the world is mourning the death of Pope Francis who reshaped the papacy through his humility and empathy according to the Vatican the Pope died this morning at 7:35 a.m just hours after the 88-year-old made his last public appearance meeting one-on-one with Vice President J d vance and then made his way through a crowd of 35,000 faithful in St peter Square for Easter via the Pope mobile the Catholic leader had a tough bout with bronchitis in February where he was hospitalized with what Vatican officials at the time called a complex clinical picture including a diagnosis of double pneumonia but his health had been in decline for years his papacy was marked by a number of firsts francis was the first non-European pope in a thousand years the first from Latin America and the first Jesuit he was known for his advocacy for the poor and marginalized including migrants and refugees and didn't shy away from political or social issues calling for action on climate change expressing inclusivity for LGBTQ plus individuals even allowing priests to bless gay couples but he also reaffirmed the church teaching that marriage is between a man and woman and some say failed to take a strong enough stance on the clergy sexual abuse scandal well the Catholic Church now sits at a crossroads as cardinals from around the world gather in Vatican City to choose Francis's successor for more on his life and legacy I'm joined by Father Steven Victor pastor of St elizabeth's Catholic Church in Wyoff father Victor uh thank you so much for your time let me just ask you first what are some of the key moments that you'll remember from this papacy pope Francis really gave us many wonderful memories but I do have one particular personal one it was in May of 2019 i just published a book a research book that I had done and I had the opportunity of presenting it to him in Rome with a fellow priest friend of mine and I just remember how tender and kind uh the pope was as he shook our hands and he looked at our book and I think that tenderness of Pope Francis is something that I'll always cherish and something I also try to imitate in my own life as a priest but uh that's on a personal level on a broader level i think the thing that captured my attention so much was that very first moment when he was announced as the pope and he stood on the balcony uh 12 years ago at St peters and it was just so beautiful to see him asking everyone to bless him before he gave the blessing you could tell it was just a warmth a cordiality that was in his voice and his way of being that I think it's maintained itself all throughout and then so many beautiful phrases i think he used uh I don't know if you want to say he coined the phrases but they were phrases where he described the church as a field hospital in the world and how we have to be ready to attend to people as they are and their their difficulties their present moments and then also when he spoke about priests and bishops he's saying that you know you have to have the smell of the sheep on you meaning that your pastor is really really close to your people so those are just some immediate thoughts that come to my mind one that comes to mind for me um was really leaning into what some would say was his more progressive nature back in 2013 when he was asked about gay priests where he said you know um I I'm not here to condone them and who am I to judge them um that really resonated throughout the world oh I agree that was a phrase that early on in his service as pope uh really I think resounded all throughout the world and I think it's emblematic of you know whatever the issue is we as Catholics as the word Catholic means in the Greek it literally means universal and I think what Pope Francis was trying to say by that statement as he did with all of his actions he was saying to us that we need to be universal we we should not exclude anyone from our hearts uh or our actions What do you say to sort of the balance of how he held um the papacy well I think like all popes before him and I presume all the popes after him it is always striking that balance between uh what we hold to be the revelation from God that comes to us through scripture uh the tradition the magisterium of our church i think Pope Francis is always very conscious of that uh but also at the same time trying to understand the modern world we live in and he was you know a young priest at the time during the second Vatican council which was a major watershed moment for us as a church and it was a moment where we moved away from having mass in the Latin into the vernacular languages it was a time of uh outreach to other religions interreligious dialogue I think Pope Francis was very much imbued with all of that spirituality that we as a church have been really trying to implement uh throughout the years so I think we'll always be a balance there of trying to as we said before kind of greet people where they're at but also try to be faithful to our teaching as a church so I think he I think he did that very well there's of course a weeksl long process that starts now um to choose a new pope do you think that the stances he took both uh those that um maybe alienated some conservatives maybe alienated some progressives do you think that that will move the needle in terms who of who might be chosen next i really don't know in my lifetime whenever there's been a papal election I've always made my guesses and some of my brother priests we all try to figure it out and we've all been wrong all the time so um I really don't know you know who will succeed him but we as Catholics really do believe that he will be the successor of St peter he will what we call our holy father the vicor of Christ on earth the one who represents the teaching of the church so whomever is eventually elected I would invite all people to accept him and his teaching as what we consider him to be father Steven Victor thank you so much for your time thank you Briana wonderful to be with you god bless you