Francis (Latin:
Franciscus
[franˈtʃiskus],
Italian: Francesco
[franˈtʃesko]; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio[b]
on 17 December 1936) is the
266th and current
Pope of the
Catholic Church, elected on 13 March 2013. As such, he is
Bishop of Rome, the head of the worldwide Catholic Church and
sovereign
of the
Vatican City State.
Born in
Buenos Aires of Italian descent, Bergoglio worked briefly as a
chemical technician before entering seminary; he was ordained in 1969.
From 1973 to 1979 he was Argentina's
Provincial superior of the
Society of Jesus, became
Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and was created
cardinal in 2001. Following the
resignation of
Pope Benedict XVI, on 13 March 2013 the
papal conclave elected Bergoglio, who chose the
papal name Francis in honour of
Saint Francis of Assisi. Bergoglio is the first
Jesuit pope; the first pope from the
Americas, and the first pope from the
Southern Hemisphere.
Throughout his life, both as an individual and a religious leader, he
has been known for his humility, his concern for the poor, and his
commitment to dialogue as a way to build bridges between people of all
backgrounds, beliefs, and faiths. Since his election to the papacy, he
has displayed a simpler and less formal approach to the office,
including a decision to reside in the Vatican guesthouse rather than the
papal residence used by his predecessors since 1903.
Early life
Student: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, circled (4th from left,
middle row), studied chemistry before joining the priesthood
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in
Flores,[2]
a district of
Buenos Aires. He was the eldest[3]
of five children of Mario José Bergoglio, an
Italian immigrant railway worker born in
Portacomaro (Province
of Asti) in Italy's
Piedmont region, and his wife Regina María Sívori,[4]
a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of
northern Italian (Piedmontese-Genoese) origin.[5][6][7][8][9]
Bergoglio's sister María Elena told reporters decades later that her
father often said that "the advent of fascism was the reason that really
pushed him to leave" Italy. She is the pope's only living sibling.[10][c]
Bergoglio has been a supporter of the
San Lorenzo de Almagro
football club since his childhood.[12][13]
Bergoglio is also a fan of the films of
Tita Merello and of
neorealism and of
tango
dancing, with an "intense fondness" for the traditional music of
Argentina and
Uruguay
known as the
milonga.[14]
As a sixth-grade pupil, Bergoglio attended Wilfrid Barón de los
Santos Ángeles, a Don Bosco Salesian school in
Ramos Mejía in Greater Buenos Aires.[15]
He attended the technical secondary school Escuela Nacional de
Educación Técnica N° 27 Hipólito Yrigoyen[16]
and graduated with a chemical technician's diploma.[17]
He worked for a few years in that capacity in the foods section at
Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory.[18]
In the only known
health crisis
of his youth, at the age of 21 he suffered from life-threatening
pneumonia and three cysts and had part of a lung removed shortly
afterwards.[16][19]
Pre-papal career
Jesuit
|
Ordination history of Pope Francis |
|
Priestly ordination |
| Ordained by |
Ramón José Castellano |
| Date of ordination |
13 December 1969 |
|
Episcopal consecration |
| Principal consecrator |
Antonio Quarracino[20] |
| Co-consecrator |
Ubaldo Calabresi |
| Co-consecrator |
Emilio Ogñénovich |
| Date of consecration |
27 June 1992 |
|
Cardinalate |
| Date elevated to cardinal |
21 February 2001 |
|
Bishops consecrated by Pope Francis as principal consecrator |
| Horacio Ernesto Benites Astoul[21] |
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 |
27 March 2009 |
| Vicente Bkalic Iglic |
29 May 2010 |
| Alfredo Horacio Zecca |
17 September 2011 |
Bergoglio studied at the archdiocesan
seminary Inmaculada Concepción in
Villa Devoto,
Buenos Aires City, and after three years entered the
Society of Jesus on 11 March 1958.[14]
Bergoglio says that as a young seminarian, he "was dazzled by a girl I
met at an uncle's wedding", so much so that he "could not pray for over
a week" because he could not help thinking of her, and so he "had to
rethink what I was doing".[22]
As a Jesuit novice he studied humanities in
Santiago,
Chile.[23]
In 1960, Bergoglio obtained a
licentiate in philosophy from the
Colegio Máximo San José in
San Miguel,
Buenos Aires Province; in 1964 and 1965, he taught literature and
psychology at the
Colegio de la Inmaculada, a high school in the
Province of Santa Fe,
Argentina, and in 1966 he taught the same courses at the
Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires City.[24]
In 1967, Bergoglio finished his theological studies and was
ordained to the
priesthood on 13 December 1969, by Archbishop
Ramón José Castellano. He attended the
Facultades de Filosofía y Teología de San Miguel (Philosophical and
Theological Faculty of San Miguel),[25]
a seminary in San Miguel. He served as the
Master of novices for the Province there and became a professor of
theology.
