Pope Francis (1936-2025)

To understand Francis is to hold together two legacies that intersect in him. The first is Jesuit: Ignatian spirituality of discernment, attention to concrete situations rather than abstract principles, the idea of going to the frontiers. The second is Latin American: the pastoral experience of an archbishop who spent his life in the villas miseria of Buenos Aires, shaped by the Argentine “theology of the people” — a reading of faith rooted in popular piety and concern for the poor, distinct from the Marxist currents of liberation theology.^[13][14]

From this comes the key word of his pontificate: the periphery. For Bergoglio, the Church must not wait for the world at the center, in its palaces and certainties, but go out toward the geographical and existential margins — the poor, migrants, divorced persons, the sick, prisoners, believers at the ends of the earth.^[15] This intuition explains both his gestures (Lampedusa, washing the feet of prisoners, residence at Domus Sanctae Marthae) and his reforms (a College of Cardinals open to small countries, a Curia reimagined as a missionary service).

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”
— Pope Francis, apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, November 24, 2013, no. 49^[16]

But this same primacy of the concrete has generated the doctrinal tensions of his reign. By privileging pastoral discernment case by case over general rules, Francis has seemed to his critics to weaken established disciplinary points — communion for divorced and remarried persons, the use of the traditional Mass, the status of irregular couples. His defenders see in this a deepening of mercy in continuity; his opponents, a dangerous ambiguity. This article seeks to present the facts and texts without reducing the pontificate either to hagiography or indictment.

Since this article focuses on the pontificate, we summarize here the pre-2013 period: it is enough to understand where the man elected in 2013 came from, as almost all his papal choices continue a trajectory begun in Argentina.

An Argentine Jesuit of Piedmontese Origin

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, the eldest of five children in a family of Piedmontese immigrants: his father Mario, an accountant, had emigrated from Italy.^[17] A qualified chemical technician, the young man suffered a severe pneumonia that led to the partial removal of a lung—a lasting health consequence throughout his life. At twenty-one, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on March 11, 1958.^[18]

Ordained a priest on December 13, 1969, he took his perpetual vows in 1973. Trained in philosophy and theology, he taught and was soon called to leadership.^[19]

Jesuit Provincial During the Dictatorship

At only thirty-six years old, Bergoglio was appointed Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina (1973–1979)—a heavy responsibility in a country that, in 1976, fell under military dictatorship and its “dirty war.”^[20][21] His conduct during these years has been the subject of controversy, notably accusations that he insufficiently protected two Jesuits kidnapped by the junta; subsequent investigations and testimonies—including that of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel—concluded that he did not betray anyone and, on the contrary, secretly helped people sought by the regime.^[22] This episode sheds light, according to several of his biographers, on a trait of the future pope: a cautious leader—sometimes judged authoritarian—shaped by years when imprudent words could mean death.^[23]

Archbishop of Buenos Aires

John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992, then Coadjutor Archbishop in 1997. Upon the death of Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, he became Archbishop of Buenos Aires on February 28, 1998, primate of Argentina.^[24][25] On February 21, 2001, John Paul II created him cardinal, with the title of Saint Robert Bellarmine.

Bergoglio confided his difficulties to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: when he has a problem, he explains, he does not ask the saint to solve it, but to take it into her hands and help him accept it, and he almost always receives, as a sign, a white rose. He knows well the “rose novena” launched in 1925 by the Jesuit Anton Puntigam: twenty-four Glory Be prayers each day to thank the Trinity for the graces granted to Thérèse during her twenty-four years of life, and a rose requested from the saint as a sign of the hoped-for grace.^[26] On August 7, 2010, the cardinal went as every year to the feast of the sanctuary of San Cayetano: an open-air Mass, then a walk to meet the faithful from the neighborhoods. A leg pain that painkillers did not relieve made him doubt he could continue, recounts Federico Wals, then head of the press office of the archdiocese; a man stepped forward and offered him a white rose. Bergoglio recognized in it the sign of little Thérèse: the man disappeared, the pain too, and he walked to the end of the route. Federico Wals also recounted this same episode with slightly different lines in the Bolivian daily El Deber, where it is the stranger who himself announces to the cardinal the expected sign.^[27]

