Italy The other pope - Francis is dead
The day that changed everything in Jorge Mario Bergoglio's life and many things in the Roman Catholic Church was March 13, 2013. In the morning, he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires. In the evening, he was Pope.
21.04.2025, 10:25
SDA
At 8.22 pm on that rainy Wednesday, the Argentinian-born Pope, who could have retired at the age of 76, stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. The new pontiff named Francis wore a simple white robe, not even a stole, and greeted the world with a friendly "Fratelli e sorelle, buonasera" ("Brothers and sisters, good evening"). He then took the bus back to the Vatican guest house.
Big differences to his German predecessor
In the very first few minutes of his pontificate, Francis did many things very differently to many of his predecessors. The differences to the retired Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, were obvious to everyone.
The new head of more than 1.4 billion Catholics wanted to be close to the people, spoke in simple sentences and placed no value on outward appearances - all qualities that no one associated with his German predecessor. The Sacred Heart socialist from Argentina and the theology professor from Bavaria were also far apart in other respects.
On the other hand, Francis would probably never have become pope if Benedict hadn't resigned of his own free will at the time. When the Bavarian's life came to an end almost a decade later, on New Year's Eve 2022 at the age of 95, his successor was already well over the age limit of 80 to become pope.
Now Francis himself has died at the age of 88 - in office, although there was much speculation about his resignation. In spring, he had already spent 38 days in hospital with life-threatening pneumonia. The doctors had almost given up on him. But then he returned to the Vatican once again.
On Easter Monday, already very weak, he gave the Urbi et Orbi blessing in front of tens of thousands of faithful. That was the last time anyone got to see him. He was not as old as Benedict, but he was older than any other pope in office for more than a century.
A special pope
The pontiff, who was born into an Italian immigrant family in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, also had a number of other unique characteristics. He was the very first pope from Latin America and the first in more than a millennium not to come from Europe. The first Jesuit to hold this office. And the first to give himself the name Francis - as a reminiscence of Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order of mendicants. That was also part of the program: Francis wanted to be a pope of the poor, the weak, the forgotten, the displaced.
That suited his background. Bergoglio grew up in very modest and very Catholic circumstances. He was what the Church called a "late vocation". He initially trained as a chemical technician before going to seminary and studying philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest shortly before his 33rd birthday. His first years as a priest were the worst years of the Argentinian military dictatorship. Accusations that he was too involved with the regime date back to that time. Francis always denied this.
A difficult time in Germany
In the mid-1980s, he lived in Boppard am Rhein for a few months with the Schmidt family. He learned German at the Goethe-Institut. He also wrote a doctoral thesis on the theologian Romano Guardini, which he never finished. The German period was not a good one for him either.
He later said that he felt "completely out of place" and spent a lot of time walking around cemeteries. When Argentina became world champions against Germany in 1986, he decided not to watch the final on television. He preferred to go to the Rhine. "It was more important to me to enjoy a moment of peace, reflect on my life and pray the rosary."
Back home, he was consecrated a bishop in 1992 and became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. In 2001, Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal. He was soon considered a "papabile", a candidate for the highest office. In 2005, he was clearly defeated by Ratzinger in the conclave. When he was elected eight years later, he joked about his origin from the other "end of the world". But there was also an agenda behind it.
A pope who crossed borders
This pope was drawn to borders, both geographically and socially. His very first trip took him to the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, the fateful destination of tens of thousands of refugees from Africa. From his own family history, he was aware of how difficult it is to leave one's homeland. He called the Mediterranean, where so many people still drown on their way to a supposedly better future, the "largest cemetery in Europe".
On more than 40 trips abroad, he repeatedly visited those living on the margins. From the Greek island of Lesbos, he took twelve refugees from Syria with him to Rome. In Mozambique, he gave comfort to AIDS patients. He flew to Myanmar, where hundreds of thousands of members of the Rohingya Muslim minority have been driven out of the country.
In Abu Dhabi, he signed a declaration on the "brotherhood of all people" across all religions. The key sentence: "Pluralism and diversity in terms of religion, skin color, gender, ethnicity and language correspond to a wise will with which God created human beings." His last major journey, and his longest, took him to Papua New Guinea, one of the poorest countries in the world, in the fall of 2024.
