--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The Vatican says Pope Francis has died at the age of 88.
--:-- A Martinez: He was one of the most popular pontiffs in decades and also a towering figure on the world stage.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We will reflect on his legacy. I'm Steve Inskeep with A Martinez and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: [In Rome] Pope Francis was the first non-European pope in more than a millennium. He set many precedents, the first Jesuit pope, the first pope to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, and the first pope from the global south.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He also didn't shy away from speaking about LGBTQ plus issues, immigration, or the environment, which moments of his papacy stood out.
--:-- [Up First theme music plays briefly]
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--:-- Ruth Sherlock: [In Rome] We can expect this week of news to be dominated by the memory of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was better known to the world as Pope Francis. When he was elected to his exalted post in 2013, he assumed the name of a saint, Francis of Assisi, who deliberately lived in poverty.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Francis cast an image of humility during years of strain and change within his church and around the world. He had a lot to say about both things, and we will be hearing a lot about him.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: Yes, we sure will. With us on the line from Rome is NPR international correspondent Ruth Sherlock. Ruth, the Pope had been unwell, but it seemed like he was making his way back, and then the announcement of his death seemingly very suddenly. What can you tell us?
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: Well, that's right. I mean, the Pope had been struggling with life-threatening double pneumonia. He'd been in hospital on the 14th of February. He was admitted to Gemelli Hospital in Rome for five weeks, which was the longest stay in his 12-year papacy.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And at that time, there were prayers for Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square every day.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: You know, I interviewed Faithful in tears, believing that this might be the moment. But he made this recovery and he was brought back to the Vatican, back to his house in the Vatican and it seemed as though he was recovering but the Vatican says made the announcement that he passed away suddenly at 7 this morning.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: The Vatican cardinal Kevin Farrell said the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But as I said, he was starting to make more public appearances in his convalescence. In fact, he made an appearance yesterday at Easter Mass.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: Right. Well, first, he actually met with J.D. Vance, the American vice president who was visiting in Italy. And that was it was not clear if that was going to happen. But he did have that brief meeting. And then he appeared at Easter Mass and he said, Christ, my hope has risen.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He had a speech which he wasn't well enough to read out. You know, he was still quite breathless in his recovery from this double pneumonia. So he hadn't been able to speak very much publicly.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: But the message that he had at this Easter Mass, in some ways, this is his last message. And this in some ways really went to the heart of what his papacy was about. He focused a lot on conflict and on the plight of the poor.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Pope Francis was the first Latin American pope. And in this speech, he spoke about the conflict happening in Israel and Gaza.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: So he talked about people wounded by conflict and called for an end to this endless outbursts of violence. He said, I appeal once again for immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He's been calling church in Gaza every day for months. And he again appealed to the international community, said, you know, come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.
--:-- Jason DeRose: [NPR Religion correspondent] I think of a number of issues that he addressed during the 12 years that he was Pope. Immigrants and refugees, the environment, politics, and gender and LGBTQ plus issues.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In the area of immigrants, early in his papacy, he took a trip to the island of Lampedusa to highlight the plight of refugees in North Africa.
--:-- Jason DeRose: Francis also traveled to the island of Lesbos to highlight refugees from the Middle East. He talked about refugees being especially close to the heart of God.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And he reminded people of the biblical story that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, shortly after Jesus' birth, had to flee from Bethlehem to Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill Jesus.
--:-- Jason DeRose: And he even drew attention to migrants and refugees right before the U.S. election, saying that U.S. Catholics should think about things like immigration in addition to issues such as abortion when they go to the polls.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Yeah, he was seen as a progressive in some ways.
--:-- Jason DeRose: In other areas, such as the environment, his first solo encyclical of his papacy was focused on the environment. It was about care for creation, which he said God created as good.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And you know, he focused on the environment because the poorest of the earth are most directly affected by environmental degradation.
--:-- Jason DeRose: This was all connected for him Desertification flooding led to famine and poverty and people being displaced And that leads to a global migrant crisis So that leads back to his interest and concern about immigrants.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In the area of politics, he weighed in just earlier this year, you know, when Vice President J.D. Vance tried to say that Catholic teaching was to care for your family and your community before caring for others.
--:-- Jason DeRose: And Pope Francis really called him to task for that. He said, care is not about concentric circles, but a Christian cares for the most in need first.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that means one should focus on migrants and refugees. Again, getting back to that theme of his.
--:-- Jason DeRose: To balance, though, his progressive stances, he also reaffirmed the all-male celibate priesthood and also upheld the church's abortion stance.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So there was a balance there with Pope Francis.
--:-- Jason DeRose: What do you think his legacy as pope will be here in the United States?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, I think he'll be remembered as the first pope from the Americas, of course, the first pope from outside Europe in more than a thousand years.
--:-- Jason DeRose: One of his legacies, I think, will be his openness to dialogue. You know, he just led this series of conversations within the church about how the church wants to exist, should exist, and should talk to itself, listen to the people in the pews.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It shouldn't be so top-down, but should be much more bottom-up.
