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.

Widely known as the "Asian Francis", Fr Tagle accompanied Pope Francis on his 11-day tour of South East Asia last year. He also constantly tries to make Catholicism relevant to younger Filipinos with a strong presence on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and X.

Pope Francis’s tenure was punctuated by repeated clashes with American political leaders and sweeping efforts to install more liberal-leaning church leaders.

Catholic Church leaders will select the pope to replace Pope Francis through a special conclave process. Here's who could be the next pope.

The death of a pope starts a centuries-old ritual involving sacred oaths by the cardinals electing a successor, the piercing of ballots with a needle and thread after they're counted, and then burning them to produce either the white or black smoke to signal if there's a new leader for the world's 1.