Pope Francis was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until his death. He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 in Flores, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. He was the eldest of five children from Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori. Mario Bergoglio was an Italian immigrant accountant. Regina Sívori was a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian origin. Mario Bergoglio's family left Italy in 1929 to escape the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini. 5  According to María Elena Bergoglio, the Pope's only living sibling, the family did not emigrate for economic reasons. His other siblings were Oscar Adrián, Marta Regina, and Alberto Horacio. His niece, Cristina Bergoglio, is a painter based in Madrid, Spain.

Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, at 07:35 CEST (UTC+02:00) in his residence in Domus Sanctae Marthae. His death was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell on the Vatican's TV channel and in a video statement; the exact circumstances of his death are yet to be disclosed, although Italian sources unofficially reported that the death was caused by a brain-related issue, likely a stroke.

His death triggers a papal interregnum and a nine-day period of mourning known as the novemdiales (Latin for 'nine days'). The pope's funeral, by tradition, takes place within four to six days of the pope's death; it is expected that he will be buried at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore according to his wishes. Cardinal-electors will be expected to arrive in Rome to attend the general congregation of cardinals, which will also result in the decision for the date and time of the upcoming conclave.