Pope Francis dies at 88: A look at the Holy Father’s life

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936

the son of Italian immigrants, felt a calling to the Roman Catholic priesthood early in his life

He was going to a school picnic with his friends, but on the way he saw the open door of a church

and he wanted to, he said, he just felt a call to go inside and go to confession

And he said, something came over me and my life changed. Rocco Palmo is a Catholic journalist and Vatican expert

He had a girlfriend at the time. He was actually considering getting engaged

And something just called him to follow Jesus as a priest. And that sense of the open door has permeated the rest of his life

You know, that's why he wants the doors of churches to be open. And that's why he wants, not just literally, but figuratively, to be open to people at the margins

He was elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church in March of 2013

Francis was an unexpected choice because he's the first member of a religious order in decades and the first Jesuit pope

But I think they saw him as someone who was theologically traditional, but also someone who understood why the church needed to reach out to the poor and people on the margins

So I think that's what sealed it for him. Father James Martin is editor-at-large for America Magazine

He says he met the pope many times. Known for his humility, Pope Francis discarded more elaborate trappings of the Vatican

He did not want to live in the apostolic palace He said it too big as all popes you know after it was built have lived there I think He lived in a guest house He got rid of the red shoes He lived very simply which was really in keeping with his life as a Jesuit

We take a vow of poverty. Pope Francis, a strict follower of church doctrine, was also considered a revolutionary

In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Spirit. He apologized to survivors of clergy child sex abuse

a worldwide scandal he inherited that stained the reputation of the Catholic Church

The Holy Father also advocated for saving the environment and allowing women to have leadership roles

Francis continually pushed for, as he called it, more incisive roles for women

He was the first pope to name a woman as the head of a Vatican department or dicastery

He appointed a woman to be the first governor of Vatican City

These are huge moves. And in terms of LGBT people, he's the first pope ever to use the word gay

And in September of 2015, Pope Francis paid a visit here to New York City

receiving a warm welcome from thousands of adoring New Yorkers. I think he had a very conversational and warm and welcoming style, which people responded to

He was not afraid to go out to people and hug them and have them hug him

The 88-year-old pontiff most recently was hospitalized for double pneumonia, a condition worsened by the fact he had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man

While being treated at the hospital in Rome, onlookers noticed a rainbow light up the sky

above the building treating the Holy Father. Thank you