Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff who ministered with a charming, humble style, dies at 88

Pope Francis Dead at 88: The world mourns the passing of Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, who died Monday at the age of 88. His papacy, marked by a humble approach and dedication to the impoverished, resonated globally, though his criticisms of capitalism and climate change sparked opposition from conservatives within the Catholic Church.

News of Pope Francis’s Death Reverberates Across Rome and the Vatican

Following the somber announcement, church bells throughout Rome began to toll. Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, delivered the news from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, the Pope’s residence.

Cardinal Ferrell stated, “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire existence was consecrated to serving the Lord and his Church.”

Pope Francis’s Health Battles and Final Easter Appearance

Pope Francis had a history of chronic lung issues, including the removal of a lung portion earlier in life. He was hospitalized at Gemelli hospital on February 14, 2025, due to a respiratory crisis that escalated into double pneumonia. His 38-day stay marked his longest hospitalization during his twelve years as Pope.

Just a day prior to his death, on Easter Sunday, he made a public appearance in St. Peter’s Square. He blessed the gathered thousands and surprised them with an impromptu popemobile drive through the piazza, eliciting enthusiastic cheers and applause.

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A Papacy Defined by Humility and Reform

From his initial papal greeting, a simple “Buonasera,” to his advocacy for refugees and the marginalized, Pope Francis established a distinctly different papal style. He emphasized modesty over arrogance for a Catholic Church confronting scandals and accusations of indifference.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentine native elected on that rainy night of March 13, 2013, injected a renewed vigor into the 2,000-year-old institution. This followed a period of declining influence during Pope Benedict XVI’s troubled tenure, whose unexpected resignation paved the way for Francis’s ascension.

However, Francis’s progressive inclinations soon generated internal conflict. Conservatives increasingly disapproved of his inclusive approach towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and his firm stance against traditionalist factions. A significant challenge arose in 2018 with a mishandled clergy sexual abuse case in Chile, reigniting a scandal that had persisted throughout previous pontificates.

Subsequently, Pope Francis, known for his public engagement and global travels to peripheral regions, navigated the unprecedented complexities of leading a global faith throughout the coronavirus pandemic from a locked-down Vatican City.

He urged global leaders to view COVID-19 as an opportunity to reassess the economic and political structures that he argued fostered division between the wealthy and the poor.

“We have come to understand that we are all in the same boat, all fragile and disoriented,” Francis declared to a deserted St. Peter’s Square in March 2020. He underscored that the pandemic revealed the necessity for collective action, emphasizing “all of us to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.”

Vatican Reform Initiatives

Elected with a mandate for Vatican administrative and financial overhaul, Francis exceeded expectations by initiating significant changes within the Church, albeit without altering core doctrines. His famous response, “Who am I to judge?” when questioned about a purportedly gay priest, exemplified this approach.

This statement conveyed a message of acceptance to the LGBTQ+ community and others feeling excluded by a Church historically focused on sexual propriety over unconditional compassion. He affirmed to The Associated Press in 2023, “Being homosexual is not a crime,” advocating for the abolishment of civil laws criminalizing homosexuality.

Emphasizing compassion, Francis shifted the Church’s stance on capital punishment, deeming it inadmissible under all circumstances. He further proclaimed the possession of nuclear weapons, not solely their deployment, to be “immoral.”

In other landmark actions, he ratified an accord with China concerning bishop appointments, a matter that had troubled the Vatican for decades, met with the Russian patriarch, and fostered new dialogues with the Muslim world through visits to the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq.

He reaffirmed the exclusively male, celibate priesthood and upheld the Church’s opposition to abortion, comparing it to “hiring a hitman to solve a problem.”

Expanding Roles for Women in the Church

However, he appointed women to crucial decision-making positions and permitted them to serve as lectors and acolytes within parishes. He also allowed women to vote alongside bishops in Vatican synods, addressing long-standing grievances that women, who constitute a significant portion of church labor, were excluded from positions of authority.

