Asia mourns passing of Pope Francis

UPDATED April 21, 2025, 12:00 p.m. ET

Church bells rang out in the Philippines and national and spiritual leaders across Asia expressed sorrow Monday, mourning Pope Francis who died aged 88 after a 12-year papacy.

The Argentine pontiff’s humble style and care for the poor resonated beyond his followers in the Catholic Church. He had traveled extensively across Asia since becoming leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics in 2013.

(Remo Casilli/Reuters)

During his tenure, Francis drew huge crowds in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Thailand where Muslims and Buddhists were in the religious majority and Catholics were in the minority. He also visited South Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Singapore.

The Vatican announced that the pope had died at 7:35 a.m. local time on Monday. He was hospitalized for 38 days from mid-February with respiratory problems that developed into double pneumonia. He had suffered from chronic lung disease as a young man.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr described Pope Francis as the “best pope in my lifetime,” saying in a Facebook post that he “led not only with wisdom but with a heart open to all, especially the poor and the forgotten.”

Church bells tolled across Manila on Monday. Nearly 80% of Filipinos identify as Roman Catholic.

(Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Francis visited the country in 2015 - two years after he was elected to head the Catholic Church, after the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI. An estimated 6 million to 7 million faithful attended an open-air Mass in Manila during his visit.

Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta said on Monday the death of the Francis, the first Latin American to be pope, was a tremendous loss for the world, not just Christians.

“He leaves behind a profound legacy of humanity, of justice, of human fraternity, a tremendous loss for the world, not only for Christians,” he told Reuters.

Francis was the first pope in three decades to visit Timor-Leste, Asia’s youngest, predominantly-Catholic nation. That 2024 trip also took him to Papua New Guinea – the only country in the Pacific region that he ever travelled to as pope.

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, expressed his sadness in a letter to the leader of the diplomatic mission of the Vatican in India.

“His Holiness Pope Francis dedicated himself to the service of others … consistently revealing by his own actions how to live a simple, but meaningful life. The best tribute we can pay to him is to be a warm-hearted person, serving others wherever and in whatever way we can,” the Dalai Lama wrote.

In the pope’s Easter message on Sunday, a day before his passing, he made special mention of Myanmar, which is reeling March 28 earthquake that killed thousands.

“During this time, let us not fail to assist the people of Myanmar, plagued by long years of armed conflict, who, with courage and patience, are dealing with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Sagaing,” the message said. “We pray for the victims and their loved ones.”

In Taiwan, the government announced it will send envoys to the pope’s funeral and that the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan will fly flags at half-mast for two days.

The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan.

In China, China’s Xinhua news agency and state-run CCTV briefly reported the Pope’s death Monday with one sentence quoting the announcement by the Vatican. There was no immediate official reaction.

In South Korea, both the ruling and main opposition parties expressed sorrow.

(Max Rossi/Reuters)

The opposition Democratic Party of Korea called him “a friend to the poor,” and the ruling People Power Party said it would do its utmost to establish peace on the divided Korean Peninsula, “remembering his words that ‘peace is not merely the absence of war, but the result of justice.’”

Updated with reaction from Dalai Lama, background on pope’s Easter message that mentioned Myanmar.