PICTURES: From fresh-faced schoolboy to leader of 1.2 billion Catholics: Pope Francis 1

He has been thrust into the public spotlight since taking on the role as head of the Catholic Church.

Yet the early years of Pope Francis I remain somewhat of an unknown with most of the focus rightly centred on his life in the church.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires into a middle-class family of seven in 1936, his father a railway worker and his mother a housewife.

 

 

Little is know about his life as a child and latterly as a teenager, but judging by these pictures, he was a pleasant, family-orientated, well-turned out young man.
As a sixth-grade pupil, Bergoglio attended Don Bosco school on Avenida de Mayo 1800 in Ramos Mejia, and decided to continue his quest for higher education.
He holds a degree as a chemical technician, but then chose the priesthood and entered the seminary of Villa Devoto.

 

He became a priest at 32, nearly a decade after losing a lung due to respiratory illness and quitting his chemistry studies.
Despite his late start, he was leading the local Jesuit community within four years, holding the post from 1973 to 1979.

From 1980 to 1986 he was rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel as well as pastor of the Patriarca San Jose parish in the Diocese of San Miguel. In March of 1986 he went to Germany to finish his doctoral thesis.

Flashback: Jorge Mario Bergoglio (circled) attended Don Bosco school as a sixth grade pupil

Young buck: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, circled, stands at the top of the tree with friends and classmates

 

The superiors then sent him to the University of El Salvador and then to Cordoba where he served as a confessor and spiritual director.
On 20 May 1992, John Paul II appointed him titular Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires.
On June 3, 1997 he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires and succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarracino on 28 February 1998.
During his time as Archbishop in his home city, his humility and 'man of the people' nature was all to evident as he travelled to some of the poorer parts of Buenos Aires delivering mass to communities.

He refused to sample any luxuries in his life - he lived in a modest apartment, and often chose to use public transport to attend engagements, meetings and masses.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Blessed John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 2001, of the Title of S. Roberto Bellarmino (St. Robert Bellarmine).

Student: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, circled, studied chemistry before joining the priesthood

Humble: Pope Francis has come a long way since his days of graduating in chemistry

 

Pope Francis has been described by commentators as a voice of conscience and a reconciler.

Classed by some as a moderniser of a strict South American church, he is still conservative and an opponent of such ideas as gay marriage.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the third Pontiff in a row who is not from Italy and the first in more than a millennium from outside Europe.

Warm welcome: Newly elected Pope Francis and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina waves from the steps of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome yesterday

 

His election to the Papacy signals the importance of the burgeoning strength of the church in Latin America and in Africa, now home to a growing proportion of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

The election of the first Jesuit to the Papacy also represents the triumph of the order founded nearly 500 years ago, which has for centuries concentrated on mission around the globe, and particularly in the Americas.

The Vatican said he chose the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, who formed the Franciscan order, saying that the new Pope is a 'lover of the poor'.

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