(RNS) — Leaders from across the world, religious and political, are responding to the death of Pope Francis on Monday (April 21). Here’s what they said.
President Donald Trump
“Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!”
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
“Pope Francis will long be remembered for his outreach to those on the margins of the Church and of society. He renewed for us the mission to bring the Gospel out to the ends of the earth and offer divine mercy to all. … Even with his roots in the Piedmont region of Italy, the first Pope from our American Continent was marked by his experience as a Jesuit and a shepherd in Buenos Aires. He brought that experience and vision with him to his ministry for the universal Church. Recently, he expressed a new prayerful hope in his letter of support to the Bishops of this country in our attempts to respond to the face of Christ in the migrant, poor, and unborn. In fact, he has always used the strongest and clearest expressions in the defense of the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.”
Vice President J.D. Vance
“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite be …