!colspan="2" style="background:#306EFF;text-align:center"|'''<big>Pope Francis</big>'''
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|[[File:Card. Jorge Bergoglio SJ, 2008.jpg|right|200px|thumb|His Holiness, Pope Francis.]]
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|Papacy Began: 13 March 2013
In religion: Holy Father
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His Holiness '''Pope Francis''' (formerly '''Jorge Mario Bergoglio''', born December 17, 1936, in [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]]) became the [[Pope]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] on March 13, 2013. Pope Francis, elected as 266th Roman Catholic pontiff, is the first Jesuit and the first Latin American pope; First non-European pope in 1300 years. He succeeded Pope [[Benedict XVI]], to whom he was reportedly the runner-up in the papal election of 2005. <ref name="popesuccession">[http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-pope-succession-bergoglio-idUSBRE92C15X20130313 Reuters: ''Pope Succession'']</ref> Archbishop Bergoglio was created a cardinal by the late [[Pope John Paul II]].
== Background ==