Sister Nathalie Becquart, appointed by Francis to a high-ranking Vatican post, characterized his legacy as envisioning a Church promoting reciprocal and respectful relationships between men and women.

Becquart, the first woman with voting rights in a Vatican synod, stated, “It was about transforming a pattern of dominance — from human beings over creation, from men over women — into a pattern of cooperation.”

The Church as a Sanctuary for All

While female ordination remained prohibited, the voting reform exemplified a revolutionary shift in emphasizing the Church’s role as a haven for everyone — “todos, todos, todos” — rather than an exclusive club for the privileged. Migrants, the poor, prisoners, and outcasts gained greater access to him than presidents or powerful executives.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell asserted, “For Pope Francis, the constant aim was to extend the Church’s embrace to all individuals, excluding no one.”

Francis urged bishops to practice mercy and charity towards their congregations, implored global protection of creation from climate catastrophe, and challenged nations to welcome those fleeing conflict, destitution, and persecution.

Following a 2016 visit to Mexico, Francis remarked about then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, stating that anyone advocating for a wall to exclude migrants “is not Christian.”

While progressives lauded Francis’s emphasis on Jesus’s message of compassion and inclusivity, conservatives expressed concern that he was diluting Catholic doctrine and endangering Western Christian identity, with some even labeling him a heretic.

Several cardinals openly challenged his positions. Francis typically responded to conflict with silence.

He simplified the annulment process for married Catholics, authorized priests to grant absolution to women who had undergone abortions, and decreed that priests could bless same-sex unions. He initiated dialogue on topics such as homosexuality and divorce, granting pastors discretion in guiding their communities, rather than enforcing rigid rules.

St. Francis of Assisi: A Guiding Example

Francis opted to reside in the Vatican guesthouse instead of the Apostolic Palace, wore practical shoes instead of traditional papal loafers, and preferred modest vehicles. This was not merely symbolic.

He conveyed to a Jesuit publication in 2013, “I clearly see that the Church’s most pressing need today is the capacity to heal wounds and comfort the hearts of the faithful. I envision the Church as a field hospital after battle.”

Beyond being the first Latin American and Jesuit Pope, Francis was also unique in choosing his papal name after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century friar celebrated for his personal simplicity, message of peace, and care for nature and the marginalized.

Francis actively sought out the unemployed, the sick, the disabled, and the homeless. He formally apologized to Indigenous populations for historical Church wrongdoings dating back to colonial times.

Personally, he faced health challenges, including a colon resection in 2021 and further surgery in 2023 for hernia repair and scar tissue removal. Beginning in 2022, he frequently used a wheelchair or cane due to knee problems and experienced bouts of bronchitis.

He ministered with compassion on society’s edges: tenderly caressing the disfigured head of a man in St. Peter’s Square, kissing a Holocaust survivor’s tattoo, or inviting Argentinian waste pickers to join him onstage in Rio de Janeiro.

Coqui Vargas, a transgender woman from Rome whose community formed a special bond with Francis during the pandemic, stated, “We have always been marginalized, but Pope Francis consistently supported us.”

His inaugural papal journey was to Lampedusa island, then the focal point of Europe’s migration crisis. He consistently prioritized visits to impoverished nations where Christians were often persecuted minorities, rather than established centers of Catholicism.

Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, a friend and fellow Argentinian, attributed Francis’s dedication to the poor and disenfranchised to the Beatitudes – Jesus’s blessings in the Sermon on the Mount for the meek, merciful, and poor in spirit.

Sánchez explained, “Why are the Beatitudes central to this papacy? Because they were the very foundation of Jesus Christ’s program.”

Challenges and Missteps: Sexual Abuse Scandal

However, over a year passed before Francis engaged with survivors of priestly sexual abuse, prompting victims’ groups to initially question his comprehension of the gravity of the issue.

Francis established a sex abuse commission to advise the Church on best practices, but its influence waned after several years, and its proposal for a tribunal to judge bishops complicit in covering up abuse went unrealized.