--:-- Jason DeRose: He had an amazing appeal to younger people. When I would go out and talk to people in their teens and 20s and early 30s, they really felt a connection to him.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He was the Pope of their life.
--:-- Jason DeRose: I spoke with a number of younger Catholics who we'll hear from later today on All Things Considered about just that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And then I also think of a return to the church. Many people who had left, say, under the previous Pope, Pope Benedict, who was stricter.
--:-- Jason DeRose: Francis brought them back to the church. He brought a great deal of openness to them.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Popular around the world. What about quickly in the United States? Was he as well-liked in the U.S.?
--:-- Jason DeRose: You know, not just enormously popular among Catholics, but enormously popular with non-Catholics.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He was a pastor first, and I think that really came through a very different Pope from Pope Benedict, who was much more top-down.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: [NPR South America correspondent] Now, a big part of the Pope's appeal was his personal story. Yeah, he was the son of immigrants.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He grew up in Argentina, lived through turbulent times, and became the first Pope ever from Latin America.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Let's go now to NPR's South America correspondent, Carrie Kahn. Carrie, tell us about Pope Francis before he was Pope and his upbringing in Argentina.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Right. As you all said, he was born there to immigrant, Italian immigrant parents that had fled fascist Italy.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He lived in the Flores neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: He did learn some Italian as a child, but his parents wanted him to assimilate and really emphasize Spanish at home.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He joined the Jesuits there after high school.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: And during his time in Argentina, the church where he rose to actually be Archbishop of Buenos Aires, there were conflicts in there.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And it was a time of turmoil in Argentina.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Of course, there was the military dictatorship that he lived through, which had taken power under the auspices of fighting communism.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: There were leftist wings of the church where believers and proponents of progressive teachings of liberation theology were.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Pope Francis has also endured criticism for some of his stances during that time.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In critics charge, he didn't do enough to defend those imprisoned and tortured under the dictatorship.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: How is he likely to be remembered in Argentina?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, I went there recently and I did speak to many Argentines you know just how they wanted they felt about the Pope legacy and their feelings toward him.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: I went to the main cathedral in Buenos Aires where he delivered mass there a lot. He was the archbishop.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Overwhelmingly of course he remembered he loved he treasured
--:-- Carrie Kahn: I want to play you a little bit of what I heard. I found high school teacher, this high school teacher, Veronica Lopez, a mass there.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: She says she actually received communion from Pope Francis at her confirmation decades ago and talked about his commitment to the poor.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: She says he always stood with the poor, those on the bottom rungs of society, and was such a strong proponent of social justice, she says.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: She really loved how he stressed values, moral values above wealth, and how important for a pope in this world it was to do that.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Many remember, too, that the pope was a diehard soccer fan, and a lot of people in soccer-crazed Argentina mentioned that, too.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I just had to add that.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Absolutely, absolutely.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, what do you think the first Latin American pontiff means to the region more broadly?
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Well, he was just, they loved that he was from Latin America, Argentina, and even in neighboring Brazil, where I'm based, I would hear that a lot.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But a lot of people also were very disappointed that he never came and visited, especially in his homeland.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Don't forget, this is a region that has some of the largest Catholic populations in the world. Brazil is the largest.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He did come to Mexico in the summer of 2014.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: I was there. I remember that he was warmly welcomed by the people.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I remember joining crowds lining the streets.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: He came through on his Popemobile. People were very excited to see the first Latin American pope.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He did get a bit of a chilly reception by Mexico's conservative church hierarchy.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: I was also there when he came to Cuba, and he was, well, crowds of people greeting him.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He did not speak out about the communist government at the time, and that had disappointed many dissidents.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: But people were very disappointed that when you speak to Argentines that they regret so much that Pope Francis never got a chance to come home.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's NPR South America correspondent Carrie Kahn. Carrie, thank you very much.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: You're welcome.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that's a first for Monday, April 21st. I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Steve Inskeep.
--:-- A Martinez: Your next listen is Consider This from NPR News. We hear it up first, give you three big stories of the day. and consider this dives into a single news story and what it means to you. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Russell Lewis, James Doubek, Miguel Macias, Arezou Rezvani and Janaya Williams.
--:-- A Martinez: It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We get engineering support from Damian Herring. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
--:-- A Martinez: Join us again tomorrow.
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--:-- A Martinez: That's O-D-O-O dot com.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This is Eric Glass. On This American Life, we like stories that surprise you.
--:-- A Martinez: For instance, imagine finding a new hobby and realizing... To do this hobby right, according to the ways of the masters, there's a pretty good chance that you're going to have to bend the law to get the materials that you need. If not break it.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Yeah. To break international laws.
--:-- A Martinez: Your life stories, really good ones. This American Life.
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--:-- A Martinez: Thanks for listening to Up First.
