Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in Argentina (1973–1979)
Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires (1992–1997)
Titular Bishop of Auca (1992–1997)
Archbishop of Buenos Aires (1998–2013)
Cardinal Priest of San Roberto Bellarmino (2001–2013)
Ordinary for the Faithful of the Eastern Rites in Argentina (1998–2013)
President of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (2005–2011)
Education
Maximum College of St. Joseph
Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel
Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology
Motto
Miserando atque eligendo[a]
Signature
Coat of arms
Ordination history
History
Priestly ordination
Ordained by
Ramón José Castellano
Date
13 December 1969
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecrator
Antonio Cardinal Quarracino
Co-consecrators
Ubaldo Calabresi and Emilio Ogñénovich
Date
27 June 1992
Place
Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral , Buenos Aires
Cardinalate
Elevated by
Pope John Paul II
Date
21 February 2001
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Pope Francis as principal consecrator
Horacio Ernesto Benites Astoul
1 May 1999
Jorge Rubén Lugones
30 July 1999
Jorge Eduardo Lozano
25 March 2000
Joaquín Mariano Sucunza
21 October 2000
José Antonio Gentico
28 April 2001
Fernando Carlos Maletti
18 September 2001
Andrés Stanovnik
16 December 2001
Mario Aurelio Poli
20 April 2002
Eduardo Horacio García
16 August 2003
Adolfo Armando Uriona
8 May 2004
Eduardo Maria Taussig
25 September 2004
Raúl Martín
20 May 2006
Hugo Manuel Salaberry Goyeneche
21 August 2006
Óscar Vicente Ojea Quintana
2 September 2006
Hugo Nicolás Barbaro
4 July 2008
Enrique Eguía Seguí
11 October 2008
Ariel Edgardo Torrado Mosconi
13 December 2008
Luis Alberto Fernández Alara
27 March 2009
Vicente Bokalic Iglic
29 May 2010
Alfredo Horacio Zecca
18 August 2011
Jean-Marie Antoine Joseph Speich
24 October 2013
Giampiero Gloder
24 October 2013
Fernando Vérgez Alzaga
15 November 2013
Fabio Fabene
30 May 2014
Angelo De Donatis
9 November 2015
Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot
19 March 2016
Peter Bryan Wells
19 March 2016
Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag
19 March 2018
Alfred Xuereb
19 March 2018
José Avelino Bettencourt
19 March 2018
Alberto Ricardo Lorenzelli Rossi
22 June 2019
Michael F. Czerny
4 October 2019
Paolo Borgia
4 October 2019
Antoine Camilleri
4 October 2019
Paolo Rudelli
4 October 2019
Guido Marini
17 October 2021
Andrés Gabriel Ferrada Moreira
17 October 2021
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Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is the Pope and head of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the first one from the Americas, the first one from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first one born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian Pope Gregory III.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness of pneumonia and cysts, he was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 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. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina. The administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.
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 honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is credited with having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, 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.
Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[2][3] He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBT community and has permitted the blessings of same-sex couples, so long as the blessing does not resemble a marriage.[4] Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[5] he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[6] Widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil,[7] he has termed it "an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", "inadmissible", and committed the Church to its abolition,[8] saying that there can be "no going back from this position".[9]
In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality,[10] helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises, calling on the Western World to significantly increase immigration levels.[11][12] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian indigenous peoples.[13] On 4 October 2023, Francis convened the beginnings of the Synod on Synodality, described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[3][14][15]
^Scarisbrick, Veronica (18 March 2013). "Pope Francis: "Miserando atque eligendo"..." Vatican Radio. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
^Dallas, Kelsey (3 October 2023). "The pope's latest comments on same-sex marriage, explained". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
^ abFaiola, Andy; Boorstein, Michelle; Brady, Kate (2 October 2023). "Amid liberal revolt, pope signals openness to blessings for gay couples". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
^Graham, Ruth; Harmon, Amy (18 December 2023). "American Catholics Split on Pope's Blessing for Gay Couples". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
^Davies, Lizzy (15 December 2013). "Pope says he is not a Marxist, but defends criticism of capitalism". The Guardian. Rome, Italy. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013.