As archbishop, Bergoglio earned a reputation as an austere and approachable pastor: he gave up the episcopal palace for an apartment, took the subway, frequently visited shantytowns, and supported the curas villeros, priests serving poor neighborhoods. At the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI, he reportedly received a notable number of votes according to later accounts—signaling that he was already a recognized figure among the cardinals.^[28] Eight years later, history would turn to him.

Benedict XVI’s Resignation

On February 11, 2013, Benedict XVI announced in Latin, before a stunned consistory, that he was resigning the Petrine ministry due to lack of strength. The resignation took effect on February 28, 2013: for the first time since Gregory XII (1415), a pope voluntarily left his office, opening an unprecedented situation with a living “pope emeritus.”^[29][30] The details of this resignation and the question of “Benevacantism”—the erroneous theory that Benedict XVI remained the true pope—are covered in separate articles; what concerns the 2013 conclave is that it opened in an unprecedented atmosphere.

Five Ballots, March 13, 2013

The conclave gathered 115 cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel starting on March 12, 2013; the required majority was seventy-seven votes.^[31] After five ballots over two days, on the evening of March 13, 2013, white smoke rose at 7:06 p.m. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aged 76, was elected the 266th pope. He officially began his ministry on March 19, 2013, the solemnity of Saint Joseph.^[32][33]

At the decisive moment, the pope himself recounts, his friend, Brazilian Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, embraced him and whispered a word that decided everything:

“And he embraced me, gave me the embrace, and said to me: ‘Do not forget the poor!’ And that word entered here: the poor, the poor. Immediately, in connection with the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi.” — Pope Francis, audience with media representatives, March 16, 2013^[34]

The Choice of the Name Francis and the First Gestures

Bergoglio is the first pope in history to take the name Francis, in reference to the Poverello of Assisi. His first appearance on the balcony became famous for its sobriety: he greeted the crowd with a simple “Brothers and sisters, good evening,” preceded his blessing with a silence in which he asked the people to pray for him, and presented himself as the bishop of Rome coming “almost from the end of the world.”^[35]

“Brothers and sisters, good evening! You know that the duty of the Conclave was to give a Bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals went to look for him almost at the end of the world.” — Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi blessing, St. Peter’s Loggia, March 13, 2013^[36]

The gestures followed the words. He kept his iron pectoral cross from his time as archbishop, refused the red mozzetta trimmed with ermine, kept his black shoes, and chose to reside at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican guesthouse, rather than in the Apostolic Palace apartments.^[37][38] These choices, seemingly minor, immediately set the tone for a pontificate marked by simplicity.

Before examining the texts, it is essential to understand Francis’s manner: a governance by gestures, brief phrases, and symbols, as much as by documents. Several moments have defined his global public image.

“A Poor Church for the Poor”

Three days after his election, before journalists, Francis delivered the key to his program in a phrase that became emblematic:

“Ah, how I would like a poor Church, for the poor!” — Pope Francis, audience with media representatives, 16 March 2013^[39]

This is not an isolated phrase: it governs everything that follows, from the denunciation of the “economy that kills” in Evangelii gaudium to the constant attention to migrants.

“Who Am I to Judge?”

On 28 July 2013, on the plane returning from the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, when asked about the situation of homosexual persons, Francis responded with a phrase that would travel the world and inspire countless interpretations:

“If a person is gay and seeks the Lord with goodwill, who am I to judge?” — Pope Francis, press conference, return flight from WYD Rio, 28 July 2013^[40]

The phrase does not change doctrine—Francis elsewhere recalls the Catechism—but it inaugurates a change of tone in the pastoral approach to homosexual persons, whose scope and limits would be debated up to Fiducia supplicans.

