Over the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis held up two recurring images: the good shepherd who looks for the lost sheep and lays down his life to save them; and the good Samaritan, who did not ignore the wounded traveler, but helped him without asking for anything in return.

Pope Francis, who had undergone surgery in 1957 to remove the upper lobe of his right lung after suffering a severe respiratory infection, was particularly susceptible to colds and bouts of bronchitis as he aged.

With his death April 21, Pope Francis marked yet another first in the history of the Catholic Church: he became the first pope to open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica without living to close it.

Black bunting draped the front of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland April 21 as hundreds gathered for an evening Mass of Remembrance in honor of Pope Francis, who died earlier that morning.

Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, former archbishop of Baltimore and retired grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher based at the Vatican, remembered Pope Francis as a leader whose years in office had a major impact.