Father Bergoglio completed his final stage of spiritual formation as
a Jesuit, tertianship, at
Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and took his
perpetual vows in the Society of Jesus on 22 April 1973.[26]
He was named
Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in Argentina on 31 July
1973 and served until 1979.[27]
After the completion of his term of office, in 1980 he was named the
rector of the seminary in San Miguel (it is unclear which one), and
served in that capacity until 1986. He spent several months at the
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in
Frankfurt, Germany, while considering possible
dissertation topics,[28]
before returning to Argentina to serve as a
confessor and
spiritual director to the Jesuit community in
Córdoba.[29]
In Germany he saw the painting
Mary Untier of Knots in
Augsburg and brought a copy of the painting to Argentina where it
has become an important
Marian devotion.[30][31][d]
According to
Ukrainian Catholic
Major Archbishop
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, before becoming a bishop, Bergoglio was
mentored by
Salesian Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest
Stefan Czmil and while at the Salesian school, often woke up hours
before his classmates so that he could celebrate Mass with Czmil.[34]
Bishop
Bergoglio was named Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and was
ordained on 27 June 1992 as Titular Bishop of Auca,[35]
with Cardinal
Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving as principal
consecrator.[20]
On 3 June 1997, Bergoglio was appointed
Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires with right of automatic
succession.[21]
His episcopal motto was Miserando atque eligendo.[36]
It is drawn from
Bede's
homily on Matthew 9:9-13: "because he saw him through the eyes of mercy
and chose him".[37]
Upon Quarracino's death on 28 February 1998, Bergoglio became
Archbishop and was concurrently named
ordinary for those
Eastern Catholics in Argentina who lacked a
prelate
of their own rite.[20]
As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio created new parishes and
restructured the archdiocese administrative offices, led pro-life
initiatives, and created a commission on divorces.[38]
Archbishop Shevchuk has said that Bergoglio understands the liturgy,
rites, and spirituality of his Greek Catholic Church and always "took
care of our Church in Argentina" as ordinary for Eastern Catholics
during his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.[34]
On of Bergoglio's major pushes as archbishop was the increase the
Church's presence in the slums of Buenos Aires. Under his leadership the
number of priests assigned to work in the slums doubled.[39]
In 2000, Bergoglio was the only church official to reconcile with a
former bishop and
defrocked priest,
Jerónimo Podestá, and he defended Podestá's wife from Vatican
attacks on their marriage.[40][41][42]
In 2000, according to a report in
L'espresso, Bergoglio "asked the entire Church in Argentina to
put on garments of public penance for the sins committed during the
years of the dictatorship".[43]
Bergoglio made it his custom to celebrate the
Holy Thursday ritual
washing of feet in "a jail, a hospital, a home for the elderly or
with poor people".[44]
One year he washed the feet of newborn children and pregnant women.[45]
In his first Holy Thursday as pope, Francis continued this custom,
visiting a jail in Rome where he washed the feet of twelve inmates aged
14 to 21, among them two women; the first woman was a Serbian Muslim,
the second was an Italian Catholic.[46]
In 2007, just two days after Benedict XVI issued
new rules for using the liturgical forms that preceded the
Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Bergoglio was one of the first
bishops in the world to respond by instituting a
Tridentine Mass in Buenos Aires.[47][48]
It was celebrated weekly.[49]
On 8 November 2005, Bergoglio was elected president of the
Argentine Episcopal Conference for a three-year term (2005–08).[50]
He was reelected to another three-year term on 11 November 2008.[51]
He remained a member of that Commission's permanent governing body,
president of its committee for the
Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, and a member of its
liturgy committee for the care of shrines.[20]
According to the
Washington Post, "In one of his last acts as head of the
Argentine Catholic bishops' conference, ... Bergoglio issued a
collective apology for the church's failure to protect its flock" from
Argentina's
military dictatorship decades earlier.[52]
When he turned 75 in December 2011, Bergoglio submitted his
resignation as Archbishop of Buenos Aires to Pope Benedict XVI as
required by Canon Law.[53]
Cardinal
At the
consistory of 21 February 2001, Archbishop Bergoglio was created a
cardinal by
Pope John Paul II with the
title of
cardinal-priest of
San Roberto Bellarmino, a church served by Jesuits and named for
one. When he traveled to Rome for the ceremony, he and his sister María
Elena visited the village in northern Italy where their father was born.[10]
As cardinal, Bergoglio was appointed to five administrative positions
in the
Roman Curia:
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in 2008
Later that year, when Cardinal
Edward Egan returned to New York following the
September 11 attacks, Bergoglio replaced him as relator (recording
secretary) in the
Synod of Bishops and, according to the
Catholic Herald, created "a favourable impression as a man open
to communion and dialogue".[54][55]
Cardinal Bergoglio became known for personal humility, doctrinal
conservatism and a commitment to
social justice.[56]
A
simple lifestyle contributed to his reputation for humility. He
lived in a small apartment, rather than in the elegant bishop's
residence in the suburb of
Olivos. He took public transportation and cooked his own meals.[57]
He limited his time in Rome to "lightning visits".[58]
On the death of Pope John Paul II, Bergoglio was considered one of
the
papabile cardinals.[59]
He participated as a
cardinal elector in the
2005 papal conclave that elected
Pope Benedict XVI. In the
National Catholic Reporter
John L. Allen, Jr. reported that Bergoglio was a frontrunner in the
2005 Conclave.[56][60]
In September 2005, the Italian magazine
Limes published claims that Bergoglio had been the runner-up
and main challenger to Cardinal Ratzinger at that conclave and that he
had received 40 votes in the third ballot, but fell back to 26 at the
fourth and decisive ballot.[61][62]
The claims were based on a diary purportedly belonging to an anonymous
cardinal who had been present at the conclave.[61]
La
Stampa reported that Bergoglio was in close contention with
Ratzinger during the election, until he made an emotional plea that the
cardinals should not vote for him.[63]
Earlier, he had participated in the
funeral of Pope John Paul II.
As a cardinal, Bergoglio was associated with
Communion and Liberation, a Catholic evangelical lay movement of the
type known as
associations of the faithful.[56][64]
He has sometimes made appearances at the annual gathering known as the
Rimini Meeting held during the late summer months in Italy.[56]
In 2005, Cardinal Bergoglio authorized the request for
beatification—the first step towards
sainthood—for
six members of the
Pallottine community
murdered in 1976.[65][66]
At the same time, Bergoglio ordered an investigation into the murders
themselves, which had been widely blamed on the military regime that
ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.[66]
Relations with Argentine governments
Dirty War
Bergoglio was the subject of allegations regarding the kidnapping of
two
Jesuit priests during Argentina's "Dirty
War".[67][68]
Bergoglio feared for the priests' safety and had tried to change their
work prior to their arrest; however, contrary to reports, he never tried
to throw them out of the Jesuit order.[69]
In 2005, a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against
Bergoglio, as superior in the Society of Jesus of Argentina, accusing
him of involvement in the Navy's kidnapping of the two priests in May
1976.[70]
The lawyer's complaint did not specify the nature of Bergoglio's alleged
involvement, and Bergoglio's spokesman flatly denied the allegations.