Lampedusa and the “Globalization of Indifference”

On 8 July 2013, for his very first trip outside Rome, Francis went to Lampedusa, the Italian island where Mediterranean migrants wash ashore. There he celebrated Mass on an altar made from a boat and launched a denunciation that would become a recurring theme of his pontificate:

“In this globalized world, we have fallen into a globalization of indifference.” — Pope Francis, homily in Lampedusa, 8 July 2013^[41]

The cause of migrants would remain one of the most consistent—and politically divisive—markers of his magisterium.

The Urbi et Orbi Blessing in an Empty Square

On 27 March 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Francis presided alone, in the rain, over a moment of prayer in an absolutely empty St. Peter’s Square, then gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing with a plenary indulgence—ordinarily reserved for Christmas and Easter. The image of the elderly, limping, solitary pope before the deserted basilica became one of the most striking of the pontificate and the pandemic.

“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets, and our cities; it has seized our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a desolate emptiness.” — Pope Francis, extraordinary moment of prayer, 27 March 2020^[42]

The doctrinal heart of the pontificate lies in four encyclicals and several exhortations. They are presented here at the level of the pontificate; the substantive topics (ecology, interreligious fraternity) refer to specialized articles.

The following table summarizes the major magisterial documents of the reign, their canonical nature, and their date, before each is developed.

Lumen fidei (2013), the Encyclical by Four Hands

The first encyclical, Lumen fidei (“The Light of Faith”), signed on 29 June 2013, is a unique case: the text had been largely drafted by Benedict XVI to complete his trilogy on the theological virtues (Deus caritas est on charity, Spe salvi on hope). Francis finished and published it, openly acknowledging this paternity—a way to signify the continuity between the two pontificates.^[43]

“[Benedict XVI] had already almost completed a first draft of an Encyclical Letter on faith. I am deeply grateful to him and, in the fraternity of Christ, I take up his precious work, adding some contributions to the text.” — Pope Francis, Lumen fidei encyclical, 29 June 2013, n. 7^[44]

Evangelii gaudium (2013), the Charter of the Pontificate

The exhortation Evangelii gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), of 24 November 2013, is considered Francis’s true program. He develops there the vision of a “Church going forth”, missionary and joyful, and formulates his sharpest social critique, against an economy of exclusion and the “idolatry of money.”^[45]

“Just as the commandment ‘You shall not kill’ sets a clear limit to safeguard the value of human life, today we have to say ‘You shall not kill’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills.” — Pope Francis, Evangelii gaudium, 24 November 2013, n. 53^[46]

Laudato si' (2015) and Integral Ecology

The encyclical Laudato si', of 24 May 2015, “on care for our common home,” made Francis a global voice on environmental issues. Its central thesis is integral ecology: there is not one crisis on the ecological side and another on the social side, but a single crisis, where contempt for nature and contempt for the poor share the same root.^[47] The core question—what a Catholic should think about ecology—is treated in a dedicated article: What to Think About Ecology?.

“There are not two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but one complex socio-environmental crisis.” — Pope Francis, Laudato si' encyclical, 24 May 2015, n. 139^[48]

Francis would extend this call with the exhortation Laudate Deum (4 October 2023), shorter and more urgent on the climate emergency.^[49]

Fratelli tutti (2020) and Universal Fraternity

The encyclical Fratelli tutti (“All Brothers”), signed on 3 October 2020 at the tomb of Saint Francis in Assisi—the first encyclical signed outside Rome—develops a theology of universal fraternity and social friendship, against nationalist withdrawal and indifference, centered on the parable of the Good Samaritan.^[50] It continues the Document on Human Fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi on 4 February 2019 with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyeb—a major interreligious gesture, but also the subject of theological debates on the phrase regarding the “diversity of religions willed by God.”^[51]

Dilexit nos (2024), the Return to the Sacred Heart

The latest encyclical, Dilexit nos (“He loved us”), dated 24 October 2024, surprises by its classicism: it is devoted to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, marking the 350th anniversary of the apparitions at Paray-le-Monial to Saint Margaret Mary. Against a world he describes as “liquid” and disembodied, Francis calls for a return to the Heart of Christ as the center of divine and human love — a way of reminding that his social pastoral approach is rooted in spirituality, not ideology.^[52]

No recent pontificate has provoked, within the Church itself, as many doctrinal controversies. They all revolve around the same question: how far can pastoral discernment modify discipline without touching dogma? They are presented here honestly, with objections and responses, without going beyond what the Church itself has established.

