On March 13, 2013, Oscar Crespo was watching TV in his native Buenos Aires when he saw the white smoke appearing above the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican: a new pope was elected.

As with millions of Catholics in Latin America, he was curious to know who would succeed Pope Benedict XVI. To his surprise he heard the name Bergoglio – the surname of his childhood friend – and was immediately overwhelmed by emotion, he recalled.

His election took Crespo and all of Argentina by surprise, while the rest of the world wondered who Jorge Bergoglio was.

In the following months, the local government even organized a special tour, “the papal circuit,” so tourists and pilgrims could get a glimpse of Bergoglio’s early years in his native Buenos Aires.

Soccer with friends

Jorge Bergoglio was born in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, on December 17, 1936. The son of Italian immigrants, Mario and Regina, he was the eldest of five siblings.

He spent his childhood and teenage years at his family’s house in the heart of the middle-class neighborhood of Flores. A plaque outside his former home, 531 Membrillar Street, now proudly announces: “Pope Francis lived here.”

Like many South American kids, Bergoglio played soccer with friends around his neighborhood. A plaque on the ground at the Herminia Brumana square in Flores says: “In this plaza neighborhood children used to gather. Here, Jorge M. Bergoglio chased the ball with his friends. Afternoons of games and friendship.”

Young Bergoglio became a big soccer fan, supporting the Argentine team San Lorenzo. His love of the sport and of his team never diminished as pope, with Francis often seen holding San Lorenzo’s jersey, and hosting soccer teams at the Vatican.

“He loved music, dancing, and football. We went to watch so many football games,” Crespo said. He and Bergoglio became friends when they were 13 years old, a bond that endured when the latter became Pope Francis, even though he was never to return to his homeland.

Bergoglio grew up learning about literature and chemistry, among other subjects, and enjoyed everything typical of a teenage boy, Crespo says.

When he was 12, the Argentine even had a girlfriend who, decades later, was chased by the press after his election to the papacy.

Amalia Damonte told reporters in 2013 that the new pope had sent her a letter when they were both children. “He said to me, ‘If I don’t marry you, I’ll become a priest,” she recalled.

Years passed and Bergoglio indeed opted for priesthood. His deep spirit of service made him choose the Church, according to Crespo. Bergoglio entered the Jesuit religious order as a novice in 1958, was ordained in 1969 and became the sole archbishop of his native Buenos Aires in 1998.

He was made a cardinal in 2001 and served as president of the Argentine bishops’ conference from 2005 until 2011.

Bergoglio the priest and archbishop

As a Jesuit living under a vow of poverty, Bergoglio led a humble and austere life, forgoing even the slightest of luxuries. His rejection of the trappings of status once he became archbishop gave the world a hint of how his papacy would unfold years later.

He declined to live in the archbishop’s palace, choosing instead to live in a simple apartment. He also refused to use a chauffeured limousine, preferring to take the bus with ordinary people, and cooked his own meals.

“He never had a car, that was the reality. I used to travel with him on public transport. And when I bought a car, I used to give him a ride,” Crespo said.

The journeys with Archbishop Bergoglio included visits to the “villas” – shanty towns outside the capital – where he became a familiar face.

“He went to the villas to see who he could help. He (had) told me clearly: Look, I am going to be a priest because my aim is to be at the service of the people. For that, I’m going to the villas, I am going to go to the heart of the country,” Crespo recalled.

The austerity and simplicity of his life, along with a deep need to be close to the poor and marginalized, defined him as a priest and as a future pope, explained Argentine journalist Elisabetta Piqué, author of “Pope Francis: Life and Revolution.”

Piqué met Bergoglio for the first time in 2001 for an interview in Rome, an encounter which sparked a friendship that lasted for decades. At that time, she described him as a shy man who surprised her.

“He was really an open-minded priest with whom you could talk about everything,” Piqué said.

