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MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The bells at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in Rome, ringing this morning to mark the death of Pope Francis. He had just made his last public appearance yesterday at the same square for Easter Sunday. News of his death spread quickly around the world and resonated far beyond the church. To hear more, we turn to three of our correspondents in the Middle East, also Africa, but first NPR's South America correspondent Carrie Kahn.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing in non-English language).
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: The choir in Sao Paulo's main cathedral sang out during a special mass today for Pope Francis. Brazil is the country with the largest population of Catholic faithful. Sao Paulo's archbishop, Odilo Scherer, said one of the pope's unique qualities was his openness...
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ODILO SCHERER: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: ...And his openness to dialogue with everyone, excluding no one, he said. That's what's needed now to overcome this climate of polarization and antagonism, he added, echoing the pope's sentiments. Today, Argentina's far-right libertarian leader said, despite their differences, knowing the pope was an honor. President Javier Milei had equated the liberal pope with the devil and called him an imbecile who defended social justice when he ran for office. Francis welcomed him recently to the Vatican.
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UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: (Speaking in non-English language).
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KAHN: Outside Buenos Aires' ornate cathedral, where soldiers perform their routine changing of the guard ceremony, high school teacher Veronica Lopez (ph) praised the pope who grew up in this capital, joined the priesthood late in life, and ultimately served as archbishop and later cardinal before being elected pope.
VERONICA LOPEZ: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: "Having a pope that speaks about social justice in this world that only cares about money is so important," she says. Pope Francis left his mark throughout Latin America in multiple trips through his papacy. He was instrumental in brokering a detente between the U.S. and Cuba and helped broker peace in Colombia's long civil war.
He was an outspoken defender of migrants. In 2016, in a trip to the Mexican side of the U.S. border, he delivered a message to President Trump, then in his first term of office, saying anyone who built walls to keep migrants out was, quote, "not Christian." Although tepidly received by Mexico's conservative hierarchy during that trip, crowds thronged to see him. I remember well the day my family waited in our then-Mexico City neighborhood, deep in the pack, to watch him whiz by in the popemobile.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) Woo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Shouting) Viva il Papa.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) Woo. Woo. Woo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Shouting) Viva il Papa. Viva il Papa.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: In the Middle East, it's not just Christians mourning the pope's death. Francis was the first pope ever to visit Iraq, which is mostly Shia Muslim, and the United Arab Emirates, a Sunni Muslim powerhouse. The trips were part of his focus on interfaith relations. The elderly pope traveled to Iraq during the coronavirus pandemic, to a country still emerging from control by the militant group ISIS. Security forces foiled two attempts to kill him in Iraq. I covered his visit to Egypt in 2017.
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POPE FRANCIS: (Non-English languages spoken).
ARRAF: His appeal went beyond religion. He just made people feel good. One place, more than any other in the Middle East, though, had a special connection with the pope - Gaza. There's one remaining Roman Catholic church there. Pope Francis was head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. But he made a point of calling the Holy Family Church at 7 o'clock on the dot every evening, a parish official says. NPR's Anas Baba, in Gaza, talked to the church spokesperson, George Antone.
GEORGE ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation," Antone says. "It was the questions your father would ask you. How are you? Did you eat? Is there food? Is the water clean? Is anyone injured?" War between Israel and Hamas has destroyed the Palestinian enclave. More than 50,000 Palestinians and at least 1,600 Israelis have been killed. Hundreds of people have taken refuge in the church. Two parishioners were killed in the courtyard in 2023. Antone says Pope Francis and his calls drove the fear from their hearts.
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ARRAF: Outside the church, children are playing soccer. Some have lost family members.
ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "With the loss of Pope Francis," Antone says, "we feel truly orphaned."
KATE BARTLETT, BYLINE: Pope Francis always put Africa high on his agenda, traveling to some of the continent's most troubled countries.
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BARTLETT: Excited crowds came out to greet the pontiff on his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo two years ago, when he made a powerful plea for foreign powers to stop exploiting Africa for, quote, "the poison of their own greed."
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FRANCIS: (Non-English language spoken).
(APPLAUSE)
BARTLETT: "Stop choking Africa," he said. "It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered." In Juba, South Sudan, the same year, the faithful sung at his mass.
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UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing in non-English language).
BARTLETT: Africa is home to a large and growing number of Catholics, over 280 million. The first pope to hail from a fellow Global South country was beloved by many here. Francis tried to use his influence as a peacemaker in a region often beset by brutal conflict. In 2019, he shocked many when, in front of the world's media, an already frail pope knelt to kiss the feet of two of Africa's most bitter political rivals, South Sudan's Salva Kiir and Riek Machar.
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FRANCIS: (Through interpreter) I ask you as a brother, stay in peace.
BARTLETT: The following year, both leaders did the once unthinkable, forming a government of national unity. When the conclave begins to choose Francis' successor, many Africans will be watching closely to see if the first African pope in centuries will be picked. Vatican watchers say there are two African cardinals who could be among the candidates, Robert Sarah of Guinea and Peter Turkson of Ghana.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALEXIS FFRENCH'S "BLUEBIRD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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