Thousands of Catholic pilgrims have been streaming into St. Peter’s Basilica this week to pay their respects to Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88.
Francis was the first Latin American pope in history. Before his election in 2013, he was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He chose the name Francis to honor St. Francis of Assisi, who is revered among Catholics for his work with the poor. As pope, Francis championed the poor, migrants and the environment, and he quickly gained a reputation as a modernizer, with an outward-facing approach that saw him speak out boldly on humanitarian crises such as migration, war and climate change. He also sought to reform the church by tackling elitist mentalities among the clergy, demanding a…
