Pope Francis: Man of Firsts

 Pope Francis

Pope Francis in 2014

A man of firsts

    The world has been deeply grieved by the unexpected death of the Holy Father on the 21st of April 2025. In accordance with the official Vatican spokesman, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the pope did not succumb to his double pneumonia as many surmised. The cause of his death was announced to be a stroke that suddenly unfolded shortly after he had got up with his alarm at 6 o'clock in the morning. In the aftermath of the stroke he had at 7 o'clock, he went into a sebsequent coma and passed away around 7:35 AM. In his memory, I decided to make a concise summary of his life, highlighting the major incidents of his childhood, priesthood, cardinalate, and papacy down below.

"Jorge Mario Bergoglio"

 The late pope was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio into a family of Italian immigrants in Argentina, who had fled the fascist regime in Italy. Since a truly young age, his life was marked extensively by Catholic teachings. After having spent some time as a janitor and bouncer, he became a chemical technician in the food industry since he was a technical high school graduate. Nevertheless, he was profoundly inspired by a priest when he had wanted to confess himself on his way to a secular celebration, which piqued his curiosity for the Jesuits. 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 12, at Salesian School (in the middle row, fourth on the left)

"The beginning of his religious life"

 As a consequence, he began his studies at the archdiocesan seminary of Inmaculada Concepción and, three years later, entered the Society of Jesus as a novice on the 11th March of 1958 as he was only 21. Afterwards, he studied humanities in Santiago, the capital of Chile. He finally became a full-fledged Jesuit order member 

on the 12th March of 1960, approximately two years after his novitiate. He obtained a licentiate degree, comparable to a Master's degree, in the same year and was assigned as a teacher of literature and psychology at the high school Colegio Máximo de San José and then at the high school Colegio del Salvador. Three years after beginning his studies at San Miguel's (Saint Michail) faculty of philosophy and theology in 1967, the Archbishop Ramón José Castellano ordained him a priest.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the Argentine seminary in the 1950s

A turbulent priesthood

 Throughout his priesthood, Pope Francis led a remarkably active ministry on multiple levels. This period of his life was no less restless than the others. It was rife with notable undertakings, from his Jerusalem pilgrimage, interrupted by the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, to three months spent in Ireland to learn in English in 1980. Moreover, he was named the rector of the faculty where he had previously studied. Simply put, he was involved in almost all aspects of life, honing himself to perfection as a disciple of God. In addition to this, he also spent almost a year at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany, where he elaborated a dissertation on Romano Guardini's work Der Gegensatz. His life was marked by scandalous incidents like the Cold War, the Yom Kippur War, the collapse of the USSR, the assassination attempt against the then incumbent Pope John Paul II, and so on. The Church was also suffering from a downward trend in the number of believers, which was offset by the birth rates, abjuring Christianity due to multiple factors such as the paedophilia crisis inside the ecclesiastical body and the despair engendered by the actual situation in the world.

"First cardinal, then pope"

 In 2001, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elevated to the cardinalate by the order of Pope John Paul II. He was also elected president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference on the 8th of November 2005. With regards to the havoc wreaked by the Dirty War, the cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio issued an apology for not being able to protect people from the junta as the head of the Argentine Catholic Bishops' Conference. At 75, he submitted his resignation to the then Pope Benedict XVI as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, but this request had to be suspended until a replacement for him was found for lack of a coadjutor archbishop. Upon Benedict XVI's resignation as the Pope in 2013, the College of Cardinals elected him as the new pope on the 13th of March 2013 at the age of 76. In tribute to Saint Francis of Assisi, he picked the papal name "Francis." Astoundingly, he was the first Jesuit in history to become the Pope as the Church history is laden with disputes and disagreements between the Jesuits and the Holy See; nonetheless, it was not the only thing he was regarded as the first at, because he was also the first pope from the Americas and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere. Though ethnically European due to his Italian parents, he was also the first extra-European pope since the 8th century.

Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in July 2013

"The People's Pope"

  In contrast with his immediate predecessors, he did not consent to reside in the ornate, elegant Apostolic Residence, but rather he utilised a petty suite inside the Vatican Guest House, where he welcomed his guests and held meetings. His manners were considered to be less formal than those of his predecessors, as he favoured the common touch and easy accessibility. He did not hesitate to hug people, to kiss babies, and to caress newly-weds. As expected from a Jesuit, he dedicated most of his time to trips to the every nook and cranny on Earth. Even if he averaged the late pope John Paul II in the number of yearly trips, he was the first pope to ever set foot on Myanmar (2017), the UAE (2019), and Iraq (2021). In Iraq, he survived a couple of assassination attempts and carried out a speech on the exact same spot where the ISIS leaders had sworn, without neglecting injurious and disparaging remarks against him, to conquer Rome and to execute him. Taken into account countless threatenings regarding his visit to Iraq, his courage is bewildering. Therefore, he proved his worth through heroic and sometimes fatherly deeds on endless occasions, whence his nickname "The People's Pope."

