It's Monday, April 28, 2025. I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and

events from a Christian worldview. We knew it would be big, and it was. We knew it would gain a great

deal of media attention, and it did. I'm speaking about Saturday's funeral for Pope Francis.

I'm talking about the Requiem Mass there in St. Peter's.

And as you are looking at a quarter of a million people gathering for this event,

it was a very big event indeed.

And, of course, it makes sense given the stature of the Roman Catholic Church,

just in terms of his worldwide influence, and given the odd situation that the Pope of the Roman

Catholic Church is also considered to be a reigning monarch and is treated as such by most foreign

nations as well. He is treated not only as a head of a church, he's treated as

a head of a government. And thus the funeral of a pope offers that rare opportunity for the

gathering of so many heads of state and others. President Donald Trump was there along with Mrs.

Trump. Former President Joe Biden was there along with Mrs. Biden. And as you look to the crowd,

and especially at the dignitaries,

you saw a gathering, that is one of those very rare events, almost every one of them unprecedented,

just in terms of historical significance. And of course, you have the simultaneous attention

in the Roman Catholic Church and observing the Roman Catholic Church, the simultaneous

attention to the legacy of this Pope, Pope Francis, and the question as to who will be his successor

and what that will mean. At this point, with the funeral over, even though there are nine days

of mourning, it is expected that it is the second question that is going to become a rather

public obsession. And that will not be satisfied until the new Pope is announced. But looking back

at Pope Francis, and we've done that in terms of his pontificate, I want us to take a look at a larger

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