WASHINGTON — Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference (NYSCC), issued statements in remembrance of Pope Francis, who entered eternal life on April 21, 2025.

Archbishop Broglio stated, “Pope Francis will long be remembered for his outreach to those on the margins of the Church and of society. He renewed for us the mission to bring the Gospel out to the ends of the earth and offer divine mercy to all. He has also taken advantage of the present Jubilee to call us to a profound hope: one that is not an empty or naïve hope, but one grounded in the promise of Almighty God to be with us always.”

“Even with his roots in the Piedmont region of Italy, the first Pope from our American Continent was marked by his experience as a Jesuit and a shepherd in Buenos Aires. He brought that experience and vision with him to his ministry for the universal Church,” Broglio continued.

The Archbishop noted, “Recently, he expressed anew prayerful hope in his letter of support to the Bishops of this country in our attempts to respond to the face of Christ in the migrant, poor, and unborn. In fact, he has always used the strongest and clearest expressions in the defense of the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.”

Archbishop Broglio last saw Pope Francis at the Jubilee Mass for the Armed Forces, Police, and Security Personnel. “Despite the challenges of his health, he was with us and even used a slight gesture to salute the group of bishops who concelebrated the Mass before he boarded the vehicle to return to Santa Marta,” he said.

“The passage from this life of the Bishop of Rome calls us to pray for his eternal rest and to continue on our path to a deeper union with the Lord Jesus. We remember his leadership in inspiring nations, organizations, and individuals to a renewed commitment to care for each other and our common home,” Broglio added.

He concluded, “The Bishops of the United States unite in prayer with Catholics here and around the world and all people of good will in gratitude for the life of our revered shepherd. We mourn the passing of our Holy Father and beg Saint Joseph to accompany him. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord.”

Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference expressed, “We at the New York State Catholic Conference mourn the loss of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, whose death on this Easter Monday morning comes as a shock, even if we knew that he was very ill.”

“Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis softened the face of the Church to the world. Without changing a single teaching, he nevertheless brought many to the faith through his words of mercy and accompaniment. His message resonated with untold millions of people — Catholic and non-Catholic, religious or not — as did his simple lifestyle, plain talk, and sense of humor,” Poust said.

He recalled, “Early in his pontificate, Pope Francis said he dreamed of ‘a poor Church for the poor,’ and it is clear that he never lost sight of that dream, keeping the poor, the migrant, the abuse survivor, the ‘other’ in his heart and at the center of his ministry until the end. One of his last public statements before his final illness was to the Bishops of the United States, urging them to continue to stand up for migrants and refugees in the face of mass deportation policies of the new administration.”

“We have had many popes, but we have never had one quite like Pope Francis. His was a historic pontificate, and his successor will have enormous shoes to fill. We pray for the cardinals — including our own Cardinal Timothy Dolan — as they prepare in the coming weeks to choose a man to lead the Church into the future. In this Jubilee Year of Hope — designated so by Pope Francis himself — we dare to hope for a Successor of St. Peter who loves the poor and the marginalized as much as our beloved Francis,” Poust continued.

He concluded with the prayer, “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”