By prioritizing the environment, championing the poor and striking a more welcoming tone with LGBTQ Catholics, Pope Francis inspired Catholic leaders in Los Angeles and the SoCal area.

The alarm of the conservative right seemed to be confirmed when Raul Castro, then President of Cuba and leader of the country’s Communist Party, praised Francis’s critique of laissez-faire capitalism. “If the Pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church,” he said. “I am not joking.”

The dean of students at Xaverian Brothers in Westwood is among the mourners at the Vatican paying respect to Pope Francis.