Church of San Francisco, Franciscan convent and church in historic center, Puebla, Mexico.

The Church of San Francisco is a Franciscan convent and church building in the historic center of Puebla, featuring an 18th-century facade. The front combines stone sculptures with petatillo patterns and blue Talavera ceramic panels, showing regional architectural elements of the baroque period.

Franciscans first arrived in Puebla in 1531 and stayed three years near the site of the Concordia church. In 1535 they established their definitive convent beside the royal road to Veracruz and the river later called San Francisco. Fray Toribio de Benavente laid the first stone; the first church was completed under fray Miguel Navarro. Construction continued until 1767, using stone from the San Cristóbal hill.

The church honors Saint Francis of Assisi and his order, whose presence in Puebla has shaped religious life for centuries. Inside, a large painting shows the genealogical tree of the Franciscan order, making the spiritual lineage of this community visible to visitors.

The site is open to visitors throughout the day and sits at a central point in the historic center. Its location at a major intersection makes it easy to find and accessible on foot.

In one of the chapels the incorrupt body of the lay Franciscan friar Sebastián de Aparicio is venerated, a figure of the order's early missionary work in New Spain. The body is kept there as an object of veneration rather than a relic resting since the 16th century.