Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires in Argentina on 17 December 1936, the son of Italian immigrants. His father Mario was an accountant employed by the railways and his mother, Regina Sivori, was a committed wife dedicated to raising their five children. He graduated as a chemical technician and then chose the path of the priesthood, entering the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto. On 11 March 1958 he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. On 13 December 1969 he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano of Córdoba.

On 31 July 1973 he was appointed Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina, an office he held for six years. He then worked in the university sector and from 1980 to 1986 served as Rector of the Colegio de San José as well as parish priest in San Miguel. On 20 May 1992 Pope St John Paul II appointed him titular Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires. Seven days later he received episcopal ordination from Cardinal Cardinal Antonio Quarracino of Buenos Aires. He chose as his episcopal motto, miserando atque eligendo, and on his coat of arms inserted the IHS, the symbol of the Society of Jesus. On 3 June 1997, he was raised to the dignity of Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He he succeeded to the see on 28 February 1998, as Archbishop and Primate of Argentina. Three years later at the Consistory of 21 February 2001, Pope St John Paul II created him Cardinal, assigning him the church of San Roberto Bellarmino in Rome. Following the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio was elected Supreme Pontiff on 13 March 2013 taking the name Francis in honour of St Francis of Assisi.

Source: L'Osservatore Romano, Year LXIII, number 12