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Monday, April 21, 2025, is Easter Monday. It’s the final day of the long weekend of Easter celebrations that traditionally kicks off on Good Friday and is celebrated by millions of people across the world. But while Easter Monday may be a widely celebrated religious holiday, many institutions remain open on the day, even if they were closed on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. However, some institutions will be closed in observance of the day. Heres what you need to know about whats open and closed on Easter Monday 2025. Is Easter Monday a federal holiday? No. Easter Monday is not a federally recognized public holiday in the United States. This means that federal institutions that are normally open on a Monday should be operating as normal today, too. However, its worth pointing out that Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri has recently introduced a bill called the Easter Monday Act of 2025 that would make Easter Monday a federal holiday, according to K8 News in Arkansas. It remains to be seen whether the bill will advance through Congress. Are banks open on Easter Monday? Yes, most major banks will be open on Easter Monday. This includes banks like Chase, PNC, Wells Fargo, Citi, and more. It should go without saying that banks online services will also be operating as usual. Are ATMs open on Easter Monday? Yep. Just as banks are, ATMs will be open on Easter Monday. But note that after a long holiday weekend, sometimes ATMs may have low cash availability. Is the post office open on Easter Monday? Yes, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is open on Easter Monday. The USPS is a federal organization, so it only pauses operations on federally recognized holidays. This means all USPS locations should be operating as normal. Is mail delivered on Easter Monday? Yes. The U.S. Postal Service will be making home mail deliveries on Easter Monday. Are FedEx and UPS operating on Easter Monday? Despite FedEx having closed or operating under a reduced schedule some days over the Easter holiday period, the private shipper says it will have normal operations on Easter Monday, according to FedExs holiday schedule. Likewise, UPS will also be operating as normal on Easter Monday, according to its holiday schedule. Is the stock market open on Easter Monday? Yes. Major U.S. stock markets will be open on Easter Monday, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq. Both these markets were closed on Good Friday, but their holiday schedules do not include Easter Monday. Many other major stock markets around the world are closed in observance of Easter Monday. Are schools open on Easter Monday? This depends, so it is best to check directly with the individual school in question. In many states, public schools may be open if Easter Monday doesnt coincide with their Spring Break week. However, according to the website Time and Date, Easter Monday 2025 coincides with Patriots’ Day in Maine and Massachusetts, which is a public holiday in those states. So, public schools in those states may be closed today. Likewise, private religious schools may choose to be closed today. But again, its best to check with your particular school in question directly. Are restaurants open on Easter Monday? Most company-run chain restaurants should be open as normal, including the usual suspects like McDonalds, Taco Bell, Subway, and Burger King. Fast casual chains like Chipotle and the like should also be open, as well as sit-down establishments like Red Lobster and Olive Garden. Most branches of coffee chains like Dunkin’ and Starbucks should also be open. However, do note that franchisees usually have the power to set their own holiday closures. So its possible individual stores of well-known chains could be closed in particular areas if the owners of those stores observe Easter Monday as a holiday. Are retail stores open on Easter Monday? Most big-box retail stores should be open on Easter Monday. This includes the usual big chains like Best Buy, Target, Costco, Home Depot, and Walmart. Are pharmacies open on Easter Monday? Most chain pharmacies like those at Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid should be open as normal. Are grocery stores open on Easter Monday? Yes, most regional grocery stores should be operating as normal on Easter Monday. However, note that they may be busier than usual today as many were likely closed all day on Easter Sunday.
