pope francis how long pope

Pope Francis served as pope for just over 12 years, from March 13, 2013, until his death on April 21, 2025.

Quick answer

• Start of papacy: March 13, 2013, elected as the 266th pope after the resignation of Benedict XVI.

• End of papacy: April 21, 2025.

• Total time as pope: A little more than 12 years.

Mini timeline of Pope Francis’ papacy

• 2013: Elected pope on March 13, becoming the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope.

• 2013–2025: Leads the Catholic Church with a strong emphasis on humility, social justice, care for the poor, and environmental responsibility, and becomes a global symbol of reform-minded Catholicism.

• 2025: His death is announced in April 2025, ending a more-than-12-year pontificate, which ranks around the middle of papal reign lengths in modern history.

Context: how his 12 years compare

• Average length of modern papacies (since about 1900) is roughly 12 years, so Francis’ time as pope is around the modern average.

• Longest modern papacies (like Pius IX and John Paul II) have lasted well over 20 years, so Francis’ pontificate was notably shorter than theirs but still substantial.

HTML facts table

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<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Fact</th>
      <th>Detail</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Full papacy duration</td>
      <td>From March 13, 2013, to April 21, 2025 – a little over 12 years.[web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Papal number</td>
      <td>266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church.[web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Historic “firsts”</td>
      <td>First Latin American pope, first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, first Jesuit pope.[web:1][web:3]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>General legacy</td>
      <td>Known worldwide for humility, compassion, and focus on the poor, migrants, and climate issues.[web:1][web:2][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.