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Home > Breaking News > Pope Francis
BREAKING NEWS
By:Matt Richards
April 21 2025, Published 6:55 a.m. ET
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Pope Francis, the 226th leader of the Catholic Church, died at 88 years old on Easter Monday.
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Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, confirmed the news with the following statement: “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite, merciful love of God, One and Tribune.”
Francis was hospitalized on February 14 with bronchitis, which ended up turning into double pneumonia and a few respiratory crises. After spending 38 days in the hospital, he was released on March 23. On Easter Sunday, he came out to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.
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The 12-year reigning pope was born Jorge Mario Bergolio in Argentina on December 17, 1936. Prior to becoming a priest, he trained to be a chemist.
At the age of 21, he experienced a life-threatening bout of pneumonia, which led him to become committed to religion. In 1958, he joined the Society of Jesus, and by 1969, he was ordained as a priest. He worked his way up the ranks, becoming the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and was elected a cardinal in 2001.
Francis became the pope in 2013, a historic appointment for many reasons, including being the first pope born outside of Europe since the 8th-century Syrian Pope Gregory III, the first pope born in the Southern hemisphere, the first Jesuit pope and the first pope born in the Americas.
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While he held his position, Francis was known for being less conservative than his predecessors, which caused some controversy in the Catholic Church. One thing he was more liberal on was his position regarding same-s-- marriage. While he upheld the Catholic Church's stance that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman, he said priests should give “pastoral charity” and bless requests of same-s-- marriages.
He also changed the Catechism of the Church in 2018 by rejecting the death penalty, stating it was “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
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Recently, in January 2025, Francis spoke out against Donald Trump’s call for a “mass deportation” of immigrants, slamming it as a “disgrace.”
Pope Francis is survived by María Elena Bergoglio, his only sibling who remains alive, and his niece Cristina Bergoglio.
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