Amoris laetitia (2016) and the dubia of the four cardinals

The post-synodal exhortation Amoris laetitia (“The joy of love”), dated 19 March 2016, concludes two synods on the family (2014 and 2015). Its chapter VIII — “Accompanying, discerning and integrating weakness” — and especially its footnote 351 triggered the longest controversy of the pontificate: can some divorced and remarried persons living in a marital relationship be admitted to the sacraments after discernment?^[53]

“Because of mitigating factors or conditions, it is possible that, in an objective situation of sin — which is not subjectively culpable, or not fully so — one can live in the grace of God.” — Pope Francis, Amoris laetitia, 19 March 2016, no. 305^[54]

The famous footnote 351 adds: “In certain cases, this can also include the help of the sacraments.”^[55] On 19 September 2016, four cardinals — Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Burke, Carlo Caffarra, and Joachim Meisner — sent the pope five dubia (“doubts”), requesting yes-or-no answers on the conformity of this passage with constant doctrine (notably Familiaris consortio by John Paul II). Receiving no response, they made the letter public on 14 November 2016.^[56]

Francis never formally replied to the dubia. However, he approved as authentic interpretation the guidelines of the bishops of the Buenos Aires region, published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis — which gave them the force of ordinary magisterium and indicated the meaning he gave to his text: a strict, case-by-case discernment, not a general authorization.^[57] The debate nonetheless deeply divided theologians and episcopates. The doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage was never challenged in the text.

The death penalty declared “inadmissible” (2018)

On 1 August 2018, Francis had paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church modified: the death penalty is declared “inadmissible”, and the Church commits to working for its abolition worldwide.^[58]

“The Church teaches, in light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible, because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she is firmly committed to its abolition everywhere in the world.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2267, 2018 version^[59]

The modification reignited a technical debate: is this a development in continuity of doctrine or a rupture with a teaching that admitted the principle licitness of capital punishment? The accompanying letter from Cardinal Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, argues that the new formulation does not contradict previous teaching but explicates its development in light of human dignity.^[60]

Traditionis custodes (2021) and the traditional Mass

On 16 July 2021, the motu proprio Traditionis custodes severely restricted the use of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal (the “Tridentine” form), reversing the liberalization granted by Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum (2007). The text affirms that the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican II are now the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman rite, and subjects celebrations of the old Missal to the bishop’s authorization.^[61]

“The liturgical books promulgated by the holy Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, are the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” — Pope Francis, motu proprio Traditionis custodes, 16 July 2021, art. 1^[62]

Francis justifies the measure, in a letter to the bishops, by a survey conducted among the episcopate in 2020, which reportedly showed that attachment to the old rite often went hand in hand with a rejection of Vatican II and a risk of division.^[63] The decision caused deep pain among those attached to the traditional liturgy, who experienced it as a repudiation of Benedict XVI — who was still alive at the time. The fundamental question — the place of the Catholic liturgical rites and the liturgical movement — goes beyond the pontificate and merits separate articles; what falls to Francis is that he sought to reaffirm the unity of the Roman rite at the cost of a rupture with part of the faithful.

