Gambiaj.com – (VATICAN) – Pope Francis, the unconventional and outspoken pontiff who inspired widespread devotion but riled traditionalists, died on Monday aged 88. Born Jorge Bergoglio, Francis was the first Jesuit to lead the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas.

The Argentine pontiff, leader of the Catholic Church since March 2013, spent 38 days being treated for double pneumonia at Rome’s Gemelli hospital before seeming to recover and leaving the facility on 23 March.

His death came just a day after he delighted the crowds of worshippers at the Vatican on Easter Sunday with an appearance on the balcony at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

“Dearest brothers and sisters, it is with deep sorrow that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell in the statement published by the Vatican on its Telegram channel.

“This morning at 7:35 am (0535 GMT) the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father.

“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church.”

His death sets in motion centuries-old traditions that will culminate in the gathering of a conclave of cardinals to choose a successor.

In the meantime, the day-to-day running of the tiny Vatican City state will be handled by the camerlengo, a senior cardinal, currently Dublin-born Farrell.

Faithful pray in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Saturday, 15 March, 2025. AP – Gregorio Borgia

Son of immigrants

Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December, 1936, in Buenos Aires, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina and the eldest of five children.

Having studied to become a chemical technician, he worked briefly in the food processing industry before his calling to the Church.

He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1958 and turned to academics, studying humanities in Santiago, Chile, and earning a master’s in philosophy in Buenos Aires. After his graduation, he taught literature and psychology in high schools while pursuing a degree in theology. He was ordained as a priest in 1969 and took his final vows in the Jesuit order in 1973, serving as its head until 1979.

In the 1980s, Bergoglio served as a seminary teacher and pursued graduate studies in theology in Germany. He was named archbishop of Buenos Aires—a post he held until his election to the papacy—in 1998 and was consecrated as a cardinal in 2001.

An unconventional and outspoken pontiff

He was elected pope on 13 March, 2013, after the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI due to ill health—the first person from the Americas and the first from the Jesuit order to be elected to the papacy. He was also the first pope to take Francis as his name, honoring St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic known for his charity and his love of animals.

Pope Francis went on to break new ground in other ways, proving himself an unconventional pontiff—beginning with his choice to dress in simple vestments rather than the previously customary elaborate robes.

This echoed his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires when, during Argentina’s economic crisis of the 1990s, he lived in an apartment rather than the archbishop’s residence, cooking his own meals and using public transport. He became an outspoken advocate for the poor in the country, declaring, “My people are poor, and I am one of them.”

As pope, in 2020 he turned a 19th-century Vatican palazzo into a shelter for the homeless—rather than the luxury hotel that had been mooted.

He was a vocal critic of the death penalty, and in August 2018, he revised the catechism of the Church to reject it outright and said it would work to abolish capital punishment around the world.

In February 2019, Francis became the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, in a trip intended to promote religious solidarity and peace in the region.

Pope Francis poses for a photograph on Good Friday at a vaccination center in the Paul VI Hall where the poor and homeless are being inoculated at the Vatican, 2 April, 2021. via REUTERS – VATICAN MEDIA

He visited the United Arab Emirates—home to almost one million Roman Catholics, mostly from India and the Philippines—and took the opportunity to speak out about the war in Yemen and the resulting famine, saying, “The population is exhausted by the lengthy conflict, and a great many children are suffering from hunger. The cry of these children and their parents rises up to God.”

Pope Francis also addressed the migrant crisis on several occasions. On a visit to Marseille in September 2023, against a backdrop of political tensions in Europe over large numbers of migrants arriving by sea from the Middle East and North Africa, he said, “People who are at risk of drowning when abandoned on the waves must be rescued,” which he called “a duty of humanity.”

He was outspoken on the immigration policies of United States President Donald Trump, writing an open letter to American bishops in which he pointed out that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had been refugees in Egypt and saying that criminalizing migrants “will end badly.”

Speaking on the climate crisis, he called the destruction of the environment “an offense against God” and urged world leaders to act urgently on several occasions throughout his papacy, emphasizing that “the ones suffering most from the consequences of these [climate] disasters are the poor, those who are forced to leave their homes because of floods, heat waves, or drought.”

Apologies and controversies

During his time in office, Pope Francis apologized to survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in several countries—including France, after a 2021 report revealed that more than 200,000 children were sexually abused by clergy in the country over 70 years.

He made similar apologies to victims in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Chile, Canada, the US, and Ireland, among others, although critics said these apologies did not go far enough, and reform was still needed.

Francis also made moves towards a more inclusive Church, opening various leadership roles to women—such as president of Vatican City—but maintained the Church’s position against the introduction of female priests.

In some respects, he encouraged a more open attitude towards LGBT people in the Church, urging parents to support and stand by homosexual children and famously declaring, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

However, he also suggested that young gay people could benefit from psychiatric treatment and criticized the decision in his home country of Argentina to legalize same-sex marriage, calling it an “attack on God’s plan.”

His approach to transgender people was similarly often contradictory, inviting members of the community to meet with him at the Vatican on several occasions but criticizing gender theory, saying it “does not recognize the order of creation.”

There was discord too within Catholic circles over some of his views and decisions, such as his ruling in December 2023 allowing blessings of same-sex couples, which was publicly lambasted by several African bishops.

Humble pastor

His views on religious diversity also drew criticism. His declaration on a trip to Morocco that the Catholic community should live “in brotherhood with other faiths” rather than focusing on conversion led some Catholics to say he was undermining Christianity.

For many, Francis’s pontificate also represented a shift in power in the Catholic Church away from Western Europe to the Global South, where the majority of Catholics now live.

Francis’s desire to chart a different path was evident right to the end, with his decision to be buried not in St. Peter’s Basilica but in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.

He will become the first pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican.

Francis also rejected the tradition of popes having three coffins, instead choosing to be buried in just one, made of wood and zinc, to reflect his role as a humble pastor.

RFI