World News

A list of the U.S. cardinals who are under the age of 80 and eligible to enter the conclave May 7 to elect a new pope.

Mercy — the cornerstone of Pope Francis’ teaching and ministry — must guide the Catholic Church through its period of mourning and the uncertainty that lies ahead, the Vatican’s second-ranking official said.

Pope Francis was “a pope among the people, with an open heart toward everyone,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, as he presided over the funeral of the pope, who died April 21 at the age of 88.

From the first moments of his papacy, Pope Francis was heard using one particular word in his pontifical speeches. For him, it was a reminder that God is not the one who punishes, but the one who loves, and that the church, led by him, should seek to be the same — the church of “tenderness.”