Category:
E-Commerce
When David Mesfin was producing his documentary on Black surfing culture, Wade in the Water, back in 2023, he had a problem. Like millions of other people since ChatGPT and other GenAI tools emerged in late 2022, Mesfin was experimenting and using these tools to generate imagery for the film. But the results were always the same: white surfers with darkened skin, says Mesfin, a creative director at ad agency Innocean. It was a clear sign that these systems werent built with us in mind. That moment made it impossible to ignore how deeply bias is embedded in the technology. This week, sparked by that moment, Mesfin and his colleagues have launched Breaking Bias, a collaboration with stock image firm Pocstock, and more than 22 agency partners. As part of the project, 16 photographers donated their time to capture more inclusive images to help create what theyre calling the first-ever Ethical AI Guidebooka framework that helps creators and developers make AI more like the real world. Only 2.3% of AI-generated images of dentists featured Asians, despite the fact they make up 22% of the profession. About 9.6% of nurses are Latino, but 0% of AI-generated images reflected them. As more and more marketers utilize AI to create content, its crucial to build and maintain data sets that represent reality as accurately as possible. The goal of the Ethical AI Guidebook is to spark a mindset shiftencouraging content creators, agencies, and AI developers to make inclusivity a core part of how they generate and use imagery, says Mesfin. This initiative is about more than just fixing flawed outputs; its about creating long-term behavioral change within the AI ecosystem. By offering practical guidance and real-world examples, we aim to help the industry build technology that reflects the full spectrum of humanity.” Training challenge So far, the project has created more than 96,000 images for Pocstocks inventory, and the images will be accessible to companies that utilize AI image generation like Adobe, Amazon, Canva, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Shutterstock. The biggest challenge for Mesfin and project collaborators was the vetting process to make sure they selected photographers who not only had technical skill but also understood and were connected to the communities they were aiming to represent. We werent looking for models; we were looking for real people, and that meant being intentional about casting talent that reflected the full spectrum of the demographic, says Mesfin. For example, when capturing Black surfers, we made it a point to include both men and women, with a range of skin tones from dark to light. We also prioritized having both male and female photographers involved to bring different perspectives to the work. Strategic approach The challenge of tackling bias in AI models has been an ongoing issue for years. Pocstock cofounder and chief relationship officer DeSean Brown says that if the goal is for AI to produce outcomes that would appear more authentic and inclusive to humans there needs to be a finely curated and strategic approach to capturing excessive amounts of images and data. “We need to target specific people, communities, and actions, [then] capture and label the images accurately with cultural and technical nuance, says Brown. Many content creators and collectors may not have the experience, process, or resources to assess negative stereotypes and bias or the ability to label data in a culturally accurate way. Continued partnership among tech companies, content creators, stock and data collection companies can help the industry get to where it needs to be. Given the scale of the task at hand, Breaking Bias is an ongoing project that is always looking for new content partners to join who want to help build more representative data sets. If youre part of an AI company, we welcome your collaboration, too, says Mesfin. This is a collective effort, and the more voices we bring to the table, the stronger and more accurate the technology becomes.
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E-Commerce
In the early morning hours of January 7, 2025, Mario Tama, a Getty Images photographer based in Los Angeles, was woken up by intense winds. Every year, Southern California experiences Santa Ana winds, known for the hot, dry weather they bring. But these winds came early, and with record strength. Experts were warning that the wind, combined with high levels of flammable vegetation, created dangerous fire conditions. That morning, Tama had an ominous feeling. You just knew it was going to be bad, he says. The wildfires that broke out that day were just the beginning of a series of catastrophic blazes that burned through Los Angeles County. More than 40,000 acres burned, and tens of thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. The Palisades Fire alone burned more than 10,600 properties, and the Eaton fire another 9,200. And Tama was there to capture them. As a staff photographer at Getty Images for more than 20 years, Tama has borne witness to hurricanes, fires, droughts, and other disasters year after year. But the L.A. fires were happening in his own backyard. That proximity added another layer to his work. Photojournalists usually only get to spend a week or two on the ground when visiting a far-off location, before they’re pulled to cover something else. With the L.A. fires, Tama wantedand he says his editors encouraged himto document every stage of the journey. Since January, hes been photographing not only the fires, but also the clean-up efforts, how rows and rows of burnt shells of homes have turned into cleared lots, the way greenery has begun to grow back through the ashes, and how the community continues to come together. As national headlines move on to the latest news or the most recent disaster, Tamas images show the drawn-out reality of living through the climate crisis. People attempt to save a neighboring home from catching fire during the Eaton Fire on January 8, 2025, in Altadena, California. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] An Incomprehensible Disaster On January 7, when the fires began, Tama started by heading to the Palisades, where the first fire was reported. The strong winds meant firefighters couldnt do frequent aerial drops to disperse water or flame retardant onto the blazes, because it was difficult for the helicopters to fly. It just seemed like they werent able to stop it at all, he says. Then he got an alert about the Eaton Fire, and headed that way, though it took hours to get through the traffic. Covering two major fires simultaneously was a shock. Shooting the Eaton fire that evening, he remembers watching embers blowing from a home and swirling in the wind, and seeing smoke in all directions. Those embers, caught in the record-high gusts, are what caused the fire to spread so rapidly. An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] The disaster quickly reached an intense scale, and to capture that, Tama knew he needed aerial images. Theres no way from the ground to do it, he says. Two days after the fires began, during a respite in the winds, he was able to get into a helicopter and travel over the Palisades. As the helicopter first passed over the Santa Monica Pier, he saw a sea of white and smoke, of what used to be families homes, he says. To think of all those families, its just completely heartbreakingand still, to me, somewhat incomprehensible. As a photojournalist, Tama is always trying to make the reality on the ground tangible to viewers across the world. But in the case of the L.A. fires, he says it was difficult to actually translate what he witnessed. I feel like, to this day, no image, no matter how hard we try, can sum up the scale of the loss and devastation, and the human toll, he says. So the only thing I can do is just keep going back as much as I can. Eaton Fire survivor Dr. Jacqueline Jacobs, 88, stands for a photo in front of her destroyed home with her daughter Madrid Jacobs-Brown on January 30, 2025, in Altadena, California. Jacobs said she and her husband never received an evacuation warning on the night of the fire. She said, We heard someone in the street say, ‘Get out.’ And we did just that with only the clothes we had on. And everything now is in ashes. Only the chimney is standing.” A UCLA study revealed that Altadenas Black residents were 1.3 times more likely to have suffered complete destruction or major damage to their homes in the Eaton Fire. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] Documenting life after the fires The fires have since been contained, but L.A. residents are still living with the wake of the disaster. Theyrenavigating the loss of their homes and the process of rebuilding. Theyre battling with insurance companies and the bureaucracies of FEMA. Theyre volunteering to distribute foodand Tema says those volunteers include people who lost their own homes. Grassroots community groups are even trying to save trees in the burn zones. The trees were a really important part of those communities, he says. Youre seeing some of these trees that looked like they were definitely dead, [now] with green growth coming out, Tama says. It kind of gives you a little hope that nature is coming through. Community events continue to bring people together to talk through their experiences. No one can understand what people went through except their neighbors, Tama says. Hes also documented congregations that, though their churches were destroyed, have met in other venues. He has heard a number of times that it wasnt the building that made the church, it was the people. In an aerial view, Bishop Charles Dorsey leads a prayer rally for the Altadena community and for his church, amid the remains of Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center, which burned to the ground in the Eaton Fire, on April 12, 2025, in Altadena, California. Dr. Dorsey attended the church as a child with his family and has led the church for more than 20 years. He plans to rebuild and said, “It’s not just a building, but home also.” [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] One aerial photograph Tama captured shows a prayer circle on the grounds of a destroyed church property in April, months after the fires. The current bishop had been attending that church since he was a child. Hes planning to rebuild, but in the meantime he organized this circle to pray for the community. The group can be seen holding hands amid a mess of gray ash and rubble. But even through all that gray, the picture shows some greenery growing back. It felt like a powerful moment speaking to the strength of the community, Tama says. In another image, also taken in April, two Altadena residents excavate calla lilies from outside the burnt remains of their home. This couple welcomed Tama in to document their story, he says, and he learned that the flowers were originally planted by the womans father; the home had been in her family for 25 years. Before the Army Corps cleared the lot of the burnt debris, they noticed the flowers had regrown, and went to rescue them. They were saving those, and theyre planning to replant them at their new lot, Tama says. Leticia Serafin and Paul Fonseca retrieve flowers at the remains of their home, shortly before debris removal by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors, on April 16, 2025, in Altadena, California. The couple lost their home of 25 years in the Eaton Fire and are residing next to their property in a donated travel trailer. Serafin said the flowers died in the fire but regrew recently in front of their home. They are making plans to rebuild. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] The importance of climate photography Since Tama is a Los Angeles resident himself, he feels a particular pressure to communicate the loss and the suffering across Southern California. And as a photographer who has documented climate disasters for years, he also knows the value of sharing such images. You want everyone to see this and to know that this happened, so that people are aware that these disasters are becoming more frequent, and communities and local governments everywhere need to be ready, he says. The more these images make it to the public, he says, the more people can start to wrap their heads around what our current climate reality looks like. The country has changed dramatically since the L.A. wildfires, which adds even more importance to their documentation. The fires broke out when Joe Biden was still in office; since then, President Donald Trump has waged attacks on climate resources, taking steps to dismantle FEMA, and cut other forms of disaster recovery funding. Hes also gutted offices like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, which includes weather monitoring that helps communities prepare for climate disasters. Even more broadly, hes attacked and hobbled clean tech like renewable energy, and pushed for an increase in fossil fuelsthe burning of which leads to more greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, directly exacerbating climate disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and tornados. Tama knows that images have a way of searing themselves into our consciousness, our brain, in a way that statistics never will be able to do. He hopes his continued documentation of the L.A. fires and their aftermath speaks to people across the country about the reality of living through a climate disaster. If theres going to be less support from place like FEMA, he says, its even more important for local governments, local communities, to know whats going on and to understand how to prepare for this future. A rainbow appears over beachfront properties destroyed in the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Ocean on March 06, 2025, in Malibu, California. [Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images] Last year, Tama was on the ground in North Carolina covering Hurricane Helene. He spoke after that, too, about seeing the level of devastation, and the strength of community bonds. Even though the two disasters are drastically differentand Appalachia and Southern California are not usually mentioned in the same sentence”he sees a through line. What those two disasters speak to is the larger issue of, this isnt a Red State or a Blue State issue, he says. Its happening in all states, and we all need to be ready and prepared and paying attention.
Category:
E-Commerce
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. When I was a young professional in the 1990s, I didnt aspire to be a CEO. (I was a business journalist focused on getting more challenging editorial assignments.) And even if I had wanted to run a company, I wouldnt have known how to cobble together the necessary experiences to qualify for a CEO role. Graham Weaver, CEO and founding partner of Alpine Investors, has streamlined that process for ambitious MBAs who, unlike me, know early in their careers that they want to be CEOs. Alpine, a private equity firm with $18 billion in assets under management, offers a CEO-in-Training (CIT) program that places wannabe chief executives in senior roles at its portfolio companies. A crash course in being a CEO During their time in the CIT program, trainees are immersed in all aspects of running a business. They have access to mentorship from board members and executives at other Alpine-backed companies, and they regularly gather as a cohort for networking and peer coaching summits. Weaver says the program, launched in 2015, allows aspiring executives to move into CEO rolesa journey that can take decadesin just months or a few short years. Graham Weaver [Photo: Alpine Investors] We created a system where aspiring leaders could come in and learn the basics of being a CEO with a kind of safety net underneath them, which gives them a very, very high probability of success, says Weaver, who also teaches a class focused on leadership and entrepreneurship at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business. The CEO-in-Training program is highly selective. Alpine hired 14 CITs for its 2024 cohort, and this year it will recruit about 10 trainees in a process that is set to wrap up in early summer. The company says Stanford, Harvard Business School, Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, and