Dec. 17, 1936
Jorge Mario Bergoglio is born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Mario Jose Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori.
Dec. 13, 1969
Bergoglio is ordained a priest with the Jesuit religious order.
May 20, 1992
Bergoglio is named auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires.
1998
Bergoglio succeeds Cardinal Antonio Quarracino as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Feb. 21, 2001
St. John Paul II elevates Bergoglio to cardinal.
May 2007
At the fifth meeting of the Latin American bishops conference in Aparecida, Brazil, Bergoglio drafts a document that summarizes what became his primary issues as pope, including concern for the poor, Indigenous peoples and the environment, as well as the need for a missionary church.
March 13, 2013
Bergoglio is elected the 266th pope. He is the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope, and the first pope to take the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi.
May 12, 2013
Pope Francis canonizes the "Martyrs of Otrano," 813 Italians beheaded in 1480 for refusing to convert to Islam. With this move, Pope Francis proclaims more saints than any of his predecessors.
July 8, 2013
Pope Francis makes his first trip outside Rome, to visit the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. He denounced the "globalization of indifference" toward refugees.
July 30, 2013
In response to a media question about a gay priest, Pope Francis responds, "Who am I to judge?"
Nov. 26, 2013
In his book, "Evangelii gaudium," Pope Francis denounces the world financial system that excludes the poor and declares the Eucharist is “not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”
May 25, 2014
Pope Francis shows support for the Palestinian cause in an unscheduled stop to pray at the wall separating Israel and the West Bank.
June 18, 2015
In his environmental manifesto, "Laudato si'," Pope Francis calls for social reform of the global economic system that exploits the poor and has led to mass amounts of global waste.
July 10, 2015
In Bolivia, Pope Francis apologizes for the Catholic Church's sins and crimes against Indigenous peoples during the colonial conquest of the Americas.
Sept. 24, 2015
In the first speech by a pope at the U.S. Capitol, Pope Francis encourages Congress to act on climate change, immigration and poverty.
Feb. 12, 2016
At the U.S.-Mexico border, Pope Francis prays for dead migrants and later says President Trump is "not a Christian" for wanting to build a border wall.
April 8, 2016
In his document "Amoris laetitia," Pope Francis opens doors for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.
April 16, 2016
As a part of his advocacy for migrants, Pope Francis brings 12 Syrian Muslims from a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, to Rome aboard his papal plane.
Jan. 19, 2018
During a visit to Chile, Pope Francis accuses sex abuse victims of slander, then orders a Vatican investigation into Chile's abuse crisis.
April 12, 2018
Pope Francis admits to "grave errors" in judgment in Chile's sex abuse scandal.
Aug. 3, 2018
In opposition to official church teaching, Pope Francis declares capital punishment "inadmissable."
Oct. 14, 2018
After his saint-making process was held up for decades by conservative cardinals, canonizes slain Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero.
Feb. 16, 2019
Pope Francis defrocks Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a Vatican investigation finds McCarrick sexually abused minors and adults.
March 27, 2020
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis delivers a solitary evening prayer from St. Peter's Square.
March 5-8, 2021
Pope Francis meets with Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, becoming the first pope to visit Iraq.
Oct. 4, 2023
In a meeting of bishops, Pope Francis gives women the right to vote alongside bishops for the first time.
Dec. 19, 2023
Pope Francis allows Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples so long as they do not appear to endorse their marriage
Feb. 14, 2025
Pope Francis is hospitalized for bronchitis, which develops into a lung infection and pneumonia.
March 23, 2025
Pope Francis is released from the hopsital, after 38 days of treatment.
April 20, 2025
In his last public appearance on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis imparts the Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing at St. Peter's Basilica.
April 21, 2025
Cardinal Kevin Farrell announces Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m.