Pope Francis: 14 Facts You Should Know about the Former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

NewsFeed presents a quick primer on the 266th Pope.

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Newly elected Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on Mar. 13, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican.

Here’s a primer on Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who became the first South American Pope this afternoon.

  • As the Archbishop of Buenos Aires he turned down the opportunity to live in the palatial Archibishop’s residence, opting for a spartan apartment instead.
  • He only has one lung. His second got infected when he was a teenager, and it had to be removed.
  • Shortly before the 2005 Conclave that ultimately elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Bergoglio, accusing him of having been complicit in the 1976 kidnappings of two priests, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, by Argentina’s military dictatorship. Bergoglio, who had been superior of the Society of Jesus of Argentina at the time, completely denied the claim.

MORE: Habemus Papam: Pope Francis, the First Pontiff from South America