Pope Francis

Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian origin, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the 2013 papal conclave elected Bergoglio as pope on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Throughout his papacy, Francis was noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility, commitment to interreligious dialogue, and concern for the poor, migrants, and refugees. He made women and laymen full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia. He believed the Catholic Church should demonstrate more inclusivity to people with same-sexual attraction, and stated that although blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, individuals in same-sex relationships can be blessed as long as the blessing is not given in a liturgical context. He also convened the Synod on Synodality, which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. He was well known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors by, for instance, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes. In addition, due to both his Jesuit and Ignatian aesthetic, he was known for favoring simpler vestments devoid of ornamentation, including refusing the traditional papal mozzetta cape upon his election, choosing silver instead of gold for his piscatory ring, and keeping the same iron pectoral cross he had as cardinal.

Concerning global governance, Francis was a critic of trickle-down economics, consumerism, and overdevelopment; he made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy. He viewed capital punishment as inadmissible in all cases, and committed the Catholic Church to its worldwide abolition. Francis criticized the rise of right-wing populism and anti-immigration politics, calling the protection of migrants a "duty of civilization", and called for the decriminalization of homosexuality. In international diplomacy, he also helped to restore diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, negotiated a deal with China to define Communist Party influence in appointing Chinese bishops, and encouraged peace between Israel and Palestinians, signing the Vatican's first treaty with Palestine, as well from 2023, condemning Israel's military operations in Gaza and calling for investigations of war crimes. In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the Canadian Indian residential school system. Francis made his last public appearance on Easter Sunday before dying on 21 April 2025, Easter Monday. The 2025 conclave elected Leo XIV as Francis's successor on 8 May, becoming the second pope from the Americas, after Francis.

Early life

Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 in Flores, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. He was the eldest of the five children of Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori. Mario Bergoglio was an Italian immigrant and an accountant from Piedmont. Regina Sívori was a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian origin. Mario Bergoglio's family left Italy in 1929 to escape the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini. According to María Elena Bergoglio, the Pope's only living sibling, the family did not emigrate for economic reasons. His other siblings were Oscar Adrián, Marta Regina, and Alberto Horacio. His niece, Cristina Bergoglio, is a painter based in Madrid, Spain.

In the sixth grade, Bergoglio attended Wilfrid Barón de los Santos Ángeles, a school of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Ramos Mejía, Buenos Aires Province. He then attended the technical secondary school Escuela Técnica Industrial Nº 27 Hipólito Yrigoyen and graduated with a chemical technician's diploma. In that capacity, he spent several years working in the food section of Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory where he worked under Esther Ballestrino. Earlier, he had been a bouncer and a janitor.

When he was 21 years old, after life-threatening pneumonia and three cysts, Bergoglio had part of a lung excised.

Priesthood

Training and early priesthood (1958–1973)

While on his way to celebrate the Spring Day, Bergoglio passed by a church to go to confession and was inspired by a priest. He then studied at the archdiocesan seminary, Inmaculada Concepción Seminary, in Villa Devoto, Buenos Aires, and, after three years, entered the Society of Jesus as a novice on 11 March 1958. Bergoglio said that, as a young seminarian, he had a crush on a girl and briefly doubted his religious career. As a Jesuit novice, he studied the humanities in Santiago, Chile.

After his novitiate, Bergoglio officially became a Jesuit on 12 March 1960 when he made the religious profession of the initial, perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience of a member of the order. In 1960, Bergoglio obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo de San José. He then taught literature and psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción, a high school in Santa Fe, from 1964 to 1965. In 1966, he taught the same courses at Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires.

In 1967, Bergoglio began his theological studies at Facultades de Filosofía y Teología de San Miguel. On 13 December 1969, he was ordained as a priest by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He served as the master of novices for the province there and became a professor of theology.

Bergoglio completed his final stage of spiritual training as a Jesuit, tertianship, at Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and took final vows as a Jesuit, including the fourth vow of obedience to missioning by the pope, on 22 April 1973.

Subsequent positions (1973–1986)

Bergoglio was named provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Argentina that July for a six-year term which ended in 1979. In 1973, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but his stay was shortened by the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War.

After the completion of his term of office, he was named, in 1980, the rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel where he had studied. Before taking up this new appointment, he spent the first three months of 1980 in Ireland to learn English and stayed at the Jesuit Centre at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Dublin. He then served at San Miguel for six years until 1986 when, at the discretion of Jesuit superior-general Peter Hans Kolvenbach, he was replaced by someone more in tune with the worldwide trend in the Society of Jesus toward emphasizing social justice rather than his emphasis on popular religiosity and direct pastoral work.

Bergoglio then spent several months at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt and considered possible dissertation topics. He settled on exploring the work of the German-Italian theologian Romano Guardini, particularly his study of "Contrast" published in his 1925 work Der Gegensatz.

Return to Argentina (1986–1998)

Ultimately, however, Bergoglio did not complete a degree there and he returned to Argentina earlier than expected to serve as a confessor and spiritual director to the Jesuit community in Córdoba. As a student at the Salesian school, Bergoglio was mentored by Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Stefan Czmil. Bergoglio often rose hours before his classmates to serve Divine Liturgy for Czmil.

Bergoglio was named Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and was consecrated on 27 June 1992 as titular bishop of Auca, with Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving as principal consecrator. He chose his episcopal motto to be Miserando atque eligendo, drawn from Saint Bede's homily on Matthew 9:9–13: "because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him". In 1992, Jesuit authorities asked Bergoglio not to live in Jesuit residences due to ongoing tensions with leaders and scholars; concerns about his "dissent", views on Catholic orthodoxy, and opposition to liberation theology; and his role as auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires.

On 3 June 1997, Bergoglio was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires.