Posted on 03/13/2013 2:51:09 PM PDT by Morgana
March 13, 2013 (ActonInstitute) - Early today, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina was elected as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church. Here are nine things you should know about Pope Francis.
1. Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires in 1936. His father was an Italian immigrant
2. Hes the first pope from South America. The only remaining continents that have never had a pope come from their lands are Australia, Antarctica, and North America.
3. Hes the first Jesuit pope.
4. He only has one lung. His other lung was removed due to infection when he was a teenager
5. Bergoglio is known for his personal simplicity. In Argentina he lived in a simple apartment rather than the archbishops palace, cooked his own meals, and gave up his chauffeured limousine in favor of taking the bus to work.
6. In 2010, when Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage, Bergoglio encouraged clergy across the country to tell Catholics to protest against the legislation because, if enacted, it could seriously injure the family and that gay adoption would be depriving (children) of the human growth that God wanted them given by a father and a mother.
7. He studied and received a masters degree in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires, but later decided to become a Jesuit priest and studied liberal arts at the Catholic seminary in Santiago, Chile.
8. At the age of 76, Francis is the ninth oldest pope of those elected after 1295. (Benedict, who was elected at the age of 78, was fifth oldest.)
9. Last year, Bergoglio compared Catholic priests who refused to baptize the children of unwed mothers to the Pharisees of Jesus day. These are todays hypocrites. Those who clericalize the Church, he said, adding, Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.
Hello, friend. It’s always nice to see you here.
Good to see you, Tri. What I’ve read so far is impressive. I especially like the part about gay marriage robbing kids of their right to a mother and father. That is hard core!
The only part I’d like more info on is: “Over the years, Bergoglio became close to the Comunione e Liberazione movement founded by Italian Fr. Luigi Giussani, “
Thank you for this, Bronx. As a Catholic who believes firmly and proudly in the Church’s traditional teachings related to social justice, I have been rolling it over and over in my head how to say just what you’ve posted here. As the article states so well, a Pope without a commitment to the poor and most downtrodden among us would be as much of an anathema to the Holy See as a pro-abortion Pontiff would be. His Holiness Francis has both talked this talk and walked this walk, so to speak, and he seems to live his life by St. Francis’ exhortation to “share the Gospel constantly, and if necessary use words.” Viva Francis! Viva La Chiesa!
I don’t have to be a Catholic to wish this new Pope the very best and to pray for him. He has undertaken an enormous responsibility.
Unfettered capitalism is an enemy of good because it replaces the love of God and one’s compassion of one’s fellow man with a love of the things of the world and a contempt for the suffering of others.
Consumerism and a disregard for the moral health of society is part of the dictatorship of relativism. The Right is no less guilty of it than the Left. A moral and a just society fears God and teaches others to do right by Him and their fellow men.
Without it, there will never be justice on earth.
keyboard spew alert
I believe there have been three or four Popes from Africa.
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