Pope Francis
A Buenos Aires Jesuit who became archbishop and then pope, Francis tried to make the Church more pastoral, merciful and outward-looking, and his reforms drew both deep affection and sharp criticism.
Personality
Francis was direct, informal and drawn to simplicity. As archbishop of Buenos Aires he used public transport, and as pope he lived in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than the papal apartments and avoided ornate vestments. He often spoke spontaneously, and his question 'Who am I to judge?', asked about gay people, became one of the best-known lines of his papacy. He placed mercy at the centre of his teaching and wanted to be remembered as a pastor rather than a powerful man, a wish reflected in his request for simplified funeral rites.
Under pressure
Francis's openness drew sustained criticism from some Catholics, and documents such as the 2023 declaration Fiducia supplicans, which allowed non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, were contested. In 2018 he acknowledged that he had made grave errors in judging the abuse crisis in Chile, then convened a 2019 Vatican summit on abuse and issued new accountability rules in Vos estis lux mundi. Allegations about his conduct during Argentina's military dictatorship were disputed, and several human rights figures defended his record. He kept to his programme, pressing on with reform of the Roman Curia and the Synod on Synodality.
The arc
Born in the Flores district of Buenos Aires in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents, Bergoglio qualified as a chemical technician before joining the Jesuits in 1958. Ordained in 1969, he led Argentina's Jesuits as provincial from 1973 to 1979, became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was made a cardinal in 2001. Elected pope on 13 March 2013, he took the name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi. His twelve-year pontificate produced Laudato si', Amoris laetitia and Fratelli tutti, a restructuring of the Curia and the Synod on Synodality. He died at Casa Santa Marta on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, aged 88.
Legacy
Francis was the first pope from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere and the first Jesuit pope, and he pressed the Church to look to the poor, migrants and people on the margins. Laudato si' made care for the environment a central theme of Catholic social teaching, and his emphasis on mercy, inclusion and a listening, synodal Church reshaped internal debate about reform. He also campaigned against the death penalty and opened more leadership roles in the Curia to women and lay people. His successor, Leo XIV, was elected in May 2025.
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