The Death of Pope Francis: End of a Tumultuous Tenure

(This article first appeared in the American Spectator.)

I was awakened early this morning by my wife informing me that Pope Francis has died. “Wow,” was my instant verbal reaction. I grabbed my bedside rosary ring and did a Divine Mercy Chaplet for his soul. It was probably the best I could muster at that moment.

That was followed by a text from a friend and Vaticanista plugged into all things Francis, who watched with great alarm what has unfolded in the Catholic Church during this pontificate. I told him I was a little surprised by the news because Francis had somewhat rebounded from his long hospital stay and was somewhat active over Easter weekend. I asked my friend if he and his sources had expected this. His response: “Definitely.” His concluding words: “It will be all chaos and arguing now.”

In truth, it has been all chaos and arguing since Francis took over the papacy in 2013. No pope in modern times has sowed this much confusion in the Chair of St. Peter. Both liberals and conservatives alike should concede that.

Read the entire article HERE: https://spectator.org/the-death-of-pope-francis/