Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 facts about Pope Francis
5 facts about Pope Francis
Jan 18, 2026 8:37 PM

Five years ago today, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina was elected as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church. Here are five facts you should know about Pope Francis on his fifth anniversary.

1. Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires in 1936. His father, an Italian immigrant, was an accountant and his mother was a homemaker. He had two brothers and two sisters.Chosen at the age of 76, Francis is the ninth oldest pope of those elected after 1295. (Benedict, who was elected at the age of 78, was fifth oldest.) He took the name “Francis” in honor ofSaint Francis of Assisi.

2. Francis is the first Jesuit pope and the first pope from South America. (The only remaining continents that have never had a e from their lands are Australia, Antarctica, and North America.) He wasthe first non-European pope in 1,000 years.

3.He studied and received a master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires, but later decided to e a Jesuit priest and studied liberal arts at the Catholic seminary in Santiago, Chile.

4. He only hasone lung. His other lung was removed due to infection when he was a teenager.

5. Francis is known for hispersonal simplicity. In Argentina he lived in a simple apartment rather than the archbishop’s palace, cooked his own meals, and gave up his chauffeured limousine in favor of taking the bus to work. At the Vatican, Francis rejected the typical papal apartment for the less formal St. Martha’s House, where he lives among fellow priests. He reportedly used to drive around the Vatican grounds in a1984 Renault 4 that had 190,000 miles on the odometer when it was donated by a priest.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
6 Quotes: Free Expression, Religious Freedom, and the Masterpiece Cakeshop Ruling
Earlier today the Supreme Court handed down a ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the most important religious freedom case of the year. Despite being a win for the bakery and its owner, Jack Phillips, the future implications of this case for religious liberty are rather narrow in scope. “In this case the adjudication concerned a context that may well be different going forward in the respects noted above,” said the Court. “However later cases raising these...
Physical capital and diminishing returns
Note: This is post #81 in a weekly video series on basic economics. How did Germany and Japan achieve record economic growth following World War II? A primary reason is physical capital. In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Alex Tabarrok explains two specific concepts that deal with physical capital and the success of Germany and Japan. The first is the iron logic of diminishing returns which states that, for each new input of capital, there is less and less...
6 facts about the brewing U.S.-EU trade war
Late last week, President Donald Trump announced he would impose steel and aluminum tariffs against U.S. allies across the transatlantic sphere. Here are the facts you need to know: President Trump applied a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum against the European Union, as well as NAFTA trade partners Canada and Mexico. The tariffs, originally targeting China in March on the grounds of national security, contained an exemption for U.S. allies. Last Thursday, Trump...
Unemployment as economic-spiritual indicator — May 2018 report
Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...
Want to ‘change the world’? Embrace the glories of economic scale
As the latest crop of college graduates enters the workforce, many ing fully loaded with grandiose plans for “social transformation,” “giving back to munities,” and “making a difference.” Unfortunately, such phrases have e slippery slogans based on a cultural imagination that is far too narrow in its basic assumptions. Whether spurred along by the idealism of college professors, the hurrahs of mencement speeches, or the hedonistic calls of cultural tropes (“follow your passion!”), today’s youth are often clouded with a...
Winners of 2018 Mini-Grants on Free Market Economics
The Acton Institute Mini-Grants on Free Market Economics program accepts proposals from faculty members at colleges, seminaries, and universities in the United States and Canada in order to promote the scholarship and teaching of market economics. This program allows for collaboration between faculty from different universities, as well as help future leaders to emerge, strengthen, and expand the existing network of scholars within economics. Entrants may submit proposals in two broad categories: course development and faculty scholarship. Here is plete...
How eschatology transforms our economic action
As the church continues to navigate the challenges of the modern economy, we’ve seen a renewed recognition of the “earthiness” of our God-given callings—embracing the mundane and material aspects of our daily work and rejecting the “sacred-secular divide.” Yet in our earnest efforts to e more “earthly minded” for heavenly good, we face new temptations toward a different sort of lopsidedness. In an article for FULLER Studio, Vincent Bacote reminds us of this risk, recognizing the need for balance and...
6 Quotes: G.K. Chesterton on freedom and virtue
Yesterday was the 144th birthday of G.K. Chesterton. In his honor, here are six quotes by the great British writer on freedom and virtue. On defending virtue: “The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” On modern freedom: “Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.” On courage:...
France’s 200 roads to serfdom
One of Europe’s most robust welfare states may be proving that government intervention and true social solidarity are inimical forces. Many economic interventionists on both sides of the Atlantic cite the Catholic social teaching of “solidarity” – or, at least, their own conception of it – to justify far-reaching government policies of wealth confiscation and redistribution. The British philosopher Julian Baggini wrote in The Guardian that “Tax Freedom Day” should be celebrated as “Social Solidarity Day.” But heavy-handed government policy...
Why tariffs and protectionism makes Americans poorer
Earlier today President Trump imposed tariffs on imported steel (25 percent) and aluminum (10 percent) from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Not surprisingly, the tariffs triggered immediate retaliation from U.S. allies against American businesses and farmers. “This is protectionism, pure and simple,” said Jean-Claude Junker, president of the European Commission.Junker is correct. The tariffs are are a form of protectionism that is frequently proposed by populists and Democrats. But what is wrong with protectionism? The short answer is that...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved