Argentina woke up today to the sad news of the death of Pope Francis. He, under Jorge Bergoglio, was elected in 2013 to lead the global Catholic Church from the Vatican. The Latin American pope, whom "the cardinals went to the ends of the earth to find," as he himself put it, enters the history of the Catholic Church and humanity as someone who, exercising firm leadership both within and outside institutional boundaries, understood the challenges of society, tested the responses within his reach, and, above all, had the ability to challenge both friends and strangers with his profoundly human message.
The candidates to succeed Francis
In this way, Jorge Bergoglio managed to leave his mark on the lives of many people, including many of those who did not recognize him as their spiritual or religious leader. In the context of a contemporary world plagued by conflict and war, and at the same time lacking voices and role models that illuminate the paths of fraternity among individuals and peoples, Francis made his presence felt.
As an essential component of his mission, the Pope preached and put into practice what he himself called "the culture of encounter." Because, as he wrote in his recently published autobiography, "Hope," "Only those who build bridges will know how to move forward; those who build walls will end up trapped by the walls they themselves have built. Above all, their hearts will be trapped."
Francisco: the common man
He projected himself as a statesman and world leader, without losing the characteristic simplicity of this porteño's personal history ("deep down, I consider myself a city man"), the eldest of five brothers all born in the Floresta neighborhood of Buenos Aires, who even in the Vatican continued to call himself "Cuervo" (Cuervo) for his love of San Lorenzo. However, when it was announced to him that upon his return to Avenida La Plata, the new stadium could be named "Papa Francisco" (Pope Francis), he clearly stated that "I'm not enthusiastic about the idea."
Being elected Pope changed Jorge Bergoglio's life. But once he became Francis, he did his best to maintain the humanity and common-man qualities that made him, even as a cardinal, continue to travel by subway to his office in the Buenos Aires Curia. "I like to walk around the city; I learn on the street," he said. His new position forced him to adhere to many restrictions, but instead of living in a Vatican palace, he chose to live in the Santa Marta residence, a kind of religious hotel that accommodates bishops and priests traveling to Rome for ecclesiastical reasons. He even held many of his audiences there, especially when he met with his closest friends for personal or pastoral reasons. Santa Marta was his home. The rubber-soled shoes he asked friends to bring him from Buenos Aires, after discarding the red ones worn by his predecessor Benedict XVI, were enough for him to stay there. From there, or from wherever he was visiting in the world, every Sunday night Francisco made it his mission to call his sister María Elena, the only survivor of his family, in Buenos Aires. He has said that not seeing his sister was one of the hardest things he had to lose.
He recognized himself as a lover of music and tango. “Melancholy has been a lifelong companion, although not constantly (…) it has been part of my soul and is a feeling that has accompanied me and that I have learned to recognize.”
Since 1990, following a religious vow, he stopped watching television and kept his information through other means.
“Government plan”
Bergoglio's election as Pope Francis, which changed the life of the Catholic Church, also profoundly altered the way Catholicism relates to society, both globally and in every country and region.
Not even those closest to him, those who knew his thoughts and had followed his career, could have imagined on March 13, 2013, the "government plan" Jorge Bergoglio had in mind when he was anointed as the highest authority of the Catholic Church. Perhaps such a possibility hadn't even crossed his mind, despite the experience he had accumulated during his years as provincial superior of the Jesuits in Argentina (1973-1979), during the height of the military dictatorship, or in his work as auxiliary bishop (1992-1998) and then as archbishop of Buenos Aires (1998-2013).
Many maintain that Bergoglio's life underwent a fundamental change through his participation in the General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate (Aparecida, Brazil, 2007), where the then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires received a dose of "Latin Americanness" through his contact with his fellow bishops from the region, and in particular, those from Brazil. This is what led him to write in his memoirs that "my roots are also Italian, but I am Argentine and Latin American. Within the great body of the universal Church, where all charisms 'are a marvelous wealth of grace,' this continental Church has special characteristics of vitality, notes, colors, nuances that also constitute a richness and that the documents of the great assemblies of the Latin American episcopates have manifested." 
Until then, the "porteño" Bergoglio, like many Argentines, had kept his distance from Latin America. This was also true in ecclesiastical terms, due to his closeness to the "theology of culture" he learned from his mentor Juan Carlos Scanonne, and his distance from liberation theologians such as the Peruvian Gustavo Gutiérrez or the Brazilian Leonardo Boff. He met and embraced both of them once in the Vatican. Bergoglio became a Latin American in Aparecida. And with that background, he arrived at the consistory that elected him Pope.
Just days before her death, the Argentine theologian Emilce Cuda, whom the Pope brought to Rome as one of his closest collaborators, emphatically pointed out that Francis's theology has been "theology" in its entirety, recovering the roots of Christian thought throughout history to bring it into dialogue with the current challenges of the Church and the world.
World reference
Time, and above all, Francis's actions, made clear the proposal and the imprint that the first Latin American pope wished to leave as a mark on his administration. Thus, his first political-pastoral trip took him to Lampedusa, to meet with illegal immigrants expelled from their territory, desperately fleeing in search of a life. With a gesture of closeness and solidarity, he reaffirmed to them and to the world his preaching in favor of the poor, the discarded, and their rights.
