Pope

Francis

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis in 2013, is the first Jesuit and first Latin American elected sovereign pontiff. Pope Francis is known for his emphasis on mercy, poverty and ecology, his direct style and his reforms of the Curia and church governance. His pastoral vision advocates for an outgoing Church, attentive to the peripheries and engaged in a synodal process.

Regnal name: Francis
Birth name: Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Born: 17 December 1936
Elected: 13 March 2013 (76 years)
End of pontificate: 21 April 2025
Died: 21 April 2025 (88 years)
Length of pontificate: 12 years and 1 month

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Career

Ecclesiastical offices and appointments, from Wikidata. Dates come from the sources and some may be missing.

1973 – 1979Provincial of the Jesuits of Argentina and Uruguay
1992 – 1997Titular bishop
1992 – 1997Auxiliary bishop
1997 – 1998Coadjutor archbishop
1998 – 2013Archbishop of Buenos Aires
1998 – 2013Diocesan bishop
2001 – 2013Cardinal priest
2005 – 2011President of the Episcopal Conference of Argentina
2013 – 2025Pope
2013 – 2025Patriarch of the West

Episcopal consecration: 20 May 1992
Consecrators: Antonio Quarracino
Religious order: Society of Jesus
Languages spoken: Latin, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

Positions on six themes

How are these scores established?

Francis’s positions on the six themes used for the College, scored from 0 to 10 and compared with the electors’ average.

Francis College average

Each theme is scored from 0 (very progressive) to 10 (very conservative). The overall score, out of 100, weights the six themes.

Overall position : 13/100 · Very progressive

Moral doctrine · 25 %
3/10

As pope, Francis did not change Catholic doctrine on marriage, abortion or euthanasia; the 2024 declaration Dignitas infinita, which he approved, condemns abortion, euthanasia, surrogacy and gender theory. At the same time he opened a path to the sacraments for some divorced and remarried Catholics (Amoris laetitia, 2016) and approved Fiducia supplicans (2023), allowing non-liturgical blessings of couples in irregular situations, including same-sex couples. His 2013 remark 'Who am I to judge?' came to symbolize a pastoral, welcoming tone.
Liturgy and tradition · 20 %
1/10

Francis issued the motu proprio Traditionis custodes (July 2021), declaring the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican II the unique expression of the Roman Rite and sharply restricting the celebration of the 1962 Missal, explaining in an accompanying letter that he wished to protect the unity of the Church. In Desiderio desideravi (2022) he insisted on accepting the conciliar liturgical reform. He presented liturgy as a source of communion rather than a matter of aesthetic preference.
Socio-political engagement · 15 %
1/10

Francis made social and environmental issues central to his pontificate. His encyclical Laudato si' (2015) framed climate change and the care of creation as a moral issue, and Fratelli tutti (2020) defended migrants and refugees and called for social friendship. In 2018 he revised the Catechism to declare the death penalty 'inadmissible'.
Stance on Francis's reforms · 20 %
0/10

As pope, Francis was the author of the programme against which this theme is measured: he restructured the Synod of Bishops into a permanent synodal process (Episcopalis communio, 2018) and reformed the Roman Curia with the constitution Praedicate evangelium (2022). The score therefore reflects full identity with his own pontificate rather than a relationship with another pope.
Interreligious dialogue · 10 %
1/10

Francis made interreligious dialogue a hallmark of his pontificate. In Abu Dhabi in February 2019 he signed the Document on Human Fraternity with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb. He held interreligious meetings on many journeys, including Mongolia (2023) and Singapore (2024), where he told young people that all religions are paths to reach God.
Communication and pastoral style · 10 %
1/10

Francis adopted a direct, spontaneous and highly media-friendly style, including long in-flight press conferences; on the return from Rio in July 2013 he said 'Who am I to judge?' about gay people of good will. His programmatic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013) called for a Church that is 'bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets'. He used simple images and new formulas that marked a new era in papal communication.

Magisterium

119

119 official documents published on the Vatican website, sorted by type then by date. Links open the text in the page language when available, otherwise in English or Italian (language shown).

Encyclicals4