Navarrosa, who is currently writing his thesis on the pope’s 2016 encyclical 'Amoris Laetitia,' recalls meeting Francis in 2021 and says he had hoped to meet him again. “I’m not worried about the future of the church, because it is guided by the Holy Spirit,” he says.

Although Pope Francis simplified the papal funeral rites in a move of typical modesty, Saturday’s ceremony will still be full of pomp and pageantry, as the world’s Catholics bid him farewell and cardinals in the Vatican ready themselves for the millennia-old process of picking a new pontiff.

Here is a look back at Francis’ appointment as pope in March 2013. From the archives: A look back at Francis’ appointment as pope in March 2013. When Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a cardinal from Argentina, was selected as the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, he became the first South American to lead the church.