PIONEER NEWS SERVICE
The first Latin American pontiff, Pope Francis who personified a humble style of living with empathy for the poor died at 88 on Monday. He had faced severe criticism from the conservatives for his critiques of capitalism and climate change. Francis had suffered from chronic lung disease with a part of one lung being removed when he was quite young. He was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on February 14 following respiratory complications which deepened into double pneumonia.
The Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the Pope on March 13, 2013 in the aftermath of the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI who had a troubled tenure. The new Pope tried to revive the 2,000-year-old institution whose influence had kept on waning through an unconventional outreach.