Fiducia supplicans (2023) and the African refusal

On 18 December 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the signature of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and with the pope’s approval, published the declaration Fiducia supplicans. It authorizes pastoral blessings, non-liturgical and non-ritualized, for persons living in “irregular situations” and same-sex couples — while reaffirming that marriage remains the union of one man and one woman, and forbidding any confusion with a nuptial blessing.^[64]

“The possibility arises to bless couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples, in a form that must not be ritually fixed by ecclesiastical authorities, so as not to create confusion with the blessing proper to the sacrament of marriage.” — Declaration Fiducia supplicans (Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith), 18 December 2023, no. 31^[65]

The declaration triggered the largest collective protest against an act of the pontificate. On 11 January 2024, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SCEAM), under the signature of its president Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa, published a joint response from the entire continent: these blessings cannot be practiced in Africa without causing scandal and confusion. The text, prepared in agreement with Rome, maintains communion with the pope while refusing implementation.^[66]

“The language of Fiducia supplicans remains too subtle to be understood by simple people. […] The episcopal conferences of all Africa […] consider that blessings of same-sex couples cannot be carried out in Africa without exposing themselves to scandal.” — Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, on behalf of SCEAM, 11 January 2024^[67]

Faced with the worldwide outcry, the Dicastery had to issue a clarifying statement on 4 January 2024, emphasizing the brief, spontaneous, and non-approving character of these blessings. The doctrine on marriage and the morality of acts remains unchanged in the text — a point also addressed in the dossier Is the Church homophobic?.

Elected partly on a mandate for reform—the cardinals gathered before the conclave had denounced dysfunctions within the Curia—Francis undertook a comprehensive overhaul of the central government of the Church, which remains one of the most concrete achievements of his pontificate.

The Council of Cardinals and Praedicate evangelium

As early as April 13, 2013, one month after his election, Francis established a Council of Cardinals (initially the “C8,” later the “C9”) drawn from the five continents, tasked with assisting him in governance and preparing the reform of the Curia.^[68] After nine years of work, this effort culminated in the apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”), promulgated on March 19, 2022, and effective from Pentecost 2022, which replaced John Paul II’s Pastor bonus (1988).^[69]

The reform places evangelization at the forefront (the new Dicastery for Evangelization, presided over by the pope, becomes the first in the Curia) and introduces a debated legal novelty: any baptized faithful, including lay men or women, may be called to head a dicastery, with governing authority attached to the canonical mission received from the pope rather than exclusively to the sacrament of Holy Orders—a point of theological discussion.^[70]

Reform of Vatican Finances and the Becciu Trial

Francis made financial cleanup a priority. The motu proprio Fidelis dispensator et prudens (February 24, 2014) created the Secretariat for the Economy, entrusted to Cardinal George Pell, along with an Economic Council; the Vatican’s “bank” (IOR) was reorganized toward transparency and anti-money laundering compliance.^[71]

The most spectacular aspect was judicial. The scandal over the ruinous purchase of a luxury property in London (60 Sloane Avenue) by the Secretariat of State led, on December 16, 2023, to the conviction of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former “number three” of the Holy See, to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement—the first time in five centuries that a cardinal has been criminally tried by a Vatican tribunal, and the first time before lay judges.^[72] The Vatican estimated its losses in the operation at several tens, or even hundreds, of millions of euros according to various estimates.^[73]

The Fight Against Sexual Abuse

The issue of sexual abuse marked the entire pontificate, with structural reforms and acknowledged errors. In 2014, Francis established a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, chaired by Cardinal Sean O’Malley.^[74]

The turning point was the Chilean case: in January 2018, the pope publicly defended Bishop Juan Barros, accused of covering for the predator Fernando Karadima, provoking an outcry. After an investigation by Archbishop Scicluna, Francis acknowledged his mistakes, wrote to the Chilean bishops, summoned them to Rome—and in May 2018 received the collective resignation of all thirty-four active bishops of Chile.^[75] In February 2019, he laicized former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick—the first time a cardinal was sanctioned in this way for abuse.^[76]

From February 21 to 24, 2019, Francis convened a global summit at the Vatican on the protection of minors with the presidents of all episcopal conferences. This resulted in the motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi (May 2019), which requires every diocese to have a reporting system and holds bishops accountable, including for cover-ups; then, in December 2019, the abolition of the “pontifical secret” on abuse cases, facilitating cooperation with civil authorities.^[77]

A Globalized College of Cardinals

Over the course of ten consistories, Francis created 163 cardinals (including 133 electors), deliberately favoring the “peripheries”: for the first time, cardinals from Dominica, Haiti, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Lesotho, and Mongolia.^[78] In doing so, he profoundly internationalized the College and shaped the assembly that would elect his successor: the majority of electors in the 2025 conclave were created by him.