A day after Cardinal Bergoglio became Pope Francis, on March 14, 2013, he called Piqué and asked her about the reaction in his native Argentina.

The new pope mentioned he had been to pray at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where he would years later request to be buried, and then went in person to pay his lodging bill at the Paulus VI hotel at which he stayed during the conclave – a gesture that surprised everyone.

Later that month, Francis’s decision not to live in the papal apartment on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace but in the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City residence where cardinals stay during the conclave, was unexpected and considered a revolutionary act by the new pope, Piqué explained.

As archbishop in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio would celebrate Mass in a prison or a hospital or hospice, trying to reach the marginalized and open the church up to everyone, a tradition that continued during his papacy and became part of his legacy.

“His legacy is about an inclusive church, a church that is for all, not only for a small group of perfect people. This is a pope who speaks to everyone and who speaks specially to the sinners … We have seen him going to prisons all over the world. We have seen him on Holy Thursdays going to prisons and washing the feet of the prisoners,” Piqué said.

Emilce Cuda, an Argentine theologist who worked closely with Francis as secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, described him as a strategist who used humor to navigate the Vatican as pope.

Crespo said that despite Bergoglio’s obvious talents, it had never occurred to his contemporaries that he would come to lead the Roman Catholic Church.

“I never imagined a classmate would become a pope. We would have thought that due to his intelligence he would become a minister, a position in public office, even president, but that he was going to be pope? It didn’t occur to any of us,” Crespo said.

He was a pope who never forgot his beginnings at the end of the world and always reached out to those on the peripheries, Piqué reflected. He stayed true to his friends too.

“One day in June 2013 the telephone rang, and a familiar voice said: ‘Hello Oscar, it is Jorge Mario,’ and I said, ‘The pope is calling me!’ Despite our friendship, I was still very surprised the pope called me,” Crespo said.

The final call lasted 30 seconds. Just enough time to say hello and ask if everyone was okay. But for Gaza’s tiny Christian population, the phone call from Pope Francis was a ray of hope that shone through the horrors of war.

For Palestinians, it became a daily reminder that Gaza was not forgotten.

“He shows us his paternity. He is very close to us,” said Romanelli. “All the time he called us throughout this war – this horrible war – for more than a year and a half, he would call for peace and send his blessings to all of Gaza’s people.”

From the beginning, Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war and was an outspoken critic of Israel’s siege on the territory. In his Easter message the day before he died, he wished that “the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world.”

“I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” Francis’ message said. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”

The Holy Family Church in Gaza has become a shelter for the enclave’s tiny Christian community. Displaced by Israel’s bombardment of the territory, Christian families have turned to the parish as a place to find relative safety. Makeshift tents fill the crammed courtyard, the solid edifice of the church overlooking the flimsy havens. According to the church and Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Israeli strikes have killed around 20 members of the enclave’s small Christian community. Some Muslim children and their families have come to the church as well, the church said.

“His Holiness the pope was not an ordinary person,” said Musa Antone, a Christian resident of Gaza. “He was a man of faith who inquired about both Christians and Muslims.”

“It is true that we have lost his body, but we will not lose him as a spirit,” Antone said.

In May 2014, Francis made his only visit to the occupied West Bank. He never visited Gaza, but the Holy Family Church described his concern for the enclave as a “father’s anxiety for his children.”

The world’s Catholic population numbers around 1.4 billion. In Gaza, fewer than 1,400 Christians remain, and the number of Catholics is smaller still – an almost invisible minority within an overwhelmingly Muslim Palestinian society. Pope Francis could have overlooked them, as they represented less than 0.0001% of his global flock. He could have called less often.

But he refused.

“He was so sick but insisted to do that call as usual.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend talks in London on Wednesday aimed at working toward an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, as Kyiv signaled it would reject a key detail of the Trump administration’s proposal to end the three-year conflict.

Rubio had been expected to take part in the discussions with Ukrainian, UK and European officials, but State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that he would no longer attend due to “logistical issues.”

