In 2022, Pope Francis openly spoke to American editors about African Americans for the first time, saying racism was “an intolerable sin.” Even if he didn’t say it out loud. Black folks always knew he was on our side which makes his recent death such a shock and another painful loss.
The Vatican announced that at the age of 88 Francis died the day after Easter Sunday and a month after his release from hospital for chronic lung disease.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell said in the Vatican. Farrell, an American, becomes the Vatican’s de facto administrator.
Francis cared a lot about migrants and heavily criticized the Trump administration’s deportation plans, saying that it would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity, according to PBS.
US Vice-President JD Vance had just visited the Vatican for a short meeting with Francis on Easter, after the two got into a long-distance spat over after Trump’s deportation plans.
“My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” Vance wrote in a statement posted on X. “I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill.”
Francis was also known to be progressive in the Catholic Church. His commitment to making the Church more inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community, and putting more women in senior roles in the Catholic Church caused him to clash with conservative members of the Church, according to The Independent.
During that 2022 interview with American editors, he responded to reports that Black Americans were the group likely to leave the Catholic church.
“I would say to them that I am close to the suffering they are experiencing, which is a racial suffering. And [in this situation], those who should in some way be close to them are the local bishops,” Francis said.
The shocking news of Pope Francis’s passing left Black Americans feeling they have lost another supporter during a time when racial division is high in the nation.
“I haven’t processed it yet I’m still thinking an easter miracle will happen and he’ll come back,” one user wrote on X.
As Black people, folks on TikTok have started to create theories that his death is fishy, considering the timing.
“I just feel like that further proves that our timeline is just incredibly unserious, unreal really,” the creator says.
“I swear, I SWEAR, Catholics better stand up and come forth bc eyebrows raised... how after Vance poisons the air around the Pope,” one viewer wrote in the comments.
“I am mourning and I am devastated! I’m trying not to go down the conspiracy rabbit hole, but that thought definitely went through my head,” wrote another viewer.
This creator lies in shock at the news, “Pope Francis died right after JD Vance tried to see him... y’all not f—ing worried?!”
“Nah that’s what I’m thinking this is spooky,” one viewer agreed in the comments.
Conspiracies aside, Pope Francis had chronic illnesses; he even had to get part of his upper right lung removed in his early 20s after suffering from pneumonia, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
His death has led to questions about who will be the next Pope and whether that Pope will be as compassionate as Pope Francis. One user begged, “please let the next pope be as good as francis was. We already have enough demons in power.”