The most severe crisis of his papacy emerged when he initially discredited Chilean abuse victims in 2018 and defended a controversial bishop linked to their abuser. Acknowledging his error, Francis subsequently invited the victims to the Vatican for a personal apology and summoned Chilean church leaders to offer their resignations en masse.

As that crisis subsided, another arose concerning ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington and advisor to three popes.

Francis had acted quickly to sideline McCarrick following an accusation of molesting a teenage altar boy in the 1970s. Despite this, the Vatican’s former U.S. ambassador accused Francis of having rehabilitated McCarrick early in his papacy.

Ultimately, Francis defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican investigation confirmed sexual abuse of both adults and minors. He revised church law to remove secrecy surrounding abuse cases and instituted procedures to investigate bishops who perpetrated or concealed abuse, aiming to end impunity within the hierarchy.

Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean abuse survivor initially discredited by Francis who later developed a close relationship with him, affirmed, “He genuinely wanted to make amends and conveyed that commitment.”

A Contrast with Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented resignation in 2013, the first in 600 years, paved the way for Francis’s election and created the unique situation of two popes residing in the Vatican.

Francis embraced Benedict’s presence, viewing him as a respected elder and advisor, encouraging him to emerge from his secluded retirement and participate in Church public life.

Francis described it as, “It’s like having your grandfather in the house, a wise grandfather.”

Francis lauded Benedict for “opening the door” to future papal resignations, fueling speculation about his own potential retirement. However, following Benedict’s death on December 31, 2022, Francis asserted his belief that the papacy is a lifetime commitment.

Francis’s more informal liturgical style and pastoral priorities clearly differed from the German-born theologian Benedict. Francis directly reversed several of his predecessor’s decisions.

He ensured the canonization of Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, a hero of Latin American liberation theology, whose case had stalled under Benedict due to concerns about the movement’s Marxist leanings.

Francis reintroduced restrictions on celebrating the traditional Latin Mass, which Benedict had relaxed, arguing its proliferation was divisive. This action incensed traditionalist critics and initiated ongoing conflict between right-wing Catholics, particularly in the U.S., and the Argentine Pope.

Conservative Opposition to Pope Francis

By this point, conservatives had already distanced themselves from Francis, feeling betrayed after he initiated discussion on allowing remarried Catholics to receive communion without annulment – a Church ruling deeming their first marriage invalid.

Italy’s conservative daily Il Foglio declared “We don’t like this pope” just months into his papacy, reflecting the discomfort of a small but vocal traditionalist Catholic movement nurtured under Benedict.

These critics amplified their objections following Francis’s approval of church blessings for same-sex couples and a contentious agreement with China regarding bishop nominations.

The Sino-Vatican agreement’s details remained undisclosed, but conservative detractors denounced it as a concession to communist China. The Vatican defended it as the most favorable arrangement attainable with Beijing.

U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a prominent figure in the anti-Francis opposition, likened the Church to “a ship without a rudder.”

Burke actively campaigned against Francis, starting with his dismissal as the Vatican’s supreme court justice and culminating in his vocal opposition to Francis’s 2023 synod on the Church’s future.

Twice, he joined other conservative cardinals in formally requesting clarification from Francis on doctrinal matters relating to a more liberal perspective, including same-sex blessings and outreach to divorced and remarried Catholics.

Francis eventually imposed financial sanctions on Burke, accusing him of fomenting “disunity.” This was among several personnel changes he implemented within the Vatican and globally to shift power away from rigidly doctrinal leaders towards more pastoral figures.

Francis emphasized that bishops and cardinals should embody the “odor of their flock” and minister to the faithful, expressing dissatisfaction when they failed to do so.

His 2014 Christmas address to the Vatican Curia stands as one of the most significant public papal rebukes. Addressing his closest collaborators in the Apostolic Palace, Francis listed 15 “ailments” he observed, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” lust for authority, and the “terrorism of gossip.”

In efforts to combat corruption, Francis oversaw reforms of the scandal-ridden Vatican bank and sought to enforce financial discipline among Vatican bureaucrats, restricting their compensation and ability to accept gifts or award public contracts.

