By Dorothy Philbin
Exclusive for CNBNews
ROME, ITALY (APRIL 23, 2025)(CNBNews)--Pope Francis passed on April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. His cause of death was a stroke that prompted irreversible heart failure, according to a death certificate issued by the Vatican. He was born Jorge Maria Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Argentina. He spent his entire life in Argentina until becoming Pope on March 13, 2013, the first Pope from the Southern Hemisphere. He chose the name Francis to honor St. Francis of Assisi for whom he had great respect over the years.
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Pope Francis was ordained a Jesuit priest on December 13, 1969. The Jesuits are known for being an austere order of priests, a characteristic that Pope Francis would take all the way to the Vatican. Vatican employees learned about austerity immediately. It was tradition that with the change of Popes, all Vatican employees would receive a bonus. Pope Francis stopped the bonuses. Instead of living in the palatial and ornate papal apartment, Pope Francis chose to reside in a modest apartment, which would typically be assigned to a low-level employee. The Pope planned his funeral. Instead of having three caskets, as his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, had, Pope Francis had a simple wooden casket. Instead of being laid to rest in the grotto of St. Peter's Cathedral, which is the tradition, Pope Francis chose to be buried in St. Mary's Basilica in the city of Rome.
All the cardinals of the Catholic Church are now arriving at the Vatican, not only for Pope Francis' funeral but also to participate in the conclave to select a new pope. This selection process is called a conclave. The cardinals meet to discuss what characteristics they are looking for in a new pope and who the likely candidates are. Once they have a small group of candidates, the cardinals vote by paper and pencil. It is rare that a new pope is chosen on the first or even second round of voting. The paper ballots are set on fire.
While the voting is going on there are usually hundreds of thousands of Christians in and around St. Peter's Square. They are waiting for a sign that a new pope has been selected. If black smoke is emitted from a chimney over St. Peter's. The black smoke is generated from the paper ballots of the cardinals. Eventually a new pope is selected, and the world knows when white smoke is emitted from the chimney.
The public does not immediately know who the new pope is. When Francis was selected, it took at least an hour for the announcement to be made. Even then the audience had to be over 70 years old to understand what is being said. The announcement is made in the one universal language - Latin. Hopefully, a translation is provided on television. If you are standing in St. Peter's Square, you need to know Latin.
According to the BBC, Francis made history as the first pope to emerge from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, breaking a long-held tradition of European leadership in the Vatican for centuries. Since the death of Gregory III, a Syrian-born pope, in 741, the papacy had not experienced a non-European Bishop of Rome, making Francis’s ascent a remarkable milestone.
He also shattered another barrier by becoming the first Jesuit to occupy the revered seat of St. Peter—a significant achievement, as Jesuits have often faced suspicion within the halls of the Vatican. His predecessor, Benedict XVI, set another unprecedented precedent by voluntarily stepping down, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years. This rare moment led to an extraordinary period during which the serene Vatican Gardens were graced by the presence of two popes for nearly a decade.
Many Catholics had anticipated that a younger figure would take the papal throne; however, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, already in his seventies, surprised many when he was elected pope in 2013. He emerged as a compromise candidate, skillfully balancing tradition and modernity—appealing to conservatives with his steadfast views on sexual ethics while captivating reformers with his compassionate approach to social justice, embodying a bridge between divergent factions within the Church.
photo source BBC