VATICAN CITY (AP) — Some takeaways about the life of Pope Francis, who died Monday:

Background

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born Dec. 17, 1936, to Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the eldest of five children. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969 and led the religious order in Argentina during the country’s murderous dictatorship from 1976-83. He became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and elevated to cardinal in 2001 by St. John Paul II. He was elected the 266th pope on March 13, 2013, on the fifth ballot.

Francis’ Firsts

— The first pope from the Americas.

— The first from the Jesuit order to be elected pope.

— The first to take the name of Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi.

— The first to visit Iraq, meeting its top Shiite Muslim cleric in 2021.

Humility and simplicity

As Buenos Aires archbishop, Francis denied himself the luxuries his predecessors enjoyed, riding the bus, cooking his own meals and regularly visiting slums. This simplicity continued as pope, marked by Francis taking the name of the 13th century saint known for personal simplicity. He lived in the Vatican hotel instead of the Apostolic Palace, wore his old orthotic shoes and not the red loafers of the papacy, and set an example to the clerical classes by using compact cars.

Migrants

Advocating for migrants was one of Francis’ priorities as pope. His’ first trip outside Rome in 2013 was to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to meet with newly arrived migrants. He denounced the “globalization of indifference” shown to would-be refugees. He prayed for dead migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2016 and brought 12 Syrian Muslims to Rome on his plane after visiting a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece. His plea for welcome put him at odds with U.S. and European policies. He said in 2016 of then-candidate Donald Trump that anyone building a wall to keep migrants out “is not a Christian.”

LGBTQ+ stance

Early in his papacy, Francis signaled a more welcoming stance toward LGBTQ+ people, declaring “Who am I to judge?” when asked about a gay priest. In a 2023 Associated Press interview, he declared that, “Being homosexual is not a crime,” and later approved blessings for same-sex couples, provided they don’t resemble marriage vows.

Environmental stance

Francis became the first pope to use scientific data in a major teaching document and made care for God’s creation a hallmark of his papacy. In 2015, his environmental manifesto “Praised Be,” urged a cultural revolution to correct what he called the “structurally perverse” global economic system that exploits the poor and turned Earth into “an immense pile of filth.” Many popes before him, though, also called for better care for the environment.

Clergy sexual abuse stance

The greatest scandal of his papacy came in 2018, when he discredited Chilean victims of clergy sexual abuse by siding with a bishop whom they accused of complicity in their abuse. Realizing his error, he invited them to the Vatican and apologized in person. He also brought the entire Chilean bishops conference to Rome, where he pressed them to resign. He convened a summit of the Catholic hierarchy in 2019 on abuse and sent a strong signal by defrocking former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he abused minors as well as adults. Francis passed church laws abolishing the use of pontifical secrecy and establishing procedures to investigate bishops who abuse or cover up for predator priests. But he was dogged by high-profile cases where he seemed to side with accused clergy.

His critics

In his first years as pope, critics had a living alternative in Pope Benedict XVI, who had resigned and was living on the Vatican grounds. That amplified the right-wing opposition to Francis’ reform agenda. Some called him a heretic after he opened the way in 2016 to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion. In 2018, the Vatican’s retired U.S. ambassador Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano published an accusation that U.S. and Vatican officials for two decades covered up McCarrick’s sexual misconduct and demanded that Francis resign. After Vigano amplified his criticisms and drew a following of his own, the Vatican in 2024 excommunicated him for schism.

The numbers might not look it on the surface — especially after an 0-for-8 weekend in Atlanta — but Twins second baseman Edouard Julien believes he is a changed player.

A good hitter at every stage in his career, Julien spent last year, in his words, “trying to deal with failure” amid a sophomore season in the majors that saw him struggle mightily and get demoted to Triple-A multiple times. He came through that experience with a changed mindset.

A little over a week ago, manager Rocco Baldelli shook up the lineup, reinstating Julien in the leadoff spot, where he had hit before. And while he’s hitting .217 now with an OPS that has dipped below .600, he’s exhibited some of the strides he has made. Some of it is visible — he’s hitting breaking balls better, for example — and much of it internal.

“I feel like at times I would have good contact and good at-bats, but not the results I wanted. They would catch the ball and it would drive me so crazy inside,” Julien said. “It felt like at a point last year, I was not hitting, and every time I would hit it, they would catch it.

“I was so down on myself. This year, every time I hit the ball forward and it’s hit hard, I feel like it’s a win.”

That, Julien believes, will help him keep his confidence and work through inevitable slumps.

Julien said he felt like he was in a better spot with his approach by the end of last year, but his swing wasn’t there. He finished the season hitting just .199 with a .616 OPS. He racked up 102 strikeouts in 94 games, many of them looking.

Over the offseason, Julien worked on tweaking his swing so he could cover more pitches and stay through them better. He also believes, after parts of three seasons in the majors, he has a better understanding of what opposing pitchers are trying to do against him.

Where he hit .120 against breaking balls last year, he’s hitting .250 against them this year, per Statcast data.

