IFAHAMU HISTORIA FUPI YA PAPA FRANCIS 1: JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO

Celebrating Mass in 2008
Papacy began	13 March 2013
Predecessor	Benedict XVI

Francis (/ˈfrænsɨs/, /ˈfrɑːnsɨs/; Latin: Franciscus [franˈtʃiskus]; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936) is current pope of the Catholic Church. He serves as the 266th pope, having been elected on 13 March 2013. In that role, he is both the leader of the Catholic Church and sovereign ruler of the Vatican City State.

A native of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was ordained as a priest in 1969. From 1998 until 2013, he served as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 2001. Elected as pope in 2013 following his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, Bergoglio chose "Francis" as his name. This marked the first time in papal history that this name had been used, and along with Pope John Paul I is one of only two times since Pope Lando's brief 913 reign that a serving pope held a name unused by a predecessor. Francis is both the first Jesuit priest and the first native of the Americas to be elected Pope. He is also the first non-European pope since Syrian-born Pope Gregory III, who died in 741.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of the five children of Italian immigrants Mario José Bergoglio, a railway worker, and his wife, Regina María Sívori, a housewife. As a teenager Bergoglio had a lung removed as a result of an infection. He studied and received a master's degree in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires before he decided to pursue an ecclesiastical career . According to another reference, he graduated from a technical school as a chemical technician, and at the age of 21 decided to become a priest.

Bergoglio entered the Society of Jesus on 11 March 1958 and studied to become a priest at the Jesuit seminary in Villa Devoto. In 1960 Bergoglio obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo San José in San Miguel; in 1964 and 1965 he taught literature and psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada, a high school in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and in 1966 he taught the same courses at the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires.

In 1967, Bergoglio finished his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood on 13 December 1969, by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He attended the Facultades de Filosofía y Teología de San Miguel (Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel), a seminary in San Miguel, Buenos Aires. Bergoglio attained the position of novice master there and became professor of theology.

The Society of Jesus promoted Bergoglio and he served as provincial for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He was transferred in 1980 to become the rector of the seminary in San Miguel, and served in that capacity until 1986. He returned to Argentina to serve as confessor and spiritual director in Córdoba.

Kwa Kusoma Zaidi Juu ya Historia Fupi ya Papa Mpya Jorge Mario Bergoglio BOFYA HAPA