I N T ROD Pope Francis has been the leader of the Roman Catholic Church for only a short time but his message of love peace and tolerance is already being heard around the
U CTION he world's population is greater than six billion About 1 2 billion of those people are Roman Catholic which means they believe in a certain kind of Christianity Catholicism is one of the oldest religions in the world The leader of the Roman Catholic Church is the pope For almost two thousand years different popes have led the church and its followers through some of the most important moments in world history But in 2013 the Roman Catholic Church experienced an important moment of its own the election of Pope Francis I Pope Francis became the pope in March 2013 when the acting pope at the time Benedict XVI stepped down from his position Since then Francis has become known for reaching out to the poor and helping people in need Above all he is known for being compassionate His behavior is quite different from that of previous popes which makes many people excited for the church s future Though he hasn t been pope for long Francis is already changing the church and the world for the better As one of the world s most visible spiritual leaders the new pope has the opportunity to make changes that will affect millions of
CHAPTER 1 A FUTURE LEADER IS BORN the pope was born in Buenos Aires on December 17 1936 Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina a country in South America His father came to Buenos Aires from Italy His mother was born and raised in Buenos Aires Together they had five children Though the world knows the pope as Francis his birth name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio A RELIGIOUS YOUTH Jorge grew up in a traditional household His parents were devout Catholics They raised their children to believe in Catholicism too Religion was Bergoglio became the pope at the age of seventy six after a lifetime of dedication to his faith and the
A FUTURE LEADER Is BORN A young Bergoglio standing second from the left is seen here with his family in Argentina an important part of the Bergoglio children s upbringing and Jorge and his brothers and sisters attended Catholic schools Jorge graduated from a Catholic high school with a chemical technician s diploma He worked as a laboratory technician for a few years after that Bergoglio spent a few years in the secular world but he felt a calling to the
