Key dates in the life of Pope Francis

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope, reshaped the Church with compassion, reform, and global outreach

Apr 21, 2025

Here are some key dates in the life of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope, who died on April 21, aged 88:

- Dec. 17, 1936: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is born in Buenos Aires to an accountant and a housewife from an Italian emigrant family.

- Sept. 21, 1953: Receives his calling to become a priest. He later described being moved to go to church while heading to a school event, a day that "changed my life."

- 1957: Undergoes an operation to remove part of his lung.

- March 11, 1958: After studying chemical engineering at university, he joins the Jesuit order as a novice.

- Dec. 13, 1969: Ordained as a priest.

- July 31, 1973: Became leader of Argentina's Jesuits, a position he held for six years.

- 1980: Amid tensions in the Jesuit order, returns to work as parish priest and rector at a college in San Miguel, near the capital.

- 1986: Goes to Germany and later, Argentina's second city, Cordoba.

- 1992: Returns to Buenos Aires as auxiliary bishop.

- Feb. 28, 1998: Appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires.

- Feb. 21, 2001: Made cardinal by John Paul II.

- March 13, 2013: Elected 266th pope after his predecessor Benedict XVI resigned. Chooses the name Francis in reference to Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the poor.

- July 8, 2013: Makes first trip outside Rome to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a major gateway to Europe for migrants, where he castigates the "globalization of indifference." Three years later, bring back 12 families from a migrant camp in Lesbos, Greece.

- July 11, 2013: Launches a reform of the Vatican's penal code to fight sexual abuse against minors and corruption within the Church.

- July 29, 2013: Signals a more tolerant church when he says on a flight back from Brazil that "if someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?"

- June 18, 2015: Francis publishes his second encyclical, "Laudato Si'," dedicated to environmentalism. The letter urges action against climate change.

- Feb. 12, 2016: Holds a historic meeting with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, nearly 1,000 years after the schism between the Eastern Church and Rome.

- May 23, 2016: Historic audience at the Vatican with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's prestigious Al-Azhar mosque.

- April 11, 2018: Francis acknowledges "grave errors" in his handling of child sexual abuse cases in Chile and asks for forgiveness.

- Sept. 22, 2018: Francis announces the first-ever agreement between China and the Holy See over bishop appointments.

- March 27, 2020: As much of Europe shuts down due to coronavirus, Francis delivers an "Urbi et Orbi" address alone in a deserted St Peter's Square.

- Oct. 21, 2020: In a documentary, says he is in favour of same-sex civil unions.

- March 6, 2021: During the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, meets the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

- July 4, 2021: Undergoes successful colon surgery, spending 10 days in hospital.

- June 5, 2022: New Apostolic Constitution comes into force, completing a major reform of the governance of the church that he began when he took office.

- Jan. 5, 2023: Presides over the funeral of Benedict XVI in St Peter's Square.

- March 29, 2023: Admitted to hospital for a respiratory infection, stayed three nights.

- June 7, 2023: Admitted to hospital for hernia surgery, staying nine nights.

- Sept. 3, 2024: Embarks on epic, 12-day voyage, the farthest of his papacy, to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore -- at age 87.

- Feb. 14, 2025: Admitted to hospital with bronchitis, which turns into double pneumonia.--ucanews.com