The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.[67]
The priests, Orlando Yorio and
Franz Jalics, had been tortured,[71]
but found alive five months later, drugged and semi-naked. Yorio accused
Bergoglio of effectively handing them over to the death squads by
declining to tell the regime that he endorsed their work. Yorio (who
died in 2000) said in a 1999 interview that he believed that Bergoglio
did nothing "to free us, in fact just the opposite".[72]
Jalics initially refused to discuss the complaint after moving into
seclusion in a German monastery.[73]
However, two days after the election of Pope Francis, Jalics issued a
statement confirming the kidnapping and attributing the cause to a
former lay colleague who became a guerrilla, was captured, and named
Yorio and Jalics when interrogated.[74]
The following week, Jalics issued a second, clarifying statement: "It is
wrong to assert that our capture took place at the initiative of Father
Bergoglio ... the fact is, Orlando Yorio and I were not denounced by
Father Bergoglio."[75][76]
Bergoglio told his authorized biographer,
Sergio Rubin, that after the priests' imprisonment he worked behind
the scenes for their release; Bergoglio's intercession with dictator
Jorge Rafael Videla on their behalf may have saved their lives.[77]
In 2010, Bergoglio told Sergio Rubin that he had often sheltered people
from the dictatorship on church property, and once gave his own identity
papers to a man who looked like him, so he could flee Argentina.[71]
The interview with Rubin, reflected in the biography
El
jesuita, is the only time Bergoglio has spoken to the press
about those events.[78]
Oliveira also stated that Bergoglio helped people flee Argentina during
the military regime.[79]
Since Francis became Pope, Gonzalo Mosca[80]
and José Caravias[81]
have related to journalists accounts of how Bergoglio helped them flee
the Argentine dictatorship.
Alicia Oliveira, a former Argentine Judge said that during the "Dirty
War" the future Pope "was anguished" and "very critical of the
dictatorship".[82]
Oliveira met with him at the time and urged Bergoglio to speak out — he
told her that "he couldn't. That it wasn't an easy thing to do."[72]
The artist and human rights activist
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, said: "Perhaps he didn't have the courage
of other priests, but he never collaborated with the dictatorship ...
Bergoglio was no accomplice of the dictatorship."
[83][84]
Graciela Fernández Meijide, member of the
Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, also said that there was no
proof linking Bergoglio with the dictatorship. She told
Clarín: "There is no information and Justice couldn't prove
it. I was in the
APDH during all the dictatorship years and I received hundreds of
testimonies. Bergoglio was never mentioned. It was the same in the
CONADEP. Nobody mentioned him as instigator or as anything."[85]
Ricardo Lorenzetti, President of the Argentine Supreme Court, has
said that Bergoglio is "completely innocent" of the accusations.[86]
Relationship with Kirchners
When Bergoglio celebrated Mass in 2004 at the
Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral to mark Argentina's
First National Government holiday, then President
Néstor Kirchner attended and heard Bergoglio request more political
dialogue, reject intolerance, and criticize exhibitionism and strident
announcements.[87]
Kirchner celebrated the national day elsewhere the following year and
the Mass in the Cathedral was suspended.[88]
Kirchner considered Bergoglio as a political rival ever since.[89]
Bergoglio's relations with Kirchner's widow and successor,
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, have been similarly tense. In 2008,
Bergoglio called for national reconciliation during
disturbances in the country's agricultural regions, which the
government interpreted as a support for anti-government demonstrators.[89]
The campaign to enact
same-sex marriage legislation was a particularly tense period in
their relations.[89]
In 2006 Bergoglio publicly opposed an attempt by the Argentine
government to legalize some cases of abortion.[90]
In 2012 Bergoglio participated in the 30th anniversary commemoration of
the
Falklands War.[91]
On the day before his inauguration, Bergoglio, now Francis, had a
private meeting with Kirchner and exchanged gifts with her, after which
the two had lunch together. This was the new pope's first meeting with a
head of state, and there was speculation that the two were mending their
relations.[92][93]
Relations with other religious communities
Eastern Orthodox
Bergoglio is recognized for his efforts "to further close the nearly
1,000-year estrangement with the
Orthodox churches".[94]
Antoni Sevruk, rector of the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Catherine
the Great Martyr in Rome, said that Bergoglio "often visited Orthodox
services in the Russian Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral in Buenos Aires"
and is known as an advocate on behalf the Orthodox Church in dealing
with Argentina's government.[95]
Bergoglio's positive relationship with the Eastern Orthodox churches
is reflected in the fact that
Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople attended his installation.[96]
According to George Demacopoulos, this is "quite likely the first time
in history" that the Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, a position considered
first among equals in the Eastern
Orthodox Church organization, has attended a papal installation.[96]
Orthodox leaders state that Bartholomew's decision to attend the
ceremony shows that the relationship between the Orthodox and Catholic
churches is a priority of his, but they also note that Francis's
"well-documented work for social justice and his insistence that
globalization is detrimental to the poor" may have created a "renewed
opportunity" for the two church communities to "work collectively on
issues of mutual concern".[96][e]
Oriental Orthodox
Following Bergoglio's election as pope there was an exchange of
correspondence between him and one of the leaders of
Oriental Orthodoxy, a church that split with Rome and Constantinople
after the
Council of Chalcedon in 451.[98]
After the election,
Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, the
Patriarch of the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Cairo, sent a telegram of
congratulations to Francis, that read: "News of your election as head of
the Catholic Church fills my heart with joy. I congratulate you and the
cardinals wholeheartedly for this blessed choice. Your Holiness, I wish
you good health and long life, that through your work the Catholic
Church may grow and bear witness to Christ in the entire world."[99]
Francis responded with a letter that included the sentence: "Trusting
in the Holy Spirit's guidance of my ministry as successor of Peter and
servant of the servants of God, and kindly requesting a remembrance in
your prayers, I offer you a brotherly embrace in the name of Jesus
Christ our Saviour."[100]
Protestant
Gregory Venables,
Anglican Bishop of Argentina, has called Bergoglio a "devout
Christian and friend to Anglicans".[101]
Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) greeted the news of
Bergoglio's election with a public statement that praised his work with
Lutherans in Argentina.[102]
Evangelical leaders including Argentine
Luis Palau, who moved to the US in his twenties, have welcomed the
news of Bergoglio's election as Pope based on his relations with
Evangelical Protestants, noting that Bergoglio's financial manager
for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires was an Evangelical Christian whom
Bergoglio refers to as a friend.[103]
Palau recounts how Bergoglio would not only relax and "drink
mate" with that friend, but would also read the Bible and pray with
him, based on what Bergoglio called a relationship of friendship and
trust.[103]
Palau describes Bergoglio's approach to relationships with Evangelicals
as one of "building bridges and showing respect, knowing the
differences, but majoring on what we can agree on: on the divinity of
Jesus, his virgin birth, his resurrection, the second coming."[103]
As a result of Bergoglio's election, Palau predicts that "tensions will
be eased."[103]
Juan Pablo Bongarrá, president of the Argentine Bible Society,
recounts that Bergoglio not only met with Evangelicals, and prayed with
them—but he also asked them to pray for him.[104]
Bongarrá notes that Bergoglio would frequently end a conversation with
the request, "Pastor, pray for me."[104]
Additionally, Bongarrá tells the story of a weekly worship meeting of
charismatic pastors in Buenos Aires, which Bergoglio attended: "He
mounted the platform and called for pastors to pray for him. He knelt in
front of nearly 6,000 people, and [the Protestant leaders there] laid
hands and prayed."[104]
Other Evangelical leaders agree that Bergoglio's relationships in
Argentina make him "situated to better understand Protestantism".[105]
Noting that the divide between Catholicism and
Protestantism is often present among members of the same families in
Argentina, and is therefore an extremely important human issue, "Francis
could set the tone for more compassionate conversations among families
about the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism."[105]
Jewish
Bergoglio has close ties to the
Jewish community of Argentina, and attended Jewish
Rosh Hashanah services in 2007 at a synagogue in Buenos Aires.
