The following is the Message sent by the Holy Father Leo XIV to His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, on the first anniversary of the death of Pope Francis, read out during the Eucharistic celebration held this afternoon in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major:

Message of the Holy Father

To His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re
Dean of the College of Cardinals

On the first anniversary of the death of our beloved Pope Francis, his memory lives on in the Church and throughout the world. As I am away from Rome on an Apostolic Journey in Africa, I join in spirit with all those who will gather in the Liberian Basilica to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice in memory of my Predecessor. Together with the Cardinals, Bishops, priests and religious, I greet with affection the pilgrims who have come to show him their affection and gratitude.

Death is not a wall, but a door that opens out onto the Mercy that Pope Francis tirelessly proclaimed. The Lord called him to Himself on 21 April last year, in the heart of the Paschal light. He concluded his earthly pilgrimage in the embrace of the Risen Christ, in that “joy of the Gospel” that inspired one of his most incisive Apostolic Exhortations.

He was the Successor of Peter and Shepherd of the universal Church at a time that marked, and continues to mark, an epochal change—a change of which he was fully aware, offering all of us a courageous witness that represents a significant legacy for the Church.

His teaching was lived as a missionary disciple as he liked to say. He remained a disciple of the Lord, faithful to his Baptism and to his consecration in the episcopal ministry, to the very end. He was also a missionary, proclaiming the Gospel of mercy “to everyone, everyone, everyone”, as he often said. The good that came from his witness as a caring Shepherd touched the hearts of so many people, even to the ends of the earth, thanks also to his apostolic pilgrimages and especially to that final “journey” of his illness and his death.

In harmony with his predecessors, he took up the legacy of the Second Vatican Council and urged the Church to be open to mission, a guardian of the world’s hope, passionate about proclaiming that Gospel which is capable of giving every life fulfilment and happiness.

We still hear his exhortations, expressed in eloquent words, to make the Good News more accessible: mercy, peace, brotherhood, the odour of the sheep, the field hospital and many others. Each of these expressions leads us back to the Gospel he lived out in a new language that proclaims the same Gospel as always.

Pope Francis nurtured a deep devotion to Mary throughout his life; indeed, we recall that he visited Saint Mary Major, the site of his burial, on many occasions, as well as numerous Marian shrines around the world. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, help us to be, in every circumstance, tireless apostles of her divine Son and prophets of His merciful love.

From the Vatican, 12 April 2026

LEO PP. XIV