Publisher's Message

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio departed Buenos Aires, Argentina, in March 2013 to attend the conclave to elect the next pope. He never returned home. He took the name Francis and became Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome, leader of the worldwide Catholic Church.

The first pope from the southern hemisphere. The first Jesuit pope. The first pope ordained after the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The first pope to decline to live in the luxurious pope’s residence; rather, he chose to live in a simple apartment in Santa Marta, the Vatican guest house.

He called himself “a bishop from the ends of the earth” and asked us to pray for him.

In coming days and years and decades, we will share remembrances about this pope. Stories, his words of faith, wisdom, and above all — hope.

This is my favorite Pope Francis story:

On September 27, 1953, when Jorge Bergoglio was 17 years old, he was on his way to meet school chums. In those days, he had been thinking he might be called to the priesthood. Jorge stopped at his neighborhood church of San Jose de Flores to pray. He made a decision. He never met up with his friends that day.

When he was a cardinal, Pope Francis wrote: “This is the experience of religion: the wonder, the meeting with someone who’s waiting for you. You look for Him, but He has already been looking for you.”

By Paulette Peynet