From Reuters:
“The life and times of Pope Francis as he marks his 10th
anniversary as pontiff”
(Pope Francis greets people as he attends the weekly general
audience in St. Peter's square at the Vatican, March 8, 2023.)
Following are some of the major events of the life and
ministry of Pope Francis, who marks the 10th anniversary of his election as
pontiff on March 13.
1936 Dec. 17 - Jorge Mario Bergoglio is born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the
son of Italian immigrants.
1969 Dec. 13 - Ordained a priest.
1973 July 31 - Becomes head of the Jesuits in Argentina.
1992 May 20 - Appointed Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires.
1998 Feb. 28 - Appointed Archbishop, Primate of Argentina. He becomes famous
for commuting to work on public transport, not living in the archbishop's
palace and cooking his own meals.
2001 Feb. 21 - Appointed a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
2005 April 19 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elected pope after four ballots,
takes the name Benedict. Subsequent leaks show that Bergoglio came second in
all the secret ballots.
2013
March 13 - Bergoglio is elected pope after the shock
resignation of Pope Benedict. He takes the name Francesco (Francis) and is the
first non-European pope in 1,300 years.
July 8 - Makes first pastoral trip outside Rome, visiting the
Italian island of Lampedusa and condemns the "globalisation of
indifference" to the plight of migrants.
July 29 - During his first news conference onboard the papal
plane, Francis says: "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and
has good will, who am I to judge?" -- seen as the most conciliatory
attitude to LGBT people by a pontiff.
Nov. 26 - Calls for a deep renewal of the Church in a major
document (apostolic exhortation) setting out his papacy.
2014
Feb. 24 - Creates a new body within the Vatican to coordinate
economic and administrative affairs.
May 24-26 - Visits the Holy Land. He becomes the first
pontiff to lay a wreath at the tomb of the founder of modern Zionism. He also
prays in front of the Israeli security wall that is despised by Palestinians.
2015 June 18 - Releases first papal document dedicated to the environment, the
encyclical "Laudato Si", urging world leaders to hear "the cry
of the earth and the cry of the poor".
2016
April 8 - In a document on family life, Francis urges priests
to be more accepting of divorced or remarried Catholics and to welcome single
parents and LGBT people. But he rejects the notion of same-sex marriage.
June 26 - Says Christians owe apologies to LGBT community and
others who have been offended or exploited by the church.
Nov. 2 - Tells reporters the Catholic ban on female priests
is forever.
2017
Jan. 2 - Pope Francis says in a letter bishops must show zero
tolerance to clergy who sexually abuse children. He begs forgiveness for
"a sin that shames us".
June 28 - Cardinal George Pell, appointed Vatican economy
minister by Francis, is charged with multiple historical sex crimes in his
native Australia. He is initially convicted in Dec. 2018, but then found not
guilty in April 2020 on appeal.
July 1 - In major shake-up, Francis replaces Catholicism's
top theologian, a conservative German cardinal who has been at odds with the
pontiff's vision of a more inclusive Church.
2018
Jan. 30 - Just days after defending a Chilean bishop accused
of sex crimes against minors, the pope sends top sexual abuse expert to Chile
to investigate. In April, Francis says he made "grave mistakes" in
handling the Chile crisis, asks forgiveness.
May 18 - In unprecedented move, all Chile's bishops offer to
resign after attending crisis meeting with Pope Francis. In coming months he
accepts many of the resignations.
July 28 - Accepts resignation of U.S. Cardinal Theodore
McCarrick. In Feb. 2019, Francis expels him from the priesthood after the
Church finds him guilty of sexually abusing minors -- the first time a cardinal
has been defrocked for sexual abuse.
Aug. 25-26 - Visits Ireland, says Church failure to
adequately address "repugnant" clerical child abuse crimes in Ireland
is a source of shame for Catholics. He begs forgiveness.
Aug. 26 - A former top Vatican official, Archbishop Carlo
Maria Vigano, accuses the pope of knowing for years of sex abuse allegations
against Cardinal McCarrick; says Francis should resign. Months later, the
Vatican accuses Vigano of calumny.
Sept. 22 - The Vatican signs a landmark agreement giving it a
long-desired say in the appointment of bishops in China. Critics label the deal
a sellout to the Communist government.
2019
Feb. 21 - Pope opens an unprecedented four-day meeting with
Catholic leaders from around the world on child sex abuse. Calls for
"concrete and efficient measures" to tackle the abuse.
April 19 - Meets South Sudan's previously warring leaders and
kisses their feet. Urges them to not return to a civil war.
May 24 - Appoints women to a key Vatican department for the
first time. In January 2020, he appoints the first woman to hold a high-ranking
post in the Secretariat of State. In August 2020 he appoints six women to
Vatican finance council. In November 2021 he names a woman to the number 2
position in the governorship of the Vatican City. In March 2022, he introduces
a reform saying Catholic women could in future take charge of most departments.
June 2 - During a visit to Romania, the pope asks forgiveness
in the name of the Catholic Church for the mistreatment of the Roma people.
2020
Feb. 12 - In an apparent victory for conservative clergy, the
pope dismisses a proposal to allow some married men to be ordained in remote
areas of the Amazon.
March 7 - The pope cancels all regular public appearances
because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Planned trips are also cancelled. On March
27, he holds a solitary prayer service in the vast, empty St. Peter's Square.
Sept. 24 - The pope fires Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo
Becciu from powerful Vatican post after accusing him of embezzlement and nepotism.
Becciu denies wrongdoing. He is indicted for alleged financial crimes in July
2021.
Nov. 5 - Shakes up running of Vatican funds after London
property scandal.
Dec. 31 - Suffering a flare-up of a sciatica condition that
causes pain in his right leg, the pope misses New Year's Eve and New Year's Day
services -- the first time health problems caused him to skip major religious
events.
2021
Jan. 11 - Pope Francis, in another step towards greater
equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, changes Church law, saying
they can serve as readers at liturgies, altar servers and distributors of
communion.
Jan. 21 - A Vatican court convicts Angelo Caloia, a former
head of the Vatican bank, on charges of embezzlement and money laundering,
making him the highest ranking Vatican official to be convicted of a financial
crime.
March 5 - Resuming trips after the COVID crisis, Francis
makes first visit by pontiff to Iraq.
July 4 - Has surgery to remove part of his colon, spends 11
days in hospital to recuperate.
July 16 - In blow to conservatives, Francis overturns the
decisions of his two predecessors and re-imposes restrictions on the old-style
Latin Mass preferred by traditionalist Catholics.
Oct. 29 - U.S. President Joe Biden says after meeting the
pope that the pontiff had told him he was a "good Catholic" who can
receive communion, widening gulf with conservative prelates.
2022
Feb. 25 - Departing from protocol, the pope visits the
Russian embassy to the Vatican to relay personally his concern over Russia's
invasion of Ukraine. In the following weeks and months he repeatedly calls for
an end to the war and grows increasingly critical of Moscow for launching the
invasion.
July 24 - Starts six-day visit to Canada where he repeatedly
asks forgiveness for sexual abuse at schools for indigenous children run by
Catholic orders.
Dec. 31 - Pope Benedict dies in the Vatican monastery where
he had lived since his resignation in 2013.
2023 Jan. 11 - The conservative Cardinal Pell dies in Rome. It is later
revealed that he had penned an anonymous 2021 memo condemning Francis's papacy
as a "catastrophe".
^ Pope Francis has done a lot in his 10 years in the Vatican,
but there is still a lot more to do to modernize the Catholic Church – and I say
that as a Catholic. ^
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