The March 2013 election of the Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the supreme pontiff at the age of 76, when he was not among the favorites, marked the culmination of a meteoric rise. Appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires in February 1998, he was the first Jesuit to be named the primate of Argentina by John Paul II, on January 21, 2001. At the Vatican, Archbishop Bergoglio had seen his reputation greatly enhanced among his peers for his work as deputy editor of the October 2001 synod's final report. The principal rapporteur, Archbishop Edward Egan of New York, was unable to complete his mission because of the terrorist attacks of September 11. It fell to the Argentine cardinal to carry out most of the work.

Despite this meteoric career, he remained "very humble, leading a discreet and modest life," according to his former spokesman in Buenos Aires, Father Guillermo Marco. Archbishop Bergoglio went on to maintain this austerity within the Vatican.

He was an intellectual: A chemical engineer, he also held degrees in philosophy and theology. Following in the tradition of the followers of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Latin America, he was a man of action, involved in social realities. Despite his frail health, Bergoglio, who had lived with an amputated lung since the age of 20, was always a man of the people. In Buenos Aires, he spent his weekends visiting the most disadvantaged parishes, traveling by bus or metro, and talking to priests in the slums and prisons.

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