Pope Francis died from a stroke early this morning at 88 years old in Vatican City. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pope Francis was the first Pope from South America and served in that role for 12 years. Although he is gone, his legacy within the Catholic Church and his enormous impact on the rest of the world remains. 

“He was an important world leader, and his loss deeply affects people across the globe. Being a Catholic myself, I appreciate all that he’s done over the years,” junior Lia Snively said.

Throughout his time as Pope, he made many influential and controversial contributions to the Catholic Church, such as framing global warming as a spiritual issue and speaking out against laws that criminalized homosexuality. While some argued that his actions were unnecessarily political, many advocates greatly appreciated the progressive steps he took to make the church more inclusive and many even referred to him as the “People’s Pope.”

“I’m very saddened by his passing because I feel like he was the pope that made a difference, and I truly felt like he always put the people first,” Mrs. Steinhauser said.

Now, Catholics all over the world are mourning the loss of Pope Francis and many are curious to see who the next Pope will be. An interesting lineup of contenders for the next possible lineup include Peter Turkson, a more conservative candidate from Ghana; Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State for the Vatican; Luis Antonia Tagle, a more progressive candidate like Pope Francis from the Philippines; and Angelo Scola, another conservative from Italy.