Sacramento Catholics mourn death of Pope Francis: 'It's like we lost our father'

Rosalio Ahumada, The Sacramento Bee on Apr 21, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After attending Monday afternoon’s service at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Veronica Dilao walked out of the downtown Sacramento church still overwhelmed with emotion over the death of Pope Francis.

“I’m so sad,” Dilao said. “It’s kind of like mixed emotions, sad and happy. Happy because he is with God now, I know he’ll be up there. But sad because the Catholic Church, it’s like we lost our father.”

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America and the church’s 266th leader, died Monday morning at the age of 88 after suffering a cerebral stroke that put him into a coma and led to irreversible heart failure, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“Let us commend the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to the merciful embrace of Jesus, the Good Shepherd,” Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento said in a written statement Monday. “His Holiness served as the Lord’s vicar on earth; may he now enjoy contemplating his beloved Savior in heaven.”

A few dozen Catholic parishioners attended Monday’s regularly scheduled service at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament still filled with grief only hours after learning of Pope Francis’ death.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Pope Francis led with love of peace, seeking to protect and lift up the vulnerable. He said Pope Francis called on the world for “urgent climate action, condemned the death penalty and confronted painful truths,” including the Church’s role in the genocide of Indigenous peoples.

“Jennifer and I join the world in mourning the passing of Pope Francis,” Newsom said Monday in a written statement. “He saw God in all his creatures, reminding us of humanity’s obligations towards each other and the world we live in, asking us to ‘care for one another and let us be loving custodians of creation.”

Dilao, a devout Catholic originally from the Philippines now living in Sacramento, was somewhat shocked to learn of his death after seeing him on TV Sunday giving the Easter blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. She had always hoped of seeing Pope Francis in person, especially after his 2015 visit to her home country when she had already made her new home in the United States.

“He was really concerned for the poor, the underdog,” Dilao said. “His love for the people, the poor, the sick and the elderly.”

Alejandro De Leon, a seminarian for the Diocese of Sacramento, said learning of Pope Francis’ death wasn’t a complete shock considering he had been recovering in his apartment in Rome after dealing with an illness for more than a month and being hospitalized. Pope Francis had been in the hospital to treat pneumonia and a complex lung infection.

But De Leon said his death wasn’t something they were prepared for.

“Now we got like this surprise this morning,” De Leon said standing outside the church Monday. “A very sad moment.”

He said Pope Francis had the same message as Christ, but he shared that message with very different expressions with a priority for poor people, migrant people “and with all people who are suffering a lot through the world.”

De Leon said he met Pope Francis a few years ago during a visit to Mexico, where De Leon was in seminary. It was something he’ll never forget.

“It was like very joyful and very hopeful emotions being connected directly with him,” De Leon said. “It was just like having our grandpa or grandfather, with him praying with us. It was an amazing experience.”

____