US Catholics, and some Protestants, mourn a different kind of pope

Sister Jeanne looks at a plaque commemorating the 2015 visit of Pope Francis, surrounded by flowers following his death, outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, on Monday, April 21, 2025. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)

By Patricia Mazzei, Shayla Colon and Robert Chiarito

American Catholics mourned the loss of Pope Francis on Monday, with many remembering a pontiff who they said had made the Roman Catholic Church more welcoming and compassionate by his words and his demeanor, though some wished he had done even more to change the institution.

On the day after Easter, many made their way to early services to grieve the loss of a spiritual leader whose health they had closely followed, praying for his recovery during and after a lengthy hospitalization. They had rejoiced in seeing him on television greeting the faithful at St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, only to wake up and find that he was gone.

Losing him Monday was heartbreaking, said Chris Nealon, who stopped to pray at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York at the end of his shift on a security job. “We are all made in God’s image, and he reinforced that,” said Nealon, a Navy veteran and a former police officer.

He praised Francis’ calls to end anti-gay sentiments and his push to promote world peace.

John Martinez wept as he sat in solace in one of the wooden pews at St. Patrick’s. He does not agree with all of the church’s teachings, he said, but Francis was “one for the people.”

The timing, for Martinez and many other Catholics, felt jarring. “We’re all so happy to rejoice in the rising of the Lord, and then for this to happen the very next day is just so alarming,” he said.

Isabella Colon, 25, stopped at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on her way to work Monday morning. “He did a lot for people around the world,” she said, mentioning his advocacy for children in the Gaza Strip, “and a lot of people look up to him.”

Francis promoted interfaith relations, and his popularity in the United States extended beyond Catholics, to people including liberal Protestants who saw him as a moral guide.

“I like the man very much,” Olga Helmprecht said as she walked slowly out of St. Patrick’s, sniffling and wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue. Helmprecht, a practicing Protestant, said she had taken two buses and a train from Long Island so that she could pay her respects to the pontiff.

“He was so honest, and not so old-fashioned,” she said. “He tried to understand.”

Damon Silvers, 60, from Baltimore, said outside St. Patrick’s that he had met Francis twice — once in 2016 and again in 2024. Though he is not Catholic himself, Silver, a trade union member, admired the pope’s support for working people.

“The man exuded warmth, love, grace and mercy,” he said. “To be in his presence was a profound blessing.”

The end of Francis’ life and papacy also resonated deeply with immigrants who were grateful for his defense of them, including statements in his final address. In written remarks read Sunday by a Vatican aide, the pope urged Catholics to “revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands.”

Ana Padilla, who emigrated to the United States from Peru more than 30 years ago, stopped in front of a statue of Mary holding Jesus at St. Patrick’s on Monday morning. She shut her eyes to pray.

The mere fact that Francis, an Argentine who was the first Latin American pope, spoke Spanish meant a lot to her, she said. But what she most appreciated were his messages about putting family first and his advocacy for kindness to migrants.

“Everything he did was different,” she said, noting that Francis had preferred to reside in a Vatican guesthouse. “He didn’t stay in the same house all of the other popes lived in. He wanted to live in humility.”

Among those who mourned Francis were Catholics and non-Catholics alike who appreciated that the pope had opened the door — to a point — to the LGBTQ+ community.

Sarah Barber, an entertainer in Oceanside, California, was raised Catholic but decided not to be confirmed as a teenager because she disagreed with some of the church’s teachings. Now 44, Barber is married to a woman, and she said that love and compassion were at the center of her belief system.

Although she stopped identifying as a Catholic, she had a soft spot for Francis.

“When Pope Francis said things about embracing the LGBT community, and allowing them to be parents, and allowing them to have sacred unions — those kinds of things are huge,” she said. “That influences over a billion people.”

Several Catholic Americans said they hoped the next pontiff would follow Francis’ lead.

“I would like for him to be progressive,” said Amy Ramirez, 75, who attended early Mass at Holy Name in Chicago. “Someone who stands up for not just Catholics but all religions, for fairness and justice for all people.”