Young people at the Vatican said they had a positive view of Pope Francis' legacy on Tuesday (April 22).

While pointing to some of the most controversial subjects within the Catholic church, most of the young people interviewed by Reuters one day after the Argentine pontiff's passing said they appreciated his efforts to change views within the institution.

Some also expressed their hope for a successor who would carry on in a similar vein.

Not everyone agreed though. 18-year-old Dutch tourist Alec Ooste said he thought the Catholic church had remained the same under Francis' papacy.

The pope, aged 88, died on Monday (April 21) after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest.

Pope Francis changed the face of the modern papacy more than any predecessor by shunning much of its pomp and privilege, but his attempts to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and less judgmental made him an enemy to conservatives nostalgic for a traditional past

Under his watch, an overhauled Vatican constitution allowed any baptised lay Catholic, including women, to head most departments in the Catholic Church's central administration.

Conservatives within the church balked at his calls for the Church to be more welcoming to LGBT people, his approval of conditional blessings for same-sex couples in December 2023 and his repeated clampdowns on the use of the traditional Latin Mass. He said conservatives had made themselves self-referential and wanted to encase Catholicism in a "suit of armour".

(Production: Leonardo Benassatto, Chiara Rodriquez)