50 Fun Facts About Pope Francis

Pope Francis was born in 1936 in which country?

He was the first pope from the Americas and the first born outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III in the eighth century.

What was Pope Francis's birth name?

The other three names belong to popes of the twentieth century.

Francis was the first pope from which religious order?

He entered the Society of Jesus as a novice on 11 March 1958 and took final vows in 1973.

Francis was elected pope on 13 March of which year?

The conclave followed the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years.

On his election in 2013, Francis chose his papal name in honour of which saint?

Brazilian Cardinal Cláudio Hummes had embraced him during the voting and whispered, "Don't forget the poor."

Whose resignation led to the conclave that elected Francis?

Francis referred to him from the balcony as "the bishop emeritus of Rome" and asked the crowd to pray for him.

In which Buenos Aires neighbourhood was Bergoglio born?

He was the eldest of five children of an Italian immigrant accountant and a Buenos Aires-born housewife.

Bergoglio's father emigrated from which region of Italy?

The family left Italy in 1929 to escape Mussolini's fascism, not for economic reasons, according to his sister.

Bergoglio graduated from technical secondary school with a diploma qualifying him as what?

He then worked in the food section of a laboratory, and earlier had been a bouncer and a janitor.

Which of these jobs did the young Bergoglio hold before the priesthood?

He also worked as a janitor and in the food section of the Hickethier-Bachmann laboratory.

At 21, after life-threatening pneumonia, Bergoglio had part of which organ removed?

Doctors later said the excision did not significantly affect his health, though it reduced his respiratory reserve.

As a Jesuit novice, Bergoglio studied the humanities in which country?

He took his initial perpetual vows on 12 March 1960.

Bergoglio was ordained a priest in which year?

Archbishop Ramón José Castellano ordained him on 13 December, four days before his 33rd birthday.

Bergoglio's 1973 pilgrimage to Jerusalem was cut short by the outbreak of which war?

That July he had been named Jesuit provincial superior of his home country for a six-year term.

Bergoglio spent the first three months of 1980 in which country, learning English?

He stayed at the Jesuit centre at Dublin's Milltown Institute before becoming rector at San Miguel.

Bergoglio's unfinished doctoral research in Frankfurt focused on which theologian?

He returned home early to serve as confessor to the Jesuit community in Córdoba.

Bergoglio's episcopal motto, Miserando atque eligendo, was drawn from a homily by which saint?

It means "because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him," from Bede's homily on the calling of Matthew.

Bergoglio became archbishop of Buenos Aires in which year?

He succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, and doubled the number of priests working in the city's slums.

Bergoglio's work in the shantytowns of Buenos Aires earned him what nickname?

The Spanish is "villero bishop"; he also rode public transport and cooked his own meals.

Which pope made Bergoglio a cardinal in 2001?

His titular church was San Roberto Bellarmino; he limited his Rome trips to "lightning visits."

Per a leaked cardinal's diary, how many votes did Bergoglio get on the third ballot of the 2005 conclave?

He is said to have fallen back to 26 on the decisive fourth ballot after pleading with cardinals not to vote for him.

On which ballot of the 2013 conclave was Francis elected?

It was the second day of the conclave; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran made the Habemus papam announcement.

With what single Italian word did Francis greet St Peter's Square on the night of his election?

He described himself as a pope from almost the end of the world.

On his first balcony appearance, Francis declined which traditional garment?

He also kept the iron pectoral cross he had worn as archbishop instead of a gold one.

Instead of the papal apartments, Francis chose to live where?

He rode back there on the minibus with the cardinals the night he was elected, and died there in 2025.

Had he been elected in 2005, Bergoglio said he would have taken which papal name?

He wanted to honour John XXIII, "the Good Pope"; in 2013 cardinals jokingly suggested Adrian or Clement.

Francis was the first pope since which 10th-century pontiff to take a name never used by a predecessor?

The Vatican clarified he was simply "Francis," with no regnal number.

On his first Holy Thursday as pope, Francis washed juvenile offenders' feet at which Rome detention facility?

Two of the twelve were young women and two were Muslim, a first for a papal foot-washing.

Francis's first encyclical, Lumen fidei, was largely written by whom?

It awaited a final draft when his predecessor retired; Francis published it in June 2013.

Francis's 2015 encyclical on care for the planet is titled what?

The title, "Praise be to you," comes from the Canticle of the Sun.

Which 2016 apostolic exhortation on love in the family provoked a formal dubia from four cardinals?

The row concerned whether divorced and remarried Catholics could receive communion.

Francis's 2020 encyclical on fraternity and social friendship is called what?

It repeated that capital punishment is inadmissible and that "there can be no stepping back from this position."

In 2018 Francis revised the Catechism to declare which practice "inadmissible" in all cases?

He committed the Church to work for its abolition worldwide.

Francis's Special Jubilee Year of Mercy ran from December 2015 to November of which year?

He announced it in the papal bull Misericordiae Vultus, "The Face of Mercy."

Francis's famous 2013 remark about gay priests, made to journalists on a plane, was what?

It became one of his most quoted statements; he later permitted non-liturgical blessings of same-sex couples.

Francis helped broker the 2014 restoration of US diplomatic relations with which country?

Obama asked for his help during a March 2014 visit; Ottawa was the other behind-the-scenes broker.

In February 2019 Francis became the first pope to celebrate Mass where?

More than 120,000 people attended at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

In March 2021 Francis met Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in which country?

On the same trip he visited Ur, traditionally the birthplace of Abraham.

In July 2022, Francis apologised in which country for the Church's role in residential schools?

He described the Church's role there as "cultural genocide."

Francis was the first pope to take part in a summit of which group of leading economies?

Speaking in Italy, he warned about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the risks of artificial intelligence.

Which Argentine football club did Francis support all his life?

His father had played in the club's basketball department; the team brought him replica trophies in 2013 and 2014.

Time magazine named Francis Person of the Year in which year?

The Advocate did the same, Esquire called him best-dressed man, and Rolling Stone put him on its cover in January 2014.

On which platform did Francis become the first pope with an account in 2016, gaining a million followers in 12 hours?

In 2020 he also became the first pope to write a New York Times op-ed.

Francis's spiritual testament asked that he be buried in which Roman basilica?

He became the first pope interred there since Clement IX in 1669.

Francis died on Easter Monday 2025 at what age?

His last public appearance had been his Easter Sunday address the day before, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

What was the medical cause of Francis's death?

He had spent more than a month in Gemelli Hospital that February and March with bilateral pneumonia.

Who was elected as Francis's successor on 8 May 2025?

Robert Francis Prevost, whom Francis had made a cardinal in 2023, is the first pope from the United States.

The nine-day mourning period that followed Francis's death is known by what Latin name?

His funeral was held on 26 April 2025; the conclave began on 7 May.

In April 2016 Francis visited the Moria refugee camp on which Greek island?

He went with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronimos II of Athens to highlight the European migrant crisis.

Which 2021 apostolic letter reversed Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum and restricted the Latin Mass?

Issued motu proprio in July 2021, it was among the most contested moves of his pontificate among traditionalists.