Who was Pope Francis? – Nova Makedonija

The birthplace of Pope Francis, who died this morning, was Jorge Mario Bergolio. He was born on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from an Italian immigrant worker at the railway and was one of the five children in the family – three boys and two girls. His family comes from Piedmont, near Asti in northern Italy. Jorge Mario Bergoglio graduated from chemistry, then chose the path of worship and entered the diocesan seminaries at Villa Devo. On March 11, 1958. He joined the company of Jesus (Jesuit Order). As a young man, when he was 21, he was operated on and had a large part of one of the pulmonary wing affected by infection.

He graduated in Chile in 1963. He returned to Argentina, where he graduated a philosophy at St Joseph’s College in San Miguel. From 1964 to 1965 he taught literature and psychology at the Immaculate Conception in Santa Fe, and in 1966 he was a teacher in the same subjects at the College of « Protest Savior » in Buenos Aires. From 1967 to 1970 he studied theology and received a degree from St Joseph College.

In 1969 he was ordained a priest. In 1970 he had different positions in Argentina’s Jesuit order. In the period 1980-1986 he was a rector of the Faculty of Philosophy and theology at the San Jose College in San Miguel. After that, he lived in Spain and Germany for some time. After his doctorate, he returned to Argentina and served Cordoba in Argentina. In 1992 he was appointed Bishop of Buenos Aires and ordained bishop. In June 1997 he became an associate (bishop with the right to inherit the diocese) of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and since February 1998 he has become a archbishop of Buenos Aires – the first Jesuit to take such a high position and bishop of Eastern Ritual in Argentina. « My herd are poor people and I’m one of them, » said future Pope Francis more than once to explain his decision to live in a simple apartment and prepare for a dinner. He has always advised his priests to show mercy and apostolic courage and hold their doors open to all.

In February 2001, he was named Cardinal by Pope John Paul II with the title of Cardinal Cardinal San Roberto Belarmino Church. He was a member of the Congregation of the Priesthood, the Congregation for Divine Service and the Discipline of the Holy Mysteries, the Congregation for Institutes for Dedicated Life and Society of Apostolic Life, as well as a member of the Latin America Commission and the Papal Council for the Family. From 2005 to 2011 he is president of the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church in Argentina. He spoke fluent Italian and German.

On March 13, 2013. 76-year-old Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergolio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, has been elected 266th, choosing Francis for his papal name. He is the first pope of the American continent, the first member of the Jesuit order of the throne of St. Peter and the first pope with the name of St. Fracisk of Assisi.

« I am a great sinner, but I believe in God’s permissiveness and patience, and in the suffering I accept (to become a pope), » said the Armenic Aires Aires Jorge Mario Bergolio, when asked by the cardinals in the conclave if she accepts to be the next pope. At his first press conference, he also explained why he chose to take the name Franjo, reminiscent of the example of St. Francis from Assisi, which became a symbol of peace, feat and serving of the poor.

On March 17, 2013. Pope Francis appears for the first time on the balcony of his future Vatican apartment to utter his first traditional weekly prayer angelic prayer before a crowd of 150,000 people in St. Peter’s Square. In it he himself defines the three main directions of his service – to be solidarity with the poor, to work for peace and to defend God’s creation, which besides people covers all living creatures and all nature.

Pope Francis was officially enthroned on March 19, 2013 on St. Joseph’s day, the patron of the Catholic Church, in the St. Peter Basilica. Hundreds of thousands of choirs, representatives of 33 Christian churches and 132 governments and international organizations, attend the liturgy at St. Peter Square. During the ceremony, Francis gets two papal attributes: pallium (white woolen strip on which six baptisms are exported) and « fishing ring », made for each pope. On April 7, 2013, with the Liturgy, which is served in the Papal Basilica « St. John the Later », Pope Francis has officially assumed the other Uliga – Bishop of Rome.

The style of Pope Francis was distinguished by his modesty – he did not live in the huge papal rooms in the Apostolic Palace, but in a modest apartment in the Vatican’s guest building. In addition, he preferred to move with Ford Focus instead of the traditional « Merzedes » for his predecessors. He was a fierce fan of the Argentine football team « San Lorenzo », one of the largest and most popular clubs in the country, and it is known that he used public transport in Buenos Aires for many years, when he was there in Archbishop.

Over the years, Pope Francis has repeatedly taken charities for homeless, refugees, poor and prisoners. Shower cabins for the homeless were built on his initiative near St. Peter. He was constantly visiting his prisons and washing the feet of the prisoners at a traditional Great ceremony Thursday before Easter, as he repeatedly emphasized that the mission of Christianity is to help vulnerable and marginalized.