Pope Francis, whose almost 12-year-old papacy initiated a more open, was welcomed by the Catholic Church, which prioritized empathy for the poor and deprived of civil rights-in this native victims of Canadian housing schools in Canada-said at 88, said the Vatican in a video statement on Monday.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I have to announce the death of our Saint Father Francis with deep sadness,” announced Cardinal Kevin Farrell on the Vatican TV channel.
“At 7:35 This morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to his father's house.”
The choice of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church on March 13, 2013 in unusual circumstances, after the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
Francis initiated many new products for the Pope: the first of Latin America, the first in a row of Jesuit and the first to take the name Francis.
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Pope Francis made a historical apology for native residents, asking for forgiveness of members of the Catholic Church who cooperated with the “destructive” policy of indigenous housing schools in Canada. The apology was for many an emotional moment, although he called some survivors.
Francis also went down in the history of in the spring of 2022, when he apologized for the “dignified” proceedings of some members of the Catholic Church in the Canadian school system. A few months later he said that the system had carried out cultural “genocide”.
Humble beginnings before religious life
When Francis appeared on the central balcony of St. Piotr in the Basilica of Piotr moments after his election, he joked the cardinals “almost went to the ends of the earth” to find him.
He went far from the Vatican Energy Center, born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, the oldest of the five children of Italian immigrants.
As a boy, Francis worked in a family grocery store, played football and danced tango. He regularly attended church with his family, but he was not particularly religious until he had a powerful experience during confession as a teenager.
In 1969, he was ordained a priesthood within the Jesuits, a Catholic order known for his education and missionary work. Four years later he became the head of the Jesuit in Argentina, and then Archbishop Buenos Aires in 1998. In 2001 he was appointed a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
“Poor church for the poor”
As the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis was seen as a progressive Pope, much less concerned about the enforcement of the Church's doctrine than his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedykt, and more interested in opening church doors for those who felt excluded.
From the very beginning, his actions signaled the type of Catholic Church, which he wanted – “a poor church, for the poor.” He annulled the lavish apostolic palace, in which previous popes lived, instead deciding to live in a small guest house inside the Vatican walls.
Soon he broke up with other traditions, moving the holy ceremony of washing feet, he took place three days before Easter Sunday, from the church in Rome to internal prisoners-where he became the first paper that embraced women and non-Christians among prisoners whose feet he washed.
– Who should I judge?
In June 2013, three months after becoming a pope, Francis said in response to the reporter's question: “If a person is gay and is looking for God and has good will, who should I judge?” Later, he encouraged parents of people of the same sex to participate in a mass with children and called the laws that criminalized homosexuality “unfair”.
“As a homosexual Catholic, he gave me joy and hope,” said Mark Guevara, a member of 2SLGBTQ+ interested Lay Catholics of Canada, a group dealing with problems affecting 2SLGBTQ+ Catholics, women, native people and people who survived.
“He reminded me that I was a beloved child of God,” said Guevara.
After the global peak of the future of the Catholic Church, in December 2023, the Pope authorized priests to offer informal blessings to couples in “irregular” relationships (the same sex), creating an exception for Africa after bishops from the continent protested.
“At the beginning of the papacy, the Pope said that he did not intend to obsess with (opposite) homosexual marriages, abortion and such issues,” said Reveler Reese, a Jesuit priest and a senior analyst at the American press service of religion. “Obsessionally, this is a difficult situation of refugees and global warming.”
Caring for the environment
In June 2015, Francis released Laudato yesThe first papal document about the environment. His strong political analysis and focus on global inequalities, called on world leaders to urgently respond to the climate crisis. Eight years later he issued successive The glory of God.
The Pope has several times apologized for the role of the Catholic Church in colonialism and justifying the grasping of the indigenous lands of the population.
For several days in early spring 2022 he met Native delegates and supporters who traveled from Canada to the Vatican and he talked about his “sadness and shame” about abuses caused to native children.
In July 2022, Francis did something that he called “penitential pilgrimage” Canada, to emphasize reconciliation and apologies for members of the Catholic Church who cooperated with the “destructive” policy of indigenous residential schools.
However, the Pope ceased to say that the Catholic Church as an institution was responsible, disappointing some native inhabitants.
Ukraine and “Courage of the White Flag”
At the beginning of 2024, In an interview with the Swiss broadcaster RSIPope Francis said that Ukraine should have “the courage of the White Flag” and negotiate with Russia, which invaded its neighbor in February 2022, leading to the death of tens of thousands of people.
