Hello and welcome to the details of ‘We lost a good man’: Pope Francis mourned across US as values clash with Trump’s policies and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Following news of Pope Francis's death, a woman prays at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on April 21, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. — AFP pic
NEW YORK, April 22 — Emotional scenes unfolded yesterday across the United States following the death of Pope Francis, with many mourners contrasting the Argentine pontiff’s gentle touch with the harshness of the current US administration.
At New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, hundreds of Catholics gathered in mourning, including worshipper Peter who said “we lost a very good man” whose values were entirely at odds with those of President Donald Trump.
Francis “cared about (people) most of us forget about—the poor, the downtrodden, the forgotten, and the healing power of forgiveness,” said the 70-year-old, who did not provide his last name, as Catholics and tourists flocked into the imposing Gothic Cathedral opened in 1879.
“We have a president and an administration that’s turning the country in a direction that is in complete contradiction of the values that this pope espoused.”
A bust of Francis stood by a side entrance, while a portrait of the late pontiff was on display nearby.
New Yorker Cathy Colecchi wept openly, describing Francis as “the pope for everyone,” and praising his “inclusivity.”
“I really haven’t attended a mass for a very, very long time. I surprisingly find myself today, very, very sad,” she said.
‘A shock’
Reflecting the staunchly Democratic leaning of New York City, local resident Mark Carey said “it was very strange that (US Vice President JD) Vance spoke to him and saw him yesterday, considering their conflict of issues.”
Vance was one of the last Vatican visitors to see Francis alive, receiving a short audience with the pope before he delivered his Easter greetings Sunday to a crowd of more than 35,000.
“Hopefully he was able to enlighten Vance,” said Carey.
In the nation’s capital, well-wishers gathered outside Washington National Cathedral to mark the passing of Francis.
“He was much more Christian than... for example, the people who are in office now who claim to be Christian, especially our president, whose name I will not say,” said 71-year-old retiree Mark Smerkanich.
Some appeared jolted by the suddenness of the news.
“Some shock and also sorrow. We just saw Pope Francis on our TV screens yesterday,” said Father Aquinas Guilbeau, a chaplain at The Catholic University of America.
“News of his passing so soon after seeing him in public, it is a bit of a surprise and a shock,” added Guilbeau, wearing a plain cassock in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Several mourners remarked on Francis’s position on immigration, and how Trump’s current policies appear at odds with the history of a country built on and by immigrants.
“I agree with Pope Francis. I think that we need to be very moral in how we deal with immigrants, because immigrants is kind of what makes America one of the greatest countries,” software engineer John Abou Elias, 20, said at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston, Texas.
Washington’s immigration policies today, including mass deportations, “are a little bit immoral,” he added. “I just think that we need to be more forgiving.”
Outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Miami, Hilda Palermo, a freelancer, said that she wanted the next pope to be “very traditional.”
“I think we need people with values, to maintain the family—and I hope he’ll be a person close to God.”
Pamela Garcia, who works for a printing company, said she had “been praying for him to heal” as the pope’s health worsened.
“But the Lord called him home,” she said. — AFP
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