The following is an article about Our Pope:

Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He became Pope Francis on March 13, 2013. He took the papal name after St. Francis of Assisi of Italy. Before he was appointed as the Pope, Jorge served as archbishop of Buenos Aires since 1998. From 2001 to 2013, he was the cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina.

Additionally, Pope Francis was the president of the Bishop’s Conference of Argentina from the year 2005 and left the position in 2011. In 2013, he was named the person of the year by the Time magazine. Since then, Pope Francis has been working on projects aiming at supporting the poor and the marginalized people all over the world. Additionally, he has been actively involved in issues concerning political diplomacy as well as environmental activism.

Early life and education

Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s parents were Italian immigrants. During his youth, he underwent a severe lung infection which forced him to undergo a surgery. He went to a technical school where he graduated as a chemical technician. Afterward, he started training at the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto.

Bergoglio was a literature and psychology teacher at Immaculate Conception College between 1964 and 1965 and also at the Colegio Del Salvatore in Buenos Aires in 1966. Between 1967 and 1970, he studied in the college of San Jose and received a degree in theology. His doctoral thesis in theology was completed in 1986.

His priesthood

Bergoglio was ordained as a priest in 1969. He served as the Jesuit provincial of Argentina in the year 1973. At first, his mother did not support his decision, but later she accepted his calling. After his ordination, he returned to the Colegio of San José and served as the rector and the professor of theology.

In May 1992, Bergoglio was ordained into the post of titular bishop of Auca and auxiliary of Buenos Aires. After working for three years as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was promoted to be the cardinal priest. He became the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina from 2005 to 2011. During the 2005 papal conclave, Bergoglio was ranked the second position.

Papacy

On the 13th of March 2013, Jorge Bergoglio was named the 266th pope. By then, he was 76 years old, and he became the first American and Jesuit priest to be named pope. Pope Francis had already served as the cardinal and archbishop for twelve years, and this shows that his papacy had been established long before he was elevated to the highest position.

His leadership was admired globally, and stories of his humility started circulating on the media. For example, he had chosen to live in a simple two-room apartment instead of the luxurious papal accommodation located in the Vatican’s apostolic palace. Popes had followed this tradition for many years, and Pope Francis was the first to break it.

Ten facts about Pope Francis

When most people hear about the pope, what comes to their minds is a person who travels in bulletproof cars and blesses members of the public as he moves around. However, there are other things behind this physical representation.

1. Pope Francis was born on the 17th of December 1936. He is 83 years old.

2. The world knows him as Francis. However, his real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He inherited the name Francis from the St. Francis of Assisi.

3. He was born in Bueno Aires, Argentina.

4. He is the first pope in Catholic history to have the name Francis. He is also the first Jesuit to become a pope.

5. Pope Francis studied chemistry and literature. He used to teach these subjects in high schools.

6. In Buenos Aires, Pope Francis worked as a bouncer in a bar.

7. His holiness prefers cooking his own meals. It is said that paella is his special dish.

8. The pope is a man of many languages. He speaks fluent Italian, Spanish and Latin. Additionally, he can comfortably speak English, German, French, Portuguese and Ukrainian.

9. During his election, medical experts were worried about Pope Francis’ health due to the part of the lung that was removed when he was a teenager.

10. He was the first pope to be crowned as the “person of the year” in 2013 because he always stopped to bless children during ceremonies, visited the sick and fought for the less fortunate in society.