Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was already known for his devotion to marginalised people in his native Argentina – nicknamed "archbishop of the poor" – when the Vatican announced that he was the surprise choice for pontiff on March 13, 2013. The first Latin American and first Jesuit pope was also the first to choose the name Francis, in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the impoverished.     

During his years at the Holy See, Pope Francis repeatedly denounced poverty and corruption while seemingly softening some of the church’s longtime positions, even hinting that someday married men could become priests.

The pope faced health issues several times throughout his life, including having part of a lung removed when he was in his 30s and part of his colonremoved in 2021. Torn ligaments in his knee forced him to use a wheelchair or even cancel appearances in 2022, with his health troubles sparking rumours about his possible resignation.

But the pontiff took much of this in his stride, once quipping to a group of Mexican seminarians that all he needed for his knee was “some tequila”.

Answering a calling  

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires into a modest family of Italian immigrants. His father, Mario José from Turin, was an accountant for the railway. His mother, Regina Maria Sivori from Genoa, was a homemaker who bore five children, of whom Jorge was the eldest.

After receiving a technical degree in chemistry, young Bergoglio studied at the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto. In March 1958 he entered the Jesuit novitiate of the Society of Jesus and, after completing humanities studies in Chile, he returned to Argentina in 1963 to earn a degree in philosophy. He taught literature and psychology for a couple of years before returning to school himself to earn a theology degree in 1970. He was ordained a Jesuit priest on December 13, 1969.

In July of 1973, Father Bergoglio was appointed provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina, a role he held for six years, before returning to the education sector and relocating to Germany in 1986 to finish his doctoral thesis in philosophy and theology. Pope John Paul II appointed him titular bishop of Auca and auxiliary of Buenos Aires in May 1992; Bergoglio became coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires five years later. He was elevated to cardinal in February 2001.  

After the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in February 2013 – he was only the second pope to step down in almost 600 years – a papal conclave was convened the following month to choose a new pontiff. On March 13, white smoke signifying that a new pope had been chosen rose over the Sistine Chapel: an Argentinian Jesuit, reputed to be a humble and compassionate man, had been elected to the papacy.

The new pontiff’s first address to the crowd from the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica later that day quickly made it clear this was the start of a new era. Francis appeared dressed simply in white robes and a metal pectoral cross but without the traditional papal ornaments, which would normally include a tiara, gold cross and a sceptre.    

In another break with tradition, he refused the usual papal platform that would have elevated him above the cardinals flanking him on the balcony. And instead of simply blessing the crowd, Francis closed his remarks by asking “all men and women of good will” to pray for God to help him lead the Catholic Church. 

‘My people are poor and I am one of them’

The priest known as “Father Jorge” lived a humble lifestyle while still in Argentina, choosing to take the bus rather than make use of the limousine provided to him. This modesty continued when he became pope, choosing to live in a two-bedroom apartment rather than at the Apostolic Palace, the official papal residence. 

Francis had long been a critic of free-market liberalism and unbridled globalisation, citing their effect on the poor. He joined other Argentine bishops in criticising Argentina’s neoliberal policies of the 1990s, when the country was facing severe recession and a subsequent debt crisis. Francis decried the “unjust distribution of goods”, calling it “a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven”.

The year he was named pontiff, Francis hosted a lunch for the poor in the Italian town of Assisi, the birthplace of his namesake. "Many of you have been stripped by this savage world," he told the thousands in the crowd. It is a world that "does not give employment” and that “does not care if there are children dying of hunger". The man who quickly became known as the “People’s Pope” went on to say he wanted the Catholic Church to resemble the "church of the poor" of Saint Francis.

“My people are poor and I am one of them,” he often said.

He shared at least one other trait with many of his compatriots: the pope is a longtime fan (or “hincha”) of Argentina’s San Lorenzo football club. "He says he lives in a permanent state of suffering for San Lorenzo," the man who gave Cardinal Bergoglio his club membership card told Reuters

But his elevation to pope was not without controversy, leading to a new round of scrutiny of his actions during Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-1983) and the “Dirty War,” when tens of thousands accused of being dissidents or leftists – including students, journalists and trade unionists – were tortured, killed and “disappeared”. At the time, Father Bergoglio was head of the Jesuits, who were prominent critics of the junta. But when two Jesuit priests were kidnapped and tortured for months, they blamed Bergoglio for their plight. He eventually helped secure their release.