Bergoglio told the Jewish congregation during his visit that he went to
the synagogue to examine his heart, "like a pilgrim, together with you,
my elder brothers".[106]
After the 1994
AMIA bombing of a
Jewish Community Center there that killed 85 people, Bergoglio was
the first public figure to sign a petition condemning the attack and
calling for justice. Jewish community leaders around the world noted
that his words and actions "showed solidarity with the Jewish community"
in the aftermath of this attack.[106]
A former head of the
World Jewish Congress,
Israel Singer, reported that he worked with Bergoglio in the early
2000s, distributing aid to the poor as part of a joint Jewish-Catholic
program called "Tzedaka".
Singer noted that he was impressed with Bergoglio's modesty, remembering
that "if everyone sat in chairs with handles [arms], he would sit in the
one without."[106]
Bergoglio also co-hosted a
Kristallnacht memorial ceremony at the
Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral in 2012.[106]
Abraham Skorka, the rector of the
Latin-American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires, and Bergoglio
published their conversations on religious and philosophical subjects as
Sobre el cielo y la tierra (On
Heaven and Earth).[107]
An article in
Israel's
The Jerusalem Post notes that "Unlike John Paul II, who as a
child had positive memories of the Jews of his native Poland but due to
the Holocaust had no Jewish community to interact with in Poland as an
adult, Pope Francis has maintained a sustained and very positive
relationship with a living, breathing [Jewish] community in Buenos
Aires."[107]
Bergoglio joined a group of clerics from a number of different
religions to light candles in a 2012 synagogue ceremony on the occasion
of the Jewish festival of
Hanukkah.[108]
Islamic
Leaders of the
Islamic community in Buenos Aires welcomed the news of Bergoglio's
election as pope, noting that he "always showed himself as a friend of
the Islamic community", and a person whose position is "pro-dialogue".[109]
Buenos Aires Islamic leaders praise Bergoglio's close ties with the
Islamic community by citing his reactions to an incident when Pope
Benedict XVI quoted a medieval document that described
Muhammad as "evil and inhuman".[110]
According to them, Bergoglio immediately distanced himself from the
quotes, noting that statements that create outrage within the Islamic
community "will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction
of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last
20 years.”[110]
Bergoglio visited both a mosque and an Islamic school in Argentina,
visits that Sheik Mohsen Ali, the Director for the Diffusion of Islam,
called actions that strengthened the relationship between the Catholic
and Islamic communities.[109]
Dr. Sumer Noufouri, Secretary General of the Islamic Center of the
Argentine Republic (CIRA), added that Bergoglio's past actions make his
election as pope a cause within the Islamic community of "joy and
expectation of strengthening dialogue between religions".[109]
Noufouri said that the relationship between CIRA and Bergoglio over the
course of a decade had helped to build up Christian-Muslim dialogue in a
way that was "really significant in the history of monotheistic
relations in Argentina".[109]
Ahmed el-Tayeb,
Grand Imam of al-Azhar and president of Egypt's
Al-Azhar University, sent congratulations after the pope's election.[99]
Al-Tayeb had "broken off relations with the Vatican" during Benedict
XVI's time as pope, so his statement has been recognized as a "sign of
openness" for the future.[99]
However, his message of congratulations also included the request that
"Islam asks for respect from the new pontiff".[99]
Shortly after his election, in a meeting with ambassadors from the
180 countries accredited with the Holy See, Pope Francis called for more
interreligious dialogue -- "particularly with Islam".[111]
He also expressed gratitude that “so many civil and religious leaders
from the Islamic world” had attended his installation Mass.[111]
An editorial in the
Saudi Arabian paper Saudi Gazette strongly welcomed the
pope's call for increased interfaith dialogue, stressing that while the
pope was "reiterating a position he has always maintained", his public
call as pope for increased dialogue with Islam "comes as a whiff of
fresh air at a time when much of the Western world is experiencing a
nasty outbreak of
Islamophobia".[112]
Interfaith
dialogue
Bergoglio has also written about his commitment to open and
respectful interfaith dialogue as a way for all parties engaged in that
dialogue to learn from one another.[113]
In the 2011 book that records his conversations with Rabbi Abraham
Skorka, Sobre el cielo y la tierra, Bergoglio said:[113]
Dialogue is born from an attitude of respect for the other
person, from a conviction that the other person has something
good to say. It assumes that there is room in the heart for the
person’s point of view, opinion, and proposal. To dialogue
entails a cordial reception, not a prior condemnation. In order
to dialogue it is necessary to know how to lower the defenses,
open the doors of the house, and offer human warmth.
