Pope Francis didn’t affirm same-sex marriage or lobby for ordaining women as priests. But he gently steered the Catholic Church in a more progressive direction while leading with compassion, openness and humility.

When Pope Francis died the world lost not only the leader of the Catholic Church but also the first pontiff in history to take a stance on climate change.

Pope Francis had a close relationship with Gaza's tiny Christian community and used his last address to call for a ceasefire.

In the last 18 months of his life, Pope Francis had a frequent ritual: He would call the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

The pontiff’s death initiated a well-structured series of rituals designed to mourn the loss of the 1.3 billion-member church’s leader and to ensure stability with the selection of a new pope.

Pope Francis died early Monday morning after a long battle with pneumonia and lung disease hours after an appearance in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday. “Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,