Navarrosa, who is currently writing his thesis on the pope’s 2016 encyclical 'Amoris Laetitia,' recalls meeting Francis in 2021 and says he had hoped to meet him again. “I’m not worried about the future of the church, because it is guided by the Holy Spirit,” he says.

The first photos of the deceased Pope Francis were published by the Vatican as funeral rites are underway. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, presided over the first ritual,