Pope Francis and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III in 2015

“Dissent and revolution”

 Despite critical remarks and acerbic disapproval of certain conservative Catholic figures, he always led a progressive ministry throughout his papacy, embracing the needy and the social outcasts without discrimination. His proximity to his brethren—believers—earned him the sobriquet ‘the People’s Pope’ as he joyfully treated everyone, who came to him, with meritorious humility. In office, he masterfully displayed an avant-garde approach and unusual attitude towards numerous concerns of the Holy See through groundbreaking reforms, which led to a ecclesiastical modernisation and globalisation to the fullest extent of the word. For instance, many extra-European cardinals have been created; besides, his relentless trips around the globe inspired many for Catholicism, which indeed yielded a pretty palpable outcome in the number of yearly baptisms worldwide. He did likewise promote women to positions of power like Raffaella Petrini, the secretary general of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, which is an unheard-of occurrence within the Catholic Church. In this sense, it would not be wrong to denominate him as a revolutionary pioneer with regard to the new course the Church has taken under his administration.

Papal coats of arms

“Misinterpreted and hated by some despite all”

 Notwithstanding the general satisfaction with Pope Francis and his open mindset, he always had detractors that harshly reviled him, some of them for being liberal to the point of heresy and others even for not being modern enough for the contemporaneous world. He especially drew fire upon his statements regarding the blessing of LGBTQ+ couples, which had been perceived as an approval of civil unions between gay men or lesbian women, even though what he had really highlighted was that even he, in his capacity of pope, was not authorised to judge a sinner on the basis of his wrongdoings and transgressions. Since he assigned plenty of women to high positions within the Church, some conservative Catholics asserted that the late Pope was paving the way to the ordination of female deacons and priestesses. The Pope clarified the hazy rumors thereon by reaffirming the forbiddance of women in the sacerdotal positions. At this stage, it is quite obvious that some of his teachings were inadvertently misinterpreted on some occasions and malevolently twisted on others. In particular, the conventional news and media coverage marred or, at the very least, strove to mar his reputation in a constant fashion. Although, the Pope never ceased his struggle for the truth and he always endeavoured to expound his own words in case of misinterpretations and subsequent criticisms.

“A man of humility”

 Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis opted for a notably more humble lifestyle that was reflected practically in all aspects of his life, including his vestments. He ditched flamboyant red loafers, worn by Benedict XVI, in favour of ordinary black shoes and the luxurious papal mitre in favour of a sober white cap. In parallel, he was not an admirer of glitzy jewellery either. Instead of an opulent golden crucifix and a similar ring, he wore iron ones. Out of the same sense of humility, he used to refuse to have his hand kissed on encounters and preferred simple handshakes. All in all, the entirety of Francis' actions aimed at highlighting the humanity and mortality of the pope. He did not hesitate to stop the entire motorcade to get out of his vehicle and bless a disabled boy or to happily put on an Anime dress hand-knit and given by the Japanese on the occasion of his visit after decades. In this sense, he was a man of God even in the eyes of the Atheists, which is corroborated by the fact that many non-religious people expressed their heartful condolences for Pope Francis' demise. "Pope John Paul II taught us what we believe; Pope Benedict XVI taught us why we believe; Pope Francis taught us how we blieve," stated a Catholic media concerning his papacy.

The Pope hugging believers "End of an admirable life"  Since he had part of his lung excised in his early 20s due to a pneumonia, it was already known that he was vulnerable vis-à-vis respiratory problems. In addition, he had a problem at his knees, which slowly precluded him from walking without assistance. However, he fell ill in the middle of mass on the 14th of February and adjured someone else to take his place to resume without him. In the beginning, he suffered from a respiratory tract infection, which later evolved into double pneumonia. His situation was critical, reported the Vatican officials. He could not breathe without external assistance and his already fragile health was worsening, since a kidney failure occurred to top it all off. Despite his critical condition, his convalescence went well after all, and he was discharged from the Gemelli Hospital on the 23th of March after one month. At the moment of his discharge, he had not yet fully recovered his health, but he could carry out basic daily tasks with assistance like a breathing device. Under these delicate medical circumstances, he contrived to celebrate Easter in public and to welcome the U.S. vicepresident J.D. Vance in private. At the end of all this, the unexpected news was published by Cardinal Kevin Farrell at 9:45 on the 21st of March 2025, exactly hours after Easter: Pope Francis deceased. As opposed to the general opinion and the consensus of estimations worldwide, the late pope did not die of a respiratory crisis ensuing from a relapse of pneumonia, but rather of a cerebral haemorrhage, widely known as a stroke, which had caused him to go into coma at 7 o'clock in the morning before his brain death was confirmed half an hour later. Following his testament, his mortal remains will rest at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major unlike many other deceased popes, who were traditionally interred in grottoes under the Saint Peter's Basilica. As a side note, his funeral will be defrayed by an anonymous benefactor because he donated all the remaining money, around 200.000 euros, to charity. The burial will take place on Saturday, April 26 2025, at 10 o'clock, Italian time. Until then, everyone can say goodbye to the late pope in his open casket, recently transported to the Vatican. Thank you for taking your time to read a good man's life, may he rest in peace. Athel.