President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for the first time since their Oval Office clash in February.
The New York Times reported that the White House did not give details on when the two leaders met, but a spokesperson said their discussion was “very productive.”
Trump has recently pushed both Russia and Ukraine to reach a deal and end the war. On Thursday, Trump called out Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Truth Social post and demanded that strikes on Ukraine stop immediately. He also slammed Zelenskyy in a Truth Social post on Wednesday after the Ukrainian leader said his country would not recognize Russian control of Crimea. Trump called Zelenskyy’s remark “inflammatory” and said it was “very harmful” to peace efforts.
Pope Francis, who changed the face of the papacy, was broadly popular with the more than 60 million U.S. Catholics, according to recent public opinion polling.
Seventy-eight percent of American Catholics expressed a favorable opinion of the pope in a Pew Poll conducted in early February, shortly before Francis’ lengthy hospitalization for a case of double pneumonia. The 88-year-old pope died on Monday
Francis’ popularity among American Catholics was constant throughout his dozen-year tenure as pope, with his favorability peaking at 90% in a February 2015 poll by Pew.
“Pope Francis enjoyed broad support among American Catholics – certainly exceeding the popularity of any elected officials in the U.S.,” veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance, the president of New England College, told Fox News.
U.S. Catholics also generally viewed Francis more positively than his immediate predecessor in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser.
Pope Francis’ funeral Mass has ended, and the pontiff will be laid to rest at Santa Maria Maggiore. He requested to be buried there in his final will and testament.
“I have always entrusted my life and the priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest waiting for the day of the resurrection in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore,” the pope wrote.
Pope Francis will be the first pope in more than a century to not be buried beneath St Peter’s Basilica. He requested his tomb be “simple, without particular decorum and with the only inscription: Franciscus.”
One of the most controversial aspects of Pope Francis’ legacy as the leader of the Catholic Church is his decision to restrict an older form of the Catholic liturgy known as the Traditional Latin Mass.
Francis explained that he decided to restrict the Latin Mass because he was concerned its use was leading to division in the Church. Francis said he felt the more ancient mass was “being used in an ideological way” in reaction to modernity, including the more modern Vatican II mass.
The mass consists of the “Liturgy of the Word” and “Liturgy of the Eucharist,” the latter of which is considered the most sacred and highest form of worship by Catholics.
The Latin Mass, which was formalized by Pope St. Pius V in 1570 and continues to be practiced by some Catholics today, has several key differences from the more common Vatican II mass, which was instituted in 1969. These differences include the entirety of the mass being said in Latin and the priest facing “ad orientem” (“to the east”) rather than facing the congregation.
During his 12-year pontificate, Francis took several actions to limit the use of the Latin Mass throughout the world. The result was that the Latin Mass was relegated to a very limited number of churches, with it often only being offered by priests belonging to specific orders expressly devoted to it.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Peter Pinedo.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, delivered the funeral homily for Pope Francis. He spoke about Pope Francis’ legacy and how the late pontiff “made his mark on the Church.”
“The decision to take the name Francis immediately appeared to indicate the pastoral plan and style on which he wanted to base his pontificate, seeking inspiration from the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi.”
Re said that Pope Francis was “a pope among the people” who was “rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges.”
U.S. presidents mourned the death of Pope Francis, who served as the leader of the Catholic Church for 12 years, on Monday following the Vatican’s announcement of the pope’s passing.
“Rest in Peace Pope Francis!” President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday. “May God Bless him and all who loved him!”
The College of Cardinals elected Pope Francis, 88, to serve as the pope following Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013. His election marked the first time a non-European served as pope in more than 1,000 years. Pope Francis, born with the name Jorge Mario Bergoglio, originally hailed from Argentina.
Pope Francis, who was hospitalized in February due to complications stemming from bronchitis and pneumonia, died Monday at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Diana Stancy.
Pope Francis, 88, died on Easter Monday of a stroke and cardiac arrest, according to an announcement from the Vatican.
Fox News’ Alex Hogan confirmed in an on-air report that the Pope had a stroke in the early morning of April 21, went into a coma and then had a heart attack.
The Pope’s death follows years of ongoing health concerns, including a recent hospitalization for double pneumonia.
The official death announcement was made at the Pope’s residence in the Chapel of St. Martha on Monday.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Angelica Stabile.
The funeral for Pope Francis began around 10:00 a.m. Rome time (4:00 a.m. ET) with his casket being carried through St. Peter’s Square. Thousands of mourners, including world leaders, gathered to pay their respects to the late pontiff.
Cardinals and bishops arrived in a ceremonial procession after the pope’s casket and had the “Book of Gospels” placed on top of it.
After a pope dies, the Catholic Church chooses its next leader through an ancient electoral process called the “papal conclave.”
