While Pope Francis may be the one who finally canonizes Blessed Óscar Romero, Cardinal José Gregorio Rosa Chávez – his one-time close friend – says he believes the late El Salvadoran martyr will be known as “the saint of four popes.”
Pope Francis
St. Francis’ Pontificate By the Numbers
In just five years as leader of the universal church, Pope Francis has made 22 international trips, traveling 154,906 miles – the equivalent of six times around the world.
Trump Sends Congratulations to Pope Francis on Five-Year Anniversary
Despite perceptions in some quarters that they represent competing visions of the world, U.S. President Donald Trump on March 13 reached out to Pope Francis, offering him congratulations on behalf of the American people on the fifth anniversary of his election to the papacy.
Pope Tells Confessors To Listen Carefully
By truly listening to the penitent during confession, “we listen to Jesus himself, poor and humble; by listening to the Holy Spirit, we put ourselves in attentive obedience, becoming listeners of the Word” in order to know what God wants to be done, he said.
Pope Meets MLK’s Daughter
Pope Francis shakes hands with Bernice King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., during a private audience at the Vatican.
Francis at Five Years: A Look at His Successes, What Needs to Be Done
When Pope Francis was elected five years ago today, he came into office with a reform mandate and a vow to make the Church less self-referential, focused on the peripheries rather than the center. Many of the challenges ahead seemed obvious: shaking up the Roman curia, cleaning up the Vatican’s finances, and continuing the work of clerical sex abuse reform efforts.
Pope Francis: In His Own Words
In his formal documents, many speeches and unscripted morning homilies the past five years, Pope Francis has given the church plenty of “food for thought” on many issues of great importance.
Benedict Dismisses Criticism of Francis’ Papacy
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, retired Pope Benedict XVI defended the continuity of the Church’s teaching under his successor and dismissed those who criticize the pope’s theological foundations.
Assessing Francis’ First Five Years
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope just a few days after telling the College of Cardinals that the Catholic Church faced a clear choice between being a church that “goes out” or a church focused on its internal affairs.
Solidarity Is Our Word
Pope Francis has “catapulted” the concerns of working people and placed them at the center of the conversation for the Church, said an all-star panel assessing the Holy Father’s influence on the labor movement.