The comments caused widespread anger, and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky rejected them as a “virtual mediation” from a distant religious form that is not involved in helping his country. The Vatican explained the comments a few days later, saying that the Pope did not mean that Ukraine would give up.
But observers said that Francis' comments about the Russian invasion revealed a much weaker understanding of Eastern and Russia's history than his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
“The Pope did not see war in Ukraine as a colonial war as a potentially genocidal war,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at the Villanov University near Philadelphia. “It was surprising because Pope Francis was very loud in the dark chapters of colonialism.”
Scandals in the field of sexual abuse
Francis brought the transparency to the Vatican long, harassed by the allegations of financial corruption. But the groups of victims and some observers say that his reaction to the most harmful issue for the Catholic Church-the dozen years of sexual scandals of children-she did not have time.
In 2014, Francis created a papal juvenile protection committee. In 2017 “Resistance”, “reluctance” and “lack of cooperation”. Six years later, the founder, Reverend Hans Zollner, left for similar reasons.
The first, most glaring mistake was defense Chilean bishop Juan Barrosaccused of ignoring many years of abuse of minors by a preacher. At the beginning of 2018, Francis rejected the accusations against Barros as “completely” or slander, angry victims. A few months later he apologized, saying that he had made “serious mistakes” in defense of the Barros and accepted the bishop's resignation.
After the global peak for sexual abuse in the Vatican in 2019, the Pope introduced new regulations regarding the report of abuse of church officials and examining bishops involved in abuse or hiding. He updated the law in 2023, but the Vatican did not provide any data on the effectiveness of changes. The victims reported silence and stonewalling, and their own advisory committee for the protection of children of the Vatican said that structural problems prevented basic justice.
Abortion “employment of Hitman”
While Francis considered this to be perceived by many as liberal attitudes for the patriarchal head, theocratic monarchy, he believed that human rights expanded to the foothills and opposed abortion, even when the fetus probably died.
Several times the Pope compared the procedure for “hiring Hitman” and said that he “respected” the reversal of the Supreme Court in the USA almost 50-year-old REE against Wade, which recognized the constitutional right to abortion.
Francis was the first paper that appointed several women to higher Vatican positions and gave the voting rights to women of the global meeting of the Church. He also changed church laws to allow women full roles during mass. While he expressed openness to women becoming deaconsHe remained steadfast in his opposition to women's ordination.
Francis, like previous popes, still perceived women “as special, exotic or demanding research (not) as equal people in the Church,” said Mary Ellen Chown from the Canadian Catholic group for equality of women.
While Francis did not change the doctrine of the Catholic Church, relaxed the principles and decentralized the decision-making, which set the members of the clergy and arch-conservative politicians, who believed that he had made too many concessions for modernity in social issues.
The late Australian Cardinal, George Pell, whose conviction for harassment was repealed after a few months imprisonment, described the papacy of Francis as a “disaster” and regretted his “neo-Marxist jargon jargon with exclusion” in an anonymous note, which the publisher later revealed that he was written by Pella.
The Pope's health has been concerned for years
Franciszek's papacy lasted much longer than he predicted; In 2015, he said that he thought his pontificate covered another one to three Years, saying that he believed: “The Lord put me here for a short time and nothing more.”
His health was even a concern for the constant requirements of being the head of the Roman Catholic Church: at the age of 21 the right lung was removed due to a respiratory infection.
In 2021, Francis was hospitalized when he removed part of his colon, and again two years later to fix the abdominal hernia and remove the intestinal scar.
In later years, he suffered from regular influenza attacks, bronchitis and colds, often losing his voice, as well as sciatic and tense knee ligaments, which made it necessary to use a cane, infantry or wheelchair. His last attack of bronchitis was diagnosed on February 6, 2025, and when he worsened to become pneumonia, he was admitted to the hospital, where he stayed for five weeks.
Selection of a successor
When cardinals from around the world go to Rome to take part in the conclave to choose the next pope, Franciszek's heritage is felt: Argentineans appointed 73 percent of voting cardinals.
Despite this, observers say that this does not mean that the views of the next pope will necessarily adapt to Francis' views.
Faggioli said he expected to restore balance with the next pope.
“I think that the greatest heritage of Pope Francis is that he was the first global pope, the pope who explained that the Church is not forever connected with the European Mediterranean culture,” said Faggioli.
“This is a much larger university of cardinals, much more diverse, from many other countries. It will be a highly unpredictable conclave.”