HERE are some facts about the new Pope:
- Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of five children born to an Italian railway worker and his wife
- He speaks Spanish, Italian and German.
- He reportedly had a lung removed when he was a teenager due to an infection.
- He rides a bus to work, wears an ordinary priest’s robe and lives with an older priest in a simple apartment where he cooks his own meals, rather than live at the luxurious residence he was entitled to as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
- He has written books on spirituality and meditation and has been outspoken against abortion and same-sex marriages, according to the Catholic News Service.
- He is the first Jesuit to be named a pope. He entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained in 1969 during his theological studies at the Theological Faculty of San Miguel.
- He has chosen the name Francis — the first time in papal history that name has been used.
- He is the first pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than 1,000 years.
- Even though he has no Vatican experience, he becomes the 266th pontiff in the Roman Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history.
- He was the second choice of the conclave that elected Joseph Ratzinger, known as Benedict XVI, as pope eight years ago.
