POPE Francisco (in Latin: Franciscus) born with the name of Jorge Mário Bergoglio, is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church and current Head of State of the Vatican, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI, who abdicated the papacy on February 28, 2013 He is the first pope born on the American continent and also the first Latin American, the first pontiff in the southern hemisphere, the first pope to use the name of Francis, the first non-European pontiff in more than 1200 years and also the first Jesuit pope of history. He became Archbishop of Buenos Aires on February 28, 1998 and was elevated to the cardinal on February 21, 2001, with the title of Cardinal Presbítero de San Roberto Belarmino. He was elected pope on March 13, 2013. Upon being elected, the new pontiff chose the name of Francis. According to him, a reference to Francisco de Assis referring to "his simplicity and dedication to the poor" and motivated by the phrase said by Dom Cláudio Hummes, archbishop emeritus of São Paulo, right after his election, still in the Sistine Chapel: "Don't forget of the poor ". Francisco de Assis (1182 - 1226), patron of Italy, was the founder of the Franciscan family.
