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The popes · No. 266 of 267

Francis

The first pope from the Americas, and the first called Francis.

Pope 2013 to 2025

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Pope Francis in white cassock, smiling and waving, outdoors.

Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han), 2014. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Home / The popes / Francis

St Peter’s Square, 13 March 2013

After the resignation of Benedict XVI, the conclave elects the archbishop of Buenos Aires.1

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aged seventy-six, becomes the 266th pope.1

He was the son of Italian immigrants, a trained chemical technician, and a Jesuit.

01Francis

Buenos Aires

He was born in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, the son of Piedmontese immigrants.1

After qualifying as a chemical technician, he chose the priesthood.1

02Francis

Together with the people

On Easter Sunday 2025 he gave the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia of St Peter’s and went down into the square to bless the people.1

He died the next morning, Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.1

He was buried in the Basilica of St Mary Major.1

His last public act was a blessing. It is hard to imagine a better ending for a pope.

In May 2025, the cardinals chose a missionary from Chicago.

Notes

  1. Biography of Pope Francis. Holy See, official English text. vatican.va

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.