In practice, since at least 1276, the conclave gathers the church’s top bishops – called the College of Cardinals – from around the globe. Though there are more than 240 cardinals currently, only those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in the conclave and the number of cardinal electors is limited to 120.
Nearly all prefects of Vatican offices lose their jobs when a pope dies, but a few stay on, including the foreign minister and the master of liturgical ceremonies, who play a key role in assembling the conclave.
The conclave takes place in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and cardinals are kept in strict isolation to keep them far from any outside influence from the rest of the world. This isolation is so important in the process that even the name conclave comes from the Latin “con clavis,” which means “with key,” indicating how the cardinal electors are locked up while they deliberate over who will be the new pope.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Peter Pinedo and Pilar Arias.
Over the course of his 12 years as pontiff, Pope Francis’ papacy has been both highly regarded as influential and scrutinized as modernized and anti-traditional.
Leaving behind a legacy of expansion, Pope Francis ministered to shape the Catholic Church’s future and scale its reach beyond areas of focus in both the U.S. and Europe.
“If you think about how he has approached appointing cardinals,” Tim Gabrielli, associate professor and Gudorf chair in Catholic intellectual traditions at the University of Dayton in Ohio, told Fox News Digital. “He’s been very intentional about that.”
Pope Francis created cardinals from 24 nations that had never had one before.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Gabriele Regalbuto.
The Vatican and White House have for decades kept a close relationship, with various popes and presidents meeting in the nation’s capital and in Vatican City across the years.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, following years of health issues, including chronic lung disease. Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013 until his death, and had met with three U.S. presidents across his tenure.
Francis’ last high-profile meeting with a U.S. leader was held just hours before his death, when Vice President JD Vance traveled to Italy for the Easter holiday and met with the pope on the most holy day for Christians.
“I know you’ve not been feeling great, but it’s good see you in better health,” Vance told the pontiff Sunday.
“I pray for you every day,” Vance said. “God bless you.”
Following Francis’ death, Fox News Digital took a look back on high-profile meetings and friendships the Vatican and White House have forged across the years.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Emma Colton.
There have been 266 papal leaders of the Catholic Church since Jesus Christ’s death in the AD 30s through Pope Francis – Jorge Mario Bergoglio – who died on Easter Monday at 88.
The most prominent pope is considered to be St. Peter, the first holder of the title.
Christ had appointed him the inaugural Bishop of Rome, and the papal church – St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City – is named in his honor.
St. Peter’s writings to persecuted people in the Asia Minor region are also chronicled in the New Testament’s epistles.
Peter reportedly died around 64 and was succeeded by Pope Linus.
In the present day, there is wide agreement across the Catholic world that one of the most recent popes, John Paul II, deserves to be in consideration as the most influential pontiff.
John Paul II was also the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian in the 1500s. Born Karol Wojtyla in Poland, John Paul’s lengthy three decades in the Vatican were marked with very prominent situations for the Catholic Church.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Charles Creitz.
Pope Francis’ last words before his death on Monday were an expression of thanks to his personal nurse and caregiver, Massimiliano Strappetti, the Vatican revealed Tuesday while describing the 88-year-old pontiff’s final hours.
Francis hesitated to surprise a throng of 50,000 faithful who amassed in St. Peter’s Square with a ride in the popemobile following his Easter blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican News reported, with the pontiff asking Strappetti, “Do you think I can manage it?”
Once Francis was reassured, he took his tour of the square, stopping to embrace people, especially children, on his route.
Among Francis’ last words was a heartfelt message to Strappetti.
“Thank you for bringing me back to the Square,” Francis, widely known as “the People’s Pope,” told his personal health care assistant, Vatican News reported.
Francis rested the rest of Sunday afternoon and had a quiet dinner, according to the official Vatican news agency.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Stephen Sorace.
“The View” co-host Joy Behar reacted to Pope Francis’ death on Tuesday and lamented that the late Pontiff could be replaced by some “conservative guy.”
“I wonder because there might be a backlash against how good he was and how much humility he had compared to some of the leaders in this world right now, so there might be a backlash to it, and they’ll get some conservative guy in there who, you know, is anti-gay and everything else,” Behar said.
Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, died Monday morning, Vatican camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced. The Pope’s funeral is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Hanna Panreck.
Following the Vatican’s announcement of Pope Francis’ death on April 21, doctors are speaking about the health conditions he faced in recent months.
The Catholic faith leader, who died at the age of 88, had been under medical care for bilateral pneumonia — a diagnosis that was confirmed via laboratory tests and chest X-rays — since February.
“The polymicrobial infection, which arose on a picture of bronchiectasis and asmatiform bronchitis, and which required the use of antibiotic cortisone therapy, makes the therapeutic treatment more complex,” the Vatican said in a statement at the time.
