As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new leader, the editors of 'America' remember an extraordinary and beloved pontiff: Francis, a pope of monumental surprises.

Francis always encouraged me in our attempt to move forward as an ecumenical community and in welcoming young people from different churches who come to Taizé from all over the world. He was the pope, but also a father and a brother to me.

A person’s heroes often point to their values. In Pope Francis’ case, the people he singled out for their heroic virtues reveal a great deal about his papal priorities.

In Africa, a person of Pope Francis’ moral caliber and spiritual substance holds the coveted designation of “ancestor,” whose role includes everlasting solicitude for the community he or she leaves behind.

Pope Francis was overwhelmingly popular with ordinary Catholics in the United States. But Francis’ priorities often failed to take root here.

“Pope Francis entered the papacy as a Jesuit, governed as one and died as one,” Father James Martin writes.