President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will represent the US instead, Bruce said. The talks follow a meeting in Paris last week in which officials from the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany discussed a US framework for a ceasefire.

Any move to recognize Russia’s control of Crimea would reverse a decade of US policy.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made clear Tuesday that he was open to talks with Russia, but that Kyiv would not accept a deal that recognizes Moscow’s control of Crimea.

“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” he told reporters. “There is nothing to talk about. It is against our constitution.”

Rubio said in a post on X that he had a “productive conversation” with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is hosting Wednesday’s meeting, and that he “(looks) forward to following up” with the United Kingdom and Ukraine at a later point.

The talks in London come after US officials have publicly voiced frustration over the lack of progress at bringing an end to the war.

Trump has said he would “have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it” from both sides for the US to continue negotiations, after Rubio warned last week that Washington could walk away from its efforts to end the conflict if there were no signs of progress.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow this week to continue negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House said Tuesday. The Kremlin confirmed Witkoff’s visit, but did not disclose further details, according to Russian state media.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday the negotiations were “hopefully moving in the right direction,” and declined to say what “stepping back” from the peace efforts might look like for the US.

Moscow has previously stalled on negotiations and rejected an earlier US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire agreed to by Kyiv.

However, under pressure from Trump, Ukraine and Russia have expressed willingness to negotiate for the first time in years; the two sides have not held direct talks since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion in 2022.

On Monday, Putin raised the prospect of holding direct talks with Ukraine about a ceasefire that would halt striking civilian targets, but said further discussion was needed on how to define a civilian target.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the Russian president’s remarks, saying “(Putin) had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Reuters reported, citing Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The body of Pope Francis is lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, where it will remain for three days until his funeral Saturday, expected to be attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump.

His body was transferred to the basilica during a procession earlier Wednesday, and was followed by a service led by Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, the cardinal tasked with making arrangements for Pope Francis’ funeral and the conclave in the weeks ahead.

Francis’ coffin was laid at the Altar of the Confessio, a sacred space in front of the main above the tomb of St. Peter, the first pope.

Cardinals in the basilica approached the coffin in pairs to pay their respects. From 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET), members of the public will be able to visit Francis’ body.

Thousands of mourners are waiting outside the basilica in St. Peter’s Square, ahead of the official opening.

As part of Francis’ push to simplify the papal funeral rites, his body is lying in state in an open wooden coffin, having done away with the tradition of having three coffins of cypress, lead and oak.

Wednesday’s procession began with Francis’ body being moved from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his papacy. Francis died at Casa Santa Marta on Easter Monday at the age of 88 of a stroke and heart failure, according to the Vatican.

The coffin traveled through Piazza Santa Marta and the Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani, passing through the Arch of the Bells and into St. Peter’s Square, before entering St. Peter’s Basilica through the central door.

Bells tolled slowly as the coffin entered the basilica at 9.30 a.m. local time (3.30 a.m. ET) Wednesday, while mourners in the piazza outside broke into applause.

Before the procession, Camerlengo Farrell, held a brief service in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta with a short antiphon, or chant, of hope.

“Let us thank the Lord for countless gifts that he bestowed on the Christian people through His servant Pope Francis,” the Camerlengo said in prayer. “Let us ask him in his mercy and kindness to grant the late pope an eternal home in the kingdom of heaven and to comfort with celestial hope, the papal family, the church in Rome and the faithful throughout the world.”

Later Wednesday, at St. Peter’s Basilica, the camerlengo presided over the service, known at the Liturgy of the Word, that allowed attendees to pay their respects to the late pope.

During the service, Farrell dispensed Holy Water over Francis’ body. The service included a reading from John’s Gospel, in which Jesus says to God: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The congregation recited several religious verses, including psalm 22, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

Attendees also recited the Catholic customary prayers of the dead during the liturgy.

