In his brief final testament, Pope Francis asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major and said he had offered his suffering for peace in the world.

“I offered the suffering present in the latter part of my life to the Lord for world peace and brotherhood among peoples,” he wrote in the document dated June 29, 2022, and published by the Vatican April 21, hours after he had died.

“Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in eternal life, I wish to express my testamentary will only as to the place of my burial,” he wrote.

The document made no mention of the disposition of any possessions or of his personal papers.

As he had said publicly on several occasions, Pope Francis asked to be buried at St. Mary Major because he had entrusted his “priestly and episcopal life and ministry” to Mary.

“I wish my last earthly journey to end at this very ancient Marian shrine where I would go to pray at the beginning and end of each apostolic journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and to thank her for the docile and maternal care,” he wrote.

Pope Francis then specified that “my tomb be prepared in the niche in the side aisle between the Pauline Chapel — the Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani — and the Sforza Chapel.”

“The tomb should be in the earth; simple, without special decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus,” he wrote.

Pope Francis said a benefactor already had covered the expenses for his burial and that he already had given specific instructions to Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, the coadjutor archpriest of the basilica.

“May the Lord give a well-deserved reward to those who have loved me and will continue to pray for me,” he wrote.

The funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the liturgy, which begins a nine-day period of official mourning and daily memorial Masses.

The deceased pope’s body, which was taken to the chapel of his residence late April 21, the day of his death, will be carried into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing and prayer early Wednesday, April 23.

The public viewing was scheduled to end late April 25 with another prayer service to close the coffin.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, said the Mass originally scheduled for the Jubilee for Adolescents April 27 would be one of the eight memorial Masses that follow the funeral of the pope. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Pope Francis, will preside.

The rites and rituals for dressing the body, moving it to St. Peter’s Basilica and celebrating the funeral are published in the “Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis” (“Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff”).

The rites originally were approved by St. John Paul II in 1998 but were released only when he died in 2005. Modified versions of the rites were used after Pope Benedict XVI died Dec. 31, 2022, and Pope Francis revised and simplified them in 2024.

U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, the “camerlengo” or chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced to the world that Pope Francis had died April 21 at the age of 88.

Shortly before 10 a.m. (3 a.m. Central) in Rome, Vatican Media’s livestream of St. Peter’s Square switched over to a live broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae where the pope lived.

Standing at a microphone and taking his cue that the camera was rolling, Cardinal Farrell gave the announcement in Italian: “Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.”

“At 7:35 this morning Francis, the Bishop of Rome, returned to the house of the Father. His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church,” said the cardinal, who was flanked by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute for general affairs in the Secretariat of State. Standing next to the archbishop was the master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli.

Cardinal Farrell said that the pope “taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized.”

“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the Triune God,” he said.

Making the announcement, all four were wearing their simple, black clerical garb.

Reporters accredited to the Vatican press office had received an advisory at 9:45 a.m. local time via the messaging app, Telegram, notifying them that there would be a live broadcast to tune into on the Vatican News website and Vatican Media YouTube channel.

The press office then updated reporters on Telegram at 9:52 that the news had been Cardinal Farrell announcing the pope’s death. It also added later in the day that the pope had died in his apartment at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

At noon, one bell began ringing the death knell from St. Peter’s Basilica, which, according to tradition, is rung by hand when a pope dies. The clapper weighs almost 1,000 pounds.

Federico Ciriaci, operations coordinator of the technical department of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, which is the office responsible for upkeep of the basilica, was in charge of ringing the bell April 21 with the first toll at noon lasting 15 minutes. The death knell was repeated at regular intervals throughout the day.

Also in the morning, local churches started tolling the death knell from their bell towers. The request had come from Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, who had shared the announcement of the pope’s death on the conference website.

“It is a moment of sorrow and great suffering for all the Church,” he wrote.

“Let us entrust our beloved Pope Francis to the arms of the Lord in the certainty, as he himself taught us, that ‘everything is revealed in mercy; everything is resolved in the merciful love of the Father,'” Cardinal Zuppi wrote, quoting from the late pope’s apostolic letter, “Misericordia et Misera,” (“Mercy and Misery”).

He asked all churches across Italy to ring the solemn toll throughout the day as a sign of mourning and to promote moments of personal and communal prayer in union with the other churches in Italy and with the universal Church.

The Monday after Easter, April 21, is a major holiday in Italy with many residents going to the countryside for picnics or meals with friends and families. Rome, however, was full of tourists who were taking advantage of the holidays and time off from work and school.

North Little Rock artist Matthew Billingsley will never forget March 19. 

“My wife works the farmstand (at St. Joseph Center of Arkansas), and she was at home when she got the call. … I drove straight there. … They had most of it blocked off, but from where I was by the entrance, I could see these humongous flames, probably 20-foot tall flames above my studio,” the 40-year-old recalled. “The entire attic and roof were in flames and collapsing. It was hard to see, especially with how much time we’ve spent there.

“St. Joseph’s Center has been like my creative sanctuary, and I have a lot of charcoal drawings and paintings and art materials and multiple easels and instruments in there. So it was hard to see flames around all of that.”

Billingsley had a studio, along with 12 other artists, in the center for more than four years. 

Billingsley has always loved art. He found himself in places like the Arkansas Art Center, the University of Hawaii Manoa and the Honolulu Museum of Fine Art. Throughout his childhood, Billingsley was also comforted by the familiar neighborhood sight of St. Joseph Center. 

As his artistic endeavors grew and he settled in North Little Rock, he looked for more space and soon found a home at St. Joseph Center. His studio on the fourth floor positively influenced his art and creativity. 

“I’ve always loved the space, and I love to show it to people. … I had a good view of downtown and the gardens around. I loved that there was a sanctuary there. I was able to store my art, books. I had all my charcoal drawings. I also converted a bathroom in my studio … into a recording studio. … I’ve recorded several songs in that space as well. ”

Billingsley and others haven’t been allowed inside yet for their safety. But following the fire, winds, firefighting efforts and the torrential rain that followed just two weeks later, Billingsley fears all of his supplies may be destroyed. 

“My entrance to my studio didn’t have doors — it was open to the hallway. … It’s probably a lot lost to water damage … the charcoal drawings, with that amount of heat and humidity and smoke, I imagine they’re all crinkled up, and there’s possibly a mildew or mold issue that might happen.

“One of the hardest parts about this whole thing is, I was in the car the other day and my daughter, she’s 12, started crying, and I asked her what was wrong, and she said, ‘St. Joseph’s.’

“It immediately hit me that that’s been her creative sanctuary. She and her friend … have been playing there for basically two years, running the halls and playing hide and seek and going up to the studio and creating artwork. They’ve done dances and choreographed dance routines, and it’s been her fun, happy place. So that was harder than any thoughts of my stuff being gone or anything like that. That’s probably one of the hardest feelings that I’ve felt about the whole thing.”

Days after the fire, Billingsley knew he had to do something, and art had often been his form of action. But all of his supplies were inside the off-limits building. That’s when something caught the charcoal artist’s eye. 

“I guess I have the artist mindset. I try to always create, and so after the building fire, I was walking around and I saw charcoal on the ground — you know, the burned wood and charcoal. And I’ve worked a lot with charcoal and have done a lot of charcoal drawings. So when I saw the charcoal, I immediately thought of drawing with it. And I was near the (St. Joseph and the Child Jesus) statue when I saw that charcoal, so it just kind of happened.”

Billingsley had no materials — no easels, erasers, not even paper. He went to the store and bought what he could find. He propped a folding table up vertically and clamped his paper to it. With charcoal made from the St. Joseph Center, he began to create. 

“It was deeply emotional, especially the happy memories that were coming up as I was drawing and the happy memories of showing my studio space and all the amazing people that I’ve met at St. Joseph’s,” he said. “There’s so many wonderful people there that are involved. And so I had a lot of emotion.”

Billingsley posted his art on Facebook, and the post went viral locally with 300 shares and 650 likes. He showed his creation to the staff of St. Joseph and offered the artwork as a way of fundraising for St. Joseph Center.

The starting bid was $350. In just two weeks, the auction closed April 7 with a winning bid of $1,700. The proceeds will mostly go to St. Joseph Center, and a small percentage will go to Billingsley to help recoup his art supplies. 

“Matthew’s rendering of the St. Joseph statue in front of the building is very poignant — especially given the medium he chose to create the art — literally beauty from the ashes,” executive director Sandy DeCoursey said. “St. Joseph Center of Arkansas is working with all of the artists to try and help them raise funds for their own recovery. … Michelle Shellabarger has been working hard to help everyone find new studios or space to continue their art. The local art community has also responded with donations of art supplies and more.”

Father Brian Cundall’s photo of snow falling outside the chapel at Christ the King Church in Fort Smith took top honor in the Diocese of Little Rock Directory Photo Contest. 

The chapel, built in 1928, was the original church until 1972. The photo will appear on the cover of the 2026 diocesan directory, which will be published this fall.

Second place was a tie between Jessica Lester, with her photo of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in North Little Rock, and Quynh Vu’s photo of the Jesus mosaic at Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith.

Ronni Moore’s photo of a chapel window at St. Bernard Church in Bella Vista was awarded third place. 

Honorable mentions were given to Joanie and Nick Gramlich of the Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith, Wendy Garcia Brown’s photo of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton, Robert Morris’s photos titled “Shadow of Love” at St. Albert Church in Heber Springs, Abbie Flake’s photo of the Blessed Virgin altar at St. Edward Church in Little Rock, and Donna Collie’s photo of the Angel of Grief at the columbarium at St. Mary Church in Mountain View.

Arkansas Catholic received 58 entrants representing 21 cities this year. Entries were anonymous and judged by the Arkansas Catholic staff. 

The St. Thomas More Society of Arkansas and the Pulaski County Bar Association are hosting an interfaith prayer breakfast at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 1 at McDonald Hall of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock. Bishop Anthony B. Taylor and speakers from the Arkansas faith community will pray for peace in families, cities and the world. The cost is $20. Reservations are due by April 29. It is open to judges, attorneys, government workers, law professors and law students. Register at http://www.tinyurl.com/LawWeekPrayerBreakfast. For more information, contact Deacon Jim Goodhart at jamesgoodhart@gmail.com.

Mercy Arkansas hospitals recently earned national recognition from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for their efforts to increase organ, eye and tissue donor registrations across the state through the DoNation Campaign.

Formerly known as the Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign, DoNation is an initiative that unites HRSA and the organ donation community with workplaces in spreading the word about the importance of donation and increasing the number of registered organ, eye and tissue donors.

Mercy in Rogers had 14 organ donors and 42 tissue donors in 2024, ranking it among the state’s top four hospitals in each category, according to HRSA. Mercy Hospital Fort Smith also received top honors for its work to spread awareness and increase donations, ranking fourth in organ donors in Arkansas, sixth in organs transplanted and seventh in tissue donors. Mercy Fort Smith had 14 organ donors, 29 organs transplanted and 27 tissue donors in 2024.

St. Theresa School in Little Rock was nominated for the Heart of the Community Award by the state’s Office of Innovation for Education. It is the only Catholic school among the 16 nominated schools. The schools were chosen for uplifting lives, fostering belonging and building strong, student-centered connections beyond the classroom. The school with the most votes wins the award. Voting ends May 2. Cast your vote at innovativeed.org/heartofcommunityaward. The winner will be announced at the Innovation Rally June 4-6 in Little Rock.

Students from Catholic schools across Central Arkansas attended the Fifth-Grade Vocations Day at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Little Rock April 8. They listened to Bishop Anthony B. Taylor and several men and women religious about the importance of religious vocations. The event was co-sponsored by the Catholic Schools Office and the Vocations and Seminarians Office.

Sessions were led by religious, deacons and priests around the state, as well as diocesan leaders, Sister Mickey Espinoza, MCP, Deacon Marcelino Luna, Deacon Chuck Ashburn, Father Jeff Hebert, Liz Tingquist, Tricia Gentry and Jeff Hines.

Doctors at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers accomplished an innovative achievement in thoracic oncology — a first in Arkansas and across Mercy — by detecting and removing a cancerous lung nodule in a single procedure. 

Patients typically must wait four weeks between detection and treatment, adding undue stress and the potential for a dangerous cancer to spread in the interim between the procedures. Last month, the Mercy Northwest Arkansas team successfully performed the procedure as a single anesthetic event.

Mercy pulmonologist Dr. Penchala Mittadodla, assisted by pathologist Dr. Greg McKenzie, performed a minimally invasive, Ion robotic bronchoscopy-guided biopsy to diagnose the non-small cell lung cancer. They dye-marked the lesion, enabling Mercy cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Trung Ly Tran to remove the lung lobe. This early-stage diagnosis and treatment in one procedure, done at only a few larger medical centers nationally, is quickly becoming the gold standard.

The St. Joseph High School senior class officers in Conway presented the senior crest, which represents its graduating class of 31 seniors, to the entire faculty, student body and clergy April 9. It’s an annual tradition symbolizing how their Catholic faith is intertwined with their educational achievements. Framed crests of previous years line the high school’s halls.

Senior Class President Olivia Keisling said seniors Izzie Garrett and Ella Rose were instrumental in its creation. Senior class sponsor Alicia Yrle was also involved with the project. 

“Our crest centers around unity with the Eucharist as its focal point,” Keisling said. “It is the center of our faith as Catholics, and it connects us as one. When we come to the altar to receive Jesus’ body, we become family.”

The crest includes a bible verse from Romans 12:5 and a rosary frames it, which holds the name of a senior in each bead. 

Framed crests of previous years line the high school’s halls.