Pope Francis, who reached out to the margins of society, has died at 88

By Sylvia Poggioli

Published April 21, 2025 at 5:09 AM EDT

Pope Francis has died at 88. He was one of the most popular pontiffs in decades, forcing the church to turn its attention back to the poor and disenfranchised and to clean up corrupt Vatican finances.

Sylvia Poggioli

Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.

See stories by Sylvia Poggioli

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