the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School all confirm that the Alpine CIT program is one of the most applied-to programs among MBAs seeking executive roles in private equity (PE)-backed companies. What makes a successful CIT? Weaver says the ideal candidates for the CIT program have a will to winthats something we cant teach, but he also seeks candidates who can temper their competitiveness with self-awareness and emotional intelligence. We used to not screen for that, he says. We would get these really hard-charging people, and they wouldn’t work out in our system, where its really team-based. Finally, he looks for people who can create a followership, adding, this rarely is the charismatic person who stands up and gives the big rah-rah speech. Its actually just someone people trust; they want to go where this persons going. Alpines program has produced a diverse group of leaders: Since launching, the program has minted more than 65 full-time CEOs for its portfolio companies; nearly 40% are women, and nearly a quarter are women of color. Weaver says his commitment to training a new generation of executives stems from his belief that Alpines talent strategy differentiates it from other private equity firms in terms of attracting investing professionals and portfolio company executives alike. He says rather than ceding talent development to human resources, he has sought to operationalize it through programs such as the CIT program and other initiatives. Weaver personally dedicates nearly 50% of his time to assessing and developing talent, he says, including evaluating potential hires to run Alpine portfolio companies, designing culture, and more. The Gen Z difference Weaver, who has taught and hired employees from different generations, is bullish on Gen Z, the newest cohort to enter the workforce. I know a lot of people complain about this generation. The stereotype is that theyre going to quit their jobs more quickly or they have their own personal goals, and theyre difficult to manage, Weaver says. But underneath all that is that they want to make a difference. When I asked how a career in private equity, with its relentless pursuit of efficiency, margin improvement, and cash, can satisfy purpose-driven young people, Weaver noted that several Alpine portfolio companies provide software and services to nonprofits or support their communities through healthcare and education services. He says he takes pride in making sure the people who work at Alpine and its portfolio companiesabout 38,000 peoplehave meaningful work and career opportunities. And Weaver says he appreciates the values that Gen Z is bringing to Alpine. They hold us to a higher standard, he says. If you can meet that standard, Gen Zs amazing. How do you train the next generation of leaders? Are you or your team focused on developing young leaders through mentorship, formal training programs, or in other ways? Id love to hear about these efforts. Send me your thoughts at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Read more: Gen Z Fast Companys 142-point guide to managing Gen Z Meet the youngest founders on the Inc. 5000 list of Americas fastest-growing companies Gen Z distrusts capitalism. Will they prevail in changing the system?
Category:
E-Commerce
Pope Francis, historys first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88. Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement, which was read out by Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church, Ferrell said. Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy. But he emerged on Easter Sundayhis last public appearance, a day before his deathto bless thousands of people in St. Peters Square and treat them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause. Beforehand, he met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Francis performed the blessing from the same loggia where he was introduced to the world on March 13, 2013 as the 266th pope. From his first greeting that nighta remarkably normal Buonasera (Good evening)to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, Francis signaled a very different tone for the papacy, stressing humility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference. After that rainy night, the Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought a breath of fresh air into a 2,000-year-old institution that had seen its influence wane during the troubled tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, whose surprise resignation led to Francis election. But Francis soon invited troubles of his own, and conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists. His greatest test came in 2018 when he botched a notorious case of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, and the scandal that festered under his predecessors erupted anew on his watch. And then Francis, the crowd-loving, globe-trotting pope of the peripheries, navigated the unprecedented reality of leading a universal religion through the coronavirus pandemic from a locked-down Vatican City. He implored the world to use COVID-19 as an opportunity to rethink the economic and political framework that he said had turned rich against poor. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, Francis told an empty St. Peters Square in March 2020. But he also stressed the pandemic showed the need for all of us to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. At the Vatican on Monday, the mood was a mix of somber quiet among people who knew and worked for Francis, and the typical buzz of tourists visiting St. Peters Square on the day after Easter. While many initially didn’t know the news, some sensed something happening given the swarms of television crews. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, wiped tears from his eyes as he met with journalists in the press room. The death now sets off a weekslong process of allowing the faithful to pay their final respects, first for Vatican officials in the Santa Marta chapel and then in St. Peters for the general public, followed by a funeral and a conclave to elect a new pope. Reforming the Vatican Francis was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. Who am I to judge? he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest. The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. Being homosexual is not a crime, he told the Associated Press in 2023, urging an end to civil laws that criminalize it. Stressing mercy, Francis changed the churchs position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances. He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was immoral. In other firsts, he approved an agreement with China over bishop nominations that had vexed the Vatican for decades, met the Russian patriarch, and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq. He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the churchs opposition to abortion, equating it to hiring a hit man to solve a problem. Roles for women But he added women to important decision-making roles and allowed them to serve as lectors and acolytes in parishes. He let women vote alongside bishops in periodic Vatican meetings, following long-standing complaints that women do much of the churchs work but are barred from power. Sister Nathalie Becquart, whom Francis named to one of the highest Vatican jobs, said his legacy was a vision of a church where men and women existed in a relationship of reciprocity and respect. It was about shifting a pattern of dominationfrom human being to the creation, from men to womento a pattern of cooperation, said Becquart, the first woman to hold a voting position in a Vatican synod. The church as refuge While Francis did not allow women to be ordained, the voting reform was part of a revolutionary change in emphasizing what the church should be: a refuge for everyonetodos, todos, todos (everyone, everyone, everyone)not for the privileged few. Migrants, the poor, prisoners and outcasts were invited to his table far more than presidents or powerful CEOs. For Pope Francis, it was always to extend the arms of the church to embrace all people, not to exclude anyone, said Farrell, the camerlengo, taking charge after a pontiffs death or retirement. Francis demanded his bishops apply mercy and charity to their flocks, pressed the world to protect Gods creation from climate disaster, and challenged countries to welcome those fleeing war, poverty, and oppression. After visiting Mexico in 2016, Francis said of then-U.S. presidential canidate Donald Trump that anyone building a wall to keep migrants out is not Christian. While progressives were thrilled with Francis radical focus on Jesus message of mercy and inclusion, it troubled conservatives who feared he watered down Catholic teaching and threatened the very Christian identity of the West. Some even called him a heretic. A few cardinals openly challenged him. Francis usually responded with his typical answer to conflict: silence. He made it easier for married Catholics to get an annulment, allowed priests to absolve women who had had abortions and decreed that priests could bless same-sex couples. He opened debate on issues like homosexuality and divorce, giving pastors wiggle room to discern how to accompany their flocks, rather than handing them strict rules to apply. St. Francis of Assisi as a model Francis lived in the Vatican hotel instead of the Apostolic Palace, wore his old orthotic shoes and not the red loafers of the papacy, and rode in compact cars. It wasnt a gimmick. I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful, he told a Jesuit journal in 2013. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. If becoming the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope wasnt enough, Francis was also the first to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar known for personal simplicity, a message of peace, and care for nature and societys outcasts. Francis sought out the unemployed, the sick, the disabled and the homeless. He formally apologized to Indigenous peoples for the crimes of the church from colonial times onward. And he himself suffered: He had part of his colon removed in 2021, then needed more surgery in 2023 to repair a painful hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue. Starting in 2022 he regularly used a wheelchair or cane because of bad knees, and endured bouts of bronchitis. He went to societys fringes to minister with mercy: caressing the grossly deformed head of a man in St. Peters Square, kissing the tattoo of a Holocaust survivor, or inviting Argentinas garbage scavengers to join him onstage in Rio de Janeiro. We have always been marginalized, but Pope Francis always helped us, said Coqui Vargas, a transgender woman whose Roman community forged a unique relationship with Francis during the pandemic. His first trip as pope was to the island of Lampedusa, then the epicenter of Europes migration crisis. He