Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SI, Pope Francis, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936, the son of an Italian couple formed by Mario, a railway employee, and Regina, a housewife. He graduated in Chemical Sciences in Buenos Aires, but later opted for ecclesiastical studies and on March 11, 1958, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus.
He studied Humanities in Chile and in 1963, back in the Argentine capital, he obtained a degree in Philosophy from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Colegio San José de San Miguel. He worked as a professor of Literature and Psychology between 1964 and 1965 at the Colegio de la Inmaculada de Santa Fe and in 1966, at the Colegio de El Salvador in Buenos Aires. Between 1967 and 1970 he studied Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Colegio San José, in San Miguel, where he graduated.
On December 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest.
On April 22, 1973, he made perpetual vows in the Society of Jesus, an order in which he held various responsibilities such as master of novices, professor at the Faculty of Theology, consultant to the Province, and rector of the High School.
In the 1970-71 academic year, he passed his third probation in Alcal de Henares (Spain) and on April 22 he made his perpetual profession.
He was master of novices at Villa Barilari, in San Miguel (1972-1973), professor at the Faculty of Theology, Consultor of the Province and Rector of Colegio Massimo. On July 31, 1973 he was elected Provincial of Argentina, a position he held for six years.
Between 1980 and 1986, he was rector of the Colegio Massimo and of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the same house and pastor of the parish of Patriarca San José, in the diocese of San Miguel.
In March 1986, he moved to Germany to complete his doctoral thesis, and his superiors assigned him to the college in El Salvador, and later to the church of the Company of Jesus, in the city of Cordoba, as spiritual director and confessor.
On May 20, 1992, John Paul II appointed Titular Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires. On June 27, 1992 he received episcopal ordination in the Buenos Aires cathedral from Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, the Apostolic Nuncio Monsignor Ubaldo Calabresi and the Bishop of Mercedes-Lujn, Monsignor Emilio Ognovich. On June 13, 1997, he was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires.
On February 28, 1998, Bergoglio became Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and Primate of Argentina, a position in which he replaced the late Antonio Quarracino. Bergoglio arrived as the first priest of the Society of Jesus to hold the title of the main headquarters in Argentina.
On February 21, 2001, he was created a cardinal in the eighth consistory summoned by John Paul II and received the red cap and the title of Saint Robert Bellarmine.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference for 6 years (elected for the first time in the Plenary Assembly of November 2005). Not being able by regulation to be elected a third time, on 11/8/2011 Archbishop Jos Mara Arancedo was elected.
As a member of the Executive Commission of the Episcopal Conference, he was part of the Permanent Commission representing the Ecclesiastical Province of Buenos Aires, also integrating the episcopal commissions for Catholic Education and Social Pastoral.
He is Grand Chancellor of the Catholic University of Argentina and in the Holy See is part of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the discipline of the Sacraments and the Congregation for the Clergy.
Enjoy good health. However, he only has one lung since he was young.
His concern for the poor has been a constant in his life. Every Holy Thursday she went to wash the feet of the sickest among the sick in Buenos Aires, as can be seen in the image.
He is very devoted to Saint Joseph and Saint Therese of Lisieux.
The Pope has adopted the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Ass.
The opening Mass for the pontificate took place on March 19, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. from Rome. It was attended, for the first time since 1054, by the Patriarch of Constantinople and other religious leaders. Delegations from 132 countries around the world attended.
A highlight of his pontificate was the canonization of Saint John Paul II and Saint John XIII, which took place on April 27, 2014, the day on which the Church celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast instituted precisely by Saint John Paul. II.
ANCDOTES
Alessandro Forlani is a blind Italian journalist who has been lucky enough to personally greet Pope Francis during the meeting that the newly elected Pontiff held this Saturday with the press. Among the 6,000 information professionals gathered in the Paul VI Hall, Forlani was one of those chosen to shake hands with the Pope. But the young man was not alone. He was accompanied by his guide dog, Asia, whom the Pontiff has not hesitated to bless as well.
He wanted to have thought what to say to him, but when the time came he was not able to say anything to him, Forlani later confessed to various media. As he has recounted, the Pope asked him what his name was and what he was doing. Later, the Italian journalist asked him for a special blessing for his daughter and his wife. The Pope thought of my dog and said: “and one for the dog too”, he leaned over and patted him, he assured.
The witnesses agree that Jorge Bergoglio is a simple and cordial man. His tours of the city, his trips on the subway, being a fervent fan of the San Lorenzo soccer team and the sobriety with which he lives make him a very close person.
The journalist Luis Moreiro related several details about the wedding of his daughter Emilia, which Cardinal Bergoglio officiated at the request of the groom, Gastn, who has known him for years. The ceremony will be in La Plata, about 60 km from the archbishop’s residence in the city of Buenos Aires. When, a few days earlier, they called him to ask what time they would send a car to take him to church, the cardinal replied: “Car? No, I go on the Roca train”. He only accepted that they would pick him up at the destination station, because he was afraid of getting lost.
