ROME: Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church known for his efforts to promote peace, help for refugees and action on climate change, died Monday, the Vatican said. He was 88.
Francis, who in 2013 became head of the around 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, was the first pontiff from Latin America and the first Jesuit pope. He was only the second pontiff to travel to Japan, visiting in 2019, 38 years after Pope John Paul II.
During his trip, Francis visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both devastated by U.S. atomic bombs in the final days of World War II. He called for the elimination of nuclear weapons in addresses in the two Japanese cities.
In Tokyo, he also met with victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to an Italian immigrant family in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, the spiritual leader was beloved by Catholics as a simple, humble and down-to-earth man.
After studying philosophy in Buenos Aires, Francis became a literature teacher at an Argentine university. In 1969, he was ordained as a priest and went on to serve as the archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1998. In 2001, he was appointed a cardinal.
He was elected as the 266th pope on March 13, 2013, days after his predecessor, Benedict XVI, shocked the world by becoming the first pontiff in about 600 years to voluntarily step down, citing health reasons.
BY: The Times Union
