On the evening of 13 March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff on March 13, 2013, taking the name of Franciscus.
His surname immediately reveals the Italian origin.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, son of Mario Giuseppe Francesco Bergoglio and Regina María Sivori, was born on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He was ordained a priest on December 13, 1969 by the Archbishop Emeritus Ramón José Castellano in Argentina.
Mario Giuseppe Francesco Bergoglio, son of Giovanni Angelo Bergoglio and Rosa Margherita Vassallo was born on April 2, 1908 in Torino, Piedmont, Italy.
Railroad worker, he married Regina Maria Sivori on December 12, 1935 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Maria Regina Sivori was born in Buenos Aires on 28 November 1911 from Francisco [Buenos Aires – 1874] and from Maria Gogna, born on 3 June 1887 in the province of Alessandria.
The grandfather of Pope, Giovanni Angelo Bergoglio, was born in Asti on August 13, 1884.
In 1906, Giovanni Angelo, aged 22, emigrated to the city of Torino where he practiced as a “liquorista”, (translated as a distiller of alcoholic beverages), and was probably the owner of a small shop selling coffee and liquors. A year later he married Rosa Margherita Vassallo, daughter of Pietro Vassallo on August 20, 1907.
In 1918 the family returned to Asti, and there they remained for eleven years until they embarked to Argentina in early 1929. Upon entering Buenos Aires the family group was composed of Giovanni Angelo Bergoglio, 45 years old, married, a merchant; Rosa Vassallo, also 45 years old, married, housewife and Mario Giuseppe Bergoglio, 21, single, by profession accountant. Giovanni Angelo died on October 30, 1964 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Family photo of the Bergoglio. Standing, from left to right, Alberto Horacio (brother), Jorge Mario (the Pope), Óscar Adrián (brother) and Marta Regina (sister). Seated, María Elena (only living sister), Regina María (mother) and Mario (father)
The great-great grandfather, Giuseppe, was born in Schierano, Asti in 1816; his wife, Maria Giacchino, was from Cocconato, Asti born in 1819. From their union was born in Montechiaro, in 1857, Francesco Bergoglio, the great-grandfather of the Pope, who married Maria Bugnano, born in S. Martino al Tanaro (now S. Martino Alfieri ) in 1862.
