A person’s heroes often point to their values. In Pope Francis’ case, the people he singled out for their heroic virtues reveal a great deal about his papal priorities.

For many Catholics older than me, Francis represented a cultural shift from previous pontificates. As a Gen-Z Catholic, Francis is the only pope I’ve known.

Pope Francis’ final moments were peaceful, and he managed to give one last farewell to his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, before slipping into a coma early April 21, Vatican News reported.

All of Pope Francis' gestures, meetings and desires for encounter were themselves a form of “teaching.” And L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and their families have told me repeatedly what a difference this change in approach has meant. 

Pope Francis was a great lover of literature: He peppered his homilies, talks and even encyclicals with literary references from Dostoyevsky, Proust, Hopkins, Dante and more, and he also encouraged his flock to read broadly and often.

In Africa, a person of Pope Francis’ moral caliber and spiritual substance holds the coveted designation of “ancestor,” whose role includes everlasting solicitude for the community he or she leaves behind.