tributes from heads of state around the world
The day before, Pope Francis had briefly met the American vice-president, JD Vance, on the occasion of the Pascale celebrations. This Monday, April 21, the Vatican announced its death, which occurred at 7.35 am. Elected in 2013, François had been at the head of the Catholic church for twelve years and had led historic reforms to transform the Catholic Church.
A commitment that leaders around the world praised the announcement of his death. President Emmanuel Macron addressed “his condolences to Catholics around the world”, from Mayotte Island where he was on the move. He praised “the vocation of a man who, throughout his life, fought for more justice and for a certain idea of humanity, a fraternal humanity”.
On the social network X, the vice-president of the United States, JD VANCE-Deternier foreign leader to have been received by the Pope-claimed to be “wholeheartedly with the millions of Christians in the world who loved him”. Before adding: “I was happy to see it yesterday (Sunday, editor’s note), Even if he was manifestly very sick. “The politician, Donald Trump’s right arm, refers to the serious pneumonia of which the sovereign pontiff, still convalescent, struggled to recover after 38 days of hospitalization.
Other tributes from heads of state, from very different political sensitivities, followed this Monday, April 21. Among them, that of the very conservative Giorgia Meloni, president of the Council of Ministers in Italy, who declared in an official statement that the death of François “afflicts us deeply, because a great man leaves us”. Or that of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, member of the Socialist Party, who praised the pope’s commitment “for peace, social justice and the most vulnerable”, in a message on the social network X.
In Germany, the freshly elected Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed his “deep sadness”, and recalled that François was “the first Latin American in the Holy See, (having) touched peoples of the whole world, and beyond religious borders.” The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, praised her “love so pure for the poorest”.
The memory of the bishop of Rome was even mentioned within the Islamic Republic of Iran. During a press briefing, the spokesperson for Iranian diplomacy, Esmaïl Baghaï, said: “My colleagues have just taught me the news (…), I present my condolences to all Christians in the world.” Under the pontificate of François, the Catholic Church had strived to maintain stable diplomatic relations with Iran, in a highly flammable geopolitical context.
