Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought a gust of fresh air into a 2,000-year-old institution that had grown weary and distant during the troubled reign of Pope Benedict XVI.
His time as Pope would go on to transform how the Church spoke, acted, and connected - but long before that, his path to faith began with something far more personal.
It started with a letter, a rejection, and a young boy’s heartbreak.
In the quiet neighbourhood of Membrillar Street in Buenos Aires, 12-year-old Jorge fell for the girl who lived just four doors down - Amalia Damonte. Decades later, in an interview with the Associated Press, Amalia remembered the letter he wrote her, one that got her into more trouble than she could have imagined.
Damonte said, “I remember perfectly that he had drawn me a little white house, which had a red roof, and it said ‘this is what I’ll buy when we marry.’”
"If I don't marry you, I'm going to be a priest," wrote the young Pope.
But as Amalia reflected, “These were childish things, nothing more.”
Still, the letter did not go unnoticed. Her strict parents were furious about the missive.
“My mom broke it off. Good Lord. She came to get me at the school and she said ‘so, you’re getting letters from a boy?’”
After that, her parents did everything they could to keep them apart.
The Bergoglio family moved away from Membrillar Street not long after. Damonte also left—she married, raised a family, and returned to her parents’ home many years later. She followed her old neighbour’s journey through the Church but never tried to reconnect.
Born in the suburbs of Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents, Francis grew up in a large, close-knit family. Before he chose the priesthood, he studied chemistry, according to Reuters.
From the beginning of his papacy, Francis struck a significantly different tone. He emphasised humility over hubris, at a time when the Catholic Church was grappling with scandal and accusations of indifference.
Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor passed away on Monday at the age of 88.