✝️ Religion: Pope Francis passes

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🙏🏽 A solemn Easter Monday

On 21st April, Easter Monday, Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced the following:

Much of the global news media has been covering the passing of the pope along with trying to understand and scrutinise his legacy. And let’s be clear from the outset that this week’s issue is not meant to be an analysis of his life or legacy. Rather, as always, we are looking at how the media covered this event and what it means.

With that said, in this week’s issue of Signpost, we will analyse how the news was announced on the official Vatican City news media, Vatican News, and on one of the oldest multi-religious news media in the world, Religion News Service. Similar to last week, we will not follow alphabetical order this week to better understand the differences in the news.

🇻🇦VATICAN NEWS: Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday aged 88 [link]

📢 What Vatican News is saying
The just-under-a-decade-old official news website of Vatican City focuses a lot on the ceremonies and procedures following Pope Francis’ death. There is also a mention of his declining health, and how and why he updated papal funeral rites shortly before he passed. While articles following his death have focused more on his legacy and impact, this article announcing his death is focused on supplying information to the masses of what to expect in the coming days.

1. 📸 Visuals

Two short videos are used for the article. At the top of the article is a video showing Cardinal Kevin Farrell, flanked by three other cardinals, as he speaks into a microphone and reads his statement from a paper. He speaks in Latin (I assume?) though the video has English subtitles. All four men are dressed in black, with large crosses hanging from their necks. They all four also wear glasses, perhaps a sign of their age and years spent reading. They stand in a room with a large wooden cross behind them, and a few other tables, microphones, and plants and flowers. The room itself is triangular in shape, as the two walls on either side of them emerge from behind the cross at the back. The walls are a beige colour, while the triangular tiles on the floor are white and shades of brown.

The second video coming mid-way through the article shows the sealing of the doors of the pope’s apartments. In less than a minute, the video shows two gentleman, one in a dark blue suit, the other in religious clothing, tying a red ribbon around the front door of the apartment and sealing it with wax, while other cardinals look on before testing the closed doors. This ceremony is repeated a second time for another room.

2. ✍🏽 Words

The article reads very factual, almost instructional. The headline and subheading clearly states the incident with no fanfare. This is followed by the full statement from Cardinal Kevin Farrell that can be read as the official announcement of the pope’s death. Following this is a statement from another Vatican official, the Director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni, explaining how the pope’s “mortal remains” will be made available for the “veneration of all the faithful” later in the week.

The article continues with further explanation of the ceremonies that have taken place, including the ‘rite of the certification of death and placement in the coffin’, the placement of the seals on the papal apartments, and how ‘Pope' Francis’ closest collaborators’ have already begun paying their respects. Further details are shared on upcoming ceremonies, including the ‘General Congregation of Cardinals’.

Following this, some time is spent explaining Pope Francis’ worsening health in the last few months, including his ‘bout of bronchitis’ in February, his diagnosis of ‘bilateral pneumonia’, and how he spent ‘38 days in hospital’ following this diagnosis. This illness is attributed to his surgery in 1957 when he removed ‘a portion of his lung’ that was impacted by ‘severe respiratory infection’, making sure to refer to him by his birth name, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The article then returns to calling him ‘Pope Francis’ in the next paragraph, sharing how he regularly had ‘respiratory illnesses’, cancelling a visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2023 because of it.

The end of the article refers to him updating the ‘liturgical book for papal funeral rites’ as recently as April 2024, including ‘how the Pope’s mortal remains are to be handled after death’. This is confirmed by a short statement by the Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, saying that the updates were meant to “emphasise” that the “funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”

❓ What it means
There are two major themes that ring through this reporting on the Pontiff’s death. And while they may seem contradictory, they portray a cognitive dissonance related to the Vatican that we had all come to accept in the time of Pope Francis:

1. Pope Francis himself was a very humble pope, choosing to live not in the official papal residence in the Apostolic Palace, but instead in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, which is a guest house for clergy. He also wore much simpler clothing as pope, eschewing the papal mozzetta cape upon his election and wearing silver instead of gold for his piscatory ring. He also famously wore a $8 Casio watch. This humility extends beyond his life, as he simplified the ceremonies for his death.