Synodality and the Role of Women

The key word of recent years has been synodality—the idea of a Church that “walks together,” listening at all levels before deciding. The Synod on Synodality, a process launched in 2021, culminates in two Roman assemblies (October 2023 and October 2024). A major innovation: in April 2023, Francis authorized laypeople and women to vote in the synodal assembly—a first for the Synod of Bishops.^[79] The in-depth treatment of synods in the history of the Church is covered in a separate article.

Regarding the role of women, Francis has multiplied appointments without touching the reservation of priestly ordination to men. The motu proprio Spiritus Domini (January 2021) officially opened the instituted ministries of lector and acolyte to women.^[80] He appointed the first woman undersecretary of the Synod with voting rights (Sister Nathalie Becquart, 2021) and, in 2025, the first woman president of the Vatican City Governatorate (Sister Raffaella Petrini).^[81] However, the question of the female diaconate, entrusted to two successive study commissions, remains unresolved: Francis has maintained that the ordination of women is not possible, while leaving the study open.^[82]

As both shepherd and head of state of the smallest state in the world, Francis has deployed an active diplomacy, marked by spectacular gestures of openness and controversies over his interpretation of conflicts.

Cuba, Kirill, and the Agreement with China

Francis played a discreet mediating role in the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba, announced on December 17, 2014: he had personally written to Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, and the Vatican hosted the delegations—a role publicly praised by both presidents.^[83]

On February 12, 2016, in Havana, he met Patriarch Kirill of Moscow: this was the first meeting in history between a pope of Rome and a patriarch of Moscow, a major ecumenical gesture toward Russian Orthodoxy.^[84] More contested was the provisional 2018 agreement with China on the appointment of bishops, renewed in 2020, 2022, and 2024: supporters see it as a pragmatic path for the Church in China, while critics—including the American Jesuit magazine America in its October 22, 2024 edition—view it as a concession to the regime, claiming that Rome has never exercised its veto right over appointments imposed by Beijing. The Holy See responds that the agreement serves the pastoral good of Chinese Catholics and that the final decision on appointments belongs to the pope.^[85]

The Trip to Iraq and Fraternity with Islam

From March 5 to 8, 2021, Francis made the first papal trip in history to Iraq, despite war and the pandemic. On March 6, in Najaf, he met the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest authority of Iraqi Shiism—the first meeting between a pope and a grand ayatollah.^[86] The trip extended the gesture of Abu Dhabi (2019) and the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity: dialogue with Islam has been a constant of the pontificate.

Ukraine and the Limits of “Neutrality”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 tested the pontifical diplomacy. Faithful to the Holy See’s traditional neutrality, Francis repeatedly called for peace, but some of his expressions—NATO “barking at Russia’s door,” or, in March 2024, the reference to the “courage of the white flag” urging Ukraine to negotiate—provoked outrage in Kyiv, which saw an unfair equivalence between aggressor and victim. The Vatican clarified that “to negotiate is never to surrender.”^[87] This episode illustrates the difficulty—noted in particular by Kyiv—of a peace diplomacy perceived as hesitating to clearly name the aggressor.^[88]

In total, Francis made 47 international trips to 68 countries, from his very first journey to Lampedusa (2013) to the longest trip of the pontificate, in Asia-Oceania (Indonesia, Papua, East Timor, Singapore) in September 2024—completing visits to all continents.^[89]