consistently chose to visit poor countries where Christians were often persecuted minorities, rather than the centers of global Catholicism. Friend and fellow Argentine, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, said his concern for the poor and disenfranchised was based on the Beatitudesthe eight blessings Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount for the meek, the merciful, the poor in spirit and others. Why are the Beatitudes the program of this pontificate? Because they were the basis of Jesus Christs own program, Sánchez said. Missteps on sexual abuse scandal But more than a year passed before Francis met with survivors of priestly sexual abuse, and victims groups initially questioned whether he really understood the scope of the problem. Francis did create a sex abuse commission to advise the church on best practices, but it lost its influence after a few years and its recommendation of a tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for predator priests went nowhere. And then came the greatest crisis of his papacy, when he discredited Chilean abuse victims in 2018 and stood by a controversial bishop linked to their abuser. Realizing his error, Francis invited the victims to the Vatican for a personal mea culpa and summoned the leadership of the Chilean church to resign en masse. As that crisis concluded, a new one erupted over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington and a counselor to three popes. Francis had actually moved swiftly to sideline McCarrick amid an accusation he had molested a teenage altar boy in the 1970s. But Francis nevertheless was accused by the Vaticans one-time U.S. ambassador of having rehabilitated McCarrick early in his papacy. Francis eventually defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused adults as well as minors. He changed church law to remove the pontifical secret surrounding abuse cases and enacted procedures to investigate bishops who abused or covered for their pedophile priests, seeking to end impunity for the hierarchy. He sincerely wanted to do something and he transmitted that, said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean abuse survivor Francis discredited who later developed a close friendship with the pontiff. A change from Benedict The road to Francis 2013 election was paved by Pope Benedict XVIs decision to resign and retirethe first in 600 yearsand it created the unprecedented reality of two popes living in the Vatican. Francis didnt shy from Benedicts potentially uncomfortable shadow. He embraced him as an elder statesman and adviser, coaxing him out of his cloistered retirement to participate in the public life of the church. Its like having your grandfather in the house, a wise grandfather, Francis said. Francis praised Benedict by saying he opened the door to others following suit, fueling speculation that Francis also might retire. But after Benedicts death on Dec. 31, 2022, he asserted that in principle the papacy is a job for life. Francis looser liturgical style and pastoral priorities made clear he and the German-born theologian came from very different religious traditions, and Francis directly overturned several decisions of his predecessor. He made sure Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, a hero to the liberation theology movement in Latin America, was canonized after his case languished under Benedict over concerns about the credos Marxist bent. Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Benedict had relaxed, arguing the spread of the Tridentine Rite was divisive. The move riled Francis traditionalist critics and opened sustained conflict between right-wing Catholics, particularly in the U.S., and the Argentine pope. Conservatives oppose Francis By then, conservatives had already turned away from Francis, betrayed after he opened debate on allowing remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments if they didnt get an annulmenta church ruling that their first marriage was invalid. We dont like this pope, headlined Italys conservative daily Il Foglio a few months into the papacy, reflecting the unease of the small but vocal traditionalist Catholic movement that was coddled under Benedict. Those same critics amplified their complaints after Francis approved church blessings for same-sex couples, and a controversial accord with China over nominating bishops. Its details were never released, but conservative critics bashed it as a sellout to communist China, while the Vatican defended it as the best deal it could get with Beijing. U.S. Cardina Raymond Burke, a figurehead in the anti-Francis opposition, said the church had become like a ship without a rudder. Burke waged his opposition campaign for years, starting when Francis fired him as the Vaticans supreme court justice and culminating with his vocal opposition to Francis 2023 synod on the churchs future. Twice, he joined other conservative cardinals in formally asking Francis to explain himself on doctrine issues reflecting a more progressive bent, including on the possibility of same-sex blessings and his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Francis eventually sanctioned Burke financially, accusing him of sowing disunity. It was one of several personnel moves he made in both the Vatican and around the world to shift the balance of power from doctrinaire leaders to more pastoral ones. Francis insisted his bishops and cardinals imbue themselves with the odor