“The chest CT scan that the Holy Father underwent this afternoon … demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia that required further pharmacological therapy.”
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Melissa Rudy and Angelica Stabile.
Pope Francis was elected to the papacy on March 13, 2013, at the age of 76. He passed away at the age of 88 on Monday, April 21.
Born in Argentina as Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis joined the Society of Jesus at the age of 21. He was ordained a priest days before his 33rd birthday and was consecrated as an auxiliary bishop of his hometown of Buenos Aires in 1992.
In 1998, he was named the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving in that role until his election to the papacy in 2013. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2001 by Pope John Paul II, whom he would later canonize.
Here are five ways the pope impacted the Catholic Church.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Christine Rousselle.
Pope Francis, 88, the oldest pope in over a century, died Monday morning, though quiet discussions on who could succeed him have reportedly already begun.
While any male Catholic could in theory be chosen to sit in the papal seat, historically, succeeding popes have been selected from the Sacred College of Cardinals since 1378, according to Religion News Service.
Currently, there are 252 cardinals in the body who have been selected by the Holy Father to serve as his advisors and assistants.
Here is a look at some of the most likely forerunners to serve as the 267th pope, according to public reporting.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Caitlin McFall.
During his twelve-year pontificate, Pope Francis canonized some of the most beloved figures of the modern Catholic Church, including Pope St. John Paul II in 2014, St. Teresa of Calcutta in 2016 and Francisco and Jacinta Marto of Fatima in 2017.
Most significant to the United States was the canonization of St. Junipero Serra whom Francis canonized on Sept. 23, 2015, during his historic visit to Washington, D.C. Serra was an 18th-century Franciscan priest whose missionary work, which often involved walking hundreds of miles on foot, was crucial to the founding of California. Serra is one of two figures who represent the state of California in the Capitol’s statuary hall in D.C.
FOX NEWS TO AIR SPECIAL LIVE COVERAGE OF POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL ON SATURDAY
In total, Francis canonized 942 saints during his time as pope. However, 813 of those – known as the “martyrs of Otranto” – were canonized as a group.
Francis also advanced the canonization cause of Blessed Carlo Acutis , an Italian boy devoted to the Eucharist who died at the age of 15 and is expected to become the first millennial saint. Acutis was set to be canonized Saturday, April 26, which is now the day of Francis’ funeral. Acutis’ canonization has been postponed until there is a new pope.
Vice President JD Vance met Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, just hours before the pontiff’s death — making him one of the last visitors to see him.
Prior to meeting with the pontiff, Vance and his family were given a private tour of the Sistine Chapel.
The brief encounter between the two leaders was at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta residence, where Pope Francis, 88, was recovering from a severe bout of pneumonia and in a wheelchair.
The vice president, a convert to Roman Catholicism since 2019, exchanged Easter greetings with the pope and received gifts for his children, including chocolate Easter eggs and rosaries.
The Vatican said in a statement that there was also “an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners.”
“Finally, hope was expressed for serene collaboration between the State and the Catholic Church in the United States, whose valuable service to the most vulnerable people was acknowledged,” the statement read.
“In the Name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.
“Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in the Eternal Life, I wish to express my testamentary will only with regard to the place of my Burial.
“I have always entrusted my life and the priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest waiting for the day of the resurrection in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
“I want my last earthly journey to end in this ancient sanctuary Mariano where I went for prayer at the beginning and end of each Apostolic Journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and thank Her for the docile and maternal care.
“I ask that my tomb be prepared in the hole of the aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica as Indicated in the attached annex.
“The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decorum and with the only inscription: Franciscus.
“The expenses for the preparation of my burial will be covered with the sum of the benefactor who I have arranged, to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and of which I have provided to give appropriate instructions to Mons. Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Chapter Liberian.
“May the Lord give the well-deserved reward to those who have loved me and will continue to pray for me. The suffering that was made in the last part of my life I offered to the Lord for peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples.”
Pope Francis’ funeral will be held on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. local Rome time (4:00 a.m. ET) and more than 200,000 people are expected to attend the deceased Vicar of Christ’s services.
Thousands of mourners have taken to the Vatican this week to pay their final respects to Pope Francis following his death on Monday.
The funeral Mass will be held on the parvis of St. Peter’s Basilica, and His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the Catholic rites and blessings.
There have been 266 papal leaders of the Catholic Church since Jesus Christ’s death in the AD 30s through Pope Francis – Jorge Mario Bergoglio – who died on Easter Monday at 88.
The most prominent pope is considered to be St. Peter, the first holder of the title.
Christ had appointed him the inaugural Bishop of Rome, and the papal church – St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City – is named in his honor.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Charles Creitz.
