Humble start as bouncer for young Argentinian who found calling

AS the first pope from the Americas, and the first non-European for more than 1,200 years, Pope Francis' election in 2013 was a hugely symbolic moment.

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Already 76 years old when he ascended the throne of St Peter, he had been preparing for retirement having missed out following the death of Pope John Paul II eight years earlier.

Following his election, friends said he was a man rejuvenated as he sought to breathe new life into the church he had served for more than half a century. It was a remarkable rise for a man who had once worked as a bouncer and a janitor before feeling a calling to the priesthood.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936 in the Flores district of Buenos Aires, the eldest of five children in a middle class family of Italian immigrants.