Francis was appointed Archbishop of Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1998, and made a cardinal in 2001 by St. John Paul II. After the resignation of Benedict XVI and his election as Successor of Peter (the 266th) in the conclave of 2013, he was the third oldest Pope to rule the Catholic Church (88 years old), after Leo XIII, who reached the age of 93, and Agathon, of the 7th century, who supposedly reached the age of 102,
Vitality
With his abilities and great willpower, despite his health problems, the Argentine Pope has maintained his intense agenda commitments to the Synod on Synodality and the Jubilee of Hope 2025 until very recently.
As a true reflection of his vitality, on June 22, 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, at the age of 84, he released his Message for the First World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, which he convoked and which was celebrated that same year on July 25, around the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne (July 26). At the Journey of 2024 presided over a festive gathering with thousands of grandparents, grandchildren and elderly people, aged 87.
Latest autobiographies
In recent years, Pope Francis, perhaps feeling the weight of age, has been giving some journalists long interviews in a genre that could be considered autobiographical.
In this line are 'Life. My Story Through History' (Harper Collins), with Vaticanist Fabio Marchese. And recently, 'Hope'. (Penguin Random House), also by Italian Carlo Musso, in which the Pope recounts episodes from his childhood and adolescence, and two failed attacks during his trip to Iraq, for example.
Son of emigrants, Jesuit priest, bishop, cardinal
Your biography The official Vatican official points out, as is well known, that Pope Francis was born on December 17, 1936, the son of Piedmontese emigrants, and had five siblings. His father, Mario, was an accountant and a railroad employee, and his mother, Regina Sivori, took care of the house and the education of the five children. The quality of emigrant would mark him all his life, and in a special way in his years of Pontificate.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio graduated as a chemical technician, and perceived the call to the priesthoodHe entered the diocesan seminary of Villa Devoto. After his novitiate and studies, he obtained a licentiate in theology and was ordained a priest on December 13, 1969.
He then continued his preparation in the Society of Jesus in Alcalá de Henares (Spain), and on April 22, 1973, he made his perpetual profession. Back in Argentina, Fr. Bergoglio was elected provincial of the Jesuits, completed his doctoral thesis in Germany and, upon his return, became spiritual director and confessor.
Cardinal Antonio Quarracino called him as his collaborator in Buenos Aires and St. John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992. He chose as his motto 'Miserando atque eligendo' (He looked at him with mercy and chose him). In 1998, after the cardinal's death, he succeeded him as archbishop and primate of Argentina, and in 2001, Pope Wojtyla created him a cardinal.
Premonitory facts
In his years as cardinal, some significant events can be highlighted.
1) In October 2001, after 9/11, he was deputy general rapporteur for the tenth ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the episcopal ministry. At the Synod he emphasized the "prophetic mission of the bishop".
2) In April 2005 he participated in the conclave in which Benedict XVI was elected, and over the years it was leaked that he was the second most voted cardinal, after Ratzinger.
Aparecida, Brazil
3) The V General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean was held from May 13 to 31, 2007, at the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Imaculada Conceiçâo Aparecida, in Brazil.
Cardinal Bergoglio participated as president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference and was elected president of the Editorial Commission. The theme of the assembly was 'Disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ so that our people may have life in Him'.
Years later, already elected Pope, on his apostolic trip to Brazil for World Youth Day in July 2013, Francis would say. to the Brazilian bishops that "the Church always has a pressing need not to forget the lesson of Aparecida, she cannot neglect it (...). God wants to manifest himself precisely through our means, poor means, because it is always He who acts".
4) In the meetings of cardinals prior to the conclave of 2013, to elect the successor to Benedict XVI, Cardinal Bergoglio had some brief decisive intervention, according to what has been leaked. Therein lay the germ of the Evangelii gaudiumits programmatic exhortation.
The Papacy
Several cardinals and theologians have described his pontificate as "pastoral". Here, one can simply recall his outcry in Lampedusa in the face of the "globalization of indifference" regarding migrants (July 11, 2013), his encyclicals, his denunciation of abusesthe clamor for the poor and by peace to wars, interreligious dialogue, canonizations, or some key words that summarize his years as Pastor of the Universal Church. For example, nine o'clock mentioned by the editor of Omnes in Rome, Giovanni Tridente, a couple of years ago, which perhaps now would become 10, with the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 has begun. May Pope Francis rest in peace.
