Just weeks before his death, Pope Francis was doing what he often did best — challenging orthodoxy and riling conservatives.
In mid-February, the pontiff made headlines with a bold critique of U.S. immigration policy, lambasting President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans as a “violation of dignity.” He specifically accused Vice President JD Vance of misappropriating a little-known theological concept to justify those policies. Washington’s reaction was swift and angry, but the Vatican held its ground.
It was a classic Francis move: outspoken, emotionally charged, and focused on the rights of the marginalized — far removed from abstract theological debate. It also showcased the pope’s willingness to engage directly with political powers and to forgo traditional diplomacy in favor of candid activism.
Francis passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88, closing a papacy rooted in outreach to the poor and efforts — often fraught and incomplete — to reform an embattled Church. Elected in 2013 after the dramatic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI amidst the Vatileaks scandal, Francis — born Jorge Mario Bergoglio — was the first Latin American, the first Jesuit, and the first to take the name Francis, honoring Saint Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century advocate for the poor.
Despite his lofty ideals, Francis departs a Church still grappling with unresolved scandals around clerical abuse and financial mismanagement. His tenure, while groundbreaking in some ways, leaves behind an institution as divided as ever.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1936 to working-class Italian immigrants, Bergoglio was known as clever, mischievous, and a football enthusiast. He worked odd jobs, including as a nightclub bouncer and janitor, before studying chemistry and later taking a job at a food laboratory. A serious illness in his early 20s led to the removal of part of a lung — and soon thereafter, a spiritual calling that led him to join the Jesuits.
Even early in his religious life, Bergoglio wrestled with the tension between spiritual dedication and human emotion. He later admitted being “dazzled” by a young woman while studying at the seminary. Yet he progressed quickly through the ranks of the Argentine Church, doubling the number of priests serving impoverished neighborhoods and earning the nickname “slum bishop” for his work in the villas miserias of Buenos Aires.
But he was already polarizing. During Argentina’s “dirty war” in the late 1970s, when the military regime disappeared thousands of political opponents, Bergoglio — then head of the Jesuits in Argentina — faced accusations of staying quiet when two left-leaning priests under his watch were kidnapped. While some viewed him as complicit, others argue he acted behind the scenes to help them.
When he was elevated to cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001, Bergoglio adopted a modest public persona — refusing lavish accommodations, traveling by bus, and avoiding clerical privilege. After Benedict’s resignation in 2013, his humility and reformist image helped position him as the ideal leader for a global Church in crisis. He became the first pope from outside Europe in over a millennium.
Setting a distinct tone from his predecessor, Francis emphasized a Church that serves as a “field hospital” for the wounded — offering comfort rather than judgment. In 2013, he memorably responded to a question about gay priests with, “Who am I to judge?” signaling a significant rhetorical shift in the Church’s stance on sexuality.
This marked the beginning of Francis’s push to implement the progressive spirit of the Second Vatican Council, a 1960s initiative to align the Church with modern ideals. He spoke out forcefully in favor of migrant rights, environmentalism, and economic justice, while also trying — often unsuccessfully — to maintain dialogue with the Church’s more traditionalist constituencies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Some change occurred on his watch. Women and laypeople gained greater roles within the Vatican bureaucracy. But many progressives were underwhelmed. Francis left barriers to female ordination in place and ultimately walked back a ground-breaking declaration permitting blessings for same-sex couples, bowing to conservative backlash from African bishops.
His international record drew similar praise and criticism. Francis was seen as a moral voice in the Global South but sparked controversy with his sometimes muted responses to human rights abuses in China, and his harsh condemnation of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. His appeals for peace in Ukraine also stirred political tensions, especially among critics who felt he downplayed Russia’s aggressions — an approach believed to be shaped by his upbringing in post-colonial Argentina.
Francis’s unpredictable leadership style frustrated many. He occasionally reversed course if he suspected press leaks and failed to deliver on various promised reforms, all of which fueled the rise of a hardline conservative opposition — especially in the United States.
One of his chief critics was Cardinal Raymond Burke, known for his elaborate vestments and vocal
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