Religious leaders in Buenos Aires have stated that it was Bergoglio
who "opened up the Cathedral in Buenos Aires for interfaith ceremonies".[114]
For example, in November 2012 he brought "leaders of the Jewish, Muslim,
evangelical, and Orthodox Christian faiths" together in the Cathedral to
pray for peace in the
Middle East.[114]
Leaders quoted in a 2013 Associated Press article said that Bergoglio
has a "very deep capacity for dialogue with other religions", and
considers "healing divisions between religions a major part of the
Catholic Church's mission".[114]
Shortly after his election, the pope called for more interreligious
dialogue as a way of "building bridges" and establishing “true links of
friendship between all people".[111]
He added that it was crucial “to intensify outreach to nonbelievers, so
that the differences which divide and hurt us may never prevail".[111]
He said that his title of "pontiff" means "builder of bridges", and that
it was his wish that "the dialogue between us should help to build
bridges connecting all people, in such a way that everyone can see in
the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister to be
welcomed and embraced."[111]
Papacy
Elected at the age of 76, Francis is reported to be in good health,
and his doctors have stated that his missing lung tissue (which was
removed in 1957)[16]
does not have a significant impact on his health.[117]
The only concern would be decreased respiratory reserve if he had a
respiratory infection.[118]
In the past, one attack of
sciatica in 2007 prevented him from attending a consistory and
delayed his return to Argentina for several days.[58]
As pope his manner is less formal than that of his predecessors: a
style that news coverage has referred to as "no frills," noting that it
is "his common touch and accessibility that is proving the greatest
inspiration."[119]
For example, on the night of his election he took the bus back to his
hotel with the cardinals, rather than be driven in the papal car.[120]
The next day he visited Cardinal
Jorge María Mejía in the hospital and chatted with patients and
staff.[121]
At his first media audience, the Friday after his election, the Pope
said of Saint Francis of Assisi: "The man who gives us this spirit of
peace, the poor man," and he added "How I would like a poor Church, and
for the poor".[122]
In March 2013 a new song was dedicated to Francis and released in
Brazilian, Portuguese and Italian, titled Come Puoi ("How You
Can").[119]
Also in March, Pablo Buera, the mayor of the Argentine city
La
Plata announced that the city had renamed a section of a street
leading up to a local cathedral Papa Francesco, in honor of
Francis.[123]
According to the
Time Magazine article that reported this decision, there are
already efforts to name other streets after him, as well as a school
where he studied as a child.[123]
In addition to his native Spanish, Francis is conversant in Latin
(the official language of the Holy See), Italian (the official language
of Vatican City), English,[124]
French,[125]
German,[126]
and Ukrainian.[127]
Election
Bergoglio was elected pope on 13 March 2013,[128][129]
the second day of the
2013 papal conclave, taking the
papal name Francis.[130]
Francis was elected on the fifth ballot of the conclave.[131]
The
Habemus Papam was delivered by
Cardinal protodeacon
Jean-Louis Tauran.[132]
Francis appears to the public for the first time as pope, at
the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, 13 March 2013.
Instead of accepting his cardinals' congratulations while seated on
the
Papal throne, Francis received them standing, reportedly an
immediate sign of a changing approach to formalities at the Vatican.[133][134]
During his first appearance as pontiff on the balcony of
Saint Peter's Basilica, he wore a white
cassock,
not the red, ermine-trimmed
mozzetta[133][135]
used by the previous Pope Benedict XVI.[136]
He also wore the same iron
pectoral cross that he had worn as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos
Aires, rather than the gold one worn by his predecessors.[135]
After being elected and choosing his name, his first act was
bestowing the
Urbi et Orbi blessing to thousands of pilgrims gathered in
St. Peter's Square. Francis began with "Buonasera" ("good
evening"), breaking with the traditional formality at this event. Before
blessing the pilgrims, he asked those in St. Peter's Square to pray for
the pope emeritus,
Benedict XVI and for himself.[137][138]
Among the people at St. Peter's Square
Name
At his first audience on 16 March 2013, Francis told journalists that
he had chosen the name in honor of
Saint Francis of Assisi, and had done so because he was especially
concerned for the well-being of the
poor.[139][140][141]
He explained that, as it was becoming clear during the conclave voting
that he would be elected the new pontiff, the Brazilian Cardinal
Cláudio Hummes had embraced him and whispered, "Don't forget the
poor", which had made Bergoglio think of the saint.[142][143]
Bergoglio had previously expressed his admiration for St. Francis,
explaining that “He brought to Christianity an idea of poverty against
the luxury, pride, vanity of the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the
time. He changed history."[144]
Author and Vatican reporter
John Allen remarked that the choice of the name Francis sent a clear
message to the Church about the new Pope's intention to let "the church
of the spirit, a humble and simple community of equals with a special
love for the least of this world.... shine through".[145]
This is the first time that a pope has been named Francis[f]
and the first time since
Pope Lando's 913–914 reign that a serving pope held a name not used
by a predecessor.[g]
Francis also mentioned at the audience that some cardinal-electors
had jokingly suggested to him that he should choose either "Adrian",
since
Pope Adrian VI had been a reformer of the church, or "Clement" as
"payback" to
Pope Clement XIV who had
suppressed the Jesuit order.[148][149]
Inauguration
Inauguration of Pope Francis, 19 March 2013
Pope Francis held his
Papal inauguration on 19 March 2013 in
St. Peter's Square in the
Vatican.
He celebrated Mass in the presence of various political and religious
leaders from around the world.[150]
In his homily Pope Francis focused on the
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the liturgical day on which the Mass was
celebrated.[151]
Residence
Francis elected not to live in the official papal residence in the
Apostolic Palace, but to remain in the
Vatican guest house. He was upgraded to a suite in which he can
receive visitors and interact with priests and bishops who work in the
Vatican. He is the first pope since
Pope Pius X to live outside the papal apartments.[152]
Vatican chief spokesman Federico Lombardi noted that the pope will
"continue to use the papal apartment in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace
to appear at the window for the Sunday Angelus prayer".[153]
Curia
On 16 March 2013, Pope Francis asked all those in senior positions of
the Curia to "provisionally continue" in office "until other provisions
are made".[154]
He named
Alfred Xuereb as his personal secretary.[155]
Early issues
In March 2013, 21 Catholic parliamentarians from the United Kingdom
wrote a letter to Francis, asking him to allow married men in Great
Britain to be ordained as priests, keeping celibacy as the rule for
bishops, as a sign of the "high regard we have for those who are able to
live a genuinely celibate life.”[156]
The letter cited the fact that married Angligan priests have been
ordained by the Catholic Church and allowed to serve as Catholic
priests, noting that "These men and their families have proved to be a
great blessing to our parishes."[156]
"Based on that very positive experience," the letter continued, "we
would request that, in the same spirit, you permit the ordination of
married Catholic men to the priesthood in Great Britain."[156]
Early words
and actions
On the first
Maundy Thursday following his election, Francis washed and kissed
the feet of 12 juvenile offenders, ages 14-21, at Rome's Casal del Marmo
detention facility, telling them
the ritual of foot washing is a sign that he is at their service.[157]
He told them to "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us".[157]
According to church experts, this was the first time that a pope has
included women in this ritual (there were 2 women and 10 men).[157]
Canon lawyer Edward Peters noted that this was a break with
canon
law, although not with any "divine directive".[157]
The twelve included two Muslims,[158]
including one of the two women.[159]
Before leaving, the pope told the detainees, "Do not let yourselves be
robbed of hope".[158]
On March 31, 2013, Francis used his first
Easter homily to make a plea for peace throughout the world,
specifically mentioning the Mid-East, Africa, and North and South Korea.[160]
He also spoke out against those who give in to "easy gain" in a world
filled with greed, and made a plea for humanity to become a better
guardian of creation by protecting the environment.[160]
Teachings
Encountering Jesus and rejecting worldliness
In both his first
homily
as Pope and in his first address to the cardinals, Francis talked about
walking in the presence of Jesus Christ and stressed the church mission
to announce him. In the audience with the cardinals, he emphasized the
concept of "encounter with Jesus":
Stimulated by the Year of Faith, all together, pastors and
faithful, we will make an effort to respond faithfully to the
eternal mission: to bring Jesus Christ to humanity, and to lead
humanity to an encounter with Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth
and the Life, truly present in the Church and, at the same time,
in every person. This encounter makes us become new men in the
mystery of
Grace, provoking in our hearts the Christian joy that is a
hundredfold that given us by Christ to those who welcome Him
into their lives.
