POPE FRANCIS once defined his idea of heaven as “to go out one day, without being recognised, and go to a pizzeria.”;
The Argentinian pontiff also spoke about his passion for steamy Latin dancing, admitting: “I love to tango.”;
He even called “the real holy water”;.
The former nightclub bouncer, who has died after being hospitalised for a “complex clinical picture”; including a respiratory tract infection, was probably the most approachable pope in .
But to hardline Catholics, Francis was a heretic, and was even accused of Satanism.
His was to overhaul the inner workings of the Vatican, which he once described as a “snake pit”;.
Francis was also far more open and engaged than any pope before him on questions such as the Vatican’s handling of child sex abuse cases and women taking on bigger roles in the Church.
And on the issue of homosexuality, officially a sin, he caused rejoicing when he said: “Who am I to judge?”;
He even backed gay civil unions.
Former US president called him “transformative”;.
But others noted that while he seemed open to some much more liberal ideas, he did not actually put many into practice.
American theologian Richard Gaillardetz wrote in March 2023: “History will likely see the Francis pontificate less as groundbreaking than as transitional.
“Francis has opened wide a door that might well lead to a thoroughly reformed church ... but, for the most part, he has been reluctant to step through it himself.”;
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who only took the name Francis after becoming Pope, was born on December 17, 1936 in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires.
His Italian-born railway-worker father soon indoctrinated his son into an obsession with club San Lorenzo de Almagro.
The Pope later recalled: “Some of the best times in my life were when I went to the stadium with my dad.”;
However, he was no great player in matches with friends, and eventually retreated to goal to avoid humiliation.
He later said: “Playing in goal was a great school of life for me. The goalie has to be ready to respond to threats, which can arrive from every side.”;
History will likely see the Francis pontificate less as groundbreaking than as transitional
Richard GaillardetzAmerican theologian
One day in 1953, as a 16 year old who dreamed of being a chemist, he passed a church on his way to a party and on a whim dropped in to make his confession.
Afterwards, he said: “I felt something had changed. I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice, or a call. I was convinced that I should become a priest.”;
He was soon studying at a seminary, but this did not distract him from his other great passion, the tango.
Also during this time, he met a girl and, as he put it: “I was bowled over for quite a while”;.
But he chose his faith, and in particular the Jesuit order with its focus on missionary activities and its vow of poverty.
After studying and working part-time as a bouncer, he took his final vows as a Jesuit priest in April 1973.
This was the year before the outbreak of Argentina’s so-called Dirty War, which led to a military coup and a junta that used torture and death squads to eliminate opposition.
By the time the country was living through its darkest days, he was the country’s Jesuit leader.
For the rest of his life, Francis would be dogged by criticism that he had not stood up to the regime.
In particular, there were accusations that he failed to protect two Jesuit priests who were tortured for alleged involvement in left-wing activities in 1976.
He insisted that he had done all he could.
Meanwhile, he worked his way up through the ranks and in 1998 was appointed the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
He was soon famous for visiting slums and getting around by bus. And he continued to do this even after being made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Four years later, he narrowly avoided becoming the new pope.
He had to beg fellow cardinals not to vote for him, and to his relief ended up coming in second behind Benedict XVI.
But in 2013, when poorly Benedict shocked the world by becoming the first pope to resign since 1415, he was not so lucky.
This time he was not thought of as a contender – after all, he was 76 and had already lodged the official paperwork for his retirement.
But many cardinals believed that the next pope should be from Latin America, home to 39 per cent of the world’s Catholics.
Then Francis caught their attention by giving an emotional speech in which he said: “The Church must walk among people and be in step with the poor.”;
After the cardinals gave him into the top job on March 13, 2013, he joked: “May God forgive you for what you’ve done.”;
Francis had not expected the role, but he was ready.
When he appeared for the first time on the balcony of St Peter’s, he made sure he looked different from any previous pontiff.
Instead of the traditional red, ermine-trimmed cape, he wore a white cassock. And instead of the usual gold cross, he wore his old iron one.
Australian archbishop Mark Coleridge later recalled: “It was clear this was not as usual.”;
In particular, it was a clear contrast from the luxury-loving Benedict, with his taste for fancy red slippers.
It would soon turn out that Francis’s entire papacy would be in contrast to that of his hardline predecessor, who loftily shrugged off sexual abuse scandals and strongly opposed homosexuality and women’s ordination.
Even the new pope’s choice of the name Francis sent a message, harking back to the 13thC saint famous for his life of poverty.
To rub it in, in his first statement as pope, Francis said: “Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor.”;
Francis refused to move in to the official papal palace, instead living in three plain rooms at a Vatican guesthouse, taking his meals in the communal cafeteria.
He also wore a £17 Casio watch, and preferred a handshake instead of people greeting him with the traditional kiss to his papal ring.
Some saw all this as purely symbolic, but behind closed doors he was changing the very structure of the Vatican.
He set about dismantling the monarchical style of papal power, decentralising it and making its bureaucracy less hierarchical.
Francis dramatically expanded the number of decision-making roles lay men and even lay women can hold within the administration.
And in January 2025, he appointed the first woman ever to head an official Vatican office, when ex-nurse Sister Simona Brambilla took over the department that oversees religious orders for both men and women.
He also changed the high-profile synods, where bishops used to discuss arcane points of theology, into “listening sessions”; where people from the real world would bring up real problems.
His supporters within the Church judge these overhauls as his greatest achievement.
But those who relished the Vatican as a refuge from the modern world were appalled.
One group accused him of “heretic propositions”;, and a fellow cardinal called his papacy a “catastrophe”;.
In 2018 some clergy claimed he had even used a “stang”; – a staff designed for Satanic rituals. It turned out to be a rustic shepherd’s stick presented by a youth group.
Outside the Church, the first non-European pope since 731 was celebrated for tightening rules about dealing with child sexual abuse.
He also apologised for “grave errors”; in how the Vatican had handled scandals in the past.
Francis even allowed wider access to the Vatican’s Secret Archives.
And in November 2024 he ordered future papal funerals to be less full of pomp than in the past, including popes having just one coffin instead of the previous three, one inside the other.
He also declared that popes could choose to be buried in a church other that St Peter’s: his own choice, he said, was Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
But there were also disappointments to modernisers.
In a revolutionary move in 2020 he created a new commission to study whether women should be ordained as deacons – but later ruled out any change, insisting “holy orders is reserved for men”;.
He was also hardline on contraception and abortion, and despite backing civil unions for same-sex couples he described gay as “war on God”;.
In 2024 he hit headlines when, twice within a few weeks, he used a gay slur in private meetings. On one of these occasions, he said: “In the Vatican, there is an air of faggotry.”;
And despite early signs he might allow some married men to become priests, he eventually backed away.
Likewise, he supported a change in the rules which would allow divorced people to take Communion, but never followed through.
Meanwhile survivors of clerical sex abuse were enraged he did not excommunicate those who had actively enabled abuse.
One called it “maddening.”;
Nevertheless, Francis was there when many believers needed him.
In March 2020, amid lockdowns, 11million watched at home as gave a blessing to the world from a dark, empty St Peter’s Square.
The then-Archbishop of Canterbury later called it “one of the most astonishing images from the Covid-19 .”;
The 266th pope also won people over with antics such as celebrating his 77th birthday with a 13ft-long pizza, and his 78th with a mass tango in St Peter’s Square.
In later years, he was dogged by bouts of ill health including serious intestinal ops, respiratory infections and sciatica, which caused a severe limp and meant he often used a wheelchair.
But this did not stop him going on a gruelling tour of the Asia Pacific region in 2024, underlining his commitment to make the church less Euro-centric.
A close aide to Francis said at the time: “The long distance, the fatigue, the challenges – they are part of the message.”;
And amid his illness in February 2025, he made an unusually direct attack on US President Donald Trump’s policy on mass deportations, saying they violated the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”;
And his failing health did not affect his sense of humour.
In January 2023 he joked: “I might die tomorrow, but it’s under control.”;
As for his legacy, reformists have long believed that Francis’s papacy has all been about long-needed crisis management and setting up a framework for the next pope to take giant steps.
As Francis himself once said: “I see the Church as a field hospital after battle.
“It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds.”
