Presenting the Caricature of Pope Francis I.

Here are the details of the face and the dimensions of the image.

Remember?

After Pope Benedict XVI resigned, they said – They aren’t going to elect a man in his late seventies…again.
They also said – It would be very difficult for them to change course and elect a non-European as a pope.
And then they said – Pope must be someone who has a non-controversial record.

Pope Francis’ election has proved them wrong on all the three counts.

He is 76, an Argentine (thus, a Non-European) and has been embroiled in his share of controversies. He is also a traditionalist who is against gay-marriages and considers them the work of the Devil.

Pope Francis I – A Brief Biography

Jorge (Mario) Bergoglio is an Argentine who was born to Italian parents (on December 17, 1936.) His father worked in the railways and his mother was a housewife. He studied Chemistry and worked as a Chemistry technician before he decided to become a priest at the age of 22, and entered the Society of Jesus. It was another 9 years before he actually became a priest.

He is known for his humility and austerity. He could’ve become Pope in 2005 but he appealed to his fellow Cardinals that they shouldn’t vote for him and vote for Ratzinger (his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.)

More about Jorge Bergoglio

In his protest against the bill that would legalize Gay Marriages in Argentina, he wrote,
“Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”

(Read this article here.)

There is also a lot of talk in Argentina about his being associated with the disappearance of two Jesuit Priests.

But beyond this,
the new Pope is known to be a simple man. He is considered to be someone who understand power-play, and who is perceived to have to capability to steer the Vatican ship through today’s troubled waters.

A few other things…

He had to get one of his lungs removed due to an infection, when he was quite young.
In the last 1000 years, he is the first Pope (after Pope John Paul I) who has chosen a new name for himself.
He is the first Jesuit to have become the Pope.
He is also the first non-European to become Pope in the last 1200 years. (He still is a person of Italian (European?) origin.)
He is opposed to same-sex marriages, abortions, and artificial insemination.

Pope Francis’s unrequited Love

I can’t stop myself from editing this post to include this wonderful news. Finally, an info-byte that makes me feel connected with the Pope.

Amalia Damonte who still lives in the same house where she grew up (at 555 Membranilla Street in the Flores district of Buenos Aires (the capital of Argentina,)) was proposed to by a young boy called Jorge Bergoglio. He was 12 and she was 13…and she is the reason why Jorge Bergoglio is Pope Francis now. Had she not turned down his proposal, he wouldn’t have embraced priesthood – for his letter told her in no uncertain terms – that if she didn’t agree to become his wife, he’d become a priest. He was quite serious about the matter as she’s got it in black and white…or whatever was the color of the ink that Jorge favored when he was young.

So…you see now. There’s a woman behind every successful man…even the Pope 🙂

Now, he is the leader of 1.2 Billion Catholics world-wide.

(Interestingly, India’s population is 1.2 Billion too.)

Read the text of his first Speech from the Pope’s Balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square here.