The death of Pope Francis and its implications

Quite unexpectedly, Pope Franciscus of the Roman Catholic Church unfortunately passed away peacefully in his own home in the Vatican City.

Francis was the first non-Eurasian Pope to serve the title ever in the history of the church. Born into an Italian family in Argentina, Francis started his journey in ministry as a Jesuit priest, then becoming a cardinal until ultimately taking the throne as the leader of the Holy See. Francis, during his tenure as Pope, attempted wide-scale liberalization of the Church by fazing out emphasis on the Latin mass, advocating for global pacifism and internationalism, giving homosexuals more rights in church services, and raising awareness of the poorer members of the church, particularly in the emerging Catholic strongholds of Africa and Asia.

Francis was initially diagnosed with bronchitis, a viral infection of the lungs, which he managed to overcome quite successfully after several weeks in the hospital. However, the great Pope did not manage to overcome a cerebral stroke which was unrelated to his lung condition, resulting in his death.

Francis' great legacy will be his largest impact on the Church and the world as we know it. Francis was the first pope in Church history to challenge the continued pervasiveness of ardent conservatism in Christian groups and opened the Church to more people, thus fulfilling the "Catholic" Church's mission of being universal. Francis also raised awareness of controversial social issues like homosexuality, feminism, and pacifism. In the future, we could see more Popes and other religious leaders take similar stances and open up opportunities in the Church to marginalized groups of people. We could also see more world leaders, especially in the West, try to liberalize in a sea of conservatism.

It is unsure of who will replace the Great Franciscus, but there are several possible cardinals, mainly from Italy. However, some cardinals in Asia and North America have gotten spotlight recently because of their potential. We may see yet another non-European Pope again following Francis.