His arrival as pontiff heralded a new kind of leadership for the Catholic Church.

Described by some as the people’s pope, Pope Francis showed a willingness to welcome those who’d felt shunned by the Catholic faith, but as a reformer at heart, he also faced huge criticism from conservatives within the church.

The clash between the traditional and the liberal remains the greatest challenge to the legacy he leaves.

He was a pope of firsts: the first Latin American pontiff, the first Jesuit pope, the first to choose the name Francis.

Selected in just over a day by the papal conclave in March 2013, for some, the archbishop from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was an unexpected choice.

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The cardinals who chose him said he accepted the post with his trademark good humour.

“When the secretary of state toasted to him, he toasted back to us and said ‘I hope God forgives you’,” Cardinal Timothy M Dolan recalled at the time.

That sense of humour and his humility were characteristics which set him apart. He chose not to wear the more ostentatious papal clothing and turned down the traditional Vatican apartments for a more modest residence.

“Francis was not shy at all. He would always say funny things – crack a joke. He would also risk saying things that people in the first moment would be feeling as an insult, but then, when they looked at his cheeky face, they would also laugh,” remembered Professor Felix Koerner SJ, a theologian at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, the son of Italian immigrants, after school he studied to become a scientist before being drawn to religion.

Spiritual leader to 1.4 billion Catholics, he was a symbolic figurehead on the world stage, meeting monarchs, presidents and prime ministers as he travelled the globe addressing huge crowds everywhere he went.

But while at ease in the presence of the rich and powerful, Pope Francis was never more comfortable than in the company of the poor.

His papal name was selected in honour of St Francis of Assisi for this very reason.

“Cardinal Bergoglio had a special place in his heart and his ministry for the poor, for the disenfranchised, for those living on the fringes and facing injustice,” Vatican deputy spokesman Thomas Rosica explained.

Throughout his papacy, he was an outspoken champion of the deprived and a defender of those fleeing war and hunger.

Addressing the US Congress in 2015 he said: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, this rule points us in a clear direction; let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves.”

On his numerous foreign trips, he sought out those in need, not afraid to visit struggling or violent areas.

In 2016, he washed the feet of refugees from various religious backgrounds at a migrant centre in a “gesture of humility and service”.

From climate change to the balance of wealth in the world, Pope Francis was not afraid to make his views known.

In 2015, he wrote Laudato Si (Praised Be), a major document on the need to protect the environment, calling the climate crisis a moral issue.

Addressing a congregation in 2023, he said: “We must side with the victims of environmental and climate injustice, working to put an end to the senseless war against our common home.”

He was widely praised for his commitment to interfaith dialogue and was instrumental in an agreement between the Catholic Church and Islamic faiths.

In February 2019, Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, signed the Document On Human Fraternity For World Peace And Living Together.

He was also the first ever pope to travel to Iraq in 2021, an attempt to build bridges between different communities.

But it was his acceptance of the LGBTQ community that was unprecedented.

It began with an unexpected remark to reporters on a flight back from Brazil about gay clergy.

He said: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge them?”

He later declared homosexuality was not a crime, part of his mission to make the Catholic Church more welcoming.

“He was great in building relations and in risking being provocative to people. So he will remain in our memories a pope challenging people to live like Christ in simplicity,” said Professor Koerner.

However, events in later years left some feeling betrayed, for example, a landmark declaration allowing clerical blessings for same-sex couples was diluted.

In April 2024, he appeared to reiterate the Vatican‘s staunch opposition to gender reassignment, surrogacy, abortion and euthanasia, by signing the text “Dignitas Infinita” (Infinite Dignity).

In the same year, his own liberal credentials were questioned after reports he used a homophobic slur behind closed doors.

But despite that, others continued to insist he was still going too far with his progressive social views, and steering the Catholic Church away from more traditional values.

For the first time in six centuries, Francis had taken over from a living pope when Pope Benedict XVI stepped down due to his health in 2013.

His new tone compared to his predecessor, and efforts to reform, would set him on a collision course with his critics for going too far on both finances and policy.

Some would argue the opposition severely hampered his ability to go further with reforms around the involvement of women and the gay community.

Ruth Gledhill, assistant editor of The Tablet, said Pope Francis “did go to war with the conservative traditionalist side of the church. And it could be argued that it wasn’t entirely an effective battle or entirely a wise battle in some respects.

“I think what people will have to accept is even now in today’s world where everything happens so quickly, in the Catholic Church still, nothing happens fast.”

Claims of abuse within the church both in the past and present were a constant shadow for Pope Francis.

In 2018, he travelled to Ireland and apologised for the “crimes” committed by the church.

The victims included the tens of thousands of Irish children sexually and physically abused at Catholic churches, schools and workhouses, and the women who were forced to live and work in laundries and give up their children if they got pregnant out of wedlock.

“We ask forgiveness for those members of the hierarchy who didn’t take responsibility for this painful situation, and who kept silence,” Francis said to a crowd of 300,000 in Dublin.

“May the Lord keep this state of shame and compunction and give us strength so this never happens again, and that there is justice.”

In 2019, he issued a landmark decree making it obligatory for all priests and members of religious orders to report any suspicions of abuse, and holding bishops directly accountable for any attacks they commit or cover-up.

In 2023, he extended the sex abuse rules to include lay leaders.

But some still feel not enough was done to root out the problem and hold to account known abusers.

Luke Coppen, senior correspondent at the Catholic website The Pillar, said: “Opinions differ about how successful he was or how much attention he paid to it. He certainly took several steps to combat that evil on a global scale. But critics again said that he didn’t do enough.”

Occasionally, during his time as pontiff, his temper frayed when he was in pain from illness or overwhelmed by an overexcited crowd.

In 2016, he scolded a person who pulled him down in Mexico, and in 2020 slapped the hand of a woman who refused to let go of his arm.

For many this only made him more human.

At the time of his election, he also faced questions over whether he stayed silent about human rights abuses carried out by Argentina’s dictatorship while he lived there.

Critics alleged he failed to protect priests who challenged the junta earlier in his career, during the ‘dirty war’ between 1976 and 1983, and that he has said too little about the complicity of the church during military rule.

The Vatican strongly denied the accusations.

In his final years, increasing health issues meant more frequent hospital stays and more events cancelled, but even when sick, Francis continued to put others before himself to show the church was more open than before.

For example, while receiving treatment in hospital in 2023 he took time to visit ill children, baptise a baby and comfort mourning parents.

In 2024, he also invited 200 comedians to an audience at the Vatican and a year later appointed the first woman, Sister Simona Brambilla, to head up a major Vatican office.

In 2025, Pope Francis underwent a prolonged stay in hospital after being admitted on 14 February for respiratory issues that developed into double pneumonia.

He spent 38 days there – the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy.

But he emerged on Easter Sunday, his last public appearance a day before his death, to bless thousands in St Peter’s Square after meeting with US vice president JD Vance.

Announcing his death on Easter Monday, Cardinal Farrell of the Vatican said: “Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.

“At 7.35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.

“He taught us to live the values ​​of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalised.

“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”

Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement of his passing.

As Catholics now mourn his passing, it is his humanity that Pope Francis will be remembered for; a pope of the people, never happier than when he was among them.