At the end of the wedding, they invited him to go out with the bride and groom. “He didn’t want to,” says Moreiro. ‘Emilia and Gastn are the stars of the night. The leading role and all the greetings should be for them’, he kindly excused himself, and disappeared through the sacristy’s door”. And last week, just before leaving for Rome, I phoned Gaston to congratulate him on her birthday.
A well-known facet is that of a fan of the San Lorenzo soccer team. In 2008, on the occasion of the centenary of the club’s foundation, he was given a team shirt and named “centenary member”.
in the shacks
The journalist Elisabetta Piqu defines the new Pope as follows: “An austere cardinal, an ordinary man. As simple and close to the poor as he is erudite and firm in his convictions”. Regarding his austerity, Piqu refers to a significant anecdote: “When he was made a cardinal by John Paul II, in 2001, there were faithful who wanted to accompany him to receive the purple, to celebrate the event. But he asked them to stay in Buenos Aires and donate that money to the poorest. He did not want to buy a new dress either: he ordered to fix the one used by his predecessor Antonio Quarracino ”.
The journalist is impressed by other features of Bergoglio’s lifestyle: he never wanted a car with a driver. She used to travel by bus or subway. And when she traveled by plane from Argentina to Rome, she chose tourist class. Carlos Pagni says the same thing: “The shoes with which he arrived in Rome were a gift from the wife of a deceased trade unionist, who could not get him to accept a first-class ticket. I traveled as a tourist”.
A passionate reader of Dostoevsky, Borges and the classic authors, adds Piqu, the new Pope has a “simple, direct and humble way of speaking that reaches the heart.”
Another report from La Nación describes how the news of the election of Pope Francis was received in Villa 21-24, a shanty town in the Porteo neighborhood of Barracas. In the Virgen de los Milagros parish in Caacup they meet the Pope, who has been there many times. Several parishioners evoke those visits. “I received the three sacraments with Bergoglio. When my boss pointed to the TV and I saw the news, I jumped and cried with joy”, says Lidia Valdiviesa. “In the neighborhood, everyone remembers Bergoglio walking through the corridors of the villa. ‘He knows what poverty is’, maintains Lidia”.
The priest Juan Isasmendi does not hesitate to highlight the proximity of Bergoglio. “He is a very important person for the neighborhood. He crossed the entire village walking alone, without any problem, greeting the people who invited him to pass. Ac he loves him very much ”. “If he pays a visit to Buenos Aires as pope, we are going to force him to come,” said the parish priest.
Mass of the Beginning of the Pontificate
Following to the letter the request of Pope Francis not to come to Rome but to dedicate that money to help those in need, his sister Maria Elena stayed in Buenos Aires, sure that a meeting would not be long in coming.
But this Tuesday Francisco was not alone. He had three guests: Sergio Sánchez, one of the leaders of the cartoneros from Buenos Aires; Jos Mara del Corral, director of the educational program Neighborhood School; and Sister Ana Rosa, a missionary in Thailand, second cousin of the Pope. The three of them were very close to the altar during the ceremony.
In the Vatican, the leader of the cartoneros, the unemployed people who make a living collecting cardboard and newspapers for recycling, caused a strong impact. Sergio Sánchez explained that we are the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) and we organize ourselves to overcome the social exclusion of cartoneros and slave workers. We are about four thousand people who recover recyclable materials.
As Cardinal Bergoglio celebrated Mass for them, we followed him everywhere. He has always publicly fought for social inclusion. At the end of the ceremony, the cartonero leader was excited because he greeted him before the presidents because we were like his family, and he greeted us like his family.
Professor José María del Corral directs the Neighborhood School, which complements classroom education and helps religious and racial integration. According to Corral, we began by bringing together a group of 70 young people from Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic, state and private schools. We set up the first school for them to learn to live with their neighbor, the one next door, as the Jewish tradition of the Talmud says.
In this framework, the boys began to bring up the problem of drugs, of violence, and we taught them how to change that. And they ended up presenting a bill to the deputies, which today is the law in force in Argentina.
Jose Mara del Corral acknowledges that Francisco told us not to come, but I don’t pay attention to some things. When we meet, suddenly, at the exit of the elevator, we embrace. I asked him, how do I call you now? And he told me Well, how are you going to call me? Jorge! And I started to cry.
Sister Ana Rosa, of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, is a missionary in Thailand, and only sees her second cousin from time to time in the Argentine capital. The sympathetic Salesian nun explains that the new Pope is a very humble and very austere person. Every time I go to Buenos Aires, I go to visit him. He always tells me: pray for me make the elderly nuns pray. Now I will…