Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to lead the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. He chose the name Pope Francis.
Bergoglio was known for taking the subway and mingling with the poor of Buenos Aires when he was archbishop.
Francis, the 266th pope, was elected to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
The pope’s first foreign trip was to Brazil, home to the world’s largest Roman Catholic population.
Francis’ election as pope began an unprecedented era, as a retired pope lived side by side with a reigning one inside the Vatican gardens.
Francis met with Fidel Castro at Castro’s home after he delivered Cuba’s largest papal Mass ever, before an estimated 200,000 people in Havana’s Revolution Square.
President Barack Obama expressed thanks to Francis for reminding the world of a “sacred obligation” to protect the planet, for encouraging reconciliation between the United States and Cuba and for pushing humanity toward peace.
“Here, grief is palpable,” the pope said later at an interfaith service at the Sept. 11 Memorial Museum. “The water we see flowing toward that empty pit reminds us of all those lives which fell prey to those who think that destruction, tearing down, is the only way to settle conflicts.”
Francis made a mostly silent pilgrimage to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. His only public words were written in Spanish in the Auschwitz guest book: “Lord, have pity on your people. Lord, forgive so much cruelty.”
Francis’ papacy was marked by his concern for the environment, and he echoed his predecessors in stressing the absolute compatibility of faith and science and the compatibility of the big bang theory with God’s “divine act of creation.”
The pope signed a donated Lamborghini, which normally sells for more than $200,000, outside his Vatican residence. It was auctioned by Sotheby’s, with the proceeds to help the needy.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Pope Francis regularly referred to Ukraine and its people as “martyred” and called for the fighting to end.
The pope died April 21, 2025, hours after he appeared before crowds at the Vatican on Easter Sunday.
