Year 2019. It was the first of two times - the other in 2024 - that Professor Carmen José Alejos had lunch at Domus Santa Marta. She remembers that at the back of the dining room, at a table occupied by cleaning staff , there was another diner. He was wearing a white sundress. It was Pope Francis. That image that combines simplicity, closeness and humility in equal parts has accompanied him during his twelve years of pontificate, from March 2013 to April 2025. Onésimo Díaz sees in his austere life and the choice of living in Santa Marta "the reflection of a poorer Church". Rafael Domingo is grateful for his "simple style, rejection of luxuries and authentic closeness".

A "Church going out" with evangelizing joy
with evangelizing joy

Since his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii GaudiumFrancis proposed a Church that does not close in on itself, but goes out to meeting people, especially the most needy and distant. For Ramiro Pelliterio, Evangelii gaudium presents what would be the main themes of the pontificate: the advertisement faith and the beauty of the Gospel, mercy and hope, peace and social dialogue, the value of popular piety and the inculturation of the Christian message. Tomás Trigo sees in this document the three priorities of the Pontiff: Christ at the center, joy as a style and evangelizing mission statement as an urgency. These principles, emphasizes Monica Herrero, were part of an authentic "bequest of communion" to confront tensions and polarizations from a profoundly evangelical pastoral vision: time is superior to space; unity prevails over conflict; reality is more important than the idea; and the whole is superior to the part.

Church Reform: Curia, Economics and Synodality

As Professor Trigo points out, Francis undertook an ambitious reform of the Roman Curia-through Praedicate Evangelium- and Vatican finances, seeking greater transparency and service. In turn, notes Monica Herrero, he introduced synodality as a form of ecclesial government, emphasizing listening, discernment and the participation of all.

Caring for
the common home

With Laudato si'the Pope integrated ecology into the Church's social doctrine. According to Ramiro Pellitero, this encyclical marked a turning point by linking Christian faith with ecological responsibility, promoting an "integral ecology" in favor of the poor and future generations.

A Church for all, especially for the poor

Beyond a general missionary impulse, Francis maintained a constant preference for the most vulnerable: migrants, refugees, the sick, the elderly and, in a particular way, for human life in gestation, which he firmly defended as an expression of his commitment to the most defenseless. Rafael Domingo highlights Francis' firm denunciation of the "throwaway culture" and his conviction that the living nucleus of the Gospel is recognized in the poor.

The revolution of tenderness and mercy

"Tenderness is not weakness," the Pope used to say. As Tomás Trigo explains, his magisterium was marked by a "revolution of tenderness" that translated into concrete gestures such as hugs to the sick, visits to prisons, tears shared with the suffering. And in the message of mercy as the core of Christianity that is reflected in the encyclical Dilexit nos.
 

Women at the heart of the
of the Church

Francis opened new spaces of responsibility for women, from curial positions to the right to vote in synods. María García-Nieto stresses that this was not an ideological concession, but a recognition of their baptismal dignity and their irreplaceable role in ecclesial life.
 

A style of government based on proximity

Pope Francis lived as one more in the Domus Santa Marta, rejected luxuries, preferred to listen directly and maintained a simple style. A Pope who, instead of commanding, accompanied; instead of imposing, he listened; and instead of shutting himself away, he went out to the meeting. Carmen José Alejos describes him as "a pastor close to the people", someone who never wanted to distance himself from the reality of ordinary people. Along the same lines, Onésimo Díaz emphasizes that this austerity was not only symbolic, but a coherent way of preaching with his life.

Communication with soul
and with gestures

Francisco did not understand communication as a strategy, but as a form of meeting and closeness. More than technique, it was relationship; more than speech, presence. From the beginning of his pontificate, as Francisco Javier Pérez Latre says, he was a master in the use of symbols, social networks and spontaneous gestures that managed to transmit the Gospel with unprecedented freshness and clarity. Along the same lines, according to Onésimo Díaz, "Francis was listened to by people who had hardly been in tune with the Church before".

The courage of truth
and authenticity

Monica Herrero calls him "the Pope of courage", not because of grandiloquent gestures, but because of his "firm commitment to the truth, even if it hurts". Francis faced with serenity and firmness some of the most delicate challenges of the contemporary Church. He was not afraid to make difficult decisions. Francis did so, as someone trained in the complexity of real life, without fear of being wrong if it was for the common good. His decisions - pastoral, structural, communicative - reflected courageous leadership, seeking to transform the Church from within, without getting caught up in political calculation or superficial image.

Universal fraternity as a horizon

The encyclical Fratelli tutti sums up his dream of a reconciled humanity, open to dialogue, social friendship and peace. As Ramiro Pellitero points out, this magisterium represents a true "universal embrace," in the style of Bernini's colonnade in St. Peter's place : open, hopeful and profoundly Christian.
 

Who are called to the conclave and how many people in total do they become?

Only cardinals who are under 80 years of age on the day the papal see becomes vacant can be part of the conclave as electors.

At present, the high school of Cardinals has252 cardinals, of whom 138 are electors (under 80 years of age) and 114 are non-electors.
 

Since when is the election of the pope celebrated as it is now?

During the first millennium, the pope was elected by the clergy and the people of Rome, but this system was influenced by imperial power and the aristocracy.

• In 1059, Nicholas II reserved the election to the cardinals, although the measure took time to consolidate.

• The Third Lateran Council (1139) reaffirmed this reservation to the high school of Cardinals.

• In 1274, the Second Council of Lyon established that the election should be held in conclave (under lock and key), to ensure speed and security.

The last complete regulation of the conclave was made by St. John Paul II in 1996, by means of the constitution Universi Dominici Gregis.