Francis was a deeply religious child in Buenos Aires. The first pontiff from Latin America tried to create a more welcoming church.

Pope Francis died Monday morning in the Vatican City, less than a day after greeting a huge Easter Sunday gathering of Catholics in St. Peter's Square and issuing a plea for world peace. He was 88.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said in a video statement on Monday, ending an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.