REPORT CARD: 10 YEARS of POPE FRANCIS

This month marks a decade since Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina became leader of the Catholic Church. What are his achievements-and failures - so far?

- BY Alex Cyr

In 2013, when Benedict XVI became the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign as leader of the Catholic Church, the College of Cardinals faced a daunting task.

They needed to elect a new leader who could not only uphold the image of the Church, which has 1.3 billion believers worldwide, but who could restore and improve it. Public trust in the Church had eroded, especially in North America and Europe, due to the sexual abuse and corruption scandals that have emerged across the globe since the 1950s.

The College of Cardinals handed the pontificate to Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, making the Argentinian the first non-European pope since Gregory III of Syria, who had ruled some 1,300 years prior. Bergoglio took the name Pope Francis, after Saint Francis of Assisi, a Catholic friar and a patron saint of Italy known for his guardianship of animals and ecology.

The eldest of five children born to an accountant and a homemaker, Bergoglio had studied chemistry and had worked as a janitor, bouncer and schoolteacher before being ordained in 1969 at the age of 32.

He has been given the nickname "Progressive Pope" due to his unrehearsed speeches, engagement with social issues and willingness to challenge traditional Church doctrine. By refusing to ride in a bulletproof car (the "Popemobile") and forgoing the cushy Apostolic Palace to live in the Santa Marta guest house, he shatters the preconception that leading one of the biggest religious groups in the world means separating from reality.

But 10 years on, has he helped the Church begin to regain its standing as an institution of holiness and faith? Austen Ivereigh, a journalist and fellow in contemporary church history at Oxford University, who has written two biographies on Pope Francis, believes the pontiff has done just that.