[161]
In his homily, he stressed that "if we do not profess Jesus Christ,
things go wrong. We may become a charitable
NGO, but not the Church, the
Bride of the Lord." He went on to teach that "When we do not profess
Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil... when we profess
Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are
worldly".[162]
The theme of rejecting "spiritual worldliness", has been described as
a "leitmotif"
of his teachings even before he became Pope.[163]
Understanding this worldliness as "putting oneself at the center", he
said that it is the "greatest danger for the Church, for us, who are in
the Church".[164]
Morality as response to God's mercy
Francis preached on his first visit to a parish that "this is the the
Lord’s most powerful message: mercy."[165]
His motto, Miserando atque eligendo, is about Jesus' mercy
towards sinners. The phrase is taken from a homily of St. Bede, who
commented that Jesus "saw
the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of
mercy and chose him, he said to him: 'Follow me'" (italics added to
refer to English translation of the Latin motto).[37]
The motto is a reference to the moment he changed his life when he
was 17 years old and found his vocation to the priesthood. He started a
day of student celebrations by going to confession. "A strange thing
happened to me...It was a surprise, the astonishment of an
encounter...This is the religious experience: the astonishment of
encountering someone who was waiting for you... God is the one who seeks
us first."[166]
As cardinal he viewed morality in the context of an encounter with
Christ that is "triggered" by mercy": "the privileged locus of the
encounter is the caress of the mercy of Jesus Christ on my sin." And
thus, he says, a new morality—a correspondence to mercy—is born. He
views this morality as a "revolution": it is "not a titanic effort of
the will", but "simply a response" to a "surprising, unforeseeable, and
'unjust' mercy". Morality is "not a 'never falling down' but an 'always
getting up again.'"[167]
The Gospel reading for the Sunday he was scheduled to give his first
public address as Pope was on Jesus'
forgiveness of the adulteress woman. This allowed him to discuss
ideas such as: God never wearies of forgiving us; hearing the word
mercy, this word changes everything; mercy is beautiful; never tire in
asking for forgiveness.[168]
Creative transformation in evangelization
Another theme Pope Francis emphasized in his first address to the
cardinals[161]
is the new evangelization. He talked about "the certainty that the Holy
Spirit gives His Church, with His powerful breath, the courage to
persevere and to search for new ways to evangelise."
It is a theme he has repeated in other occasions, specifically in his
biography, where he spoke about "transforming pastoral modes" and
"revising the internal life of the church so as to go out to the
faithful people of God," with "great creativity." He observed that
church cannot be passively waiting for clientele among people who are no
longer evangelized and who "will not get near structures and old forms
that do not respond to their expectations and sensibilities." He asked
for pastoral conversion from a church that regulates the faith to a
church that transmits and facilitates the faith.[166]
He said that the heart of the mission is summarized in this: "if one
remains in the Lord one goes out of oneself... Fidelity is always a
change, a blossoming, a growth." Key to evangelization is the role of
the laity who should avoid the "problem" of being clericalized as their
"baptism alone should suffice".[169]
Poverty and economic inequality
At a meeting of Latin American bishops in 2007 Bergoglio said "[w]e
live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most,
yet reduced misery the least" and that "[t]he unjust distribution of
goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to
Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our
brothers".[170]
On 30 September 2009, Bergoglio spoke at a conference organized by the
Argentina City Postgraduate School (EPOCA) at the
Alvear Palace Hotel titled "Las deudas sociales de nuestro tiempo"
("The Social Debts of Our Time") in which he quoted the 1992 "Documento
de Santo Domingo"[171]
by the
Latin American Episcopal Conference, saying "extreme
poverty and unjust economic structures that cause great
inequalities" are violations of
human rights.[172][173]
He went on to describe social debt as "immoral, unjust and
illegitimate".[174]
During a 48-hour public servant strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Bergoglio observed the differences between "poor people who are
persecuted for demanding work, and rich people who are applauded for
fleeing from justice".[175]
In 2002, during an economic crisis, Bergoglio harshly criticized those
in power, saying, "Let's not tolerate the sad spectacle of those who no
longer know how to lie and contradict themselves to hold onto their
privileges, their rapaciousness, and their ill-earned wealth."[176]
During a May 2010 speech in Argentina regarding the poor, he directed
his message to the wealthy by saying: "You avoid taking into account the
poor. We have no right to duck down, to lower the arms carried by those
in despair. We must reclaim the memory of our country who has a mother,
recover the memory of our Mother".[177]
In 2011, Bergoglio stated: "There is a daily anesthesia that this city
knows how to use very well, and it is called bribery, and with this
anesthesia the conscience is numbed. Buenos Aires is a bribe-taking
city."[178]
In 2011, Bergoglio decried sweatshops and homelessness in Buenos
Aires as forms of slavery:
In this city, slavery is the order of the day in various forms,
in this city workers are exploited in sweatshops and, if
immigrants, are deprived of the opportunity to get out. In this
city, there are kids on the streets for years....... The city
failed and continues to fail in the attempt to free them from
this structural slavery that is homelessness.
