Bishop of Auckland Steve Lowe during a special mass at St Patrick's Cathedral to remember the passing of Pope Francis. Photo / Dean Purcell

At the school in Buenos Aires where he started his religious journey at the young age of 5, the nuns remember the boy who would later become Pope Francis as "mischievous".

A boisterous child, he played football with his friends in the courtyard, and sprinted up and down the marble stairs.

"They say he was rather mischievous," recounted Teresa Rovira, a teacher at the Nuestra Senora de la Misericordia kindergarten where then-Jorge Bergoglio enrolled in the early 1940s.

"One is not born a saint, one becomes a saint," the nun chortled.

Rovira was also a child at the time, but has heard many stories told by older nuns about the boy who would go on to become one of the most famous men in the world – ruling the Catholic Church for 12 years until his death on Monday, aged 88.

– AFP

Religious history expert Peter Lineham told Newstalk ZB Pope Francis would not have been made to work up until his death, it would have been his choice.

“He wanted to be there serving the people, and that's the way he chose to die.”

Lineham said he had shown an “interesting style of papacy” during his time and he would be waiting to see if a new Pope would come in and undo the changes Francis made.

He said Pope Francis was “provocative” as a Pope and stood out from the rest because of his positive attitudes towards the rainbow community and other groups usually condemned by his church like Muslims, divorced people, prisoners and illegal immigrants.

“I've never seen so much hostility,  to a reigning Pope than what this Pope has received.

"We could end up with a traditionalist Pope hauling the church back onto safe territory, or we could see significant moves in areas that Francis has made easier to change.”

Whether diplomats, theologians, mediators or Vatican insiders, AFP has listed 15 cardinals who are among the potential favourites to become the next Pope, known as the “papabili”, divided by region.

This list, however, is by no means exhaustive and Francis’ successor could well be someone else.

Doctors told Pope Francis to stop working for two months after his five-week stint his hospital, Reuters is reporting.

However, on Easter Sunday, he made his first prolonged public appearance since February, entering St Peter's Square in a white popemobile to greet cheering crowds.

New Zealand's flag will fly at half-mast to mark the passing and funeral of His Holiness Pope Francis.

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage said at the request of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, the New Zealand flag should be flown at half-mast on all government and public buildings.

This instruction applies to all government departments, buildings and naval vessels which have flag poles and normally fly the New Zealand flag.

A flag is half-masted by first raising it to the top of the mast, and then immediately lowering it slowly to the half-mast position.

The flags will return to full mast at on Wednesday at 5pm.