Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said in a video statement.

His death ends an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.

He was 88 and had recently survived a serious bout of double pneumonia.

“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.

According to the Catholic News Agency, Pope Francis was born on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires.

His father was a railway worker who had immigrated to Argentina from Italy. His mother’s family is also of Italian origin.

He was ordained a priest in 1969 as a Jesuit and served as the rector of a seminary, a pastor and a professor before he became the pope at the age of 76. He was the first Latin American and the first Jesuit.