{"id":7571,"date":"2025-04-21T07:03:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=7571"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T12:03:01","slug":"pope-francis-dies-at-age-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>(BISHOP THOMAS JOHN PAPROCKI MEETS WITH POPE FRANCIS)<\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis died early Monday morning. The first Latin American pontiff, Pope Francis was 88 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois issued the following statement in response to the death of Pope Francis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, our church mourns and prays. Pope Francis showed what it means to be a witness of love. This is beautifully reflected is his fourth and final Encyclical Letter, issued October 24, 2024, Dilexit nos, Latin for \u2018He loved us,\u2019 quoting Saint Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans, in which he wrote that Christians can overcome all adversities through Him [Jesus} who loved us\u2019 (Romans 8:37).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPope Francis challenged the world daily through his words and actions that we are all called to something greater, not of this world, but the next. His life was a testament that if we are to go to heaven, we must embrace our crosses and sacrifices, and we must live an authentic Catholic life. That means we must show empathy, compassion, and love to our neighbors. We must live humbly and selflessly. We are called to care for the poor, the afflicted, the sick, and the marginalized. Finally, we must pray, hold true to the Gospels, and participate in the greatest treasure Jesus gave to us: His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity \u2013 present in the Holy Eucharist at Mass. \u201cI had the honor of meeting Pope Francis during my ad limina visit in Vatican City in 2019. I was struck by his joy. He spoke to me and my brother bishops not as a boss, but as a fellow \u2018apostle,\u2019 tasked with the same mission all priests have \u2013 to passionately advance our faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I look back on his pontificate, one of the most powerful scenes I have witnessed occurred in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Vatican City, against a backdrop of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, heavy rain, darkening skies, and not a soul around, Pope Francis prayed for the world, holding up the Blessed Sacrament during his \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d (To the City and the World) blessing. Pope Francis taught us in that powerful moment that amongst all the trials, fear, uncertainty, stresses, violence, and hatred in this world, we must always turn to God, praying with a heart of full of love and hope, saying, \u2018Jesus, I trust in You.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are united as people of faith, praying for his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, our Church, and that the Holy Spirit will guide us in the upcoming conclave when cardinals meet to choose Pope Francis\u2019 successor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(BISHOP THOMAS JOHN PAPROCKI MEETS WITH POPE FRANCIS) Pope Francis died early Monday morning. The first Latin American pontiff, Pope Francis was 88 years old. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pope Francis Dies at Age 88 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T12:03:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"866\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-21T12:03:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-21T12:03:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg\",\"width\":1299,\"height\":866},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/uncategorized\\\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2025-04-21T12:03:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1299,"height":866,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88","datePublished":"2025-04-21T12:03:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/"},"wordCount":440,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/","name":"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-21T12:03:01+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Bishop-Paprocki-meeting-Pope-Francis.jpg","width":1299,"height":866},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/7571-pope-francis-dies-at-age-88\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope Francis Dies at Age 88"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7573,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571\/revisions\/7573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}