His ascension to the papacy was one that heralded many firsts.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 17 December 1936, he was the eldest of five children.
His parents had fled their native Italy to escape the evils of fascism.
Francis was the first Pope from the Americas or the Southern Hemisphere and was also the first Jesuit to be elected to the throne of St Peter – Jesuits were historically looked on with suspicion by Rome.
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.
At the time, he 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.
Throughout his papacy, he was determined to favour humility over pomp and grandeur. He shunned the papal limousine and insisted on sharing the bus taking other cardinals home.
In his sermons, he called for social inclusion and criticised governments that failed to pay attention to the poorest in society.
by BBC NEWS
