Residents in the capital were still processing the news. Some rushed to cathedrals to pray while others who spoke to AFP were not yet aware of his passing.
Outside the Baclaran Church in metro Manila, 23-year-old Jeslie Generan said the reality of the pope's death was only just sinking in.
"I was shocked because I had already read that he was OK, he was no longer sick, that his condition improved," she told AFP.
"When I opened Twitter and read it... I thought it was fake news."
Inside the soaring cathedral, a framed portrait of the pope affectionally known as "Lolo Kiko", or "grandfather Francis", sat next to a statue of Jesus, a candle to either side.
A handful of parishioners filed down after the sermon, kneeling and praying for Pope Francis in front of his picture.
"We feel the loss because he is the face of the church," parishioner Marlon Delgado told AFP.
"I heard the news of his death on the television," said the 40-year-old, who attends mass every week.
"I was at first shocked and then a feeling of sadness overwhelmed me."
During an earlier visit to the capital's Manila Cathedral, AFP reporters found the pews in the dimly lit sanctuary largely empty and the altar's candles unlit shortly after news of the pontiff's death emerged.
But outside the massive structure, Jhayson Banquiles, 19, said the country's 85 million Catholics had lost the "voice of God".
"The pope's death is a big loss for Filipino Catholics. He is basically the voice of God here. Through him, we hear the word of God."
Vincent Abrena, 38, said he had learned of the death at his office.
"That's why after work I rushed to the cathedral ... to pray for him."
Pope Francis, who appointed four of the 10 Filipino cardinals in Church history, visited the archipelago nation only once, when he led a mass for survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan.
He came just over a year after the most powerful storm in Philippine history devastated fishing and farming towns and left more than 6,000 people dead in November 2013.
Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for his arrival, chanting "long live the pope" as he disembarked only to be pelted with rains and heavy winds.
"When I saw in Rome that catastrophe (the typhoon), I felt I had to be here. And on those very days, I decided to come here. I'm here to be with you," he said as many in the crowd clutched crucifixes and wept.
On Monday, a video about his visit had garnered more than five million views within two hours of its posting by a local news outlet.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric says Pope Francis sought peace
Baghdad (AFP) April 21, 2025 -
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Shiite Islam's highest authority in Iraq, offered his condolences on Monday for the death of Pope Francis, praising his work promoting "peace and tolerance".
Sistani, 94, who met the late pontiff in 2021 in the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, said in a statement issued by his office that it was an "important milestone" in supporting interfaith dialogue and "rejecting violence and hatred".
Francis had a "special role in serving the causes of peace and tolerance, and solidarity with the oppressed and persecuted around the world", Sistani said.
After his historic trip to Iraq, Francis said his meeting with Sistani -- who is extremely reclusive and rarely grants audiences -- had been "good for my soul".
The meeting marked a landmark moment in modern religious history and for Francis's efforts to deepen interfaith dialogue. Sistani told the pope that Iraq's Christians should live in "peace".
Despite the high risks to his personal safety, Francis visited the largely-ruined city of Mosul that was ravaged by the Islamic State group until the jihadists' defeat in 2017.
By the time of Francis's visit, Iraq's Christian population had shrunk during years of violence in the country to fewer than 400,000, from around 1.5 million before the US-led invasion of 2003.
Francis prayed for the victims of war outside the ruined centuries-old Al-Tahera (Immaculate Conception) Church, where he pleaded for Christians in Iraq and the Middle East to stay in their homelands.
On Monday, Benedictus Younan Hanno, the Archbishop of the Syriac Catholic Church of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities, called on churches to ring their bells for the deceased pope.
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani mourned a pope who had "a life devoted to serving humanity."
"We recall with reverence his historic visit to Iraq... an event that laid a meaningful foundation for interfaith dialogue and promoted fraternity and compassion among people of all faiths," he said.
Bells toll for Francis in jihadist-scarred Iraq
Qaraqosh, Iraq (AFP) April 21, 2025 -
Church bells tolled in Mosul and nearby towns Monday to mark the death of Pope Francis, the first pope to visit Iraq which suffered greatly at the hands of jihadists.
In the historic Al-Tahera church in the nearby town of Qaraqosh, where the Pope prayed in 2021, dozens of worshippers gathered for an Easter mass which also became an occasion to pay tribute to their beloved Francis.
Near the altar stood an empty wooden chair on which the pope had sat when he declared in a mass that he had entrusted the town's "rebirth" to the Virgin Mary.
His death "is a significant setback for Christians, especially in the Middle East", said Kadun Yuhana as he mourned a pope who had kept "a watchful eye on the region, much like a father to his children".
Yuhana, in his sixties, recalled with "profound love" the pope's historic visit to Qaraqosh, where the jihadists had ransacked and burned churches and smashed crosses.
"We were very happy that he visited his children in this small village, whose population has dwindled due to the emigration of thousands because of the injustice."
In 2014, the Islamic State group swept through Iraq's Nineveh plains, home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.
Within days, nearly all of Qaraqosh's 55,000 Christian residents had fled.
Boutros Mazen, a medical assistant, praised the "fraternity and love" fostered by Pope Francis during his visit to Iraq.
"He left something good to the Iraqi people: their cohesion and unity," he said.
By the time of Francis's visit, Iraq's Christian population had shrunk during years of violence in the country to fewer than 400,000 -- from around 1.5 million before the US-led invasion of 2003.
During his visit, the late pope met Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Shiite Islam's highest authority in Iraq.
It was a landmark moment in modern religious history, and for Francis's efforts to deepen interfaith dialogue.
In Mosul, he prayed for the victims of war and pleaded for Christians in Iraq and the Middle East to stay in their homelands.
Sanaa Abdul Karim, who had fled the jihadists' rule in Mosul to the northern city of Dohuk, described the pope's death as a "tragedy", praising his "humility" when he visited her hometown.
It is an "extraordinary loss... we are deeply moved by it, particularly because he supported the return of Christians to Iraq," she said.
burs-cbg/rh/srm
China expresses condolences after pope death
Beijing (AFP) April 22, 2025 -
China's foreign ministry expressed condolences on Tuesday following the death of Pope Francis.
The Vatican on Monday announced the death of the 88-year-old pontiff, who inspired devotion but riled traditionalists during 12 years leading the Catholic Church.
"In recent years, China and the Vatican have maintained constructive contact and carried out friendly exchanges," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
"China is willing to make joint efforts with the Vatican to promote the continued improvement of China-Vatican relations," Guo added.
In 1951, newly communist China severed ties with the Holy See, forcing Catholics to choose between membership in the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association or non-sanctioned churches loyal to the pope.
But under Francis, Beijing and the Vatican inked a 2018 agreement allowing both Beijing and the Holy See a say in appointing bishops in an attempt to close the schism in China's 12-million-strong Catholic community.
But the Vatican expressed its "regrets" in 2022 and 2023 after the unilateral appointment of two bishops by Beijing -- including one in Shanghai, the largest Catholic diocese in the country -- indirectly accusing it of having violated the 2018 agreement.
They agreed to extend the deal again in 2024.
Pope Francis had expressed a desire to visit China, which he called a "great country".
"I believe that China is a promise and a hope for the church," Francis said.
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