Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Pope and Jesuit priest
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was Pope Francis, who led the Catholic Church from 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas.
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Argentinian Born 1936 in Flores, Argentina Died 2025
About Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires in 1936 to a family of Italian origin. He joined the Jesuits in 1958 and was ordained a priest in 1969. He served as the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina from 1973 to 1979, became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and was made a cardinal in 2001. After Benedict XVI resigned, he was elected pope on 13 March 2013 and took the name Francis, in honor of Francis of Assisi. People noted his humble manner, his care for the poor, and his support for dialogue between faiths. His first encyclical (a formal papal letter) was The Light of Faith: Lumen Fidei.