From there, without abandoning his religious imprint, the Pope began to build his status as a global figure beyond the borders of the Catholic Church, becoming an interlocutor for heads of state and social, political, and cultural leaders. In a world of leadership in crisis and facing the challenges of reality, Francis chose the path of dialogue and encounter with those who are different, focusing on the reality of the poor and demanding their rights.
His ideas were reflected in many of his documents and public addresses, but especially in the encyclicals Laudato Si (2015), on “the common home,” climate change and the care of natural resources, and Fratelli Tutti (2020) on friendship and social fraternity.
But Francis was, in many ways, an uncomfortable leader for the world's rulers and powerful. Particularly for his calls to address the problems of overexploitation of natural resources to the detriment of protecting nature, his criticism of a predatory and exclusionary economic model, and his warnings about the "throwaway" evident in mass migration, wars, and growing poverty.
The poor and war
During his time, Francis became a spokesperson for the discarded and the poor, but also an ally of those who defended the rights of these individuals and communities. It could be said that the speech delivered on July 9, 2015, by the Pope to the diverse audience of social movements gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia, whose focus was his proclamation of "the three T's" (land, shelter, work), constitutes a sort of doctrinal synthesis that, in a different tone and with a different approach, Francis had systematically and theologically grounded in Laudato Si'. A grand sum that, against the tide of the forces of global capitalism, rose up in favor of the poor and their organizations, criticized the hegemonic powers, and called for peace. A pacifist militancy that Bergoglio supported with his actions and those of the Vatican in every conflict zone in every corner of the world. In this endeavor, social movements were consistently chosen as allies and interlocutors, summoned and seated at the table for talks with the Pope.
Through his actions, Francis also consolidated his belief that the world's great monotheistic religions and their leaders bear the responsibility of finding solutions to the global war, which has translated into a multitude of limited conflicts or regional wars over territorial disputes, sovereignty issues, and political, ethnic, or racial confrontations. "There is no such thing as intelligent war; war only causes misery; weapons, only death," he asserted.
In October 2022, he organized a major gathering of world religious leaders for peace in Rome. Before and after, he met in Iraq with Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Al-Husayni Al-Sistani, leader of the country's Shia community; in Ulaanbaatar with eleven leaders of different faiths; and, more recently, in Indonesia, together with Imam Nasaruddin Umar, he visited the "Friendship Tunnel" that connects the Istiqlal Mosque with the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.
In the Church itself
Within the Catholic Church itself, Pope Francis promoted many lines that connect directly with initiatives inaugurated at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), promoted by Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) and continued by Paul VI (1963-1978), but which had brakes and setbacks with John Paul II (1978-2005) and Benedict XVI (2005-2013).
In this way, Bergoglio insisted on the idea of "a Church with open doors," welcoming everyone, without any restrictions, in dialogue with society and addressing common problems. This also entailed profound reforms in ecclesiastical structures, with more space for the laity, and particularly for women, but also from an ecclesiological perspective that sought to promote the "common priesthood of the faithful" even before the ministerial priesthood.
With this intention, Francis fostered, through synods (universal and regional), a more participatory Church that challenged the strictly hierarchical, pyramidal, and Roman-centric model. This also brought with it the decision to confront the problems of abuse, pedophilia, and corruption within the ecclesiastical structure.
Bergoglio accompanied this process with reforms to the Vatican Curia, a replacement of leaders, and new appointments to surround himself with figures he trusted. Changes were also made through the appointment of younger bishops closer to Francis's ecclesiological perspective.
None of this happened without resistance and confrontation. Throughout the world, but also in Argentina, where, paradoxically, the most conservative Catholic sectors, business leaders, and representatives of power saw in Francis the continuity of Cardinal Bergoglio, who, at the time, and without considering him as their own kind, never seemed uncomfortable. They quickly felt disappointed by the Pope's initiatives and proposals, which emphasized the more Latin Americanist traits of the then Cardinal of Buenos Aires and radicalized his perspective in favor of the poor, the excluded, and their rights.
Those in power were displeased with Francis and made no secret of it. Conservative sectors of the Church, including some bishops, were also annoyed with Bergoglio, although the latter remained within the limits of discretion imposed by the Church itself.
Worldwide, intrigue and conspiracy also increased. Members of the College of Cardinals, who had sought a Latin American pope and selected an Argentine because he was the "most similar" to Europeans, were disappointed in their expectations.
On more than one occasion, the most conservative sectors of the Church tore their hair out at what they considered Bergoglio's excessive concessions, both in his messages and his pastoral style. Francis wasn't overly concerned about this. He continued to make decisions with awareness of the problems he faced and even used the energy and support he received from outside to wage battles within the Church itself.
He always seemed convinced of the task he faced: advancing and deepening the reform of the Church toward a more synodal, horizontal, and plural form of government and participation that would renew the life of Catholicism.
While substantial steps have been taken in this direction, this may be the unfinished task Francis leaves behind, and it will be left to his successor. A designation that will depend on an uncertain election with no candidates in sight, even taking into account the profound renewal Bergoglio has made of the college of cardinals that will elect the new pope.
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