Francis the reformer

Francis launched a broad campaign to clean up the Vatican, establishingthe Council for the Economy and a Secretariat for the Economy – tasked with financial oversight of the Holy See – in 2014, less than a year after ascending to the papacy. A series of financial scandals dating from even before he was pope had convinced Francis of the need for greater monitoring of the Vatican’s vast resources. 

Pope Francis addressed the Roman Curia – the administration of the Holy See – just before Christmas that same year, warning them against falling victim to 15 spiritual “diseases”. Among these, the pope warned the Curia against succumbing to believing they were “indispensable”; “rivalry and vainglory”; and “gossiping, grumbling and back-biting”.

Pope Francis in 2021 formally announced a two-year consultation processon decentralising church structures to offer the laity a greater role, part of his goal of making the Vatican more inclusive and responsive to the real-world needs of Catholics around the world. As part of the process, the pope asked dioceses to get feedback from worshippers in their parishes.

A new 54-page constitution for the Roman Curia (Praedicate Evangelium) unveiled in March 2022 allowed any baptised Catholics, including lay men and women, to head almost any Vatican office. It also set a five-year term limit for members of the Curia, renewable only once before clerics must return to their communities. The reforms made the Curia into something more resembling a civil service than a governing elite, as one Jesuit priest put it.  

Marital matters

But even a Catholic Church seeking reform remained steadfast on some issues. A 2015 bishops’ synod concluded with a report that seemingly eased its stance on divorced and remarried Catholics, advocating a "case-by-case" approach to the question of their role in the church and calling for their greater involvement but declining to revoke the longstanding ban on them receiving communion.

The synod also reiterated the church's opposition to gay marriage. "There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and the family."

Pope Francis himself appears to have evolved on the question of same-sex unions.  

In 2010, then Cardinal Bergoglio penned a letter outlining his opposition to a bill on gay marriage that was on its way to Argentina’s Senate. Warning that the law could “gravely injure the family”, he went so far as to say the legislation was “a ‘movement’ of the father of lies (the devil) that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God”.

But he shifted his stance a bit as the bill made its way through the legislature and was on course to be passed. Even while Bergoglio led public opposition to the bill he advocated a pragmatic solution at a bishops’ meeting that year, suggesting the church support civil unions for gay couples to preserve the sanctity of marriage. The cardinal saw that compromise as the “lesser of two evils”, according to his authorised biographer, quoted by the New York Times.

An almost offhand comment aboard the papal plane in 2013 led to a new round of speculation on the pope’s stance. Asked about news reports of a “gay lobby” at the Vatican, he replied: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"

Catholic bishops released a document the following year urging the church to “welcome” gay congregants, saying: “Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community.” 

Church abuse scandal

Pope Francis faced one of the biggest challenges of his papacy in 2021 when an independent French commission into church sex abuse released its findings after a more than two-year-long investigation. The commission found that clergy in France had abused an estimated 216,000 children since 1950.

At a press conference unveiling the nearly 2,500-page report, commission chief Jean-Marc Sauvé said: “Until the early 2000s, the Catholic Church showed a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims."

Pope Francis reacted to the report by expressing his “shame” for the church’s lack of action.

"I wish to express to the victims my sadness and pain for the trauma they have suffered," he said. "And also my shame, our shame, my shame, for the inability of the Church, for too long, to put them at the centre of its concerns.”

Pope Francis has made a point of acknowledging – and apologising for – many of the Catholic Church’s past transgressions. On a July 2022 tour of Canada, he apologised for the “catastrophic” effects of a century of assimilation policies at Catholic residential schools. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples,” he said.

Five years earlier, he asked forgiveness of Rwandan President Paul Kagame for the Catholic Church’s “sins and failings” during the 1994 genocide.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Francis seemed to believe that freely acknowledging actions that had “disfigured the face of the Church” was a step towards redemption. A Vatican communiqué on his meeting with Kagame expressed the pope’s hope that such recognition might “contribute to a ‘purification of memory’ and may promote, in hope and renewed trust, a future of peace”.