“He’s been in the big leagues for … a few years and he’s already seen a lot of different things come his way,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s been one of the best hitters in the game for a period of time, and also been forced to make real adjustments, too, in his swing and in his approach.”

A spot on the roster wasn’t a guarantee for Julien coming into spring training and he knew it. He said in spring training he was playing with a chip on his shoulder, trying to prove he belonged.

But with Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee on the injured list to begin the year, Julien started the started the season with the Twins and during April has shown some flashes of what he looked like his rookie year, when he hit .263 with 16 homers and 37 RBIs in 102 games.

“Even when I’m getting outs right now, I come back and I’m not lost,” he said. “I’m not wondering what’s going on. Maybe I just missed a pitch, or he made a good pitch. I just like my odds right now. Every time I’m at the plate, I can do something good.”

White Sox, Angels on tap

The Twins will need much more of that from Julien and his teammates to overcome a 7-15 start to the season. Last year, the Twins found themselves in a similar position, beginning 7-13 before a stretch where they faced the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and then the White Sox again.

The Twins used the soft part of their schedule — the White Sox recorded the most losses in a season in the history of Major League Baseball last year — to jumpstart their season, going on a 12-game winning streak.

Beginning Tuesday, the Twins will face those two teams over their next six games, giving themselves a good opportunity to right the ship. The Angels are hovering around .500, but the White Sox (5-16) have the American League’s worst record.

Briefly

Bailey Ober will take the ball for the first game of the series against Chicago, which kicks off at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday. He will be opposed by Davis Martin. Ober, who gave up three runs in 6⅓ innings last time out, did not face the White Sox when the Twins played them earlier this season. … This will mark the second Tuesday home game televised on Fox 9. The game will also be aired on Twins.TV.

The Cathedral of St. Paul has joined the global reaction to the news of Pope Francis’ death on Monday, the day after Easter, at the age of 88.

The Cathedral is livestreaming its Mass for Pope Francis, which began at noon on Monday, led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

This follows the Cathedral’s regular early daily Mass, in which people prayed for the repose of the pope’s soul.

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By ILLIA NOVIKOV

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks during the 30-hour Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by President Vladimir Putin over the weekend killed three people in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, a regional official said Monday.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Kherson’s administration, wrote on Telegram that the casualties occurred over the last 24 hours, adding that three others were wounded in the region, parts of which are occupied by Russia.

After Putin declared the move on Saturday, Ukraine responded by voicing readiness to reciprocate any genuine ceasefire but said the Russian attacks continued. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times.

Zelenskyy said that Russian forces carried out 96 assault operations along the front line, shelled Ukrainian positions more than 1,800 times and used hundreds of drones during the course of the ceasefire. “The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to be mirror-like: we will respond to silence with silence, and our blows will be a defense against Russian blows. Actions always speak louder than words,” he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, listed 4,900 Ukrainian violations of the ceasefire. It charged that Moscow’s forces “strictly observed the ceasefire and remained at previously occupied lines and positions.”

Speaking Monday, Putin said that the fighting resumed after the ceasefire expired at midnight (2100 GMT). Commenting on Zelenskyy’s call for a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire or, at least, a halt on strikes on civilian facilities, the Russian leader noted that Kyiv was trying to “seize the initiative,” adding that “we must think about it, carefully assess everything and look at the results of the ceasefire.”

The Russian leader has previously made a full ceasefire conditional on halting Western arms supplies to Kyiv and Ukraine’s mobilization effort — demands rejected by Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia would inform “all the interested parties” about the Ukrainian violations of the ceasefire.

Peskov said that Russia “remains open to searching for a peaceful settlement and is continuing to work with the American side,” adding that “we certainly hope that this work will produce results.”

Asked if there is a proposal from the U.S. that Kyiv recognize Crimea that Moscow annexed in 2014 as part of Russia, President Donald Trump responded that “I will be giving you a full detail over the next three days,” adding that “we had very good meetings on Ukraine, Russia.”

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Zelenskyy has firmly ruled out the recognition of any temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian.

On Monday, the Ukrainian president spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of Wednesday’s talks between Ukrainian, British, French and U.S. officials in London.

“We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” Zelenskyy said on X. “An unconditional ceasefire must be the first step toward peace, and this Easter made it clear that it is Russia’s actions that are prolonging the war.”

Overnight into Monday, the Russian forces fired three missiles at Ukraine’s southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, as well as 96 Shahed drones targeting other parts of the country, Ukraine’s Air Force reported. It said it downed 42 drones, while 47 others were jammed mid-flight.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian drones sparked a fire at an “outbuilding” and a “food enterprise,” regional administration head Serhii Lysak wrote on Telegram. No one was injured in the attack, he said. An unspecified infrastructure object was damaged in the Cherkasy region overnight, regional head Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.

Four civilians also sustained injuries in the partially occupied Donetsk region, according to regional head Vadym Filashkin, who said that the Russian forces shelled settlements in the region five times over the last 24 hours.

Chris Megerian contributed to this report from Washington.