Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first Jesuit pope, the first one that comes from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, the first one who visited the Arabian Peninsula, and the first pope that comes outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III, who was the pope in the 8th century. And if you want to know more about Pope Francis, his life, sayings and what’s his net worth keep reading.
Еаrlу Lіfе of Pope Francis
Pope Francis was born on 17 December 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His birth name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was one of five children their parents had. But today Pope Francis has only one sibling still alive, his sister, Maria Elena Bergoglio.
He attended the technical secondary school Escuela Tecnica Industrial, where he graduated and got his chemical technician diploma. For a couple of years, he worked as a chemist in the foods section at Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory. He was also working as a bouncer in a bar and as a janitor.
He had severe health problems, he had pneumonia and three cysts, and a part of his lung was excised, but he managed to survive.
The career of Pope Francis
We already mentioned that Pope Francis had a lot of different jobs before he became a priest, he worked as a bouncer, a janitor, and a chemist. But his interest in priesthood happened accidentally. He was passing by a church and he heard a priest talk and it caught his attention. He was very influenced by this priest and he started to have an interest in the priesthood. He then went to Immaculate Conception Seminary in Villa Devotion.
After three years, on 11 March 1958, he entered the Society of Jesus as a novice. He then studied humanities in Santiago, Chile, as a Jesuit novice. He officially became a Jesuit on 12 March 1960. He made the religious profession of the initial, perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience of a member of the order.
He got his licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Maximo de San Jose in San Miguel, Buenos Aires, in 1960. He taught psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion, a high school in Santa Fe, from 1964 to 1965. And in 1966, he was teaching at the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires.
The next year, in 1967, he finished his theological studies and he was ordained to the priesthood two years after that, in 1969. He then attended the Facultades de Filosofia y Teologia de San Miguel. He also served as the master of novices for that province and he became a professor of theology.
His final stage of spiritual training as a Jesuit was completed at Alcala de Henares in Spain. He took his fourth and final vow, a vow made to the pope, in the Society of Jesus in 1973. That same year he was named provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Argentina and he served there until 1979. In 1980 he was named the rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel in San Miguel.
He was named Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and he was ordained as Titular Bishop of Auca. On 3 June 1997, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires with right of automatic succession. The next year current Archbishop died, so Bergoglio became the Metropolitan Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
He became a cardinal in 2001, created by Pope John Paul II. As a cardinal, he was appointed to five administrative positions in the Roman Curia.
He was elected as a pope at the age of 76, in 2013. Even though he was a favorite in the 2005 pope elections it was a surprise that he was chosen, because the relationship between the Society of Jesus and the Holy See was tense. He is the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, but he has European ethnicity.
He chose the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, who changed history and brought to Christianity the idea of poverty against the luxury.
Pope Francis Net Worth
The net worth of Pope Francis is estimated to be around $20 million. Everything that he owns he earned as both being a priest and a pope. He worked his entire life before becoming a pope.
