Catholics looked to the late Pope Francis to address enormous questions about the Church, and he wrestled with many of them, but at his death it seems that he provided definitive answers to very few, says Eliot Wilson

Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday aged 88, led the Catholic Church for 12 years. A longer papacy than many expected, given his age when elected, it will be remembered as significant; the nature of that significance is not yet clear.

Francis brought a distinctive, unadorned personal style to the papacy; 1.4 billion Catholics looked to him to address enormous questions about the Church, and he wrestled with many of them, but at his death it seems that he provided definitive answers to very few. Divisions between progressives and traditionalists are more deeply entrenched than ever.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires in 1936. His father was an Italian immigrant from Piedmont and his mother also had roots in northern Italy. It was Argentina’s “Infamous Decade”, marked by economic depression and an authoritarian right-wing regime, but this in turn was the crucible for Peronism, that distinctive blend of nationalism and social justice. Early influences matter.

Bergoglio was 17 when he heard his vocation; on his way to a party he suddenly ducked into a church to confess.

“I don’t........

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