pope francis

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the reigning pope of the Catholic Church, in which capacity he is both Bishop of Rome and absolute sovereign of the Vatican City State.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked briefly as a chemical technician and nightclub bouncer before beginning seminary studies.[3]He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969 and from 1973 to 1979 was Argentina's Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus. He became theArchbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from theSouthern Hemisphere and the first non-European pope since the Syrian Gregory III in 741, 1,272 years earlier.[4]

Throughout his public life, both as an individual and as a religious leader, Pope Francis has been noted for his humility, his concern for the poorand his commitment to dialogue as a way to build bridges between people of all backgrounds, beliefs and faiths.[5][6][7] He is known for having a simpler and less formal approach to the papacy, most notably by choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than thepapal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors. In addition, due to both his Jesuit and Ignatian aesthetic,[8] he is known for favoring simpler vestments void 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 pectoral cross he had when he was cardinal.[9][10]

The Pontiff has affirmed Catholic doctrine on abortion, artificial contraception, and homosexuality. Whilst maintaining the Church's teachingagainst homosexual acts, he has said that gay people should not be marginalized.As a cardinal, he opposed same-sex marriage in Argentina.In addition, he maintains that he is a "son of the Church" regarding loyalty to Church doctrine, has spoken against abortion as "horrific",[13] and suggested that women be valued not clericalized.[14] Summarily Pope Francis reiterates that "It is absurd to say you follow Jesus Christ but reject the Church."[15][16]

Accordingly, he urged Bishop Charles J. Scicluna of Malta to speak out against adoption by same-sex couples, maintained that Catholics who remarry following divorce may not receive the Eucharist,[19] and excommunicated a former Catholic priest for Eucharistic sacrilege andheretical views.[20][21] He emphasized the Christian obligation to assist the poor and the needy, and promoted peace negotiations and interfaith dialogue. Pope Francis has also announced a zero-tolerance policy towards sex abuse in the Church, saying that sex abuse was "as bad as performing a satanic mass.

PERSONAL LIFE:

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Flores, a barrio of Buenos Aires. He was the eldest of five children of Mario José Bergoglio, anItalian immigrant accountant born in Portacomaro (Province of Asti) in Italy's Piedmont region, and his wife Regina María Sívori,[32] a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian (Piedmontese-Genoese) origin.[33][Mario José's family left Italy in 1929, to escape the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. His daughter María Elena confirmed that their emigration was not caused by economic reasons. She is the Pope's only living sibling. His brother Alberto died in June 2010.

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. He attended the technical secondary school Escuela Nacional de Educación Técnica N° 27 Hipólito Yrigoyen[ and graduated with a chemical technician's diploma.[ He worked for a few years in that capacity in the foods section at Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory.Before joining the Jesuits, Bergoglio worked as a bar bouncer and as a janitor sweeping floors, and he also ran tests in a chemical laboratory.[45][46][47]

In the only known health crisis of his youth, at the age of 21 he suffered from life-threatening pneumonia and three cysts. He had part of a lung excised shortly afterwards.[ Bergoglio has been a lifelong supporter of the San Lorenzo de Almagro football club.Bergoglio is also a fan of the films of Tita Merello, neorealism and tango dancing, with an "intense fondness" for the traditional music of Argentina and Uruguay known as the milonga.

Shortly after midnight, early in the morning of Tuesday, 19 August 2014, Alberto's son and Pope Francis's nephew, Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, 35, was seriously injured when his car slammed into the back of a truck carrying grains. Emanuel's wife, Valeria Carmona, 39, and her two young sons (Pope Francis's great-nephews), Antonio Bergoglio, 8 months, and Joseph Bergoglio, 2 years old, were killed. The Vatican press office, in a statement, said that the Pope was asking for prayers for his deceased relatives, and he received condolences from Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, through the Foreign Ministry and the Cabinet.

Pre-papal career:

Bergoglio 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.[50] Bergoglio has said that as a young seminarian, he had a crush on a girl he met at an uncle's wedding, so much so that he doubted about continuing the religious career.[57] As a Jesuit novice he studied humanities inSantiago, Chile.[58] At the conclusion of his novitiate in the Society of Jesus, 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.[59][60]

In 1960, Bergoglio obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo de San José in San Miguel, Buenos Aires Province. He 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 the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires

In 1967, Bergoglio finished his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood on 13 December 1969, by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He attended the Facultades de Filosofía y Teología de San Miguel (Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel), a seminary in San Miguel. He served as the master of novices for the province there and became a professor of theology.

Bergoglio completed his final stage of spiritual formation as a Jesuit, tertianship, at Alcalá de Henares, Spain. He took the final fourth vow(obedience to the pope) in the Society of Jesus on 22 April 1973, which added to the previous three. He was named Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in Argentina on 31 July 1973 and served until 1979 He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1973, shortly after being named Provincial Superior, but his stay was shortened by the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. After the completion of his term of office, in 1980 he was named the rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel in San Miguel. Before taking up this new appointment, he spent the first three months of 1980 in Ireland to learn English, staying at the Jesuit Centre in the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Dublin. After returning to Argentina to take up his new post at San Miguel, Father Bergoglio served in that capacity until 1986. He spent several months at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany, while considering possibledissertation topics,[67] before returning to Argentina to serve as a confessor and spiritual director to the Jesuit community in Córdoba.In Germany he saw the painting Mary Untier of Knots in Augsburg and brought a copy of the painting to Argentina where it has become an important Marian devotion. 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 concelebrate Divine Liturgy with Czmil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis