Pope Francis’ pontificate: A timeline

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Here is a timeline of some significant events in Pope Francis’ 12-year pontificate:

2013, March 13: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was elected pope on the second day of the conclave, becoming the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European elected in almost 1,300 years. The Jesuit was also the first member of his order to be elected pope and the first member of any religious order elected in nearly two centuries.

2013, July 8: Pope Francis made his first trip outside of Rome, choosing to go to the Italian island of Lampedusa to underline the plight of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and the countless lives lost at sea.

2014, June 8: Pope Francis, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and others came together in the Vatican Gardens for an unprecedented gathering to pray for peace in the Holy Land.

2015, Sept. 19-27: Pope Francis traveled to Cuba then to Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia during his first visit to the United States. He addressed Congress, the United Nations and the World Meeting and Families, canonized St. Junipero Serra and visited the 9/11 memorial in New York.

2015, Dec. 8: Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to inaugurate a Holy Year of Mercy. He invited churches around the world to designate a holy door as a reminder of his call for reconciliation.

2016, Feb. 12-17: Pope Francis, on his way to Mexico, stopped in Cuba to meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow at the Havana airport and sign a joint declaration in the presence of Cuban President Raul Castro. In Mexico, he celebrated Mass in Ciudad Juárez, which borders El Paso, Texas. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the Mass, which included faithful on both sides of the border.

2017, April 13: Pope Francis went to a maximum security prison to celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper and wash the feet of 12 prisoners, including three women and a Muslim man, who was preparing for baptism. The celebration continued a practice he began as archbishop of Buenos Aires and performed every Holy Thursday as pope: including Catholics and non-Catholics and men and women, especially those who are marginalized, in the foot-washing rite.

2018, April 21: Pope Francis appointed three women as consultors to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the first time women and laypeople were named as active contributors — not support staff. They joined a growing number of women the pope has named to top-level positions at the Vatican.

2018, Aug. 2: Pope Francis ordered the revision of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to describe the death penalty as morally inadmissible and to affirm that the church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

2019, Feb. 4: Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque and university, signed the document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

2019, Feb. 21-24: Pope Francis convened a global summit on child protection and abuse, bringing together nearly 200 church leaders — presidents of bishops’ conferences, the heads of the Eastern Catholic churches, superiors of men’s and women’s religious orders, survivors and Roman Curia officials. The summit at the Vatican included a penitential liturgy.

2020, March 27: During the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis prayed and delivered his extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) during an evening prayer service from St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. St. Peter’s Square was empty, and the service was livestreamed.

2021, March 5-8: Pope visited Iraq although sporadic violence continued in the country and COVID-19 restrictions were still in place. He honored Iraqi Christians who remained faithful during the Islamic State terror and worked to rebuild the country.

2021, July 4: The pope underwent a three-hour scheduled surgery at a Rome hospital to remove part of his colon. Officials said it was required to treat diverticulitis, when bulging pouches in the lining of the intestine or colon become inflamed or infected.

2022, July 13: Pope Francis named three women to the Dicastery for Bishops, which was the first time women were appointed to the dicastery that helps him choose bishops. He had appointed a woman to top management as a secretary of a dicastery for the first time in 2021 and named several women as undersecretaries. He also named women to the management role of secretary of a pontifical commission.

2022, July 24-29: Pope Francis made “a penitential trip” to Canada to meet with, listen to and apologize to members of Canada’s First Nation, Métis and Inuit communities, especially those who experienced abuse or attempts at forced assimilation at church-run residential schools.

2023, Jan. 5: Pope Francis presided over the funeral Mass for Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square. It was the first time in more than 200 years that a pope celebrated the funeral of his predecessor.

2023, March 13: Pope Francis celebrated his 10th anniversary as pope.

2023, June 7-16: Pope Francis was hospitalized for a three-hour operation to remove scar tissue and to repair a hernia located where a previous surgical incision had been made in his abdominal wall.

2023, Oct. 4-29: Pope Francis presided over the first session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality at the Vatican. The three-year process of listening and dialogue began in 2021 on the local, regional and continental levels.

2023, Dec. 17: Pope Francis celebrated his 87th birthday, making him the oldest pope in the past century.

2024, March 24-31: For the second year in a row, Pope Francis followed the nighttime Way of the Cross service in Rome’s Colosseum from his Vatican residence on Good Friday. But despite his limited mobility, he still presided over a full slate of Easter and Holy Week liturgies and rites, including his first Holy Thursday visit to a prison with only women present. It was the first time as pope that he washed the feet only of women.

2024, May 25-26: Pope Francis celebrated the first World Children’s Day in Rome.

2024, Oct. 2-27: Pope Francis presided over the second assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

2024, Dec. 24: Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, launching the “Jubilee of Hope,” which was to run through Jan. 6, 2026.

2025, Feb. 14: Pope Francis was hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital with bronchitis and breathing difficulties. He later was diagnosed with double pneumonia and multiple infections in his respiratory system. He was released March 23 and told he would need two months to convalesce.

2025, April 20: Pope Francis met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in the papal residence and then went to the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to give his Easter blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

2025, April 21: Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m.

Read More Remembering Pope Francis

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Copyright © 2025 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

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