Pope Francis Dies at 88

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said the news of Francis’ death “deeply saddens us, as we are saying goodbye to a great man and a great shepherd. I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his counsel and his teachings, which never failed me, not even in times of trial and suffering.’'

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country has nearly 30 million Christians who make up 2.3 percent of the population, says Pope Francis will always be remembered “as a beacon of compassion, humility and spiritual courage by millions across the world.

“From a young age, he devoted himself towards realizing the ideals of Lord Christ. He diligently served the poor and downtrodden. For those who were suffering, he ignited a spirit of hope,” Modi said.

From Buenos Aires, Francis’ hometown, the office of Argentine President Javier Milei expressed condolences and support to all the faithful in the predominantly Catholic South American country.

Milei highlighted the “tireless struggle of Francis’ papacy to protect life from conception, promote inter-religious dialogue, and bring a spiritual and virtuous life closer to young people,” his office said, describing Argentina as “the land of Pope Francis.”

The pope's death means that the College of Cardinals will soon assemble to elect Francis’ successor behind closed doors under the Michelangelo frescoes in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. The next leader of the Catholic Church is likely to face the same pressures and controversies that troubled Francis and his immediate predecessors.

The future Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (second from left standing in back), with his family in Argentina. The Bergoglios were Italian immigrants to the South American country.

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The former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian immigrants, was a pontiff as notable as any of his 265 predecessors over the 2,000 years of the papacy.

Cardinal Bergoglio was elected pope by his fellow cardinals on March 13, 2013, at the papal conclave following the historic resignation of ailing Pope Benedict XVI (who died in December 2022 at age 95). Progressive church reformers greeted Francis as a potential ally for dramatic changes, while more orthodox Catholics lamented the retirement of the rigorously conservative Benedict and fretted about what Francis might do to relax longstanding traditions.

“Where Benedict sought a fortress church, Francis hopes to see walls and fortifications of all kinds — physical, doctrinal and spiritual — come tumbling down,” The Guardian’s Julian Coman wrote in a review of The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis by Massimo Faggioli in 2020.

Francis tried to satisfy all factions and ended up satisfying none, in the view of New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, a conservative Catholic and self-described early doubter of Francis, writing in March 2023 on the 10th anniversary of Francis’ ascent to the papal throne.

Pope Francis greets the faithful following his ascension to the papacy in March 2013. Francis was the first pope from the Americas.

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“This pontificate ... has needlessly multiplied controversies and exacerbated divisions for the sake of an agenda that can still feel vaporous, and its choices at every turn have seemed designed to create the greatest possible alienation between the church’s factions,” Douthat concluded.

Francis was the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first from outside Europe since the eighth century under Pope Gregory III of Syria. He picked the unprecedented name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, a beloved figure in the church known for his service to the poor, and in honor of St. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuits.

He was the first pope in 110 years to choose not to live in the splendor of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, signaling his less formal approach by choosing to live and work in a modest Vatican guesthouse for clergy instead.

With high poll numbers among American Catholics, Francis was the first pontiff to address Congress, in September 2015. Like most recent popes, Francis was multilingual, in keeping with a global church with a claimed 1.3 billion members. 

In addition to Spanish and Latin, he spoke Italian and German, and was conversant in French, Portuguese and English.

Growing up, Bergoglio worked at jobs as disparate as bouncer, janitor and chemist in a food science lab. Bergoglio was inspired to become a priest in 1958 after recovering from illness. He joined the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, an order of priests founded in the mid-16th century, and four years after being ordained in 1969, Bergoglio rose to become the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became a cardinal in February 2001, and reportedly came in second in the ballot at the papal conclave that elected Benedict in 2005.

Early on, Francis sought to foster spiritual renewal within the church and greater attention to the plight of the poor in modern capitalism. His 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’ (“Praise be to you”), declared climate change a global problem likely to inflict the most suffering on the poorest parts of the world.

Pope Francis rides through New York's Central Park in September 2015. Francis became the first pontiff to address Congress during that historic visit to the U.S.

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Francis was also a strong advocate for older adults, and when he was elevated to the papacy in 2013 at the age of 76, he urged the cardinals who had elected him to share their cumulative experience with the younger generations. "Let us give this wisdom to young people," he said. "Like good wine, it becomes better with age." Francis also created an annual commemoration of older adults and the important roles they play in their communities and families. "The future of the world depends on this covenant between young and old," Francis said in June 2021 ahead of the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in July.

But he took over a church divided and damaged by scandals, especially a decades-long history of clergy sexual-abuse allegations in the U.S. and Europe. These resulted in multiple civil lawsuits and criminal charges, shocking revelations of church attempts to cover up abuse and protect abusers, and costly payouts to accusers that have led to more than two dozen diocesan bankruptcies. Francis sought to advocate for the victims, but critics continue to argue that the Vatican has been too slow to punish and defrock priests who were abusers.

On some issues, Francis’ public utterances suggested he might be open to changes in Catholic doctrine — statements subsequently walked back by the Vatican or by Francis himself. A few months after becoming pope, he told journalists on the papal plane returning from a visit to Brazil that gay people should not be ostracized, including gay priests who are otherwise keeping their vows. “Who am I to judge?” he said. He also called for “decriminalization” of homosexuality around the world. But Francis has also spoken out against same-sex marriage and affirmed the church’s view of the “traditional” family.

Historians of the church will have the final say on whether Francis’ papacy was consequential and in what way. But the pope from “the other side of the world” was clear about his own goals in the early months of his reign, as he told various Jesuit magazines in September 2013.

“I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.”