Religion
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The Smoke of Succession: Ritual, Secrecy, and the Election of a New Pope
Following the death of Pope Francis, a carefully orchestrated sequence of religious and diplomatic events has commenced within the Vatican—events whose significance will reverberate not only through the Catholic Church but through the world’s corridors of power and popular attention. At the epicenter of this process lies the sacred and centuries-old rite of papal succession,…
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The Passing of Pope Francis and the Legacy of Mercy
At 7:35 a.m. on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, announced from Casa Santa Marta that “the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” commending the eighty‑eight‑year‑old pontiff, who had devoted “his entire life to the service of the Lord and of his Church,” to divine mercy. Francis—born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, first Jesuit, Latin‑American, and Southern‑Hemisphere pope—had lived with chronic pulmonary weakness since…
Gros News 