Highlights from the life of Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday, reveal a remarkable journey through faith and leadership. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was the eldest of five children born to Italian immigrants. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969 and later led the religious order in Argentina during the country’s dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. In 1998, he became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and was elevated to cardinal status in 2001. On March 13, 2013, he was elected the 266th pope.
Pope Francis was notable for several firsts. He was the first pope from the Americas, the first Jesuit to ascend to the papacy, and the first to take the name Francis, in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Moreover, he was the first pope to visit Iraq, meeting with a prominent Shia Muslim cleric in 2021.
Francis was known for his humility and simplicity. As the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he rejected the luxuries enjoyed by his predecessors, opting instead to travel by bus, cook his own meals, and regularly visit impoverished neighborhoods. This simplicity continued during his papacy, as he chose to live in the Vatican guesthouse rather than the Apostolic Palace, wore his old orthopedic shoes instead of the traditional papal red loafers, and advocated for modesty by using compact cars.
A staunch advocate for migrants, one of Francis’s priorities as pope was to highlight their plight. His first trip outside Rome in 2013 was to Lampedusa, Sicily, to meet newly arrived migrants. He condemned the global indifference towards potential refugees, mourned migrants who died at the US-Mexico border in 2016, and brought 12 Syrian Muslims to Rome after visiting a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece. His call for welcoming migrants often put him at odds with US and European policies. In 2016, he remarked that building barriers to keep migrants out was unchristian.
Pope Francis showed a more inclusive stance towards the LGBTQ+ community early in his papacy, famously stating, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about a gay priest. He later declared that being homosexual is not a crime and approved blessings for same-sex couples, provided they do not resemble marital vows.
Environmental concerns also marked his papacy. Francis was the first pope to incorporate scientific data into a major teaching document, making the care of God’s creation a hallmark of his leadership. In 2015, his environmental manifesto “Laudato Si’” called for a cultural revolution to address what he termed the “structurally perverse” global economic system that exploits the poor and turns Earth into “an immense pile of filth.” Nonetheless, previous popes had also advocated for better environmental care.
The clerical sexual abuse scandal was a significant challenge during his tenure. In 2018, he faced criticism for initially discrediting Chilean abuse victims while supporting a bishop accused of complicity. Upon recognizing his error, he invited the victims to the Vatican and personally apologized. He also summoned the entire Chilean Episcopal Conference to Rome, pressing them to resign. In 2019, a summit was convened to address abuse, and he sent a strong message by dismissing former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after an inquiry found him guilty of abusing minors and adults. Francis enacted church laws eliminating the pontifical secret and establishing procedures to investigate bishops who abuse or cover up for predatory priests. However, high-profile cases where he appeared to support accused clergy cast a shadow over his reforms.
Criticism of Pope Francis was amplified by the presence of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who had resigned and lived within the Vatican grounds. This emboldened right-wing opposition to Francis’s reform agenda. Some even labeled him a heretic after he paved the way in 2016 for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion. In 2018, retired Vatican ambassador to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, accused Vatican and American officials of covering up McCarrick’s misconduct for two decades and demanded Francis’s resignation. The Vatican excommunicated Vigano in 2024 for causing a schism after he continued to amplify his criticisms and gathered followers.
