Pope Francis Dies At the Age Of 88

On Monday, the day after Easter Sunday, Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope, died on Monday at the age of 88.

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta. pic.twitter.com/jUIkbplVi2

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 21, 2025

Born Jorge Mario Bergolio, Francis was elected in March 2013, after Pope Benedict resigned, the first pontiff to step down since Gregory XII in 1415. He was born on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires to Mario Bergoglio and Regina (Sivori) Bergoglio, who were Italian immigrants. His grandmother, a member of Catholic Action, a movement that defended the church against Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was a primary influence.

Although his mother wanted him to become a doctor, after high school he told his parents of wanting to become a priest. His siter Maria Elena recalled him telling his mother, “I didn’t lie to you, Mom. I’m going to study the medicine of the soul.”

Ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969, Father Bergoglio “later faced accusations that as leader of the Argentine Jesuits he had done too little to protect two priests who were kidnapped and tortured by the junta, allegations later challenged by biographers and others. He eventually reconciled with one of the priests, but the other remained bitter,” The New York Times reported, adding, “His Jesuit leadership ended in controversy. He had cultivated a passionate and loyal cadre of priests, but he had also made enemies, partly because of what critics called an imperious and autocratic management style. The church authorities sent him into de facto exile in Germany and then to Córdoba, Argentina.”

In 1992, he was chosen as auxiliary bishop of the Buenos Aires diocese, becoming archbishop six years later. Bergoglio “had chilly relations with the Vatican,” The Times reported. Yet by 2005, when Benedict was elected pope, Bergoglio finished second.

As pope, Francis championed immigrants; in 2016 he criticized Donald Trump, saying he was “not Christian” because he wanted to build walls instead of bridges. “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian,” Trump replied.

Francis made many significant changes during his papacy, appointing women  to traditionally male positions and  appointing cardinals from countries who had not had a cardinal before. He was criticized by some for not excommunicating clerics who had committed sexual abuse.

In 2013, six months after his election as pope, he said that the church had grown ‘obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception, stating, ““It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time. The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.”

In 2017, Francis amended the Code of Canon Law, giving bishops more authority to translate the liturgical language of Latin.

In February 2025, just weeks after President Trump was inaugurated, Francis sent a letter to American bishops, writing:

I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. 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.

The mourning period for a pope typically lasts nine days as the College of Cardinals comes together to pray. After the funeral the conclave of cardinals will elect a new pope.