The Final Years

Francis’s health declined starting in 2021. In July of that year, he underwent colon surgery at the Gemelli Hospital (removal of about 33 cm of intestine).^[90] From 2022, knee pain forced him to use a wheelchair. On February 14, 2025, he was hospitalized for a severe bilateral pneumonia; the thirty-eight-day stay brought him close to death before his discharge on March 23, 2025.^[91]

Death on Easter Monday 2025

On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, weakened, Francis appeared one last time on the balcony of St. Peter’s to wish “Happy Easter” and give his blessing. The next day, Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, he died at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, at the age of 88. The Vatican attributed the death to a stroke followed by irreversible cardio-circulatory collapse, on an already fragile condition.^[92]

“This morning, at 7:35 a.m., the Bishop of Rome, Francis, has returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was devoted to the service of the Lord and His Church.” — Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo, death announcement, April 21, 2025^[93]

St Mary Major, Outside the Walls of the Vatican

Faithful to a will written as early as 2022, Francis wished to be buried not in the Vatican grottoes but in the Basilica of St Mary Major, before the Marian icon Salus Populi Romani which he venerated before and after every journey. His tomb, marked with the single word Franciscus, makes him the first pope buried outside Vatican City since Leo XIII (1903).^[94] The funeral, on April 26, 2025, simplified according to his wishes (single wooden coffin, no elevated catafalque), gathered about 250,000 people and many heads of state in St. Peter’s Square.^[95]

Leo XIV, the Successor

The conclave convened in May 2025—composed largely of cardinals he had created—elected, on the fourth ballot, on May 8, 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, an Augustinian born in Chicago and long a missionary then bishop in Peru. He took the name Leo XIV—the first pope from the United States and the first Augustinian.^[96] The choice of a man familiar with both the Curia (he headed the Dicastery for Bishops) and missionary peripheries was widely read as a sign of continuity in balance.

How to Read Francis’s Pontificate

Twelve years after the balcony at the “end of the world,” the assessment of the pontificate defies partisan summaries. Francis will be remembered as the pope of mercy, of the Church going forth, and of concern for the poorest, who opened the Church to the dimensions of the world, reformed its Curia and finances, and confronted the abuse crisis head-on. He will also be remembered as the pope whose certain acts—Amoris laetitia, Traditionis custodes, Fiducia supplicans—have fueled deep internal divisions over the boundary between pastoral mercy and doctrinal clarity.

The Catholic response to these tensions is neither the rejection of his legitimacy—sedevacantism and benevacantism, which claim Francis was not a true pope, are doctrinal dead ends—nor the dissolution of dogma under the pretext of pastoral care. It is the reading of the acts of a legitimate pope in the hermeneutic of continuity dear to his predecessor: to receive what is in conformity with the received faith, to distinguish reformable discipline from immutable doctrine, and to hold that the indissolubility of marriage, the truth about marriage and morality remain intact in the very texts. It is for the Church, under Leo XIV and his successors, to receive and interpret this complex legacy in a lasting way.

• Pope Benedict XVI — his predecessor, whose 2013 resignation opened the conclave, and whose “hermeneutic of continuity” Pope Francis sought to extend.
• Pope Leo XIV — his successor, the first pope from the United States, elected in May 2025 by the college renewed by Francis.
• Saint Pope John Paul II — who made Bergoglio a cardinal in 2001, and whose Familiaris consortio serves as a reference in the debate on Amoris laetitia.
• The Second Vatican Council — the constant reference of Traditionis custodes and the declared horizon of the pontificate.
• What to Think of Ecology? — the background dossier behind the encyclical Laudato si'.
• The Church in Latin America — the ecclesial soil from which the first pope of the continent emerged.
• Is the Church Homophobic? — to situate Fiducia supplicans and the “Who am I to judge?” within Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.
• Synods in the History of the Church — to understand the scope of the Synod on Synodality.
• Sedevacantism — the refuted thesis of the “vacant seat,” revived by tensions during the pontificate.