”) blessing is typically reserved for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday when thousands of people flock to St. Peter’s Square to receive it. This time, however, the pope was alone, in silence, praying by faint candlelight, addressing the entire world.  

Over 11 million people tuned in to watch Pope Francis deliver the hourlong blessing.

He also prayed before the “Miraculous Crucifix,” a wooden cross kept in the Church of St. Marcellus that, according to tradition, helped saved Rome from the plague in 1522.

“For weeks now it has been evening,” Francis said to the world that night. “Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets, and our cities; it has taken over our lives.”

His prayer and blessing invoked God’s mercy and protection and offered words of hope to a world plunged into fear and uncertainty.

Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu (right) waits prior to the start of a consistory during which 20 new cardinals are to be created by the Pope, on Aug. 27, 2022 at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. ( / Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 02:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Angelo Becciu is reportedly seeking to participate in the upcoming conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor despite having been stripped of his cardinalatial privileges in 2020 and later convicted of financial crimes.

The former deputy Vatican secretary of state told Italian media as he left his native Sardinia for Rome on April 22 that he would “participate in the conclave,” claiming his cardinal privileges “remain intact” and that there was “no formal or legal impediment” to his voting.

As the National Catholic Register reports, the prelate was convicted in 2023 of embezzlement, aggravated fraud, and abuse of office, handing him a jail sentence of five years and six months in prison, a fine of 8,000 euros, and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Becciu has always maintained his innocence and is currently appealing against the conviction through the Vatican’s Court of Appeal, which began hearings last October but has yet to give a ruling. 

Pope Francis invited Cardinal Becciu to attend a consistory in August 2022, an invitation described as a “private act of pastoral mercy” but not a step toward rehabilitation or reinstatement of his cardinalatial rights. 

Becciu argued that the 2022 invitation was a reason for his eligibility to vote. The cardinal took part in the first general congregation on April 22, in accordance with cardinalatial rules, as both non-electors and electors can attend them. He is listed in the documentation under the “non-electors.”

The Vatican’s website also officially lists him as a “non-elector.”

Jesuit Superior General Father Arturo Sosa, SJ, center, speaks about Pope Francis at a press conference at the Jesuit general curia in Rome on April 24, 2025. / Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 24, 2025 / 17:28 pm (CNA).

Father Arturo Sosa, SJ, superior general of the Society of Jesus, reflected on the first Jesuit pope in a press conference on Thursday, saying Francis “did not seek to please everyone” or to measure himself by a popularity index.

“Once he chose to be a disciple of Jesus, his deep motivation in life was to put God’s will into practice,” Sosa said, calling the late pontiff “a man of prayer, who asked for prayers to make decisions according to the will of God.”

During the press conference, held in the Jesuit general curia in Rome, Sosa also answered a question about what qualities are needed in the next pope. “Undoubtedly, we are looking for another man of God,” he said.

“And after that, for me, it is important to have a pope with a universal outlook,” he added, drawing a distinction with what he called an “international outlook.”

The Jesuit superior defended Francis against accusations he caused controversy — like with Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican’s declaration on same-sex blessings — or fell short in some areas by saying he was not the source of problems in the Church but inherited problems that were already there.

“Pope Francis helped put the difference of positions on the table” and provoked dialogue, Sosa said, stressing that the late pope wanted to listen to everyone.

“I don’t think of Pope Francis as a reformer,” Sosa also said. “I think of him as someone who continued the reform that the Church has always carried out.”

About Francis’ record on abuse, Sosa said the pope “always acknowledged his limitations, his mistakes, and his slowness” to respond to cases. “This is not about giving Pope Francis a medal or giving him a grade but about learning about potential criticism and mistakes.”

“With regard to abuse cases, I think the Church is not in the same place when Pope Francis was elected. That’s without a doubt. It hasn’t been a straight line… but the Church has advanced in that direction,” he added.

According to the superior general, Pope Francis’ most urgent legacy for today will be his calls for peace: “I think Pope Francis has shouted in every moment, on every occasion, about peace.”

“The world needs peace and peace is built by us,” Sosa added. “Peace means to put aside any other priority than people and the dignity of people. And peace means justice with the poor. I think the constant prayer and the constant argument about peace by Pope Francis is a very important message for today.”

Pope Francis, who joined the Society of Jesus in 1958, was the first-ever Jesuit to be pope. During his international trips, he would always spend time with local Jesuits in the countries he visited. He also met with Jesuits in Rome during their 36th general congregation on Oct. 24, 2016.

“He established a very fraternal relationship with the Jesuits,” Sosa said on April 24. “We will end this period of Pope Francis thanking the Lord.”

Catholic Charities USA sign at its headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. / Credit: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 24, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) will launch a national storytelling exhibit in 2026 detailing the organization’s acts of service around the country, the charity group said this week.

The exhibit, titled “People of Hope: Faith-Filled Stories of Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” will tour the U.S. for two and a half years, according to a press release from the organization on Wednesday. 

“The exhibit, housed in a retrofitted tractor trailer, will share professionally produced, first-person accounts from staff and volunteers of Catholic Charities agencies across the country about meaningful and memorable encounters with families and individuals in need,” the release stated.

The project will be funded by a nearly $5 million from the Lilly Endowment. “We are incredibly grateful to Lilly Endowment for offering us the opportunity to shine a light on the transcendent power that springs from the simple but profound act of helping another human being in need,” CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson said.

“Through this exhibit, we hope to inspire more people of hope all around the United States to seek out opportunities to love and serve our neighbors, to be Christ-like in response to human suffering, deprivation, or injustice,” she added. 

Apart from Catholic Charities USA, the Lilly Endowment awarded grants to 11 other organizations “as a part of an invitational round of its National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life.” 

“For many years, leaders of Christian communities have shared with the endowment powerful stories about how faith animates the lives of individuals with meaning and hope, giving them a deep sense of God’s love for themselves and others,” the endowment’s Vice President for Religion Christopher Coble stated in a press release announcing the approval of the grants.

“These leaders have also shared their concerns that these powerful stories are often overshadowed by accounts of the closing of churches and the weakening of religious life,” he continued. “We hope this initiative will help make known the vibrant ways that Christians practice their faith through acts of love and compassion in their everyday lives.”

Catholic Charities USA will begin professionally recording selected stories of service from its staff this summer at its office in Alexandria, Virginia, while the exhibit is scheduled to kick off its journey in the spring of 2026.