Catholic Diocese of Orlando remembers Pope Francis
By Luis-Alfredo Garcia
April 21, 2025 at 10:58 PM EDT
The Diocese of Orlando gathered at St. James Cathedral in downtown Orlando for a special mass and press conference that celebrated the life of Pope Francis, the first Latin American to hold the position, following his death Monday morning.
The church along Orange Avenue was adorned with a photo of Francis and flowers still fresh from Easter Sunday service. Led by Bishop John Noonan, the group shared some of its favorite papacy anecdotes, and most of them called back to an expanded sense of community present during the pope’s tenure.
Pope Francis, an Argentine born to Italian immigrants, publicly accepted LGBTQ+ members of the church, sought an expanded role for women and stood by the poor. No stranger to breaking Catholic tradition, the 88-year-old’s progressive views and outward support of these groups, along with migrants, did not always sit well with conservative clergy.
With a conclave to select the next pope on the horizon, Noonan said the pontiff would not want his and the church’s beliefs to be overshadowed by his death.
“He wants us to pray for him but also pray for our world today,” he said.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital Feb. 14, 2025, and discharged after more than a month of battling different respiratory illnesses. The late Pope had part of one lung removed early in life. His cause of death, however, was a cerebral stroke that put him into a coma and led to irreversible heart failure.
St. James Cathedral’s Father Miguel Gonzalez, who is from Puerto Rico, said there was a sense of joy in watching God identify Francis as the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere. Roman Catholicism is prevalent amongst Puerto Ricans, and Puerto Rico housed the first Diocese in the Americas.
“You see a man that really was connected to the people, and there was a beautiful ministry of presence,” he said. “That's part of the heart of the Hispanic individual that is always opening the door to welcome people; to serve people; to meet people where they're at.”
A little more than 1.9 million Floridians are Catholic, according to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Catholic church will now enter a period of mourning. Cardinals have already begun their trips to Rome for funeral proceedings and the next pope’s election. Gonzalez said unity was important every step of the way. “This is a period of mourning, of masses, of prayers. After the funeral, [we] then prepare to open the doors to his successor.”
There’s no set funeral date, but the late Pope will be buried at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. A final break in Catholic tradition that’ll see him buried outside of the Vatican.
The church along Orange Avenue was adorned with a photo of Francis and flowers still fresh from Easter Sunday service. Led by Bishop John Noonan, the group shared some of its favorite papacy anecdotes, and most of them called back to an expanded sense of community present during the pope’s tenure.
Pope Francis, an Argentine born to Italian immigrants, publicly accepted LGBTQ+ members of the church, sought an expanded role for women and stood by the poor. No stranger to breaking Catholic tradition, the 88-year-old’s progressive views and outward support of these groups, along with migrants, did not always sit well with conservative clergy.
With a conclave to select the next pope on the horizon, Noonan said the pontiff would not want his and the church’s beliefs to be overshadowed by his death.
“He wants us to pray for him but also pray for our world today,” he said.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital Feb. 14, 2025, and discharged after more than a month of battling different respiratory illnesses. The late Pope had part of one lung removed early in life. His cause of death, however, was a cerebral stroke that put him into a coma and led to irreversible heart failure.
St. James Cathedral’s Father Miguel Gonzalez, who is from Puerto Rico, said there was a sense of joy in watching God identify Francis as the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere. Roman Catholicism is prevalent amongst Puerto Ricans, and Puerto Rico housed the first Diocese in the Americas.
“You see a man that really was connected to the people, and there was a beautiful ministry of presence,” he said. “That's part of the heart of the Hispanic individual that is always opening the door to welcome people; to serve people; to meet people where they're at.”
A little more than 1.9 million Floridians are Catholic, according to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Catholic church will now enter a period of mourning. Cardinals have already begun their trips to Rome for funeral proceedings and the next pope’s election. Gonzalez said unity was important every step of the way. “This is a period of mourning, of masses, of prayers. After the funeral, [we] then prepare to open the doors to his successor.”
There’s no set funeral date, but the late Pope will be buried at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. A final break in Catholic tradition that’ll see him buried outside of the Vatican.