Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. He has been the bishop of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and sovereign of the
Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. Francis is the first
pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
to be a member of the
Society of Jesus, the first from the
Americas, the first from the
Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since
Gregory III, a Syrian who reigned in the 8th century.
Born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...
, Bergoglio worked for a time as a
bouncer and a
janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a
food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness, he was inspired to join the
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1958. He was ordained a
Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit
p