With great sadness, La Salle University joins the Catholic Church in mourning the passing of Pope Francis. He died on April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 in Rome.

To the University Community:

​With great sadness, La Salle University joins the Catholic Church in mourning the passing of Pope Francis. He died on April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 in Rome.

​The choice of name and the simple greeting—Buona sera—to the people gathered in Saint Peter’s square on the night of his election, March 13, 2013, gave the first hint to this Pope’s personality and priorities. The decision to live in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guest house and not the Papal apartments was the second hint. His was to be a papacy of a “shepherd close to his flock.”

The first to choose the name Francis after the beloved Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis emulated this great saint’s love for God’s creation, commitment to those in poverty, and for his solidarity with all women and men.

​One of five children, Pope Francis was born in Argentina on Dec. 17, 1936. The first pope from Latin America, and the first Jesuit to hold the office, Pope Francis was also the first pope who did not participate in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Though his papacy echoed the hopes and dreams of that council. He made his own the opening words from the Vatican document, Gaudium et Spes, The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. In his writings and addresses, the joys, hopes, griefs, and anxieties of migrants, the marginalized, the poor, and the abandoned were always close to his heart.

​​Pope Francis believed that “human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbor and with the earth itself.” His encyclical, Laudato Si, subtitled “on care for our common home,” the Pope advocated for the protection of the environment and respect for God’s creation. In his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, he voiced his conviction that we are all sisters and brothers, one family, and earth, our common home.

​There was no better place to show that common connection than in Philadelphia where Pope Francis visited in 2015. For the hundreds of thousands of people from all faiths who flocked to Philadelphia, Pope Francis was warmly embraced as he spoke from Independence Hall, celebrated Mass at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, visited a correctional facility, and waved to the enthusiastic crowds from the Popemobile. We were his final stop on a six-day trip to the United States that had coincided with the World Meeting of Families. But his work was just beginning.

​Among his efforts to promote human solidarity, and to realize the hopes of his various encyclicals, Pope Francis launched in September 2019, a Global Compact on Education. In doing so, he hoped “to rekindle our dedication for and with young people, renewing our passion for a more open and inclusive education, including patient listening, constructive dialogue and better mutual understanding.”

​Pope Francis’s legacy is a synodal church (journeying together) where women and men, along with clergy and religious, gather to listen and discern the Spirit’s action in our daily lives and in our decision making. We are called to contribute to building God’s reign among us.

​In his memory, let us challenge ourselves to manifest Pope Francis’s legacy by recalling our responsibility to be of service to the Church, society, our University, and to one another.

​May the soul of Pope Francis, and the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace.

​Sincerely,

​Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D.
President