There is a lesson to be learned from the various health ailments that Pope Francis endured not only in his final days but throughout his life, Father Gerald Murray told Newsmax on Monday.

“He suffered a lot,” Murray, the pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in New York City, told “Newsline.” “And that’s really a valuable lesson for us. When we suffer, we imitate Christ in a way that is very moving because we’re, like him, carrying a cross that is not easy to bear.”

Francis, 88, died Monday of a stroke and irreversible heart failure. His death followed more than two months of being in and out of hospitals in Rome because of severe respiratory infections. He was initially hospitalized with bronchitis Feb. 14.

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