Pope Francis Shook Up Church With Simplicity, Raising Conservative Ire

Pope Francis changed the face of the modern papacy more than any predecessor by shunning much of its pomp and privilege, but his attempts to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and less judgmental made him an enemy to conservatives nostalgic for a traditional past.

- REUTERS

The Vatican said on Monday in a video statement that he had died.

Francis inherited a deeply divided Church after the resignation in 2013 of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. The conservative-progressive gap became a chasm after Francis, from Argentina, was elected the first non-European Pope in 1,300 years.

The polarization was fiercest in the US, where conservative Catholicism often blended with well-financed right-wing politics and media outlets.

The intensity of conservative animosity to the pope was laid bare in January 2023 when it emerged that the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, a towering figure in the conservative movement and a Benedict ally, was the author of an anonymous memo in 2022 that condemned Francis' papacy as a "catastrophe".