Pope Francis, like all Catholic priests, vowed to celibacy and thus was not married or had children. Here's what we know ...

Going to Catholic school, we all knew our patron saints. Mine happened to be St. Francis of Assisi. Even at a young age, I thought it was a good fit due to my Italian heritage and my love and ...

On March 13, 2013, Francis succeeded Pope Benedict XVI, who was the first pope to retire in six centuries. Francis became the ...

The first to take the name of Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi. — The first to visit Iraq, meeting its top Shiite Muslim cleric in 2021. As Buenos Aires archbishop, Francis denied himself ...

When he was elected in 2013, Pope Francis said he chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century ... Francis was one of five children. His father, Mario, was an accountant ...

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born Dec. 17, 1936, to Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the eldest of five children ... to cardinal in 2001 by St. John Paul II. He was elected the 266th ...