Biography of Our Holy Father Francisco
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The first American Pope is the Argentine Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio appointed on March 13, 2013 as Pope Francis I. He was born in the Argentine capital on December 17, 1936, son of Piedmontese emigrants: his father, Mario, was an accountant, employed in railway, while his mother, Regina Sivori, took care of the house and the education of the five children.
As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he is a leading figure in the whole continent and a simple and beloved pastor in his diocese, who has visited the length and breadth, even moving on public transport, during the fifteen years of episcopal ministry.
"My people are poor and I am one of them," he has said more than once to explain the option of living in an apartment and preparing dinner himself. He has always recommended to his priests mercy, apostolic courage and open doors to all. The worst that can happen in the Church, he explained in some circumstances, "is what De Lubac calls spiritual worldliness," which means "putting oneself at the center." And when he cites social justice, he invites in the first place to take up the catechism again, to rediscover the ten commandments and the beatitudes. His project is simple: if you follow Christ, you understand that "trampling on the dignity of a person is a grave sin."
His official biography is of few lines, at least until his appointment as archbishop of Buenos Aires. Became a point of reference for his strong position takings during the dramatic economic crisis that devastated the country in 2001.
He graduated as a chemical technician, and then chose the path of the priesthood entering the diocesan seminary of Villa Devoto. On December 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest at the hands of Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. Preparation continued in the Company from 1970 to 1971 in Alcalá de Henares (Spain), and on April 22, 1973, he issued his perpetual profession. Once again in Argentina, he was novice master at Villa Barilari in San Miguel, professor in the faculty of theology, consultant in the province of the Society of Jesus and rector of the College. On July 31, 1973, he was elected provincial of the Jesuits of Argentina, a task he carried out for six years. Later he resumed work in the university field and between 1980 and 1986 he was rector again of the San José school, as well as a parish priest in San Miguel. In March1986 he moved to Germany to complete the doctoral thesis; later, the superiors sent him to the Salvador school in Buenos Aires and then to the church of the Society of Jesus in the city of Córdoba, as spiritual director and confessor.
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It is Cardinal Antonio Quarracino who calls him as his close associate in Buenos Aires. Thus, on May 20, 1992, Juan Pablo II appointed him titular bishop of Auca and auxiliary of Buenos Aires. He was immediately appointed episcopal vicar of the Flores area and on December 21, 1993, he was also entrusted with the task of vicar general of the archdiocese. Therefore, it was not surprising that on June 3, 1997 he was promoted as Archbishop Coadjutor of Buenos Aires. Before nine months, of the death of Cardinal Quarracino, he succeeds, on February 28, 1998, as Archbishop, primate of Argentina. On the following November 6, he was named Ordinary for the faithful of the Eastern Rite who lived in the country and were deprived of Ordinary of the rite itself. Three years later, in the Consistory of February 21, 2001, Juan Pablo II named him Cardinal, assigning him the title of San Roberto Bellarmino. On that occasion, he invites the faithful not to go to Rome to celebrate the purple and to allocate to the poor the amount of the trip. Grand Chancellor of the Catholic University of Argentina, he is the author of the book Meditations for Religious (1982), Reflections on the Apostolic Life (1986) and Reflections of Hope (1992).
In Latin America, his figure is becoming increasingly popular. In spite of this, he does not lose the sobriety of treatment and the rigorous lifestyle, by someone defined almost «ascetic». With this spirit in 2002 he declined the assignment as president of the Argentine episcopal conference, but three years later he was elected and later reconfirmed for another triennium in 2008. Meanwhile, in April 2005, he participated in the conclave in which Benedict XVI was elected.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires - a diocese of more than three million inhabitants - he thinks of a missionary project centered on communion and evangelization. Four main objectives: open and fraternal communities; protagonism of a conscious laity; evangelization addressed to each inhabitant of the city; assistance to the poor and the sick. It aims to re evangelize Buenos Aires "taking into account who lives there, how it is made, its history." Invite priests and laity to work together. In September 2009, it launches the national solidarity campaign for the bicentennial of the country's independence: two hundred charitable works to be carried out until 2016.
