Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was born on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires as the son of Italian settlers, father Mario and mother Regina Sivori. Although he completed his education as a chemical technician, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 11 March 1958. He completed his studies in the humanities in Chile, and in 1963, he graduated in philosophy at the Jesuit college San José in San Miguel, Argentina. Four years later, he graduated from the same course. He was ordained a presbyter on 13 December 1969, and on 22 April 1973, he took his solemn vows in the Society of Jesus.
He was appointed Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina on 31 July 1973. While holding many responsible positions within his religious community in the meantime, Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires on 20 May 1992. He was ordained a bishop on 27 May of the same year, and he chose Miserando atque eligendo as his episcopal motto. On 3 June 1997, the Pope appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires. After the death of Cardinal Quarracino on 28 February 1998, he became Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Primate of Argentina and Ordinary for Eastern Catholics in Argentina who do not have their own ordinary. At the consistory on 21 February 2001, Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal with the titular church of St. Robert Bellarmine. He called on the faithful to donate the money they would have spent on the trip to Rome to the poor. In 2005, he was elected president of the bishops’ conference, and in 2008, he was confirmed for another term. In April 2005, he participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Before his election as pope, he was a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He was elected Pope on 13 March 2013.
During his pontificate, he issued a series of important documents, among which the encyclicals stand out, especially Lumen fidei (2013), Laudato si (2015) and Fratelli tutti (2020), as well as the apostolic exhortations: Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel, 2013), Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love, 2016), Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad, 2018) and Christus Vivit (Christ Lives, 2019). He also proclaimed two jubilee years: the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015–2016) and the Holy Year (2025–2026). It is also worth noting that during his pontificate, six bishops’ synods were held (on the family in 2014 and 2015; on youth in 2018; on the Amazon in 2019; and on synodality in 2025), and that during 44 apostolic journeys, he visited 63 countries across all continents.
Remembered as the pope of hope, the poor and the protector of the small and oppressed, Pope Francis passed away in the Vatican, at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, at 7:35 AM. The funeral was held on Saturday, 26 April 2025, at St. Peter’s Square, and Pope Francis’s body was buried in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
Croatian Bishops’ Conference
