AP PHOTOS: Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88 1 of 25 | Pope Francis presides the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession celebrated in front of the Colosseum on Good Friday in Rome, Friday, March 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) 2 of 25 | Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio gives a Mass outside the San Cayetano church where an Argentine flag hangs behind in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file) 3 of 25 | Pope Francis, left, meets Pope emeritus Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on Saturday, March 23, 2013. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has emerged from his self-imposed silence inside the Vatican to publish a lengthy letter to one of Italy’s most well-known atheists. In it, he defends his record on handling sexually abusive priests and discusses everything from evolution to theology to the figure of Jesus Christ. Excerpts of the letter were published Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013 by La Repubblica, the same newspaper which just two weeks ago published a similar letter from Pope Francis to its own atheist publisher. The letters indicate the two men in white, who live across the Vatican gardens from one another, are pursuing a collaborative campaign of sorts to engage non-believers. (AP Photo/Pool Photo via AP, file) 4 of 25 | Pope Francis blesses sick and disabled people at the end of a pro-life Mass in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 5 of 25 | Pope Francis is flanked by Israel’s President Shimon Peres, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during an evening of peace prayers in the Vatican, Sunday, June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file) 6 of 25 | Pope Francis leaves at the end of his weekly general audience, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 7 of 25 | Pope Francis poses a group of faithful and bishops from Shanghai during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s square at the Vatican Wednesday, May 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) 8 of 25 | Pope Francis prays in front of the Western Wall, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Monday, May 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, file) 9 of 25 | Pope Francis attends a prayer for peace at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 10 of 25 | Pope Francis twirls a soccer ball he was presented by a member of the Circus of Cuba, during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 11 of 25 | Pope Francis dons a headdress that was gifted to him during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. Pope Francis traveled to Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for the abuses committed by Catholic missionaries in the country’s notorious residential schools. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) 12 of 25 | US President Barack Obama, left, meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) 13 of 25 | Pope Francis greets faithful after celebrating Mass on the occasion of the Migrant and Refugee World Day, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 14 of 25 | Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with the media at the Pope VI hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Speaking of the moment of his election and his conversation with his friend, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, in the Sistine Chapel as the votes were going his way. “When things were looking dangerous, he encouraged me. And when the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause, because the pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss and said: ‘Don’t forget the poor!’ And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. … How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!” (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File) 15 of 25 | Pope Francis walks in procession on the occasion of the Amazon synod, a three-week meeting on preserving the rainforest and ministering to its native people, at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 16 of 25 | Pope Francis presides over the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession on Good Friday, a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, in front of Rome’s Colosseum, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File) 17 of 25 | Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blew it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in the St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) 18 of 25 | Pope Francis waves from the popemobile as he rides along the Copacabana beachfront on his way to celebrate mass for World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File) 19 of 25 | Pope Francis kisses a baby as he arrives for his weekly general audience, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 20 of 25 | Pope Francis meets Rohingya Muslims refugees from Myanmar during an interfaith and ecumenical meeting for peace in the garden of the archbishop’s residence, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 21 of 25 | Pope Francis attends an interreligious meeting with young people at the Catholic Junior College in Singapore, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file) 22 of 25 | Pope Francis gestures as he attends an annual gathering of pro-family organisations at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, in Rome, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) 23 of 25 | Former FARC rebel Carlos Juan Carlos Murcia, who lost his left hand, embraces Pope Francis during a prayer meeting for reconciliation at Las Malocas Park in Villavicencio, Colombia, Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) 24 of 25 | Pope Francis leaves after a meeting with the performers of the living nativity scene of St. Mary Major, in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) 25 of 25 | Pope Francis smiles after celebrating Easter mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)