On March 13, 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was elected the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. Taking the name Francis, he officially assumed his role as Supreme Pontiff on March 19, 2013—the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
From the very outset, his words and deeds bore the mark of a distinctive and deeply personal pastoral style. Immediately after his election, when he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time, he bowed his head and asked the faithful to pray for him before offering his blessing—an unforgettable moment that captured the hearts of millions. For the twelve years that followed, he never relinquished that place in people’s hearts.
Choosing to reside at the Casa Santa Marta rather than the Apostolic Palace, in order to maintain closeness with the people; returning from a serious illness and 38-day hospital stay only to immediately reappear in St. Peter’s Basilica and Square to greet the faithful; and offering his final blessing to the world on Easter Sunday 2025, only to pass into eternity the very next day—these are all deeply moving and enduring memories engraved in the minds of the global faithful.
People flocked from everywhere to see a Holy Father whose words and actions mirrored each other in harmony. On November 6, 2013, the world was given a closer look at the Pope’s boundless compassion. On that day, Vinicio Riva, a 53-year-old man from Vicenza in northern Italy, afflicted by neurofibromatosis and severely disfigured, arrived at the Vatican with a longing to attend the Pope’s general audience. When he boarded a bus to Rome and attempted to sit next to someone, the person shouted, “Don’t come near!”
Bishop Sebastian Vaniyapurakal
