President Donald J. Trump has ordered all United States flags on government and military properties to be lowered to half-staff in memory of His Holiness Pope Francis on the morning after his passing.
The Vatican announced the pope’s passing early Monday morning in Rome after a fight against pneumonia, Breitbart News reported. He was 88.
Francis had recently left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he was admitted on February 14, before briefly meeting with Vice President JD Vance on Easter Sunday.
Trump released a proclamation shortly after the news broke, calling for flags to be flown at half-mast until sunset out of “respect” for the Catholic leader:
As a mark of respect for the memory of His Holiness Pope Francis, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
“Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” the president said in a separate post on Truth Social.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a similar announcement following the pontiff’s death, ordering flags at city buildings and stationary flagstaffs to be lowered to half-staff “effective immediately,” NBC New York reported.
Vance, who is Catholic, also sent his condolences to the “millions of Christians all over the world who loved him” in an X post:
“I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful,” the vice president wrote. “May God rest his soul.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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