Francis, the first Latin American pope, died at 88

Pope Francis, who has gone from modest means in Argentina to become the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, who confronted with bitterly with the traditionalists in his push for a more inclusive Roman Catholic church, and who spoke relentlessly for migrants, the marginalized marga and the health of the planet, died on Monday at the Vatican Casa Santa. He was 88 years old.

The Pope’s death was announced by the Vatican in a declaration on X, one day after Francis appeared in his wheelchair to bless the faithful on Saint-Pierre square on Easter Sunday.

Throughout its 12-year papacy, Francis was an agent of change, having inherited a Vatican in disarray in 2013 after the superb resignation of his predecessor, Benoît XVI, standard spokesperson for Roman Catholic conservatism.

Francis regularly directed the church in another direction, replenishing his leadership with a diversified fan of bishops who shared his pastoral and welcoming approach as he sought to open the church. Many basic Catholics have approved, believing that the church had become interior and far from ordinary people.

Francis contacted migrants, the poor and the destitute, victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members and distant gay Catholics. He has traveled in often forgotten and distant countries and sought to improve relations with an antagonistic Chinese government, Muslim clerics and fragmented Christian world leaders.

After a few anticipated triples, he took strong measures to combat a crisp crispens of sexual abuse which had become an existential threat to the Church. He adopted new rules to hold the best religious leaders, including the bishops, responsible if they have committed sexual abuse or cut it, although it has not imposed the level of transparency or civil declaration obligations that many defenders have demanded.