Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936. His family had Piedmontese roots; he was the eldest of five children. His father, Mario, worked for the railways and emigrated to Buenos Aires in 1928; his mother, Regina Maria Sivori, was a homemaker. After qualifying as a chemical technician, he decided to enter the seminary and began his novitiate in the Society of Jesus in 1958. He completed humanities studies in Chile and graduated in philosophy in Buenos Aires in 1963. From 1964 to 1966 he taught literature and psychology in Santa Fe and Buenos Aires. He was ordained a priest on 13 December 1969.
Between 1970 and 1971 he continued his formation in Spain. On returning to Argentina, he taught at Villa Barilari College in San Miguel, was a professor at the faculty of theology, and served as rector of the college. In 1973 he took perpetual vows as a Jesuit and became provincial superior in Argentina. From 1980 to 1986 he was rector of the San José college, then went to Germany to complete his doctoral thesis. He later worked at the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires and at the Jesuit church of the Society of Jesus in Córdoba.
In 1992 John Paul II appointed him titular bishop of Auca and auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires; in 1993 he became vicar general for the Flores district. He was named coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1997 and became archbishop and primate of Argentina in 1998. John Paul II created him a cardinal in 2001. From 2005 to 2011 he served as president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference.
He was elected pope on 13 March 2013 and chose the name Francis, in reference to Saint Francis of Assisi. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first non-European since Gregory III, and the first pope from the Americas.
The next pontificate: Leo XIV.