The Morning: Pope Francis dies at 88
The New York Times <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
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2025-04-21 12:49
Good morning. Pope Francis has died at 88. Below, we look at his life and his influence on more than one billion Catholics.
A groundbreaking pontificatePope Francis, the Catholic church’s first Latin American pope, has died at 88. He rose from a humble childhood in Argentina to become the leader of the world’s largest and most powerful church. Francis died at about 7:30 a.m. Rome time, the Vatican announced. He had recently spent five weeks in a hospital for pneumonia. Still, he appeared yesterday in a wheelchair to bless tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for Easter Sunday. Last week, he went to a prison in Rome and told the inmates he wanted “to be close to you. I pray for you and your families.” Asked by reporters at the prison how he was doing, he said: “As best I can.” For 12 years, Francis led more than one billion Catholics and reshaped the faith to make it more inclusive. He clashed with traditionalists as he reached out to migrants, gay Catholics and victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. He sought to improve relations with Muslim clerics. He criticized the powerful for their role in climate change and called for an end to wars. He filled Catholic leadership with bishops who reflected the worldwide congregation. No matter the state of global politics, he never changed his approach. “Francis believed that the church’s future depended on going to the margins to embrace the faithful in the modern world rather than offering a cloister away from it,” our colleague Jason Horowitz writes. Read his obituary here. Below, we explore the pope’s life and influence. An extraordinary ascent
The boy who would become Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936. Bookish, intelligent and deeply religious, he also played basketball and loved to dance the tango. Just before his 17th birthday, he was rushing to meet his friends when he was moved to enter the Basilica of St. Joseph in Buenos Aires. He said that he “felt like someone grabbed me from inside” and that “right there I knew I had to be a priest.” Bergoglio was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969. The Jesuit tradition emphasizes humility, helping the poor and respecting Indigenous peoples. As he rose through the ranks to become a cardinal, he practiced that humility: He cooked for himself and took the bus to work from his apartment. He also gained a reputation as a tough but effective manager. That reputation helped him become an unexpected pope. In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI suddenly resigned, becoming the first pope to do so in six centuries. The Vatican was in crisis, and cardinals wanted someone with firm management to steer the church. They elected Bergoglio, a surprising successor, who was far more progressive than the conservative Benedict. He took his papal name from St. Francis of Assisi, the humble friar who dedicated his life to piety and the poor. A makeover
Francis faced major challenges as he took office: The church was in the middle of a sex abuse scandal and fewer people were attending church. He attempted to address the issues plaguing the church and advocate for social justice. But he also continued to uphold divisive stances, such as the church’s strong opposition to abortion. He framed himself as an approachable figure. Still, his charm and easy smile belied his reputation inside the Vatican as a steely — his opponents said ruthless — administrator as he brought greater transparency to church finances and overhauled the Vatican’s bureaucracy. In moves to address the needs of the modern church, he expressed support for same-sex civil unions and allowed priests to bless gay couples even while the church continued to bar gay marriage. He said transgender people could be godparents and that their children could be baptized. Francis also expanded the church’s definition of sexual abuse to include adults — the first change to Vatican law since 1983 — explicitly acknowledging that adults, and not only children, could be victimized. His impatience with the status quo earned him enemies. He demoted conservatives in Vatican offices, restricted the use of the old Latin Mass and opened influential meetings of bishops to laypeople, including women. What’s next?Francis’s death launches a series of rituals and procedures. His papal ring will be destroyed and his rooms will be sealed; he will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica; and cardinals will be invited to Rome from across the world to attend the funeral and choose the new pope. The cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel for a conclave and vote by secret ballot. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new pope. Votes are repeated until enough support emerges for the top candidate. The cardinals face a decision: Will they follow Francis’s vision of a more progressive church or return to the traditionalist approach of his recent predecessors? Read his full obituary and what happens when a pope dies. The world responds
For more: The face of Catholicism in the U.S. is changing: The number of Catholics has been buoyed by growing immigrant communities, while younger priests tend to be more conservative. In “Believing,” The Times is exploring how people experience religion and spirituality now. Sign up to receive the latest in your inbox.
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