After the deaths or resignations of their predecessors, the last six popes have been elected within a fairly short period of time — between two and three weeks.

Cardinals already present in Rome and those who were able to get to the city after Pope Francis’ death April 21 held their first meeting at the Vatican April 22.

The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced.

Over the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis held up two recurring images: the good shepherd who looks for the lost sheep and lays down his life to save them; and the good Samaritan, who did not ignore the wounded traveler, but helped him without asking for anything in return.

With his death April 21, Pope Francis marked yet another first in the history of the Catholic Church: he became the first pope to open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica without living to close it.

Calling Pope Francis “a modern-day prophet,” Kerry Alys Robinson said the late pope “read the signs of the times and awakened us to meaningful change in our behavior — within the Church and within the world.”

In his brief final testament, Pope Francis asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major and said he had offered his suffering for peace in the world.

Pope Francis, history’s first pope from the global south and a maverick who often delighted the world, died April 21 after fighting pulmonary disease for the last few months.

Just as hundreds of people had gathered at the Vatican each night to recite the rosary when Pope Francis was hospitalized, throngs returned to recite the Marian prayer for the repose of his soul after his death.

Pope Francis died April 21 after suffering a stroke and heart attack, said the director of Vatican City State’s department of health services. The pope had also gone into a coma.