12 Facts About Pope Francis

Pope Francis is currently in the US for a visit, and he is making stops in New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.

On 13 March, 2013, Pope Francis was elected the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. Here are some fun facts that you might not know about the Pope.

• Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• He was the eldest of five children.
• He attended technical high school, from which he graduated as a chemical technician.
• When he was 12 years old, he fell in love with a girl from his neighborhood and reportedly told her, “If I don’t marry you, I’m going to be a priest.”
• As a teen, he used to play basketball.
• He has worked as a bar bouncer and a janitor to help pay for his studies in seminary school.
• He is a fan of soccer, tango and J.R.R. Tolkien.
• Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope and the first pope from the Americas.
• He speaks Spanish, Latin and Italian fluently and understands German, French, Portuguese, English and Ukrainian.
• In 2001, as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he washed and kissed the feet of 12 patients with AIDS at an Argentine hospice.
• He is a legal citizen of three countries — Argentina (where he was born), Italy (because of his parents’ nationality) and the Vatican (which is considered a country).
• He loves cooking and used to prepare his own meals while serving as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.