Pope Francis died April 21, 2025, of a stroke followed by a coma and heart failure, aged 88. During his 12 years as pope, he spoke for and defended marginalized groups, diversified the Vatican, began conversations on taboo subjects, and fought for peace worldwide.“We have lost the pope of the poor, of the marginalized, of those nobody wants, or at the very least, of those many choose to exclude,” said Jorge Garcia Cuerva.
In his Easter Sunday address, Pope Francis called for a lasting cease-fire in Gaza. He had been checking in on a small Roman Catholic church in Gaza every night before his passing. “It gave us the strength to endure the difficult conditions we were experiencing,” said George Anton, spokesperson for the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. In Africa, millions of Catholics mourn his death. In the past year alone, 7 million Africans converted to Catholicism. “This Pope has made a lot of efforts to make our faith inclusive…I remember him with joy,” Ghanaian Catholic Aba Amissah Quainoo told BBC. And yet, it wasn’t just Catholics grieving. Nonbelievers expressed sorrow over his death. His progressive nature pleased many, although some believers criticized his lax attitude towards tradition.
Perhaps his accessibility and humility were due to his upbringing. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as the son of Italian immigrants and eldest of five siblings. He graduated high school with a chemical technician’s diploma and worked as a lab technician in a food laboratory for several years before being drawn to priesthood. On Dec. 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Ramon Jose Castellano. He worked his way up from priest to Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires, appointed by Pope John Paul II on May 20, 1992. Three years later, John Paul II would appoint him cardinal. On March 13, 2013, he was elected Supreme Pontiff.
Throughout his tenure as pope, he worked tirelessly to make the Roman-Catholic Church more inclusive and welcoming. Often in the form of encyclicals or speeches, Pope Francis aimed to change the culture—not necessarily the Church doctrine itself. In the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia Pope Francis urged others to consider the situation that may call for a divorce or remarriage: “The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications.” In the 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si he addressed climate change as a global issue caused by the entitlement of humans. “We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will,” wrote Pope Francis. And on April 13, 2013, Pope Francis created the Council of Cardinals to help him govern the Church. As a testament to his inclusivity, each Cardinal was from a different part of the world in order to gain a diverse array of perspectives.
But with every conversation started and gray area proclaimed, the desire for true change was still there. While he had opened up discussions on previously taboo subjects, he hesitated to make big decisions. He maintained an unclear stance, frustrating those who looked to him for guidance and hope. When asked about gay priests, he simply responded, “If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them?” And yet, on June 14, 2015, a day after the annual Gay Pride Parade in Rome, Italy, Francis gave a speech emphasizing the importance of heterosexual marriages: “Being parents is founded in the diversity of being, as the Bible reminds, male and female.” But perhaps the biggest controversy he faced was his part in the repeated clergy sexual abuse scandals. Francis had created a sex abuse commission meant to prevent and address clergy sexual abuse that ultimately lost its influence after a few years. To make matters worse, he publicly defended Bishop Juan Barros who had been accused of witnessing and covering up priest Fernando Karadima’s crimes. However, he later commissioned an investigation after realizing his mistake and apologized to the victims.
Only time will tell how Pope Francis’s legacy will be remembered. Regardless of the longevity of the changes he tried to implement, he made a significant mark on the Church and how it is perceived.
