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.

"At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father," the Vatican announced on Monday. Mourners quickly gathered in St. Peter's Square in Rome to celebrate Francis, 88, and his 12 years as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died aged 88 He died of stroke and subsequent irreversible heart failure, the Vatican says in a statement