In pictures: Life and work of Pope Francis

Following the surprising resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected the 266th pope in March 2013. He was the first pope to adopt the name Francis, honoring the Catholic saint Francis of Assisi, who was venerated for his life of poverty, humility and care for creation. In doing so, Pope Francis called for a "church for the poor."

Pope Francis used his papacy to draw attention to the suffering of refugees. Amid the European migrant crisis in 2016, Francis visited refugees at the extremely overcrowded Moria holding center on the Greek island of Lesbos. There, he called upon the world to "respond in a way worthy of our common humanity" and brought 12 Muslim refugees to Rome on his papal plane.

In his 2015 papal encyclical "Laudato Si" ("Praised Be"), Pope Francis slammed the global capitalist system with harsh words, arguing it exploited the poor and destroyed the environment. Throughout his papacy, Francis championed environmental stewardship and called attention to the climate crisis. He carried this message to all reaches of his Church, like here, in Papua New Guinea in 2024.

In 2021, Francis defied multiple security concerns when he became first pontiff to visit Iraq. There, surrounded by the shells of destroyed churches, he prayed for the victims of war in Mosul, once the de facto capital of the so-called "Islamic State." Francis' visit was part of his wider effort to bridge gaps among the Christian faith, as well as between Christians and non-Christians faiths.

In 2022, Pope Francis met with delegations from Canada's First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples to apologize for the Church's role in systematic abuse, violence and cultural erasure committed by missionaries at Canada's residential schools. He did not extend this "pilgrimage of penance" to the US, where predominantly Protestant boarding schools also forcibly assimilated Indigenous children.

Francis appointed a series of cardinals to help carry out his ambitious reforms, and even made the cover of the rock magazine "Rolling Stone" for spearheading a "gentle revolution." Yet despite his ambitious outreach he also fell short, for example when it came to effectively protecting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse within the Church, or clearing the way for female priests.

Francis' rock star-like image drew huge crowds, like here in Indonesia, when the pope visited the world's largest Muslim-majority nation in 2024. Yet despite efforts building bridges and a more inclusive Church, the pope was only partially successful in shining a light on the LGBTQ+ community. While he did describe being gay as a "human fact," he failed to support blessings for same-sex unions.

At the age of 88, less than a month after battling double pneumonia, Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025 from a stroke. Just one day before his death, he delivered the traditional Urbi et Orbi ("To the city and to the world") blessing at the end of Sunday's Easter Mass. A papal conclave will gather in the Sistine Chapel to determine his successor in 15 to 20 days.