Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936. He was the oldest of five, born to Italian immigrants. His father was an accountant, his mother a housewife.
POPE FRANCIS
“I am very enthusiastic about the economy because my father was an accountant, and when he wouldn't finish his work at the factory, he would bring it home and spend Saturday and Sunday with those books.”
Pope Francis would say it was his grandmother, Rosa, who talked to him about God. And despite his young age, he already had plans for the future.
POPE FRANCIS
“I changed my mind, obviously. But to answer your question, when I was little, I wanted to be a butcher. I would have loved that.”
He explained how one day he suddenly decided to become a priest. He was 17 years old.
POPE FRANCIS
“Before going to the party, I stopped by the parish I attended. And I found a priest I didn't know. And I felt the need to go to confession. FLASH And after confession, I felt that something had changed. I wasn't the same. It was like hearing a voice, a call: I was convinced that I had to become a priest.”
When he was 21, he had a serious infection and had part of his lung removed. That had a significant impact on the rest of his life.
POPE FRANCIS
“I wanted to be a missionary. And when I was studying theology, I wrote to the Superior, who was Fr. Arrupe. I asked him to send me to Japan or somewhere else. But he thought about it and said to me, with a lot of charity, 'But you've had a lung problem. That's not good for such a demanding task.' And I stayed in Buenos Aires.”
Bergoglio was ordained a priest in 1969. And he was the Provincial of the Jesuits during the Dirty War in Argentina. They say that he organized a clandestine network to help people in that period.
In 1997, he became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. And in 2001, Pope St. John Paul II created him Cardinal.
In 2011, having reached retirement age, Bergoglio presented his resignation as Archbishop to Pope Benedict XVI.
But on March 13, 2013, the second day of the conclave, he was elected as the first Pope from the Americas.
POPE FRANCIS
“My cardinal brothers have gone to the ends of the earth to find a Pope, but here we are.”
He chose the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, with the intention of putting the poor at the center of his pontificate.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio's life completely changed when he became Pope. What didn't change was his compassion, simplicity and message of mercy. A message that marked his entire pontificate.
AFM
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