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0Francis: Pope from Latin America who changed Catholic Church
April 22, 2025, BBC
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His ascension to the papacy heralded many firsts.
Francis was the first Pope from the Americas or the Southern Hemisphere. Not since Syrian-born Gregory III died in 741 had there been a non-European Bishop of Rome.
He was also the first Jesuit to be elected to the throne of St Peter - Jesuits were historically looked on with suspicion by Rome.
His predecessor, Benedict XVI was the first Pope to retire voluntarily in almost 600 years and for almost a decade the Vatican Gardens hosted two popes.
Many Catholics had assumed the new pontiff would be a younger man - but Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina was already in his seventies when he became Pope in 2013.
He had presented himself as a compromise candidate: appealing to conservatives with orthodox views on sexual matters while attracting the reformers with his liberal stance on social justice.
It was hoped his unorthodox background would help rejuvenate the Vatican and reinvigorate its holy mission.
But within the Vatican bureaucracy some of Francis's attempts at reform met with resistance and his predecessor, who died in 2022, remained popular among traditionalists.
