Some Background Information:
The media-shy German Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022; pope from 2005 to 2013) surprised the world by resigning as pope in 2013. He had succeeded the media-genic Polish Pope John-Paul II (1920-2005; pope from 1978 to 2005). The world had watched the Polish pope struggle through his official public duties as he suffered from the debilitating impact of Parkinson's disease. By resigning as pope, Benedict spared the world from having to watch another spectacle of declining health in a pope.
Prior to the death of Pope John-Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had served during his papacy as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 to his election as pope in 2005. As the head of this important Vatican office, he had often been in the news - so often, that he was viewed as the right-hand man of Pope John-Paul II. Consequently, it came as no surprise when the cardinal-electors elected Cardinal Ratzinger to be the new pope in 2005.
(The important Vatican office formerly known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith is now known as the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. At the present time, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez is the prefect.)
For further information about Ratzinger/Benedict, see the lengthy Wikipedia entry on Pope Benedict XVI:
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI had prompted me to publish my first OEN article, "Why Obama Should Shun the Pope's Views on Abortion" (dated October 10, 2009):
More recently, I have written about abortion in my OEN articles (1) "How Important Will the Abortion Debate Be in the 2024 Elections?" (dated April 10, 2024); and (2) "On the Sheer Radicalness of the Moment of Conception Doctrine" (dated April 19, 2024).
Now, after Pope Benedict's dramatic resignation in 2013, the cardinal-electors subsequently elected the Argentine Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (born in 1936) as the new pope in March 2013 - the first Jesuit spiritual director ever elected pope. Taking the name Pope Francis, the new doctrinally conservative pope was no spring chicken. But he seemed friendly and energetic and humble. Like Pope John-Paul II, Pope Francis was media-genic - a striking contrast with the dour and media-shy Pope Benedict XVI.
Now, both Pope John-Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI had established their respective philosophical and theological chops prior to being elected pope. But Pope Francis had not. He had started to work on a doctorate on Italian-German theologian Romano Guardini (1885-1968), but he did not complete it.
For an account of Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio's study of Romano Guardini, see the Italian philosopher Massimo Borghesi's intellectual biography The Mind of Pope Francis: Jorge Mario Bergoglio's Intellectual Journey, translated by Barry Hudock (2018; orig. Italian ed., 2017).
I reviewed Borghesi's 2018 book in my OEN article "An Intellectual Biography of Pope Francis" (dated October 28, 2018):
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