POPE Francis is dead. I have been asked to write a reflection on his pontificate, and I confess at the outset a deep dis-ease at the prospect. I have many friends who are Catholic, both Latin and other rites, for whom this is a death in the family. Their grief is both real and personal. Even among those who found much in Francis’s reign that pained them, there is still a profound sense of loss. I do not for a moment wish to transgress this boundary

TIMOTHY Dudley-Smith, who wrote Tell Out My Soul and over 400 other hymns, died August 12 at the age of 97. He also served as Bishop of Thetford in the Church of England from 1981 to 1992.