Farewell to the Pope who tried to change the Church

Francis's arrival at the Holy See was unexpected, even for himself, and marked the beginning of an atypical pontificate. On March 13, 2013, the white smoke from the Sistine Chapel announced the election of a new pope after something unprecedented in modern history: the resignation of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. "It seems that my brother cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to find him. Now I ask you to pray for me." This was how the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, presented himself to the faithful packed into St. Peter's Square. He was 76 years old at the time and not only had to rejuvenate the institution, but was also called to modernize it. Completely unexpectedly, the cardinals opted to place a Jesuit at the head of the Holy See for the first time in the history of Catholicism, who would be the first non-European pope in more than a millennium.