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Pope Francis led Catholics around the world for a dozen years, and for some younger adults he is the pope they thought of as their own - concerned about the environment, the poor and peace. NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose reports on how some younger Catholics say they will remember Francis.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: The young adult group at St. Monica's Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California, is where scores of members in their 20s and 30s meet, learn about the faith and serve the community. One active member is 29-year-old software engineer Daniel Trinh (ph). During college in Philadelphia, he'd fallen away from his Catholic upbringing, but then Pope Francis visited the city during his one and only trip to the United States.
DANIEL TRINH: I remember going out there in that massive crowd just to see a glimpse of him.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
POPE FRANCIS: In the name of Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
TRINH: At the time, I just really didn't know what he was all about.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FRANCIS: Peace be with you.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGREGATION: And with your spirit.
DEROSE: What he learned was Francis' focus on serving the most vulnerable - important to Trinh, who often volunteers cooking breakfast for the homeless on weekends. That encounter with Francis got him excited about the possibility of returning to the church.
TRINH: Just the fact that he picked Francis as his pope name - St. Francis, he was born very rich, but he gave up everything so that he could help those who were in need.
DEROSE: And it got him thinking about the kind of person Pope Francis was and the kind of person Daniel wanted to be.
TRINH: I'd say that his teachings helped strengthen my faith.
DEROSE: A faith lived out in service - that's also important to St. Monica member Sean Zaribe (ph), who works with people with disabilities. Francis, he says, heard people out, trying to bridge the divide between traditional and more progressive Catholics. As an example, he gives Francis' openness to priests blessing people in same-sex relationships.
SEAN ZARIBE: Even if certain things of the church won't change, at least when people are feeling like they're being heard, it kind of piques their interest in their faith more.
DEROSE: Zaribe is 26, which means Francis was pope longer than anyone else during his life - longer than John Paul II or Pope Benedict.
ZARIBE: I mean, I think I was alive for JP II, but I didn't really care at the time. (Laughter) I don't know, I was too young, I guess.
KATIE SAYEGH: You were 3.
ZARIBE: Yeah (laughter).
DEROSE: Jumping in there is Katie Sayegh, who serves on St. Monica's parish council. That's a leadership role. Many had hoped Francis would create more leadership opportunities for women in the church, like serving as deacons. She's disappointed he didn't.
K SAYEGH: We tend to feel like a second-class citizen, a little more extraneous and so, you know, seeing him speak more on that and what unique roles we can play.
DEROSE: But she was deeply moved by the way Francis spoke about social issues, from the environment to respect for life.
K SAYEGH: So many people in the world today equate religion with hypocrisy. And when we say life is sacred, we mean that - at all stages, of all people, at all places around the world. And he's been so vocal about caring for the elderly, caring for the poor, caring for immigrants and refugees and people that need to be seen and healed at all stages.
GABRIEL SAYEGH: I always make a point to look up whose feet he's chosen to wash on Holy Thursday.
DEROSE: That's Katie Sayegh's husband, Gabriel.
G SAYEGH: He always picks someone that probably doesn't have a voice - homeless person or a prisoner - and in that small way gives them a voice, which is really powerful.
DEROSE: Powerful because previous popes carried out that pre-Easter tradition washing the feet of cardinals and bishops. Katie finds that departure inspirational and emblematic of Francis' way of serving the Church.
K SAYEGH: He's challenged, frankly, everyone in the world to be a little bit more Christ-like. It's really helped me be proud to say that I'm Catholic.
DEROSE: And proud to live what Francis preached. Jason DeRose, NPR News, Santa Monica, California. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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