Key dates in the life of Pope Francis

Pope Francis greets the crowd during an audience to the Padre Pio Prayer Groups, in Vatican on February 6, 2016. Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025. [AFP]

Here are some key dates in the life of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope, who died on Monday aged 88:

- December 17, 1936: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is born in Buenos Aires to an accountant and a housewife from an Italian emigrant family.