Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order to lead the Catholic Church, died on Monday morning at 88. Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced the Pope’s death in a statement released by the Vatican: “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.” His successor will be chosen soon during a papal conclave.
Francis will be remembered for his charismatic pastoral reign, a sometimes contentious and controversial papacy, and his reshaping of the College of Cardinals in a way that shifted the church’s axis of power outside of Europe. His pontificate began on March 13, 2013, after the stunning resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and despite his holding on to many of the traditions of the Catholic Church, in many ways he was a pope for the 21st century.
Despite his holding on to many of the traditions of the Catholic Church, in many ways he was a pope for the 21st century.
Taking the name of Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, one of the pontiff’s first controversial acts, and a clue to how he’d conduct his papacy, was his moving into Casa Santa Marta immediately after his election, eschewing the traditional papal apartments. His desire to be among people, rather than in the opulent apartments set aside for the church’s leader, was a continuation of how he’d lived as a priest and then as an archbishop in his native Argentina. His first official visit was to the migrant island of Lampedusa, located off the coast of Italy, to bring a message to 50 African migrants.
That same year, while flying back to Rome after his first papal visit to Brazil, he was asked about gay people. His response was, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” On that same flight, he said women would never be ordained as Catholic priests. The combination of those two comments created hope and consternation among those inside and outside the Catholic church.
A firestorm from Catholic leadership and the faithful caused him to backtrack on his comment that he wouldn’t judge gay people, but it would not be the last time he’d make controversial remarks about gender, sexuality and abortion. For example, during the 2024 election cycle in America, he said Catholics should choose “the lesser evil” to vote for. This, in spite of tradition that has kept popes from making comments about nations’ elections and despite guidance that has existed for years from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on Faithful Citizenship that says the “threat of abortion remains our pre-eminent priority.”
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires to Mario and Regina Bergoglio, Italians who’d immigrated to Argentina. Nothing about his origins suggested he’d become pope. One of five siblings, his younger years were fairly unremarkable until pleurisy at age 21 cost him a part of his right lung. It was then, after his illness, that he decided to join the priesthood and entered the Society of Jesus in 1958. He was appointed provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina in 1973. He was elevated to bishop in 1992, to archbishop in 1998 and made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
A firestorm from Catholic leadership and the faithful, caused him to backtrack on his comment that he wouldn’t judge gay people.
While there were rumors that he played a role in the kidnapping of two Jesuits by the military government during the dirty war in Argentina, he was absolved of complicity by one of the survivors of the kidnapping and by the Vatican.
Not only did Francis inherit the the Vati-leaks scandal and the sex abuse scandals from Pope Benedict XVI, he had to deal with those issues while that former pope was still alive. It was a difficult balance to maintain.
But the sexual abuse scandal within the church would become a constant focus of Francis’, and during many of his papal trips he apologized to people who’d been abused by clerics within the church. On trips to Ireland, Canada and Belgium, for example, he met with sexual abuse survivors and issued blanket apologies.
Still, Francis would be criticized even by the members of the commissions he appointed for his lack of hard reforms regarding abuse.
Francis, by appointing 111 cardinals from 70 countries over nine consistories, also turned the College of Cardinals from a predominately European and North American group into a college more representative of the entire world. Those changes have shifted the power of the church outside Europe. This more accurately represents the places where the Catholic Church is strong in the 21st century.
The papacy of Francis was a surprise. No one, including Francis himself, ever expected a Jesuit to become pope. St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit order, did not want members of the order to become bishops for fear it would take them away from the mission field and their work in education and reforming individuals. Taking on ecclesiastical roles at the time the order was founded in 1540, during the Protestant Reformation, would have mired the order in the intrigues and scandals that were plaguing the Catholic Church.
No one, including Francis himself, ever expected a Jesuit to become pope.
Francis’ papacy, then, was a singular event, likely not to be repeated in our lifetimes. It was a rare feat, given the history of the Jesuits, for him to be elected to pope. After all, the superior general of the Jesuit order is referred to colloquially as the black pope, who wears all black, in contrast to the white vestments of the pope. Even today, Jesuits are looked upon with suspicion by some within and many outside of the church.
Francis’ passing now puts the internal struggles between reformists and traditionalists front and center when the conclave for the election of the next pope begins. Because of the appointments that Francis made to the College of Cardinals, it is likely that the next pontiff will not be from Europe, but from another continent. It will no doubt be a time of extreme nervousness, uncertainty and anticipation for many Catholics around the world.
One thing is certain, however: There will not be another pope like Francis. Whatever one’s opinion of him, he changed the face of the Catholic Church. What remains to be seen is whether his changes last.