After suffering a stroke and heart failure, Pope Francis, the first Latin American and Jesuit pope, died on April 21 after serving a 13-year pontiff filled with dedication to peace and justice.
In 2013 the 265th pope, Pope Benedict XVI, made a surprising move to become the third pope ever to resign from his position, as well as becoming the first pope in over 600 years to do so.
Following this decision, a new pope had to be appointed in the famous process known as Conclave.
During Conclave every cardinal below the age of 80 is locked into the Sistine chapel for as long as it takes to decide on a new pope.
A cardinal is a high ranking church official appointed by the pope to help govern the church.
A series of votes take place and if a two-thirds majority is not achieved the cardinals will release black smoke into the chapel’s chimney.
If a two-thirds majority is reached then white smoke is let out and the Catholic Church has a new pope.
In 2013 Pope Francis, formally known as Jorge Bergoglio, came into Conclave as a sort of underdog.
In the previous election in 2005 Bergoglio had been the runner-up to Benedict, however, in 2013 many of the cardinals wanted a younger pope and considering Francis was 76, he did not fit that description.
But despite the initial odds Bergoglio was elected as the first South American pope after five ballots, becoming Pope Francis.
As a member of the Jesuit order, and first pope from the order, Francis was uniquely focused on justice and simplicity compared to other popes because of the jesuit vow of poverty.
The Jesuits were founded during the period known as counter-reformation where the Catholic Church went through a series of reforms following the protestant reformation.
Being a Jesuit Pope Francis denied almost all of the luxuries that popes are allowed to have.
One such luxury that Pope Francis did not want was to live in the Papal Palace.
Instead, Francis opted to live in a small guest house adjacent to St. Peter’s Basilica.
His Jesuit values were also seen in how he handled his duties as Pope throughout the 13 years of his papacy.
One of his controversial decisions as pope was the inclusivity that he extended toward the LGBTQ+ community.
While he did not stray from Catholic doctrine, Pope Francis did bless same-sex couples, just not the union.
In 2019 Pope Francis dealt with the long standing issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
In response to this scandal Francis vowed zero tolerance for offenders as well as ending the secrecy that priests used to cover up abuse cases.
The main goal of Pope Francis’ papacy was ecumenism, or the idea of Christian unity and cooperation.
Pope Francis worked to achieve this goal of ecumenism through meeting with Greek Orthodox leaders.
This decision to attempt to bridge the gap between the long separated branches of Christianity, dating back the the Great Schism in 1054, showed that the pope was focused on this very liberal goal.
Pope Francis dedicated much of his papacy to the people and modernizing the Catholic Church to adapt to this very different world solidifying himself as one of the most liberal and influential popes.
On May 8 the results of the 2025 Conclave became known to the public as white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney and the first American pope, Pope Leo XIV, ascended to the papacy.