Global Pastor: In Word and Deed, Pope Preached Mercy

by CNS · April 22, 2025

Pope Francis receives a big hug from a child as he meets migrants, refugees, orphans, the elderly and the sick at the apostolic nunciature in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 3, 2024. Pope Francis, formerly Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, died April 21, 2025, at age 88. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

By Cindy Wooden, CNS – Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of at age 88, gave new energy to millions of Catholics – and caused concern for some – as he transformed the image of the papacy into a pastoral ministry based on personal encounters and strong convictions about poverty, mission and dialogue.

His gestures – from tenderly embracing the sick to repeatedly visiting prisoners – touched millions of hearts. But controversy raged over his denunciations of the excesses of unbridled capitalism, his warnings about the human contributions to climate change and his insistence on accompanying, not judging, gay people.

U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced that Pope Francis had died at 7:35 a.m.

“His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church,” Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived.

Elected March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was the first pope in history to come from the Southern Hemisphere, the first non-European to be elected in almost 1,300 years and the first Jesuit to serve as successor to St. Peter.

Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Pope Francis was an untiring voice for peace, urging an end to armed conflict, supporting dialogue and encouraging reconciliation.

His simple lifestyle, which included his decision not to live in the Apostolic Palace and his choice of riding around Rome in a small Fiat or Ford instead of a Mercedes sedan, sent a message of austerity to Vatican officials and clergy throughout the church.

Although he repeatedly said he did not like to travel, he made 47 foreign trips, taking his message of Gospel joy to North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city, on Dec. 17, 1936. He earned a chemical technician’s diploma from his high school and entered the Jesuit novitiate in March 1958. He was ordained to the priesthood Dec. 13, 1969, and made his perpetual profession as a Jesuit in 1973.

Father Bergoglio was named an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires in May 1992, was appointed coadjutor archbishop five years later and became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998; Pope John Paul II named him to the College of Cardinals in 2001.

Cardinal Bergoglio was a known and respected figure within the College of Cardinals, so much so that no one disputed a respected Italian journal’s report that he received the second-highest number of votes on all four ballots cast in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Eight years later, Pope Benedict retired. Cardinal Bergoglio was elected to succeed him and chose the name Francis to honour St. Francis of Assisi.

“Go out” was Pope Francis’ constant plea to every Catholic, from curial cardinals to the people in the pews. More than once, he told people that while the Bible presents Jesus as knocking at the door of people’s hearts to get in, today Jesus is knocking at the doors of parish churches trying to get out and among the people.