This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Saint Mary's chapter.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a.k.a. Pope Francis, is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. With his visit to the United States this September, Her Campus Saint Mary’s offers a few neat facts about His Holiness. You may even be surprised to hear some of them!
1. In his early life, Bergoglio worked as a bar bouncer to help pay for his studies before entering the seminary.
2. He is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European pope since the Syrian Gregory III in 741.
3. The native Argentinian is a big fan of tango and soccer.
4. Unlike his predecessors, Francis chooses humility above luxury possessions. He chooses to ride in a Ford Focus while previously others have chosen to ride in a Mercedes or a custom built Renault.
5. He often leaves the Vatican at night to help the homeless.
6. As bishop of Buenos Aires, he washed the feet of people in jails, hospitals, old age homes and the slums on Holy Thursday – a tradition he continues as Pope.
7. Francis raised eyebrows in the U.S. and elsewhere when he blamed unbridled capitalism for and consumerism for the suffering of the poor. He suggested that the U.N. call for redistribution of income, and called global banks the new colonialists.
8. Pope Francis also focuses on Islam because of radical Islam and their treatment of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.
9. At the age of 12, he fell in love with a girl from his neighborhood. He reportedly told her, “If I don’t marry you, I’m going to be a priest.”
10. He likes J.R.R. Tolkien and has read his works. His favorite characters are Frodo and Bilbo whom he used as examples of hopeful heroes who are called to walk a path in the unfolding drama between good and evil.