A Farewell To Pope Francis – In Numbers

Photo: Reuters

By Aziz Inan

Pope Francis, the 266th head of the Catholic Church, passed away on Monday, 21 April 2025—just one day after Easter. He was 88 years old.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 in Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina, he adopted the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi upon his election as pope. He expressed deep admiration for Saint Francis, calling him “the man of peace, the man of poverty, the man who loves and protects creation,” and voiced his vision for “a church that is poor and for the poor.”

Pope Francis was elected on 13 March 2013 at age 76. He was the first pope from outside Europe in over a millennium, the first from Latin America, and the first from the Americas. The last non-European pontiff before him was Pope Gregory III, who reigned from 731 to 741 and was born in what is now Syria. With a span of more than 1,270 years between them, Pope Francis’s election marked a profound historical milestone.

Known for his humility, compassion, and unwavering dedication to the vulnerable, Pope Francis led the Church with simplicity and moral clarity. His life and legacy left a deep impression on the world—including me.

In tribute to his extraordinary life, I compiled the following numerical connections as a farewell gesture:

1. Pope Francis was born in 1936 and died in 2025. Remarkably, both are perfect squares: 2025 = 45 x 45 and 1936 = 44 x 44.
2. He died at the age of 88, and 88 = 44 + 44. Note that 1936 = 44 x 44.
3. The digits of the date 21/4/2025, the day Pope Francis died, sum to 16—coincidentally, the same as the sum of the digits in 88, and also the product of the digits in 44.
4. If still living, Pope Francis’s age in any 21st-century year (except 2100) could be found by adding the rightmost two digits of the year to 64 (the product of 8 × 8, the digits of 88). For example, in 2036: 36 + 64 = 100.
5. Breaking the date 21/4/2025 into 21, 4, 20, and 25 yields a total of 70. Interestingly, assigning numerical values to letters (A=1, B=2, …, Z=26), the letter values of the name “Francis” also sum to 70.
6. The date 21/4/25 can be split as 21, 4, and 25—and 25 equals 21 + 4.
7. Pope Francis’s birth date, 17/12/1936, broken into 17, 12, 19, and 36, sums to 84, which is also 21 × 4—the product of the day and month numbers of his passing.
8. Pope Francis died 125 days after his 88th birthday. Reversing 125 gives 521, which is the 98th prime number. The reverse of 98 is 89—he died during the 89th year of his life.
9. His birthdate (17/12) as 1712 equals 8 × 214, where 214 can be read as 21/4, the date of his death.
10. The digits of 1712 multiply to 14, representing the number of days remaining in the year after his birthday.
11. His 88th birthday in 2024 fell on the 352nd day of the year. Notably, 352 is 4 × 88, and 4 is the square root of the sum of the digits of 88.
12. Lastly, splitting 2024 as 20 and 24, twice the sum of 20 and 24 yields 88.

Pope Francis was a remarkable leader and human being. May his legacy continue to inspire, and may he rest in eternal peace.

(Inan is a professor of electrical engineering teaching in the Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering at the University of Portland.)