IN FOCUS: Following the legacy of Pope Francis
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – In this edition of East Texas In Focus, KETK's Nolan Hoffman spoke with the Bishop of Tyler Greg Kelly on the death of Pope Francis and what's next for the Catholic Church.
The loss of Pope Francis mourned across the country
Pope Francis, born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, died of a stroke on Monday just a few hours after celebrating Easter Mass at Saint Peter's Square. Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler Greg Kelly recalled learning the tragic news about Pope Francis' death in his conversation with Nolan.
'It really came as a surprise,' said Kelly. 'Because he seemed like after being in the hospital so long that he was doing much better and that he was very active on Easter Sunday, he met with the Vice President. He went around Saint Peter's Square. He looked like he was resuming some of his normal activities.'
Francis' election as the new head of the Catholic Church in 2013 marked the first time anyone from the Americas and the southern hemisphere had ever been chosen as pope. Kelly recalled part of what's made Pope Francis so charming to people around the world were his big gestures like his first official trip abroad as pope.
'He would do these dramatic gestures. Like when he was first elected pope, he wanted his first trip to go to the island of Lampedusa, where a lot of immigrants from Africa coming across the Mediterranean in insufficient boats were drowning,' said Kelly. 'And he had such a heart for immigrants, the people who had to be on the move for whatever reason, and he wanted to go there and his staff kept kind of putting him off. One of them got a call from the Italian airline saying that they had received a call from a Jorge Bergoglio booking four seats on a commercial flight to Lampedusa. He was just going to go himself and so that's where they went.'
Kelly met Pope Francis when he was appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas in 2015.
'One of the requirements for a new bishop is they go to Bishop School. And so it's a week long formation process in Rome and on the Friday of that week is an audience with Pope Francis,' said Kelly. 'Each bishop gets to walk up and actually meet him personally. So that's the only time I actually met him in person and he was just very warm, ingratiating, beautiful smile.'
Pope Francis' funeral: Photo gallery
Later in 2024, Francis confirmed Kelly as the new Bishop of Tyler. As the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new pope in the next few weeks, Kelly offered his insight into what kind of pope they might select.
'I think it's someone that can build on the legacy of Pope Francis,' Kelly said. 'He was the first pope ever to come from South America, from the global South and so much more of the church, a lot of the numbers, the energy of the church is in South America and Africa. And I think somebody that's sensitive to the to the needs of those local churches as well as the church throughout the world.'
The Papal Conclave is expected to start the process of electing a new pope who will lead the world's 1.41 billion Catholics in the coming days.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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