The service finished with the Salve Regina, one of the four principal Marian antiphons, prayers to Jesus’ mother Mary.

For those who wish to visit the pope and pay their respects, the basilica will be open on Wednesday until midnight, on Thursday from 7 a.m. to midnight local time, and Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.

After lying in state for three days, Francis’ funeral will begin at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) Saturday – six days after his death. The last papal funeral – for Pope Benedict XVI in 2023 – was also held six days after his death.

The Vatican announced that Francis’ funeral will be held outside, in St. Peter’s Square. Previous papal funerals have also been held outside, with thousands of mourners filling the open space in front of the basilica.

A string of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have confirmed they will travel to the Vatican for the service. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among the major European leaders traveling to the Vatican.

Tens of thousands of others are expected to show up. About 50,000 people came to Benedict’s funeral in 2023, while around 300,000 attended John Paul’s in 2005.

The pope passed away the morning after the holiest day in the Christian year, when the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite his poor health, Francis was seen a number of times in public at the Vatican during Holy Week, culminating in an Easter Sunday appearance where he delighted crowds at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

His death from a stroke and heart failure was affected other by other ailments, including a “previous episode of acute respiratory failure,” arterial hypertension and type II diabetes, according to a Vatican press office statement, signed by the Director of the Health and Hygiene Directorate of the Vatican City State Andrea Arcangeli.

Fresh warthog carcass in tow, a poacher speeds away from Zimbabwe’s Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy. Blood spatters, footprints and tire marks are the only traces of the crime he has just committed, but a trace is all it takes for the hunter to become the hunted.

His arrest comes a short while later, courtesy of Shinga, a Belgian Malinois that perfectly retraced the poacher’s 2.8-mile (4.5-kilometer) route home, leading an anti-poaching team to his door.

Last October’s pursuit ultimately began much further afield, in the sleepy Welsh town of Carmarthen, where Shinga was born and raised. It’s home to the kennels of Dogs4Wildlife, a non-profit organization that trains dogs to support anti-poaching units (APUs) in their efforts to protect endangered wildlife across southern Africa.

It’s run by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law, who decided to blend their career experiences of developing working dogs for police, security, and military operations with their love of wildlife, after seeing photos of a poached African rhino on social media in 2015.

“We can deploy dogs in the UK to track people … to look for drugs, firearms and explosives, so why could we not look at developing the dogs that we were training for conservation efforts?”

Puppy love

The duo has since sent 15 dogs to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania, each one bred by them in southwest Wales.

They usually breed one or two litters each year. Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois are two of the most common breeds for tracking, while labradors and spaniels are typically the detection (sniffer) dogs of choice.

Training begins from as early as two days old. Priddle acknowledges that sounds young, but he believes early imprinting programs can provide a strong foundation for the formal training that commences around six weeks later.

“There’s a lot of scientific study out there that’s been documented on exposing puppies to touch, different temperatures, different surfaces and textures, as well as different odors that we put into the whelping box when they’re very young,” he explained

“It just helps their brain and (helps) their synapses to fire. We see a lot of advancement in those puppies.”

The curriculum closely follows that of the typical police or security dog, focusing on obedience, tracking, and scent detection – a skill used to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory and bushmeat.

The only key difference to the training process is acclimating dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of lions, giraffes and the myriad other species they will help protect. With rhino and elephant numbers severely lacking in the wetlands of Carmarthenshire, trips to local zoos are organized to desensitize the puppies to African wildlife.

Typically, after 16 to 18 months, dogs are ready for assignment. Even though Priddle accompanies each one on the long flight to their new home, spending the first month with the anti-poaching unit to provide field and animal welfare training to rangers, goodbyes never get easier.

“The transition from spending every waking moment with that dog, having a very strong relationship, to then letting that go is challenging and difficult,” Law said.

“But as much as it breaks my heart when they go, I know they’re going for the greater good.”