[178]
In line with the
Catholic Church's efforts to care for AIDS victims, in 2001 he
visited a hospice and he washed and kissed the feet of 12 AIDS patients.[170]
Celibacy of
priests
As Cardinal, Bergoglio's views regarding the
celibacy of priests were recorded in the book
On Heaven and Earth, a record of conversations conducted with a
Buenos Aires rabbi.[179]
He commented that celibacy "is a matter of discipline, not of faith. It
can change" but added: "For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining
celibacy, with all its pros and cons, because we have ten centuries of
good experiences rather than failures [...] Tradition has weight and
validity."[180]
He noted that "in the Byzantine, Ukranian, Russian, and Greek Catholic
Churches [...] the priests can be married, but the bishops have to be
celibate".[180][h]
He said that many of those in Western Catholicism who are pushing for
more discussion about the issue do so from a position of "pragmatism",
based on a loss of manpower.[180]
He states that "If, hypothetically, Western Catholicism were to review
the issue of celibacy, I think it would do so for cultural reasons (as
in the East), not so much as a universal option."[180]
He emphasized that, in the meantime, the rule must be strictly adhered
to, and any priest who cannot obey it "has to leave the ministry".[180]
National Catholic Reporter Vatican analyst
Thomas Reese, also a Jesuit, called Bergoglio's use of "conditional
language" regarding the rule of celibacy "remarkable".[179]
He said that phrases like "for the moment" and "for now" are "not the
kind of qualifications one normally hears when bishops and cardinals
discuss celibacy".[179]
Aparecida Document
In 2007, as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio presented
the final version of a joint statement of the bishops of Latin America –
the "Aparecida Document" – upon its approval by Pope Benedict XVI.
Bergoglio denounced what he characterized as a cultural tolerance of
child abuse. He spoke strongly against the abuse of children as
"demographic terrorism" and decried their exploitation saying, "Children
are mistreated, and are not educated or fed. Many are made into
prostitutes and exploited."[181]
In 2011, Bergoglio condemned child trafficking and sex slavery in Buenos
Aires:
In this city, there are many girls who stop playing with dolls
to enter the dump of a brothel because they were stolen, sold,
betrayed ... In this city, women and girls are kidnapped, and
they are subjected to use and abuse of their body; they are
destroyed in their dignity. The flesh that Jesus assumed and
died for is worth less than the flesh of a pet. A dog is cared
for better than these slaves of ours, who are kicked, who are
broken.
[178]
Bergoglio also encouraged his clergy and laity "to ardently defend
the
culture of life", by opposing both abortion and
euthanasia,[182]
and opposed the free distribution of contraceptives in Argentina, as
proposed by the Kirchner government.[183][184]
The Aparecida Document links worthiness to receive the
Eucharist to compliance and acceptance of
Church teaching against abortion and euthanasia:[181][185][186][187]
We hope that legislators, heads of government, and health
professionals, conscious of the dignity of human life and of the
rootedness of the family in our peoples, will defend and protect
it from the abominable crimes of abortion and euthanasia; that
is their responsibility ... We should commit ourselves to
"eucharistic coherence", that is, we should be conscious that
people cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act or
speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion,
euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are
facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to
legislators, governors, and health professionals.
He further denounced a "culture of discarding" the elderly and
treating them as if they are disposable and worthless due to their
advanced age.[181]
Same-sex marriage
Bergoglio affirms the
Church's teaching that homosexual practice is intrinsically immoral
but homosexuals should be treated with respect and love because
temptation is not in and of itself sinful.[188][189]
Bergoglio opposes
same-sex marriage. When Argentina was considering
legalizing it in 2010, Begoglio opposed the legislation,[190]
calling it a "real and dire anthropological throwback".[191]
In July 2010, while the law was under consideration, he wrote a letter
to Argentina's cloistered nuns in which he said:[192][193][194]
In the coming weeks, the Argentine people will face a situation
whose outcome can seriously harm the family…At stake is the
identity and survival of the family: father, mother and
children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be
discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human
development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At
stake is the total rejection of God's law engraved in our
hearts.
Let's not be naive: This is not a simple political fight; it is
a destructive proposal to God's plan. This is not a mere
legislative proposal (that's just its form), but a move by the
father of lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of
God… Let's look to St. Joseph, Mary, and the Child to ask
fervently that they defend the Argentine family in this
moment... May they support, defend, and accompany us in this war
of God.
After
L'Osservatore Romano reported this, several priests expressed
their support for the law and one was defrocked.[195]
Observers believe that the church's opposition and Bergoglio's language
worked in favor of the law's passage and that in response Catholic
officials adopted a more conciliatory tone in later debates on social
issues such as parental
surrogacy.[196][197]
Rubin, Bergoglio's biographer claimed that while taking a strong
stand against same-sex marriage, Bergoglio raised the possibility in
2010 with his bishops in Argentina that they support the idea of
civil unions as a compromise position.[198]
According to a March 2013 article in the New York Times, "a
majority of the bishops voted to overrule him".[198]
However
Miguel Woites, the director of the
Catholic News Agency of Argentina, who works directly for the
Argentine Episcopal Conference and as such worked closely with
Bergoglio when he was head of the conference, denied that Bergoglio ever
made such a proposal.[199]
According to gay rights activists in Buenos Aires, including Marcelo
Marquez and Andres Albertsen, Bergoglio also spoke "behind closed doors"
with them about his support for the spiritual needs of "homosexual
people," and his willingness to support progress in the form of
"measured actions".[198][200]
According to news reports "a senior Vatican official" could "neither
confirm nor deny" reports of Bergoglio's behind the scenes views as
cardinal, but that whatever views he might have expressed at that time,
"he should be given time to develop his policy position as pontiff".[200]
Titles and styles
The official
style of the Pope in English is
His Holiness Pope Francis; in Latin, Franciscus, Episcopus
Romae. Holy Father is another honorific often used for popes.
His full title, rarely used, is:
- His Holiness Pope Francis,
Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the
Apostles,
Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church,
Primate of Italy,
Archbishop and
Metropolitan of the Roman province,
Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City,
Servant of the Servants of God.
It is customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name
into local languages. Thus he is Papa Franciscus in Latin (the
official language of the Holy See), Papa Francesco in Italian
(the language of the Vatican), Papa Francisco in his native
Spanish, and Pope Francis in English.
Writings
|
Library resources |
| About Pope Francis |
|
|
| By Pope Francis |
|
|
Books
- Bergoglio, Jorge (1982).
Meditaciones para religiosos [Meditations for the Religious] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Diego de Torres.
OCLC 644781822.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (1992).
Reflexiones en esperanza [Reflections of Hope] (in Spanish).
Buenos Aires: Ediciones Universidad del Salvador.
OCLC 36380521.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2003). Educar:
exigencia y pasión: desafíos para educadores cristianos [To
Educate: Exactingness and Passion: Challenges for Christian
Educators] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 9789505124572.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2003). Ponerse
la patria al hombro: memoria y camino de esperanza [Putting the
Motherland on One's Shoulders: Memoir and Path of Hope] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 9789505125111.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2005). La
nación por construir: utopía, pensamiento y compromiso: VIII Jornada
de Pastoral Social [The Nation to Be Built: Utopia, Thought, and
Commitment] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 9789505125463.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2006).
Corrupción y pecado: algunas reflexiones en torno al tema de la
corrupción [Corruption and Sin: Some Thoughts on Corruption] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 9789505125722.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2006). Sobre la
acusación de sí mismo [On Self-Accusation, (or
from the Italian, Humility: The Road towards God)] (in Spanish).
Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 978-950-512-549-4.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2007). El
verdadero poder es el servicio [True Power Is Service] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
OCLC 688511686.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2009).
Seminario: las deudas sociales de nuestro tiempo: la deuda social
según la doctrina de la iglesia [Seminar: the Social Debts of
Our Time: Social Debt According to Church Doctrine] (in Spanish).
Buenos Aires: EPOCA-USAL.
ISBN 9788493741235.
- Bergoglio, Jorge;
Skorka, Abraham (2010).
Sobre el cielo y la tierra [On Heaven and Earth] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana.
ISBN 9789500732932.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2010).
Seminario Internacional: consenso para el desarrollo: reflexiones
sobre solidaridad y desarrollo [International seminar: Consensus
about Development: Reflexions on Solidarity and development] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: EPOCA.
ISBN 9789875073524.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2011). Nosotros
como ciudadanos, nosotros como pueblo: hacia un bicentenario en
justicia y solidaridad [Ourselves as Citizens, Ourselves as a
People: towards a Bicentenary in Justice and Solidarity] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 9789505127443.
Other
- Bergoglio, Jorge (1995).
La vida sagrada y su misión en la Iglesia y en el mundo
(in Spanish). Argentina Catholic University: Faculty of Theology.
OCLC 806712655.
- Egan, Edward Michael; Bergoglio,
Jorge (2001). "Episcopus minister Evangelii Iesu Christi propter
spem mundi: relatio post disceptationem". The Catholic Church. The
Synod of Bishops. Ordinary General Assembly. E Civitate Vaticana.
OCLC 749998123.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2003).
"For Man". In Buzzi, Elisa. A Generative Thought: An
Introduction to the Works of Luigi Giussani. Montreal:
McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 79–83.
ISBN 0773526129.
- John Paul, Pope; Castro, Fidel
(2004). In Bergoglio, Jorge. Diálogos entre Juan Pablo II y Fidel
Castro [Dialogues Between John Paul II and Fidel Castro] (in
Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ciudad Argentina.
ISBN 9789875070745.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2007). "Buscar
el camino hacia el futuro, llevando consigo la memoria de las
raíces".
Humanitas (in Spanish) (National
Humanities Institute) (47): 468–483.
OCLC 176911626.
- Castiñeira de Dios, José María
(2007). El santito Ceferino Namuncurá: relato en verso (in
Spanish). Foreword by Jorge Bergoglio. Buenos Aires: Lumen.
ISBN 9789870007340.
-
Official Vatican transcript in English of IEC Catechesis The
Eucharist: Gift from God for the life of the world (2008)
(originally given in Spanish), 49th International Eucharistic
Congress, Quebec, Canada
-
(Spanish) Agencia Informativa Católica Argentina:
Documentos de los obispos: Homilías y documentos del cardenal
Bergoglio, 1999-2012
See also
Notes
-
^
Press reports have provided a
variety of translations for the phrase. According to
Vatican Radio: "Pope Francis has chosen the motto
Miserando atque eligendo, meaning lowly but chosen;
literally in Latin 'by having mercy, by choosing him'. The motto
is one Francis used as bishop. It is taken from the homilies of
the
Venerable Bede on
Saint Matthew's Gospel relating to his vocation:'Jesus saw
the tax collector and by having mercy chose him as an apostle
saying to him :Follow me.'"[1]
-
^
Pronunciation:
[ˈxorxe ˈmaɾjo βerˈɣoɣljo] (Spanish),
[bɛrˈgɔʎːo] (Italian)
-
^ His brother
Alberto died in June 2010.[11]
-
^ This devotion has
since spread to Brazil; according to Regina Novaes of the
Institute of Religious Studies in Rio de Janeiro, it "attracts
people with small problems".[32]
Bergoglio had an image of Mary Untier of Knots inscribed on a
chalice he presented to
Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.[33]
-
^ One source says
that the
gospel was chanted in Greek during the pope's inauguration
Mass in recognition of Bartholomew's historic attendance,[96]
but the Vatican News Service paraphrased
Federico Lombardi of the Vatican Press Office as explaining
that "[t]he Gospel will be proclaimed in Greek, as at the
highest solemnities, to show that the universal Church is
made up of the great traditions of the East and the West."
(emphasis added)[97]
-
^ On the day of his
election, the Vatican clarified that his official papal name was
"Francis", not "Francis I". A Vatican spokesman said that the
name would become Francis I if and when there is a Francis II.[140][146]
-
^
Pope John Paul I, elected in 1978, took a new combination of
already used names, in honour of his two immediate predecessors,
John XXIII and
Paul VI.[147]
-
^ Both in the
Eastern Catholic Churches and in the
Eastern Orthodox Churches, married men can be ordained to
the priesthood, but priests cannot marry after having been
ordained. See
Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 795