Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 17 December 1936.
The eldest of five children, his parents had fled their native Italy to escape the evils of fascism.
He enjoyed tango dancing and became a supporter of his local football club, San Lorenzo.
He was lucky to escape with his life after a serious bout of pneumonia, undergoing an operation to remove part of a lung. It would leave him susceptible to infection throughout his life.
As an elderly man, he also suffered from pain in his right knee, which he described as a “physical humiliation”.
The young Bergoglio worked as a nightclub bouncer and floor sweeper before graduating as a chemist.
At a local factory, he worked closely with Esther Ballestrino, who campaigned against Argentina’s military dictatorship. She was tortured, and her body was never found.
He became a Jesuit, studied philosophy and taught literature and psychology. Ordained a decade later, he won swift promotion, becoming provincial superior for Argentina in 1973.
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