Here are some key dates in the life of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope, who died on Monday.
Vatican City, Holy See–Here are some key dates in the life of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope, who died on Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88.
– December 17, 1936: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is born in Buenos Aires to an accountant and a housewife from an Italian emigrant family.
READ: Pope Francis has died, Vatican says
– September 21, 1953: Receives his calling to become a priest. He later described being moved to go to church while heading to a school event, a day that “changed my life”.
– 1957: Undergoes an operation to remove part of his lung.
– March 11, 1958: After studying chemical engineering at university, he joins the Jesuit order as a novice.
– December 13, 1969: Ordained as a priest. On July 31, 1973, he becomes leader of Argentina’s Jesuits, a position he holds for six years.
– 1980: Amid tensions in the Jesuit order, returns to work as parish priest and rector at a college in San Miguel, near the capital. In 1986 he goes to Germany and later, Argentina’s second city Cordoba. He returns to Buenos Aires in 1992 as auxiliary bishop.
– February 28, 1998: Appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires.
– February 21, 2001: Made cardinal by John-Paul II.