2. While Pope Francis may be humble, the Church itself is steeped in tradition and ceremony. The number of procedures and ceremonies mentioned in the article as separate processes, each with it’s own name and person administering it, highlights some of the challenges he must have faced being the humble head of a body of such rich history and pomp.

In hindsight, the fact that Pope Francis updated the liturgical book for papal funeral rites as recently as April 2024 indicates that he had an idea that he was nearing the end soon.

⚠️ Why it matters
This being the official news website of Vatican City, the article serves two purposes: to continue to build the legacy of Pope Francis, while also informing the media and general public of what to expect next. By including videos showing some of the ceremonies, and including dates of upcoming ones, along with quoting people such as the Director of the Press Office and the Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, the article is there to remind readers that there are ceremonies to administer, rituals to perform, and process to initiate before we even begin to entertainment the thought of who will be the next pope.

This not only reinforces a sense of somber remembrance, but also one of stability in ancient processes. The death of the pope, while sad, will not stop the Catholic Church from continuing its operations, and everything will be as it should be, all in good time. There is no need or purpose for rush.

🕊️ RELIGION NEWS SERVICE: Pope Francis, charismatic reformer and disruptor, dies at 88 [link]

📢 What Religion News Service is saying
As a detailed obituary about the life and work of Pope Francis, the article also portrays the late Pope as an often controversial figure within the Church, specifically regarding his more liberal doctrines and interpretations of Christian teachings. The article provides input from theologists to help better tell Pope Francis’ story.

1. 📸 Visuals

Seven visuals and one gallery of over 20 photographs are used in the article. Headlining the article is a picture of the Pope on a balcony above St. Peter’s Square greeting the masses from 2018. He is standing, his right hand is raised mid-wave, and he looks relaxed and happy.

The next is a profile photo of him from 2005, prior to him becoming pope and instead called ‘Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’. He is celebrating Mass and looks significantly younger. This is followed by another, even earlier photo of him greeting then Pope John Paul II from 1998. The Pope is sitting on a chair, in full regalia, while Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio is kneeling in front of him. We cannot see his face, only his back.

Following this is a recent photo from 2023 from the ‘Synod of Bishops’, which shows us a hall of bishops sitting round several round tables in discussion. Pope Francis is on a table towards the right of the picture, on a raised platform. Because the photo is taken from an elevated angle, we cannot see the Pope clearly. A gallery of photos from Pope Francis’ life follows, followed by a photo of Pope Francis greeting Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar from a meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2019.

The final two photos shows the Pope greeting people from a visit to Alberta in 2022. In this visuals he is in a wheelchair, being pushed by a main in a black suit, followed by others in more religious attire. It’s unclear if the man in the suit is security or not. The final photo shows him smiling, sitting in a chair, from a visit to Dublin in 2018. He is relaxed and happy.

2. ✍🏽 Words

This is a very long article so I will try to keep my analysis here to the main topics that the article explores without going into too much linguistic detail. Beginning with the headline, the article already gives us a hint to the dual profile of Pope Francis that will form the heart of the writeup, by calling him both a ‘charismatic reformer’ and a ‘disrupter’. This is further emphasised in the subheading, saying that he leaves behind him ‘a church still divided, but radically transformed’.

The first few paragraphs recap the death of the pope, including further details about his health based on a statement from the ‘head of the Vatican’s health department’. Pope Francis, we are informed, also had ‘Type 2 diabetes and hypertension’ along with ‘episodes of respiratory insufficiency’. The article then recaps his further health struggles from 2025 and prior, to provide more context.

Here is where the article begins its focus on the life and work of Pope Francis. It first mentions that the pope had a ‘pastoral style of leadership’ with an ‘emphasis on mercy’. He is also credited with restoring ‘credibility of the church in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics after decades of bad news about clergy sex abuse, financial scandals and decline in attendance’. A short quote from a theologian calls him a “breath of fresh air”.

As the “first Jesuit Pope, the first Latin American Pope, the first Pope from outside Europe since early church”, Pope Francis was ‘known for his commitment to welcoming migrants and refugees, the protection of the environment and support for the poor and marginalized’. The article further mentions how his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI stepped down as pope and was therefore alive for most of Pope Francis’ tenure, often contrasting his more ‘conservative views’ against Pope Francis’ ‘softer approach’.

