Pope Francis, who has died aged 88, was the first pope from the Americas and the first Jesuit to occupy the Throne of St Peter; his papacy was marked by an emphasis on mercy, humility, and care for the marginalised.
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, returned to the house of the Father at 7:35am local time on April 21, 2025, aged 88.
The announcement was made by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, from the Vatican residence of Casa Santa Marta: “His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church… He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised.”
His final months were marked by a recurring struggle with respiratory illness—a long-standing affliction dating back to the removal of a portion of his right lung as a young seminarian in the 1950s. In February 2025, he was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome with bronchitis. Though he initially rallied, bilateral pneumonia soon set in, and he remained under medical care for over a month. He was eventually discharged to the Vatican, where he died peacefully in the early hours of the morning.
Bergoglio’s election to the papacy in March 2013, following the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, marked a break with tradition in both style and substance. He chose the papal name Francis, inspired by St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the poor, and appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica simply dressed, bowing his head and asking the faithful to pray for him—a gesture that encapsulated the spirit of his pontificate.
Born on December 17, 1936, the son of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio trained as a chemist before entering the Society of Jesus in 1958. He was ordained a priest in 1969, became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and a cardinal three years later. Known in his native Argentina for travelling by public transport and living in modest lodgings, he eschewed the trappings of office, a preference that he carried into his pontificate.
As pope, Francis set about reforming the Roman Curia, curbing financial mismanagement, and decentralising power within the Church. His Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) set the tone for his papacy—pastoral rather than dogmatic, exhorting clergy to go out into the world as “a field hospital after battle.”
He became a global moral voice, speaking boldly on climate change, economic inequality, and the plight of refugees. His 2015 encyclical Laudato si’ was a groundbreaking document that framed environmental stewardship as a Christian imperative, drawing praise from religious and secular quarters alike.
His approach to doctrine was often pastoral rather than juridical, drawing criticism from conservative corners of the Church. His 2016 exhortation Amoris Laetitia opened the possibility of communion for some divorced and remarried Catholics, provoking intense debate. Yet he maintained that mercy must take precedence over rigidity, declaring in 2013: “Who am I to judge?” when asked about homosexual priests—five words that came to symbolise his more inclusive tone.
In the later years of his pontificate, frailty increasingly limited his mobility, and he used a wheelchair for many public appearances. Despite his declining health, he remained intellectually and spiritually active, and in April 2024, he approved a revised edition of the liturgical book for papal funerals. It was a document that, with characteristic humility, directed that his own rites be stripped of worldly pomp, focusing instead on the Church’s faith in the Risen Christ.
Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, noted: “The renewed rite seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”
Though he never claimed to be a theologian on the scale of his predecessor, Francis’s papacy left an indelible imprint. He was a bridge-builder between worlds—north and south, tradition and progress, institution and the human soul. In the words of Cardinal Farrell: “With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”
He is survived by a global flock of more than a billion Catholics—many of whom found in him not a prince of the Church, but a pastor who walked among them.
Main Image: By La Cancillería de Ecuador https://www.flickr.com/people/10021639@N05 – This file has been extracted from another file, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59877855
