Jorge Bergoglio / Pope Francis. His Transformations and Opposed Views upon Him

Abstract

In my paper, I present the current bishop of Rome against his Argentinian background and sketch the different stages in his life, pointing out meanwhile at his different perspectives as superior of the Jesuits, as auxiliary bishop and subsequently archbishop of Buenos Aires, being eventually elected as Pope. In this long process, continuities and discontinuities cannot be overlooked. It is clear that his style of exercising the function of bishop of Rome has not left anybody indifferent. The spectrum spans from a Francismania to an unthinkable and ferocious resistance inside the Church and even within the Roman curia.