♦ Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, died at the age of 88 on 21 April 2025.

♦ He was elected as the 266th Pope in 2013 after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.  

♦ He was the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, the first from Latin America and the first Jesuit to hold the post.

♦ He was born on 17 December 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

♦ His original name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio. 

♦ He was ordained a priest in the Jesuit order in 1969.

♦ From 1973-79 he was the order's top leader in Argentina.

♦ He became an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and the city's archbishop in 1998.

♦ He was made a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.