David Gibson ’81 reflects on life of Pope Francis on CBS News

David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, spoke to CBS New York about Pope Francis who died April 21 at age 88. Gibson, a 1981 Furman University European history major, commented on the Pope’s humility, his Jesuit heritage and his record of addressing longstanding issues in the Catholic Church. A journalist, Gibson covered the Vatican earlier in his career. He has written books about Catholicism and has co-written and co-produced documentaries on Christianity for CNN and The History Channel. He co-authored a book about biblical archeology, “Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery,” which was the basis for a popular CNN series. In the CBS interview, Gibson speculated on who might succeed the Bishop of Rome.