The Untold Truth Of Pope Francis' Siblings

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Pope Francis' death in 2025 left the public curious about his life, legacy, and who he was before he became supreme pontiff. Long before he was elected to lead the Catholic Church, he was simply Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Born in Argentina in 1936, he joined the Jesuit order in his early 30s after dealing with a bout of illness — the real reason he became a priest. From here, helped Argentinians endure the country's military dictatorship in the 1970s and '80s, was named bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992, archbishop in 1998, cardinal in 2001, and eventually the 266th pope in 2013. At the time, only one of his four siblings were still alive.

Pope Francis was the oldest of five brothers and sisters: Alberto Horacio, Marta Regina, María Elena, and Óscar Adrián. He and his siblings came from a family of Italian immigrants who'd escaped Mussolini's fascist dictatorship in 1929 and fled to Argentina. There, Francis' father Mario Jose Bergoglio worked on the railroad. The family lived a modest, not-too-easy life full of home cooking courtesy of his mother, Regina Maria Sivori. In his 2025 autobiography "Hope", Francis wrote (per HOLA!), "Life in my family has known a lot of sadness, tears, and pain, but even in the most difficult times we've experienced a smile and a laugh that could provide us with the energy we needed to find our way back."

Part of that sadness doubtlessly came from watching his siblings die. Óscar Adrián died in 1997, Marta Regina in 2007, and Alberto Horacio in 2010. Only María Elena lived to see her brother become pope, and now she's seen him die. She lives a quiet life in Argentina.

Admittedly, there's not a lot of information available about most of Pope Francis's brothers and sisters. As mentioned, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the oldest of his five siblings (born in 1936). By birth order, his siblings were Óscar Adrián (born in 1938), Marta Regina (born in 1940), Alberto Horacio (born in 1942), and María Elena (born in 1948). All of them were birthed in Argentina after the family emigrated from Italy. And despite being the eldest, Pope Francis was the second-to-last to die, leaving only María Elena. We also don't know how Francis' deceased siblings died, only that they did.

What we know about them consists of snippets from Francis' living sister, María Elena, and broad strokes from Francis himself. On Il Messaggero, Elena described their upbringing and family life as "poor but with great dignity." They were a family with "deep Italian roots, linked to traditional family values, the sacredness of Sunday, first at mass and then at the table all together." 

Similarly, Francis tended to condense his siblings together into "family," which provides clues into his childhood and relationships with them. As The Archdiocese of Brisbane quotes Francis of family in general, "In the family, three words need to be used. ... 'Please', 'Thank you', 'Sorry'. Three essential words!" He also said that "the family is the first school of human values, where we learn the wise use of freedom." A parent's role, he said, is "lovingly to help them [children] grow in freedom, maturity, overall discipline and real autonomy" rather than dominate or control them.

Out of all of Pope Francis' siblings, we know the most about María Elena, if only because she's still alive. In an interview with Inquirer.net, she said that her brother always wanted "to work for the poor, the most marginalized." And yet, she never believed he would become pope. In fact, she didn't want him to take the position. Francis' mother similarly didn't want him to go into the priesthood at all when they were younger. As Elena recounted to The New York Times, after graduating high school, Francis told their mother he wanted to study the "medicine of the soul" rather than become a medical doctor like she wanted. 

But Elena's objections to Francis becoming pope had nothing to do with his qualifications or character. As bishop, archbishop, and cardinal, he lived and worked in Argentina, his family's home. As pope, Francis would live in the Vatican and travel across the world. "I didn't want my brother to leave," Elena told CNN. "It's a position that was a little selfish." She said that she prayed during conclave (when cardinals elect the next pope) that Francis not become pope, but "it [the Holy Spirit] didn't listen to me. It did what it wanted." 

When he was elected pope, Francis called María Elena and reassured her via phone, sending his love to their entire family. "I told him I wanted to hug him," CNN quotes her, "and he told me that we are already embracing from a distance, which is also something that I feel and that is real." 

If it wasn't already clear, María Elena and Pope Francis shared a close bond. Speaking with La Stampa, she said that Francis was "a normal teenager" growing up. He danced, played soccer, and loved chemistry. He was also "polite, studious ... friendly and very protective towards me, I was the youngest." When speaking to Repubblica (via Il Messaggero), she didn't recall Francis ever making their parents upset or angry, not once.

But perhaps most telling of María Elena and Pope Francis' connection is their adult relationship. During her talk with Repubblica, she spoke about how much support she received from the pope following her stroke. "After the stroke that struck me, he called me every day until I recovered," she said. "He was always funny, and supported me a lot, as befits an older brother." Even if Pope Francis lived across the world and couldn't be there in person, he made efforts to stay as close as possible. For her part, Elena supported her brother however she could, too. "He dedicated his life to Jesus' basic message," she told La Stampa. "Let's not leave him [Francis] alone ... We the faithful must walk with him," she later added.

Pope Francis also supported María Elena through her divorce. This might be a bigger deal than folks realize, as Argentina (the Bergoglio family home) is an especially devoutly Catholic country that didn't even legalize divorce until 1987. But as EssaNews quotes her, Francis supported his sister through her divorce "despite his Catholic faith." María Elena even named her oldest son from her marriage "Jorge" after her brother's pre-pontifical name.

Even though three out of Pope Francis' four siblings died while he was alive, they left behind nieces and nephews within his circle of extended family. Some of them have spoken out about their uncle, like Jose Ignacio Bergoglio, María Elena's younger son (the one not named after Pope Francis). In a 2019 interview with the Catholic network EWTN, Jose Ignacio says that his uncle didn't change one bit after becoming pope. Francis was always a joker, he said, and affectionately nicknamed his mother "Chubby." Echoing his own mother's sentiments, Jose Ignacio also talked about how hard it was to see Pope Francis leave for the Vatican, knowing how difficult it would be to see each other at that point.

The Irish Times, meanwhile, spoke with María Elena's daughter and the pope's niece, Cristina Bergoglio, in 2018. An artist living in Madrid, she has no religious inclinations but admired her uncle. "I do not see him anymore, not because I don't want to, but because I respect his job as a spiritual messenger very much and because I am also very busy with my work," she said.

Another of Pope Francis' nephews — Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, the son of Francis' brother Alberto Horacio — survived a horrific car crash in 2014. His wife and two children (Francis' great nephews, 2 years old and 8 months old) did not, however. As CNN reported at the time, the pope was "deeply hurt" by the news and asked for prayers from the public.