‘We still call him Giorgio’: Pope Francis decade marked by humility and change

Pontiff made his mark amid battles with a conservative faction irked by his focus on inequality, climate crisis and refugees

Ten years have passed since Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, the son of Italian immigrants, stepped on to the balcony of St Peter’s Cathedral to give his first speech as pope.

Casting away formality, he was dressed in simple white papal robes instead of the regal red ermine-trimmed cape usually worn by newly elected pontiffs. Speaking quietly, he thanked the euphoric crowd gathered in the square for the welcome while asking his audience to “pray for me”.