Reflections from some of his closest collaborators
“The Argentine Pontiff loved to say that it is not important to occupy spaces but to set processes in motion. I think he set quite a few processes in motion,” commented Cardinal Baldo Reina, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome – in other words, the Pope’s ‘number two’ for his diocese – on the occasion of the anniversary. For the cardinal, Bergoglio’s funeral – which coincided with the Jubilee for Children and Young People – offered a key to understanding his pontificate: “A springtime, a season of courageous sowing to reap the fruits of a long-awaited renewal.”
At the heart of Francis’s teaching, the cardinal noted, lies the text of Evangelii Gaudium: “It will remain the beacon of his entire pontificate.” Francis “sought to place the Gospel at the centre of the Church’s life”, addressing the challenges facing young people, the family and Creation, with a style characterised by listening and “going out”: “He could not play defensively by entrenching himself behind positions of strength, which many considered distant.”
In this regard, Cardinal Reina recalled that Leo XIV, too, at the last Consistory, “asked the cardinals to continue reflecting on Evangelii Gaudium.” And he concluded: “The springtime initiated by Francis is making its presence felt.”
Among the prelates closest to Pope Francis was also Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, who, in the preface to a book due to be published in the coming days on Pope Francis’ messages to the Italian Church (Con volto di mamma. Discorsi e interventi alla Chiesa italiana – LEV), recalls: “Pope Francis has asked us, insistently, not to stop. ‘Here, then, is the first task: keep walking. It must be done’ (Address, 25 May 2023). It is a concrete conversion: to keep walking ‘letting yourselves be guided by the Spirit’, not by habits; not by structures that reassure; not by formalism that stiffens.”
And again, further on: “There is one word that runs through it all: mercy. Not as a vague sentiment, but as a criterion of truth. Mercy does not erase justice: it makes it human. It does not blind us: it enables us to see. It is mercy that prevents faith from being turned into ideology”.
The Memorial Mass at Casa Santa Marta
It was Archbishop Luigi Travaglino, Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to the Principality of Monaco, who presided, in the early hours of the morning on the anniversary, over the Mass at Casa Santa Marta, the place where the Argentine Holy Father usually lived and celebrated the Eucharist daily.
In the homily for the Mass of suffrage, prepared by Cardinal Angelo Acerbi, Prelate Emeritus of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the cardinal recalled the figure of the Pontiff: “I am sure that Pope Francis had grown fond of this house and we are fond of him. Such remains the spirit of our prayer of suffrage in this first year since his passing. We still feel him close to us.”
“I wish only to recall the apostolic courage with which he faced the years of his Pontificate, even when, despite his physical limitations, he wished to fulfil his apostolic mission to the ends of the earth,” Cardinal Acerbi emphasised further in his homily.
Celebrations in memory of the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church
To mark the first anniversary of the Argentine Pope’s death, a Rosary and a Mass will be celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a place so dear to Pope Bergoglio – where he would pause in prayer before and after every apostolic journey – and which today houses his remains.
The tribute will begin at 17:00 (UTC+2) in the Pauline Chapel with the recitation of the Rosary. Subsequently, a commemorative plaque marking the special bond between Pope Francis and the icon of the Salus Populi Romani will be unveiled on the right-hand side of the Chapel. The plaque bears a Latin inscription, cast in bronze and comprising 160 characters in two different sizes, which reads: “Francis, Supreme Pontiff, who paused 126 times in devout prayer at the feet of the Salus Populi Romani, rests in this Papal Basilica by his own wish. 21 April 2026, First anniversary of his death”.
Following the Rosary, at 6.00 pm, Mass will be celebrated, during which a message from Pope Leo XIV, currently on an apostolic journey in Africa, will be read. The celebration will be broadcast on the giant screen at the front of the Basilica, in Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore, and streamed on Vatican News via this link.
The documentary “Todos, todos, todos”
Also to mark the anniversary, the Vatican media have released a 26-minute documentary entitled “Todos, Todos, Todos”, a title taken from one of his most significant statements, delivered at World Youth Day in Lisbon in 2023 and intended to demonstrate the Church’s openness to all.
The film, subtitled in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Arabic, uses archive footage and symbolic sequences to recount the pontificate of the Pope of mercy and the peripheries, through his most emblematic expressions and gestures.
