Pope Francis regularly called a church in Gaza to ask how residents there were doing during the Israel-Hamas war. He is remembered as a defender and consoling presence.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis. The beloved pontiff, the first Latin American pope in history, died earlier this week at the age of 88.

In Jerusalem, mourners gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to remember Pope Francis, who championed peace across the Middle East. Local clergy say he called Gaza’s only Catholic parish daily,