By noon Monday, black and purple bunting hung across the brick front of St. Raphael Catholic Church. Inside the Naperville parish, a framed portrait of Pope Francis stood in the vestibule.
Beneath it sat a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums and a single lit candle.
Francis died Monday at his Vatican City residence, one day after he delivered an Easter Sunday blessing to thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square. He was 88.
After the Vatican announced the pontiff’s death, which it said was caused by a stroke that put Francis in a coma and led to heart failure, the news reverberated across the Chicago area, Naperville included.
At St. Raphael’s off Modaff Road, Deacon Leonard Penkala prepared the church for mourning. He put up bunting and a small memorial. Inside parish offices, which were closed in observance of Easter Monday, an “in memoriam” message for the pope flashed across television screens.
“We just want to recognize that as a church, we go through a mourning (period),” said Penkala, who is also the director of liturgy for St. Raphael’s.
The death of a pope begins a precise sequence of events that include the confirmation of death in the pontiff’s home, the transfer of the coffin to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City for public viewing, a funeral Mass and burial. Interment must take place between the fourth and sixth day after his death.
After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the “novendiali.” The Vatican announced that Francis’ funeral will be held Saturday.
Penkala said it was a “complete shock” to hear of the pope’s passing, especially after Easter Sunday and the days preceding the holiday, known as Holy Week.
“To expect it to happen on this particular day obviously takes everybody by surprise,” he said.
The first thing Penkala did after he learned Francis died was say a prayer and “deal with the loss personally.” The second, he said, was ask himself, “What does the church require of me to serve today?” Speaking to the former, Penkala said, “I think it’s the same thing that every family faces when they lose a loved one. You have to go through your own grieving but at the same time, you have to meet with the funeral parlor. You have to go meet with the church.”
Penkala said Francis “will be looked upon well in history.”
Argentine-born, Francis became the first Latin American pope when he was elected in 2013 following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. He was also the first to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar known for personal simplicity, a message of peace and care for society’s outcasts.
“He was a champion of the poor,” Penkala said. “He was a champion of the underprivileged. He was a champion of those who … have had very little voice in the church.”
Francis’ tenure included approving church blessings for same-sex couples and adding women to important decision-making roles in the Vatican. His papacy, though, also drew criticism from conservative-leaning Catholics who took issue with his progressive bent.
A parishioner at St. Raphael’s Monday, who asked that her name not be used, said she thinks the pope will be remembered for his kindness and gentleness.
“He was a very gentle man, very holy,” she said. “And he always looked out for the downtrodden.”
At Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in downtown Naperville — the oldest established parish in DuPage County — a portrait of the pope was placed at a side altar. In front of the portrait, a white skull cap sat on a red velvet cushion.
A second framed picture of the pope was placed in an adoration chapel on the church campus named for St. Francis.
Lucy Wilki, 75, of Naperville, walked towards the chapel Monday evening. She goes to adoration weekly and Mass “mostly every day,” she said. Wilki said she was surprised by the pope’s death, noting she had known Francis had been sick earlier this year but “we thought he got through it.”
In mid-February, Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he spent 38 days battling a near-fatal case of pneumonia in both lungs.
Wilki said she was praying “for the world’s healing” in the wake of Francis’ death. She also said it was too soon to think about the next pope.
“The church is supposed to be in mourning right now and focusing on that,” she said. “So we can’t think (about) the next step yet. I’m just praying for peace.”
To select a new pope, cardinals elect a successor through what’s known as the conclave.
“As Catholics, all of us priests, deacons, religious sisters, and parishioners of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish are saddened by the death of His Holiness, Pope Francis I,” Father William De Salvo, the church’s pastor, said in an emailed statement. “We mourn the loss of our Holy Father, who was a courageous and consistent witness and advocate for the truths of our Catholic faith, for life, peace, and love for God and one another.”
As of Monday evening, Sts. Peter and Paul hadn’t yet scheduled a special Mass for the pope, according to De Salvo. Rather, the parish is encouraging people to attend a remembrance Mass to be held by the Diocese of Joliet — which includes DuPage, Kendall, Will, Grundy, Kankakee, Iroquois and Ford counties — on Thursday at Joliet’s Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus.
The Chicago Tribune’s Jonathan Bullington, Carolyn Stein and Ikram Mohamed and The Associated Press contributed.
