Pope Francis was elected to the Pope See on March 13, 2013 at the age of 76. He passed away on Monday, April 21st, at the age of 88.
Born in Argentina as Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis joined the Jesus Society at the age of 21. He was appointed priest before his 33rd birthday and was consecrated in 1992 as an auxiliary bishop of his hometown Buenos Aires.
In 1998 he was appointed Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and in 2013 he took on that role until the election to the Pope See.
Photo Gallery: Pope Francis for many years
There are five ways the Pope influenced the Catholic Church.
1. Historical first
Pope Francis was the first Jesuit to be elected Pope.
The Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus, a religious order founded by St. Ignatius Loyola.
Pope Francis’ first view of the world immediately after the election for the Pope See on March 13, 2013. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)
Many other first elections were marked in Francis’ election. Originally from Argentina, he was the first Pope to be elected from the Americas and the first Pope from the Southern Hemisphere.
He was also the first Pope to adopt the regnal name “Francis.”
“For many Jesuits, what the first Jesuit pope meant was someone who could show the world what the Jesuits really were. David Patanostro of SJ, a Jesuit priest who lives in Missouri, told Fox News Digital.
“Francis is someone who, despite his sin, feels that Jesus is approaching him and wants the same feelings in others.”
Paternostro answered the question “Jorge Mario Bergolio” by declaring from his first interview that “I am a sinner,” he showed the character of the spirituality of the Jesuits, the feeling that he was a loved sinner by the Lord, and called for friendship with Jesus. ”
Pope Patanostro said, “He has shown the world what the Jesuits can do at our best: the true evangelist, the true son of Ignatius, and (as he has repeatedly explained) the true son of the church.”
“Francis is a man who felt that despite his sins, Jesus was approaching him. [wanted] Others have this same feeling,” Paternostro said.
2. New Saint
Throughout his 12 years of Pope, Pope Francis cananized nearly 1,000 people. (However, this total includes the “Otranto martyrs,” a group of 813 people who were murdered on August 14, 1480 in Otranto, Italy.)
Among the prominent people standardized by Pope Francis was St. Junipero Serra, a Spanish priest who now founded nine missions in California.
Pope Francis incites an altar between a canoeing mass of Juniperocera on September 23, 2015, on the eastern stud of the cathedral of the National Shrine of Washington, DC’s Immaculate Concept. This was the first canoeing in US soils. (Washington Post via John McDonnell/Getty Images)
Serra’s Canonization on September 23, 2015 was the first in US soil, Fox News Digital reported previously.
Francis also cananized Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Pope Paul VI and Pope John XXIII.
3. Death Penalty
On August 2, 2018, Pope Francis issued a letter revising the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teachings on the death penalty.
Mother Teresa’s final message, written on the day she died, reveals her deep faith in Christ.
“Pope Francis continued the recent tradition of the previous Pope from St. John Paul II by escalating Catholic opposition to modern use of the death penalty,” Charles Camothy, a professor of bioethics at Clayton University School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital. Camothy is based in New Jersey.
However, Francis’ language in this letter “stop calling practice, a term often used in Catholic moral theology, essentially evil,” Camothy said.
Pope Francis called the death penalty “unacceptable.” (AP)
Instead, Francis used the term “unacceptable” and said it was an attack on human dignity.
“I think it’s safe to say that the Holy Father used the most powerful language possible for the death penalty, not using a language that would 100% close the door no matter what,” Camothy said.
4. Guidance during the coronavirus pandemic
Italy has been one of the most difficult regions in the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic, seeing thousands of deaths. The entire country was locked down on March 9th, and it was the first to do so.
About two weeks later, on March 27, 2020, in one of his Pope’s most memorable moments, Pope Francis celebrated a special “Urbi et Orbi” (“From the City to the World”) from St. Peter’s Square, which aired around the world.
Pope Francis delivered “Urbiet Obi” “to the Roman cities and the world) (to the Roman cities and the world) on March 27, 2020 in front of the empty Piazza St. Peter. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
For Dawn Eden Goldstein, a Washington, DC-based theologian and Canon lawyer, the moment had special meaning.
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“On March 27, 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Pope Francis gave the world an extraordinary blessing from the extraordinary St. Peter’s Square, I was never proud to be a Catholic,” she said.
She continued, “His message was strong. He encouraged us to treat the crisis as an opportunity for personal conversion and fraternity, and he assured us that Jesus was with us.”
Pope Francis blessed the world with the Eucharist and encouraged people to remain faithful. (Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
After the blessing, Pope Francis lifted the Eucharist contained in a special container called the Monster and removed it from St. Peter’s Cathedral.
Visibly limp, Pope Francis then blessed the world.
“He gave us a moment of deep intimacy with the Lord when we needed it the most,” Goldstein said.
5. Expand the church
The word “Catholic” was translated into “universal,” and exemplified by Pope Francis. Francis visited the location. The previous Pope has never visited before. Cardinals were appointed from non-traditional locations.
During the Pope, Pope Francis became the first Pope to visit Iraq, Mongolia, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates.
Pope Francis became the first Pope to visit Mongolia. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In 2015, Francis visited the Central African Republic and became the first Pope to enter an active war zone.
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During the Pope, Pope Francis created 163 cardinals from a total of 75 countries.
Pope Francis has appointed 163 new cardinals through his Pope. (Stefano costantino/sopa Images/Lightrocket via Getty Images)
A third of these countries have not been represented by Cardinal of University before.
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Francis is based in Bangladesh, Brunei, the Central African Republic, Cape Verde, El Salvador, Haiti, Laos, Lesotho, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mali, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paragua, South Sudan, Singapen and Vatican websites, Timor Reste and Tonga.
