Catholic Americans mourned Pope Francis on Monday, with many making their way to early services on the day after Easter. They paid respects to a pontiff who they said had made the Roman Catholic Church feel more modern and more inclusive.
Many had spent weeks closely following and praying for the pope’s health during and after his lengthy hospitalization, and had rejoiced in seeing him on television greeting the faithful at St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.
Losing him on Monday was heartbreaking, said Chris Nealon, who stopped to pray at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York at the end of his shift at a security job.
“We are all made in God’s image, and he reinforced that,” said Mr. Nealon, a Navy veteran and former police officer. He praised Francis’ calls to end anti-gay sentiments and push to promote world peace.
During Mass on Sunday, many Catholics had kept the ailing pope in their prayers, Isabella Colon, 25, said as she stopped at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on her way to work Monday morning.
“He spoke up for the kids in Gaza,” she said. “He did a lot for people around the world, and a lot of people look up to him, and it’s really sad.”
The 7 a.m. Mass at Holy Name was celebrated by the Rev. Ramil Fajardo, the resident priest, who said it was “hard to find the appropriate words” to commemorate Francis following “the glow” of Easter, the most important day of the Christian calendar.
“Although we are sad and it’s still raw, we still are shocked and words might escape us,” Father Fajardo said. “On the other hand, our liturgy tells us that Jesus Christ has risen, and there is no fear.”
Francis promoted interfaith relations, and his popularity in the United States extended beyond Catholics, including to liberal Protestants who saw him as a moral guide.
“I like the man very much,” Olga Helmprecht said as she walked slowly out of St. Patrick’s, sniffling and wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue.
Ms. Helmprecht, a practicing Protestant, said she took two buses and a train from Long Island so that she could pay her respects to the pontiff.
“He was so honest and not so old-fashioned,” she said. “He tried to understand.”
The end of Francis’ life and papacy resonated deeply with immigrants who were grateful for his defense of migrants, including in his final address. In written remarks read on Sunday by a Vatican aide, the pope urged Catholics to “revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands.”
Ana Padilla, who immigrated to the United States from Peru more than 30 years ago, stopped in front of a statue of Mary holding Jesus at St. Patrick’s on Monday morning. She shut her eyes to pray.
The mere fact that Francis, an Argentine who was the first Latin American pope, spoke Spanish meant a lot to her, she said. But what she most appreciated were his messages about putting family first, and his advocacy to be kind to migrants.
“Everything he did was different,” she said, noting that Francis preferred to reside in a Vatican guesthouse. “He didn’t stay in the same house all of the other popes lived in. He wanted to live in humility.”
Several Catholic Americans said they hoped the next pontiff would follow Francis’s lead.
“I would like for him to be progressive,” said Amy Ramirez, 75, who attended early Mass at Holy Name in Chicago. “Someone who stands up for not just Catholics but all religions, for fairness and justice for all people.”
Patricia Mazzei is the lead reporter for The Times in Miami, covering Florida and Puerto Rico.
Shayla Colon is a reporter covering New York City and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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