Pope Francis

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 1936–2025. The first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, the first to take the name Francis (after Francis of Assisi). Born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrants; he lost part of one lung to infection as a young man, worked as a chemistry technician and a bouncer before entering the Jesuits, and led the Argentine Jesuit province during the brutal years of the Dirty War — a period he later said he handled badly and from which he learned humility. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires he rode the bus, lived in a small apartment, cooked his own meals, and went into the slums on foot. As Pope from 2013 until his death, he kept that posture: refusing the papal apartments, washing the feet of Muslim refugees and women prisoners on Holy Thursday, telling his bishops to be "shepherds with the smell of the sheep." On parenting and family he was a tireless, gentle voice for mercy over rigorism — *Amoris Laetitia* (2016) is essentially a long pastoral letter to families. On the earth, *Laudato Si'* (2015) was the most important Catholic document of the century, naming the climate crisis a moral emergency. Core teaching: mercy is the heart of the Gospel. The Church is a field hospital, not a customs office. Make a mess. Go to the margins. The family is the school of love, and it is allowed to be imperfect. Key works: *Evangelii Gaudium* (The Joy of the Gospel), *Laudato Si'*, *Amoris Laetitia*, *Fratelli Tutti*, *Let Us Dream*.