Slideshow: Pope Francis, a leader of compassion
FILE - An Amazzonian indigenous girl gives Pope Francis a plant during the offertory of a Mass for the closing of Amazon synod in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis arrives at the end of a mass in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Sunday, April 6, 2025, part of the jubilee of the sick and the health workers. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis waves as he appears at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, March 23, 2025, where he has been treated for bronchitis and bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis smiles to a nun as he walks in procession on the occasion of the Amazon synod, at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File )
FILE - From left front to camera, Sister Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops Luis Marín de San Martín, Synod's Rapporteur Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, and Synod of Bishops' Secretary General Cardinal Mario Grech, listen to Pope Francis, right, during the opening session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Paul VI Hall at The Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis blesses sick and disabled people at the end of a pro-life Mass in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, left, and Cardinal George Pell wait for the arrival of Pope Francis on the occasion of a Mass where the pontiff bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing their bond to the pope, to new Metropolitan Archbishops, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday June 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis leaves after a meeting with the performers of the living nativity scene of St. Mary Major, in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - In this April 18, 2018 file photo, Pope Francis meets a group of faithful from China at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican. The Vatican on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, answered its critics and justified its decision to pursue an extension of an agreement with China over bishop nominations, acknowledging difficulties but insisting that limited, positive results had been achieved.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis arrives to celebrate Mass on Lobito Beach in Iquique, Chile, on Jan. 18, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis is flanked by Mons. Guido Marini, right, the Vatican master of liturgical ceremonies, as he leads the Via Crucis – or Way of the Cross – ceremony in St. Peter's Square empty of the faithful following Italy's ban on gatherings to contain coronavirus contagion, at the Vatican, Friday, April 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, speaks to migrants, wearing white caps, during his visit to the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Monday July 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool, File)
FILE - Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he arrives to hold his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis meets migrants during his visit at the Karatepe refugee camp, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Dec. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who chose the name of Francis is the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blew it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in the St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis receives Cannoli Siciliani (traditional Sicilian pastries) as he meets with faithful of Pilgrimage of the Vocationist Family, at the Vatican, Monday, May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Cardinal Raymond Burke applauds during a news conference on the first anniversary of the death of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, at the Italian Senate, in Rome, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis prays at the beginning of the third day of a Vatican's conference on dealing with sex abuse by priests, at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool, file)
FILE - Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio leads a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, stands in front of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI entering St. Peter's Basilica accompanied by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, right with back to camera, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis wears a red scarf as he smiles while leaving St. Peter's Square at the Vatican after an audience with with Altar boys and girls, on Aug. 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis greets faithful after celebrating Mass on the occasion of the Migrant and Refugee World Day, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
- FILE – An Amazzonian indigenous girl gives Pope Francis a plant during the offertory of a Mass for the closing of Amazon synod in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis arrives at the end of a mass in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Sunday, April 6, 2025, part of the jubilee of the sick and the health workers. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis waves as he appears at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, March 23, 2025, where he has been treated for bronchitis and bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis smiles to a nun as he walks in procession on the occasion of the Amazon synod, at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File )
- FILE – From left front to camera, Sister Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops Luis Marín de San Martín, Synod’s Rapporteur Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, and Synod of Bishops’ Secretary General Cardinal Mario Grech, listen to Pope Francis, right, during the opening session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Paul VI Hall at The Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis blesses sick and disabled people at the end of a pro-life Mass in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
- FILE – Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, left, and Cardinal George Pell wait for the arrival of Pope Francis on the occasion of a Mass where the pontiff bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing their bond to the pope, to new Metropolitan Archbishops, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Monday June 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis leaves after a meeting with the performers of the living nativity scene of St. Mary Major, in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
- FILE – In this April 18, 2018 file photo, Pope Francis meets a group of faithful from China at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican. The Vatican on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, answered its critics and justified its decision to pursue an extension of an agreement with China over bishop nominations, acknowledging difficulties but insisting that limited, positive results had been achieved.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis arrives to celebrate Mass on Lobito Beach in Iquique, Chile, on Jan. 18, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis is flanked by Mons. Guido Marini, right, the Vatican master of liturgical ceremonies, as he leads the Via Crucis – or Way of the Cross – ceremony in St. Peter’s Square empty of the faithful following Italy’s ban on gatherings to contain coronavirus contagion, at the Vatican, Friday, April 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis, left, speaks to migrants, wearing white caps, during his visit to the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Monday July 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he arrives to hold his weekly general audience, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis meets migrants during his visit at the Karatepe refugee camp, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Dec. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who chose the name of Francis is the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blew it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in the St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
- FILE – Pope Francis receives Cannoli Siciliani (traditional Sicilian pastries) as he meets with faithful of Pilgrimage of the Vocationist Family, at the Vatican, Monday, May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
- FILE – Cardinal Raymond Burke applauds during a news conference on the first anniversary of the death of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, at the Italian Senate, in Rome, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis prays at the beginning of the third day of a Vatican’s conference on dealing with sex abuse by priests, at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool, file)
- FILE – Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio leads a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis, left, stands in front of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI entering St. Peter’s Basilica accompanied by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, right with back to camera, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis wears a red scarf as he smiles while leaving St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after an audience with with Altar boys and girls, on Aug. 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
- FILE – Pope Francis greets faithful after celebrating Mass on the occasion of the Migrant and Refugee World Day, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)