Biting back

Easing the pain are WhatsApp group chats set up for Priddle and Law to keep in touch with and advise APUs across the various reserves and conservancies.

They are particularly active forums, especially given that the organization also provides training and consultancy to teams with existing dog units, such as the Akashinga Rangers, Africa’s first armed all-female anti-poaching squad, who watch over Zimbabwe’s vast Phundundu Wildlife Area.

Naturally, updates of success are a source of immense personal pride for the pair back in Wales. Shinga’s tracking triumph in October followed the achievements of fellow Belgian Malinois Dan, which in 2013 alerted his team to a rhino calf that had been caught in a snare trap in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

Such victories demonstrate the “game-changing” value such dogs can have when incorporated into conservation efforts, argue the duo, even through their mere presence.

“When these reserves bring a specialist dog onto a wildlife reserve … the word spreads very quickly that the APUs now have the capability to actually catch these poachers on a more efficient and successful basis,” Priddle said.

“Some of the smaller wildlife reserves almost eradicate poaching in all types completely, just because of the deterrent value that dog brings to the party.”

As park manager and head of anti-poaching operations at Zimbabwe’s 10,000-acre Imire conservancy, Reilly Travers has had a front row seat for the last seven years to the impact of Shinga and also Murwi, a Dutch shepherd whose training was paid for by the fundraising efforts of pupils of the local Harare International school.

Capable of covering as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour when tracking, even in darkness, dogs allow rangers to “own the night,” Travers explained, adding an invaluable level of versatility and unpredictability to their arsenal.

And on numerous occasions Shinga and Murwi have alerted units to potentially mortal threats – be it from poachers or predators – through body language alone.

“It’s had a massive impact on security for Imire. We’ve had a drastic reduction in poaching and the K9 unit has a massive role to play in that … It’s not the silver bullet but it’s a tool that will make a significant difference.”

‘We learn in nature’

Zimbabwe once boasted thousands of rhinos, yet numbers nosedived to less than 450 by 1992 because of poaching networks, according to conservation charity Save the Rhino.

The efforts of Imire, which saw the birth of its 23rd rhino in 2023, helped the country’s rhino population climb back over the 1,000-mark in 2022, but statistics continue to make for grim reading across the wider continent.

Though the numbers of African rhinos poached annually has dropped steadily since a peak of over 1,300 in 2015, almost 600 kills were still recorded last year, according to Save the Rhino. It contributed to an overall decline in the total African black rhino population in 2023, though white rhino numbers are on the rise.

And the impact of each loss extends far beyond statistics, Priddle and Law explain, especially at the smaller reserves that Dogs4Wildlife focuses on, which have markedly less anti-poaching resources than the continent’s most renowned parks.

Recalling the sight of a de-horned 25-year-old bull rhino and eight-year-old male in Limpopo, both killed by a single poacher, Law stressed the knock-on effect on the wider environment.

“The vegetation they clear, the seeds they disperse, all the other animals that are impacted. You think it’s just a rhino that’s gone – it’s the whole ecosystem that suffers,” Law explained.

“The owners of that reserve had a relationship with that bull for 25 years – we grieve when we lose a dog after 10 to 15 years. For us to experience the impact that losing those two rhinos had on the reserve owner sort of gave us added motivation.

“It was just horrific. I never want to see that again.”

As Dogs4Wildlife looks ahead to its long-term goal of one day opening a specialized training and canine school within Africa, mobilizing future generations has become a key part of its overall mission.

Its Conservation club, called Siyafunda Ngemvelo – which translates to “we learn in nature” in IsiZulu – has taken more than 180 South African children into reserves as part of a wildlife education program.

Law said that for local people to want to protect rhinos, they must first see the animals’ value to the environment.

“We have to start at the fundamental basics, which is children taking responsibility for their own wildlife,” she added.

“Once they get the passion for it, they’re going to become future rangers, not future poachers.”