He authorized Vatican police raids on his own secretariat of state and the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency amidst suspicions surrounding a 350 million euro London real estate investment. Following a 2 1/2-year trial, the Vatican tribunal convicted a former influential cardinal, Angelo Becciu, of embezzlement and delivered mixed verdicts to nine others, acquitting one.

The trial, however, negatively impacted the Holy See’s reputation, exposing flaws in the Vatican legal system, internal power struggles among officials, and the Pope’s intervention on behalf of prosecutors.

While commended for attempting to reform Vatican finances, Francis drew ire from U.S. conservatives for his frequent condemnations of the global financial system he perceived as favoring the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

Economic justice was a central theme of his papacy, evident from his initial meeting with journalists where he declared his vision for “a poor church that is for the poor.”

In his first major teaching document, “The Joy of the Gospel,” Francis criticized trickle-down economic theories as unsubstantiated and naive, rooted in a mentality “where the powerful feed upon the powerless” with disregard for ethics, the environment, or even God.

“Money must serve, not rule!” he asserted, advocating for political reforms.

He elaborated on this in his eco-encyclical “Praised Be,” denouncing the “structurally perverse” global economic system that he argued exploited the poor and risked transforming Earth into “an immense pile of filth.”

Some U.S. conservatives labeled Francis a Marxist, to which he responded humorously that he had many Marxist friends.

Early Life: Soccer, Opera, and Faith

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, he was the eldest of five children born to Italian immigrants.

He credited his devout grandmother, Rosa, with instilling in him the practice of prayer. Weekends were filled with listening to opera broadcasts, attending Mass, and supporting his family’s beloved San Lorenzo soccer club. As Pope, his passion for soccer resulted in a vast collection of jerseys gifted by visitors.

He described receiving his religious calling at age 17 during confession, recounting in a 2010 biography, “I don’t know what it was, but it changed my life… I realized that they were waiting for me.”

He initially entered the diocesan seminary but transitioned to the Jesuit order in 1958, drawn to their missionary zeal and discipline.

Around this period, he contracted pneumonia, leading to the removal of part of his right lung. His delicate health precluded missionary service, and his limited lung capacity might explain his soft voice and reluctance to sing during Mass.

He was ordained a priest on December 13, 1969, and immediately began teaching. In 1973, he became head of the Jesuits in Argentina, an appointment he later deemed “crazy” given his youth at 36. “My authoritarian and impulsive decision-making style led to significant issues and accusations of ultraconservatism,” he acknowledged in an interview.

Provincial During Argentina’s Dictatorship

His six-year tenure as provincial coincided with Argentina’s brutal 1976-83 dictatorship, during which the military initiated a campaign against left-wing guerrillas and regime opponents.

Bergoglio did not openly confront the junta and was accused of indirectly contributing to the kidnapping and torture of two slum priests by not publicly endorsing their work.

He long resisted addressing this version of events. Only in a 2010 biography did he detail his secret efforts to save them, persuading the family priest of dictator Jorge Videla to feign illness, allowing Bergoglio to celebrate Mass instead. Within the junta leader’s residence, Bergoglio privately pleaded for mercy. Both priests were eventually freed, among the few prison survivors.

As Pope, accounts emerged of numerous individuals – priests, seminarians, and political dissidents – whom Bergoglio had secretly aided during the “dirty war,” sheltering them at the seminary or facilitating their escape from the country.

In 1986, Bergoglio traveled to Germany to pursue an uncompleted thesis. Upon returning to Argentina, he was stationed in Cordoba during a period he described as experiencing “great interior crisis.” Out of favor with more progressive Jesuit leaders, he was eventually brought back from obscurity in 1992 by St. John Paul II, who appointed him auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. He became archbishop six years later and was elevated to cardinal in 2001.

He narrowly missed becoming Pope in 2005 when Benedict was elected, securing the second-highest vote count in multiple ballots before withdrawing his candidacy.