of their flock and minister to the faithful, voicing displeasure when they didnt. His 2014 Christmas address to the Vatican Curia was one of the greatest public papal reprimands ever: Standing in the marbled Apostolic Palace, Francis ticked off 15 ailments that he said can afflict his closest collaborators, including spiritual Alzheimers, lusting for power and the terrorism of gossip. Trying to eliminate corruption, Francis oversaw the reform of the scandal-marred Vatican bank and sought to wrestle Vatican bureaucrats into financial line, limiting their compensation and ability to receive gifts or award public contracts. He authorized Vatican police to raid his own secretariat of state and the Vaticans financial watchdog agency amid suspicions about a 350 million euro investment in a London real estate venture. After a 2 1/2-year trial, the Vatican tribunal convicted a once-powerful cardinal, Angelo Becciu, of embezzlement and returned mixed verdicts to nine others, acquitting one. The trial, though, proved to be a reputational boomerang for the Holy See, showing deficiencies in the Vaticans legal system, unseemly turf battles among monsignors, and how the pope had intervened on behalf of prosecutors. While earning praise for trying to turn the Vaticans finances around, Francis angered U.S. conservatives for his frequent excoriation of the global financial market that favors the rich over the poor. Economic justice was an important themes of his papacy, and he didnt hide it in his first meeting with journalists when he said he wanted a poor church that is for the poor. In his first major teaching document, The Joy of the Gospel, Francis denounced trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive, based on a mentality where the powerful feed upon the powerless with no regard for ethics, the environment or even God. Money must serve, not rule! he said in urging political reforms. He elaborated on that in his major eco-encyclical Praised Be, denouncing the structurally perverse global economic system that he said exploited the poor and risked turning Earth into an immense pile of filth. Some U.S. conservatives branded Francis a Marxist. He jabbed back by saying he had many friends who were Marxists. Soccer, opera and prayer Born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the eldest of five children of Italian immigrants. He credited his devout grandmother Rosa with teaching him how to pray. Weekends were spent listening to opera on the radio, going to Mass and attending matches of the familys beloved San Lorenzo soccer club. As pope, his love of soccer brought him a huge collection of jerseys from visitors. He said he received his religious calling at 17 while going to confession, recounting in a 2010 biography that, I dont know what it was, but it changed my life. . . . I realized that they were waiting for me. He entered the diocesan seminary but switched to the Jesuit order in 1958, attracted to its missionary tradition and militancy. Around this time, he suffered from pneumonia, which led to the removal of the upper part of his right lung. His frail health prevented him from becoming a missionary, and his less-than-robust lung capacity was perhaps responsible for his whisper of a voice and reluctance to sing at Mass. On Dec. 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest, and immediately began teaching. In 1973, he was named head of the Jesuits in Argentina, an appointment he later acknowledged was crazy given he was only 36. My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative, he admitted in his Civilta Cattolica interview. Life under Argentinas dictatorship His six-year tenure as provincial coincided with Argentinas murderous 1976-83 dictatorship, when the military launched a campaign against left-wing guerrillas and other regime opponents. Bergoglio didnt publicly confront the junta and was accused of effectively allowing two slum priests to be kidnapped and tortured by not publicly endorsing their work. He refused for decades to counter that version of events. Only in a 2010 authorized biography did he finally recount the behind-the-scenes lengths he used to save them, persuading the family priest of feared dictator Jorge Videla to call in sick so he could say Mass instead. Once in the junta leaders home, Bergoglio privately appealed for mercy. Both priests were eventually released, among the few to have survived prison. As pope, accounts began to emerge of the many peoplepriests, seminarians, and political dissidentswhom Bergoglio actually saved during the dirty war, letting them stay incognito at the seminary or helping them escape the country. Bergoglio went to Germany in 1986 to research a never-finished thesis. Returning to Argentina, he was stationed in Cordoba during a period he described as a time of great interior crisis. Out of favor with more progressive Jesuit leaders, he was eventually rescued from obscurity in 1992 by St. John Paul II, who named him an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. He became archbishop six years later, and was made a cardinal in 2001. He came close to becoming pope in 2005 when Benedict was elected, gaining the second-most votes in several rounds of balloting before bowing out. By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ___ Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed from Milan. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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