The fact that Francis never came to Germany during his time as Pope can perhaps be explained by his failure in the 1980s. However, the fact that he never visited his homeland in more than ten years remained a mystery to many. Particularly in the last few months, when he became increasingly unwell, there was speculation about an imminent trip to Argentina. The current president, Javier Milei, did extend an invitation, although he had previously insulted him as an evil communist. But nothing more came of it.
Politician in the chair of Peter
Francis was a very political pope, going far beyond the usual exhortations to peace. Another of his guiding principles: "There will never be true peace if we are not able to build a fairer economic system." He denounced the exploitation of the planet with the first environmental encyclical in church history, "Laudato Si". As early as 2015, it stated: "The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has exceeded the planet's capacity to such an extent that the current lifestyle can only end in catastrophe."
He called the murder of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire genocide, which got him into trouble with Turkey. He also spoke into the conscience of the United Nations. Time and again, Francis tried to mediate in wars and civil wars: sometimes successfully, as in Colombia, but usually he was shown the limits of Vatican diplomacy. When he urged the Ukrainians to raise the white flag in front of Russia's troops in spring 2024, many shook their heads.
Crises and conflicts in the Church too
However, Francis also had enough to do with crises and conflicts in the Church. When he was elected, the abuse scandals in many dioceses, which had been covered up for decades, were already a major issue. From the speech before the conclave that made him pope, the following sentence has been handed down: "If the Church does not go out of itself to proclaim the Gospel, it revolves around itself. Then it becomes sick." Later, he even complained publicly in a Christmas address: "Making reforms in Rome is like cleaning the Egyptian sphinx with a toothbrush."
This did not make him popular with the Curia, the Roman power structure. No matter: he reorganized the structures, brought women into management positions and ordered the Vatican to be more transparent in its financial transactions. He was reluctant to allow himself to be talked into internal church affairs - in the style of an absolutist monarch, as popes tend to be. Many in the Curia lost power. That creates opponents.
The now deceased Australian Curia Cardinal George Pell even called Francis' pontificate a "catastrophe". The criticism ranged all the way to the accusation that the display of modesty was a particularly pronounced form of vanity. Conservative cardinals from Germany such as Gerhard Ludwig Müller also made no secret of their displeasure.
Hopes of reformers disappointed
Francis also came in for criticism from the other side. For many who had high hopes for him, he did not go far enough. In fact, he said sentences that one would never have expected a pope to say ("If someone is gay, seeks the Lord and shows good will: Who am I to condemn that?").
In practice, however, little changed. He cleared the way for the blessing of homosexual couples, but a relaxation of celibacy or ordination of women to the priesthood was out of the question with him. There was great disappointment in Germany in particular, including among some bishops, especially as he also dismissed the Synodal Path reform process.
On issues such as abortion and contraception, Francis even proved to be an extremely conservative representative of Catholic sexual morality: "Abortion is more than a problem. It is murder." He called contraception permissible in exceptional cases at best. He tightened the rules on the ongoing issue of sexual abuse by dignitaries. However, there are still problems with implementation today.
Two men in white
Many attribute the fact that there was no major upheaval to the fact that Francis had an emeritus pope at his side for most of his pontificate. Two men in white - never before seen in the Vatican. And Benedict certainly slowed him down. Others take a more positive view of his reform record. They argue that Pope number 266 has initiated changes that are only gradually taking full effect.
In fact, Francis shifted the coordinates by giving the Church a synodal constitution. In doing so, he shifted a certain amount of power away from Rome and towards the local churches. After three years of deliberations, he also brought the world synod he had initiated to a close, albeit without fundamental reforms.
One thing is certain, despite all the debates about his record: with his personnel decisions over the years, Francis exerted great influence on the body of cardinals who will now elect the next pope. When making new appointments, he often ignored bishops from former centers of power in the Church in Europe. He preferred to appoint clergymen from distant regions. Some say: from the other side of the world.
