The Joy of Discipleship

Pope Francis I was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was Argentina's Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus. He became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and was created a Cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on February 28, 2013, Bergoglio was elected as his successor by a papal enclave. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis is the first Jesuit Pope, the first Pope from the Americas and the first non-European Pope since Pope Gregory III in 741.

The Church of Mercy was collected from Pope Francis's speeches, homilies and papers presented during the first year of his papacy. and details his vision for the Catholic Church.

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