Following this we chronicle Pope Francis’ journey towards becoming the Pope in 2013. The article then lists some of his achievements as Pope: introducing ‘structural and economic reforms’ regarding the Vatican bank (including ‘allowing 10 individuals […] to be tried for suspected fraud, embezzlement and money laundering’), creating the ‘most diverse College of Cardinals in the history of the church’, and ‘calling on summits of bishops’ to ‘reconcile […] tensions’ between the more conservative and liberal factions of the church.

Despite these pioneering actions, the article portends that ‘Francis made few changes to Catholic teaching itself’. Philosophy professor and author of a book about Pope Francis, Massimo Borghesi is even more succinct in his summary, “Bergoglio [Pope Francis’ original name] didn’t change a thing,’ stressing that ‘from a traditional and dogmatic view, he [Pope Francis] was a conservative’, speaking in ‘opposition to abortion’ while criticising ‘gender theories as a form of “ideological colonization”’. Despite this, Borghesi does admit that ‘it will be difficult to return to a harsh and severe pope who only insists on rules and doesn’t walk the path of mercy’.

The rest of the article portrays both these sides of Pope Francis, debating that while he ‘created the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’, he ‘seemed to lower his disciplinary standards for those close to him’ who were accused of child abuse, specifically calling out Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of Argentina, and Fernando Karadima from Chile.

The article ends with the great strides that Pope Francis made with “Christ-like diplomacy”, including his outreach towards other religions and visits to countries in the Global South. However, while he was vociferously pro-peace, he did not actively call any one country the aggressor in any conflict, while also controversially striking a ‘deal with China that gave Beijing a voice in the appointment of bishops’ in the country.

❓ What it means
This isn’t another story about China (thankfully) but this profile of Pope Francis paints him as a much more nuanced figure. However, his impact on the world and his impact through the Catholic Church is hard to overstate. Despite his challenges within and without the Church, even secular critics admit that he has brought the Catholic Church more in line with modern society.

Or perhaps, as the article argues, some of it was public relations? Fluff over substance? It is hard to pick and choose at one’s life, that too someone as famous and powerful as the pope, to determine which side of the moral pendulum they oscillate towards. This is a humanising portrayal of someone who is remembered as a humble pope, who wasn’t entirely the liberal pioneer he was portrayed to be, but neither was he a secret traditionalist in secular clothing.

⚠️ Why it matters
Religion is sensitive. To most of us, it is a personal matter. We would rather keep our religion behind closed doors and speak to God how we choose to beyond the prying eyes of others’ judgement.

What the article does is ask questions that are greater than Pope Francis, namely what does his death mean for the current state of religion, specifically the Catholic Church, and how will the cardinals gathered in Rome this week vote to determine where the Church goes from here. Considering how much Pope Francis did for the credibility and perception of the Catholic Church for those on the outside, including inter-religious dialogue, leaders and followers from other religions are also viewing the direction of the Church with focus and interest. After all, if the Catholic Church were it’s own sovereign nation, it would be second only to India.

WHAT’S GOING ON? 

⚰️ Memento Mori

In the next few months, Canada, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore will go to the polls. And as exciting as that is, we all have an idea of who will win. It will either be a repeat of the incumbency, or results will swing towards the opposition, or some combination of the two.

By contrast, the papal election is truly unknown. Only 135 men have the voting rights, who will exercise their vote behind closed doors and in secret, for candidates we don’t fully recognise, to become the spiritual and religious leader of 1.3 billion people for the foreseeable future. When that white smoke leaves the Sistine Chapel, only then will we have an inkling of the direction of the Catholic Church.

Will they vote to continue in the liberal traditions of Pope Francis? Will they instead choose to reclaim some conservatism into the Church? Will they deem it worthy to look outside of Italy for the next pope? And is it even possible for a process driven by human beings to elevate itself above secular politicking and lobbying?

The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.
Read widely. Question thoroughly. Decide accordingly.

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Was this forwarded to you? Signpost is a free weekly newsletter analysing what the media says, what it means, and why it matters. It’s free to subscribe. Alternatively, you can add me on LinkedIn.