What's next for the Catholic Church after Pope Francis?

Pope Francis, the first Latin American and Jesuit pontiff, has died at age 88. His papacy broke barriers and redefined the Catholic Church’s global image — but also left tough questions unanswered. We look back on his legacy, the controversies that followed him, and what comes next for the church. In this episode: Virginia Pietromarchi ( @vpietromarchi ), Al Jazeera journalist Episode credits: This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé, Khaled Soltan, Chloe K. Li, Tamara Khandaker, Sonia Bhagat, Amy Walters, with Sarí el-Khalili, Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Mariana Navarrete, Kisaa Zehra, Remas Alhawari, and our guest host, Manuel Rápalo. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz and Sarí el-Khalili. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is the Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X , Facebook , Threads and YouTube