Pope Leo pays tribute to ‘great gift’ Pope Francis on first anniversary of his death

NewsWorldEuropePope Leo pays tribute to ‘great gift’ Pope Francis on first anniversary of his deathPope Leo XIV has paid tribute to Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his deathNicole Winfield Wednesday 22 April 2026 09:35 BSTBookmarkBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":false,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"CF1:2961775To1","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-death-anniversary-pope-leo-xiv-b2962479.html","title":"Pope Leo pays tribute to ‘great gift’ Pope Francis on first anniversary of his death"}}CloseVatican announces death of Pope FrancisOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Europe","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}Pope Leo XIV has paid tribute to his predecessor, Pope Francis, on the first anniversary of his death, reflecting...