Pope Francis has died at the age of 88, the Vatican has announced.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected to lead the Catholic Church in March 2013 after Pope Benedict XVI stood down.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.
Francis’s papacy heralded many firsts and while he never stopped introducing reforms to the Catholic Church, he remained popular among traditionalists.
He was the first Pope from the Americas or the southern hemisphere. Not since Syrian-born Gregory III died in 741 had there been a non-European Bishop of Rome.
He was also the first Jesuit to be elected to the throne of St Peter – Jesuits were historically looked on with suspicion by Rome.
Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first Pope to retire voluntarily in almost 600 years and for almost a decade the Vatican Gardens hosted two popes.
As Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina, he was already in his seventies when he became Pope in 2013.
