Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez led a mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Monday (April 21) in honor of Pope Francis.
"I'm going to miss him big time," Gomez said during the mass. Following the ceremony, he spoke to the media, accompanied by auxiliary bishops.
Meanwhile, Los Angelenos praised the late Pope Francis as a "noble and fair human being" who showed the world mercy.
Mourners at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles expressed pain and sorrow for his passing, but also said they were happy that Francis was already with god in heaven.
Pope Francis, 88, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, died after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, the Vatican said, ending an often turbulent reign in which he sought to overhaul an ancient and divided institution.
He had suffered double pneumonia this year, but his death came as a shock after he appeared in St. Peter's Square in an open-air pope-mobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday, suggesting his convalescence was going well.
(Production: Sandra Stojanovic, Alan Devall, Liliana Salgado, Jorge Garcia, Nathan Frandino)