Here is a look at the life of Pope Francis, the current pope and first non-European pontiff of the modern era.
Personal:
Birth date: December 17, 1936
Birth place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Birth name: Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Father: Mario Bergoglio
Mother: Regina (Sivori) Bergoglio
Religion: Roman Catholic
Other Facts:
The first Jesuit pope.
The first Latin American pope and the first from the Americas.
The first non-European pope in over 1,000 years.
Reportedly received the second most votes in the 2005 papal election.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio took the bus to work and cooked his own meals.
Pope Francis had part of one lung removed when he was a young man, but is in good health, according to the Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi.
Timeline:
December 13, 1969 – Is ordained as a priest.
1973-1979 – Serves as provincial for Argentina.
1980-1986 – Rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel.
June 3, 1997 – Appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
February 28, 1998 – Succeeds Cardinal Antonio Quarracino as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
February 21, 2001 – Is made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
November 8, 2005-November 8, 2011 – President of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina.
February 11, 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI announces that he will retire, effective February 28th. He cites his “advanced age” as the reason.
February 28, 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican. At 8pm local time (2pm EST), his reign officially ends.
March 13, 2013 – Bergoglio is elected the 266th pope by 115 cardinals on the second day and the fifth ballot of the cardinals’ conclave. White smoke appears above the Sistine Chapel just after 7pm local time. He takes the name Francis and appears on the balcony at St. Peter’s to greet the crowd.
March 14, 2013 – Pope Francis celebrates a televised Mass in the Sistine Chapel at 5pm (noon ET).
March 19, 2013 – Pope Francis is inaugurated before a crowd of tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square.
March 23, 2013 – Pope Francis flies to Castel Gandolfo to meet with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The Vatican says this is the first time in the history of the church that the current pope has met with his predecessor.
March 26, 2013 – The Vatican announces that Pope Francis has decided to continue staying in a suite in the Vatican hotel instead of moving into the papal apartment.
April 13, 2013 – It is announced that an international council of eight cardinals has been appointed to advise Pope Francis in reforming the Catholic Church.
July 29, 2013 – During his first news conference Pope Francis makes the statement, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” while discussing the gay and lesbian community within the church.
September 19, 2013 – An interview is released in which Pope Francis says that the church has the right to express its opinions but not to “interfere spiritually” in the lives of gays and lesbians.
November 26, 2013 – Pope Francis releases “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel), an 85-page call for the church to rethink some traditions.
December 11, 2013 – Pope Francis is named Time magazine’s person of the year.
December 24, 2013 – The pope visits with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the monastery Mater Ecclesia, where the Benedict XVI lives. Francis later visits children in a local hospital.
December 24-25, 2013 – At St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis celebrates his first midnight mass as head of the Roman Catholic Church.
December 25, 2013 – From the basilica’s balcony facing St. Peter’s Square, the pope delivers his Christmas message and blessing to a crowd of 70,000.
March 5, 2014 – In a newspaper interview, Pope Francis reaffirms the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage, but suggests that it could support some types of civil unions.
April 27, 2014 – Presides over the Canonization of Blesseds, installing popes John XXIII and John Paul II as saints. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI attends the ceremony as a guest.
July 7, 2014 – In a homily given during a private Mass with six victims of church sexual abuse, Pope Francis apologizes for the abuse and asks for forgiveness, pledging that Catholic bishops “will be held accountable” for failing to protect children.
August 30, 2015 – Pope Francis announces that priests around the world will be able to forgive the “sin of abortion” during the Catholic Church’s “Year of Mercy” beginning on December 8 and ending on November 20, 2016.
September 8, 2015 – The Vatican announces reforms to the legal structures Catholics must follow to achieve marital nullity.
September 19, 2015 – Visits Cuba for the first time and praises the reconciliations taking place between Cuba and the United States. Francis also asks Cuba to allow for more religious freedom as the communist country prepares to build the first Catholic Church since the Cuban Revolution.
September 22-28, 2015 – Pope Francis becomes the “fourth head of the Church to visit the United States, nearly 50 years after Pope Paul VI made the first visit by a pontiff to the country in October 1965.” While in the United States, Pope Francis visits Washington, DC, speaking at a joint meeting of Congress, addresses the UN General Assembly in New York and holds Mass at Madison Square Garden, and attends the Festival of Families in Philadelphia.
November 25, 2015 – Pope Francis arrives in Nairobi for his first-ever Apostolic journey to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic.
April 8, 2016 – Urges priests around the world to be more accepting of gays and lesbians, divorced Catholics and other people living in what the church considers “irregular” situations.
May 13, 2016 – Says the Vatican should study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, answering a call that women, particularly in the United States, have been asking the church to address for decades.
June 26, 2016 – Says Christians owe apologies to gays and others who have been offended or exploited by the church, remarks that some Catholics hail as a breakthrough in the church’s tone toward homosexuality.
November 1, 2016 – Indicates that he believes women should never be allowed to be priests.
November 21, 2016 – Extends indefinitely the power of Catholic priests to forgive abortions. This follows a special dispensation during the Year of Mercy, which ended November 20, 2016 and allowed all priests, rather than just bishops and specially designated confessors, the power to absolve the “sin of abortion.”
July 16, 2017 – Dozens of conservative Catholic scholars and clergy send a letter to Pope Francis accusing him of spreading heretical positions on marriage, the moral life and the Eucharist.
October 11, 2017 – During a Vatican conference, Pope Francis argues to change the official church teaching on the death penalty. The Catholic church currently teaches that recourse to the death penalty is permitted. Pope Francis says the death penalty is “inadmissable,” and that official Catholic teaching should reflect that.
November 27, 2017 – Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Myanmar, a staunchly Buddhist country. During a four day trip, the Pope meets with Myanmar’s cardinal, the military’s most senior general. While in the country, he avoids using the word “Rohingya,” a term the government rejects.