CrucisPope Francis
Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the son of Italian immigrants. He entered the Society of Jesus, becoming the first Jesuit to be elected pope, and served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and a cardinal before his election in March 2013. He was the first pope from the Americas and the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and he took his name from St. Francis of Assisi, signaling his devotion to poverty, simplicity, and peace.
His pontificate was marked by an insistent emphasis on the mercy of God, on the Church's care for the poor, the migrant, and the marginalized, and on the protection of creation, notably in his encyclical Laudato Si'. Living simply and preferring a pastoral and missionary style, he called the Church to go out to the peripheries and to be a "field hospital" for wounded souls, while working to reform the Roman Curia. He guided the Church until his death in 2025.
Selected quotes
“You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That is how prayer works.”
“Encounter before you judge, draw near before you speak; the Gospel is not a theory but a closeness that heals.”
“The name of God is mercy; He never tires of forgiving us, it is we who tire of asking for His forgiveness.”