UNITED STATES
CNN
By Holly Yan, CNN
(CNN) — From the Vatican to Buenos Aires, Catholics worldwide rejoiced when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became the new pope.
He’s the first Jesuit and the first Latin American in modern times to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
But in some ways, he’s just a normal guy.
Here are five things to know about Pope Francis:
1. His name says a lot about him
Unlike other recent pontiffs — John Paul II, Benedict XVI — Pope Francis doesn’t have a numeral after his name. That’s because he’s the first to take the name Francis.
Why Francis?
The pope wanted to honor St. Francis of Assisi, an admirer of nature and a servant to the poor and destitute. …
His career as a priest in Argentina coincided with the so-called Dirty War — and some say the church didn’t do enough to confront the military dictatorship.
As many as 30,000 people died or disappeared during the seven-year period that began with a coup in 1976.
Francis, in particular, was accused in a complaint of complicity in the 1976 kidnapping of two liberal Jesuit priests, Allen wrote. Francis denied the charge.
“The best evidence that I know of that this was all a lie and a series of salacious attacks was that Amnesty International who investigated that said that was all untrue,” said Jim Nicholson, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. “These were unfair accusations of this fine priest.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.