^Sherwood, Harriet (7 September 2021). "Christian leaders unite to issue stark warning over climate crisis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
^Trabbic, Joseph G. (16 August 2018). "Capital punishment: Intrinsically evil or morally permissible?". Catholic World Report. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
^"New revision of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty – Rescriptum "ex Audentia SS.mi"". press.vatican.va. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
^Cite error: The named reference Pullella-2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"The AP Interview: Pope Francis: Homosexuality not a crime". AP News. 25 January 2023. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
^Rocca, Francis X. (22 September 2023). "Pope Francis Calls Protection of Migrants a Duty of Civilization". WSJ. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
^Lauter, David; Bierman, Noah (18 February 2016). "Trump and Pope Francis clash over immigration, another extraordinary campaign twist". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
^Horowitz, Jason (30 July 2022). "Francis Calls Abuse of Indigenous People in Canada a 'Genocide'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
^Horowitz, Jason; Povoledo, Elisabetta (2 October 2023). "What Is a Synod in the Catholic Church? And Why Does This One Matter?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 13 November 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
^Horowitz, Jason (2 October 2023). "Vatican Assembly Puts the Church's Most Sensitive Issues on the Table". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
PopeFrancis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936) is the Pope and head of the Catholic...
preacher. One of the most venerated figures in Christianity, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. He is commonly portrayed wearing...
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him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013. While his office is called the papacy...
This article contains a list of the 912 saints canonized by PopeFrancis (2013–) during his pontificate, which includes the 813 Martyrs of Otranto as a...
Elected on 13 March 2013, Francis is the first member of the Society of Jesus to be appointed pope and the first non-European to hold the office since...
PopeFrancis made a pastoral and state visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015. He was the third pontiff to visit the Philippines after Paul...
the first by a pope since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first on a pope's initiative since Celestine V in 1294. He was succeeded by Francis on 13 March 2013...
number. The registration plate for the Ford Focus currently used by PopeFrancis is "SCV 00919". In the past, the popemobile has typically used registration...
Sunday. The canonisation Mass for Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, was celebrated by PopeFrancis (with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), on 27 April...
PopeFrancis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, has marked a significantly more accommodative tone on LGBT topics than his predecessors. In July...
The PopeFrancis bibliography contains a list of works by PopeFrancis. Sanctuarium in ecclesia (February 11, 2017) Text Maiorem hac dilectionem (July...
On 18 March 2013, PopeFrancis adopted in his papal coat of arms the coat of arms and the motto that he used since his episcopal consecration in 1991,...
Since his election in 2013, PopeFrancis has authorized the beatification of 1,522 people, including one equipollent[clarification needed] beatification...
on the road to sainthood. PopeFrancis confirmed his heroic virtue on 8 November 2017 and named him as Venerable. PopeFrancis presided over the beatification...
195,000 mourners paid their respects. His funeral, presided over by PopeFrancis, took place in St. Peter's Square on 5 January, and was attended by around...
his political doctrines. Pope Benedict XVI, citing his heroic virtue, proclaimed him venerable on 20 December 2012. PopeFrancis beatified Paul VI on 19...
Patriarchate by a pope (the first being by Paul VI in 1967, and the second by John Paul II in 1979). He attended the papal inauguration of PopeFrancis on 19 March...
issue by the mid-20th century. Modern Church figures such as Pope John Paul II, PopeFrancis, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have...
PopeFrancis visited Canada from July 24 to 29, 2022, with stops in the provinces of Alberta and Quebec and the territory of Nunavut. The trip mainly focused...
This chronological list of popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani"...
18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. On 5 July 2013, PopeFrancis – bypassing the traditionally required...
2011, by Pope Benedict XVI and later canonised, along with Pope John XXIII, by PopeFrancis on 27 April 2014. PopeFrancis also canonised Pope Paul VI...
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his resignation to the world. Bergoglio is elected as his successor in the 2013 papal conclave and becomes PopeFrancis; in...