The pope's death, and the Christian response
Today, April 21, 2025, at 7:35 a.m., Jorge Mario Bergoglio (known to the world as Pope Francis) breathed his last. And in that moment, the man who claimed to be the "Vicar of Christ" stood before the true Christ, not robed in white, but stripped of title, mitre, and human honour. Death is no respecter of popes. It rips through all ecclesiastical garments and leaves only what is eternal. And for a man who represented one of the most powerful religious systems on earth—a system that dares to call itself the Church—his death is not merely an earthly event. It is a cosmic reminder: God is not mocked (Galatians 6:7). Rome will canonize him. The world will remember his diplomacy, his interfaith outreach, his social reforms. He welcomed idolaters and atheists, blessed what God has cursed, and exalted human traditions above the Word of God. But Heaven does not weigh men by sentiment. It weighs them by truth. And the gospel Rome preaches is another gospel (Galatians 1:6–9)—a Christ + ...