Pope Leo XIV marked the first anniversary of Pope Francis’s death by returning to themes he said Francis embodied—mercy and closeness to the poor—during a trip that has taken him across parts of Africa.
Leo delivered the tribute in Italian aboard the papal plane as he spoke with reporters, traveling on Tuesday from Angola to Equatorial Guinea. The remarks came as he was on the final leg of a four-nation African trip, with the flight passing over Central African Republic territory that Francis’s 2015 Holy Year had previously highlighted.
Leo opened by thanking God for what he called the “great gift of the life of Francis, to the church and the world,” saying Francis gave “so much to the church with his life, with his witness, with his word and with his gestures.” Speaking of what he saw as Francis’s defining example, Leo said that “so many times what he did was live truly being close to the poorest, the smallest, the sick, children, the elderly.”
In the tribute, Leo also recalled Francis’s preaching on human fraternity and “authentic respect” among all people, and he pointed to a special Holy Year Francis called in 2015 to emphasize God’s mercy and forgiveness. Leo’s comments came in a moment that, according to Leo’s account, echoed Francis’s setting of the Holy Year in the Central African Republic.
Leo tied the remembrance to specific moments from Francis’s papacy, including Francis’s “first Sunday noon prayer” as pope and a Mass celebrated two days before the pontificate was officially inaugurated. In that earlier preaching, Leo said, Francis addressed an adulterous woman and “how he spoke from the heart of the mercy of God,” and Leo concluded with a prayer that Francis was still “enjoying the mercy of the Lord.”
Francis died on Easter Monday last year after suffering a stroke, according to the account Leo was offering to reporters. Francis had been at the Vatican recovering from a five-week hospital stay for double pneumonia, and he had still managed to deliver a final Easter salute to the crowd with a popemobile route through St. Peter’s Square.
Francis’s death at 88 set the stage for the conclave that elected Leo a few weeks later, and Leo’s tribute unfolded alongside broader attention in Rome to the ways Francis shaped future leadership within the church. In the coverage, the focus also turned to Francis’s support for Robert Prevost, describing how Francis had promoted Prevost and later laid groundwork that followed into the election that brought Leo to the papacy.
As Rome marked the anniversary with commemorations, Leo’s remarks arrived alongside the release of commemorative books and other remembrance activities, including a Mass Tuesday evening at St. Mary Major basilica, where Francis’s tomb is located. Among the recollections discussed was a book by Salvatore Cernuzio, a Vatican Media reporter who wrote about his private relationship with Francis, including visits at the Santa Marta hotel where Francis lived.
In Cernuzio’s account, Francis told him in 2023 that Robert Prevost—then a prominent church official—was “a saint,” language that the report said carried more than a spiritual compliment. Cernuzio’s recollection described Francis using the term to describe people who handle conflicts and complex situations with composure and who foster community, and the account tied that description to Francis’s earlier decisions that placed Prevost in roles that would position him for future responsibilities.