VATICAN CITY,— Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church for the past 12 years, has died at the age of 88.
The head of the Catholic Church died on Monday at 7:35 a.m. (CEST). He had been the pope for 12 years, taking over the papacy on March 13, 2013.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the Father’s home. Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced that he dedicated his entire life to serving the Lord and his Church.
“He taught us to embody the Gospel values of faithfulness, courage, and universal love, particularly for the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend Pope Francis’ soul to the infinite, merciful love of God.
Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was the first pope born or raised outside of Europe in over a millennium. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and previously worked as a bouncer and janitor before becoming a chemist.
In 1958, he joined the Jesuits and rose through the church’s ranks to become archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. In 2001, Pope John Paul II elevated him to the rank of Cardinal.
Francis’ election to the Vatican was a historic event, preceded by Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation in 2013. Benedict was the first pope to resign since 1415. Benedict was known as “Pope Emeritus” until his death in 2022.
Francis was regarded as a more liberal pope than his predecessor and has faced criticism from more conservative elements of the church for his views on the LGBTQ+ community. He supported a decision that allowed priests to bless same-sex couples without blessing the relationships themselves.
He appointed the first woman to head a major Vatican office, Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian nun, as prefect of the department in charge of all the Catholic Church’s religious orders.
The appointment was a significant step toward Francis’ goal of increasing women’s leadership roles in church governance.
While women have been appointed to second-tier positions in some Vatican offices, no woman has ever been named prefect of a dicastery or congregation of the Holy See Curia, the Catholic Church’s central governing body.
As pope, Francis championed immigrants’ rights, speaking out against xenophobic reactions to migrants traveling to Europe and the United States. In January, shortly before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Francis said Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace,” nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
In February 2025, he issued a major rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, addressing the US migrant crackdown in a letter to US bishops that appeared to take direct aim at Vice President JD Vance’s theological defense of the deportation program.
In the letter, Francis stated that nations have the right to defend themselves and protect their communities from criminals.
“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” wrote him.
Despite his somewhat liberal stances on certain issues, the pope remained adamantly opposed to abortion, calling it a “absolute evil.”
In recent years, he has waded into American politics, advising Catholic voters to vote for the “lesser evil” in the 2024 election, whether it is Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.
The pontiff called Trump’s stance on migrants and immigration a “grave” sin and compared Kamala Harris’ position on abortion to a “assassination.”
He has also faced criticism for the Vatican’s handling of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals in recent years, as victims have come forward to share their experiences of being molested by Catholic priests.
Francis established a papal commission to address sexual abuse and required dioceses to report abuse.
However, survivors have questioned the effectiveness of Francis’ commission and accused him of opposing reforms that would effectively address the issue.
In recent years, the Pope has been hospitalized several times, including for pneumonia and other infections.
When he was younger, he had part of one of his lungs removed. In 2021, doctors removed 13 inches of his large intestine. In 2023, doctors repaired a hernia in his abdominal wall and removed intestinal scar tissue.
Francis’ death is a blow to an estimated 1.375 billion Catholics worldwide, including approximately 52 million in the United States.
Who will become the next pope?
Following Pope Francis’ death, the College of Cardinals will soon meet to elect a new Pope. Typically, the conclave starts 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death or resignation.
Only cardinals under the age of 80 may vote.
While any baptized male can be elected pope, the college of cardinals last elected someone from outside their ranks in 1378. As a result, one of the current cardinals is likely to become the next pope.