Did you know: Pope Francis has only one lung and loved to tango?

Here are some relatively lesser known facts about Pope Francis: - He has only one lung and the other one had to be removed due to an infection. Doctors, however, say this is unlikely to affect him in any way. -  As a young man he was known to have affection for the tango, and this despite having only one lung -  He was born in Buenos Aires as Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 to an Italian immigrant family. He has four brothers and sisters. - The young Jorge Mario Bergoglio originally wanted to be a chemist. He studied and received a master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires. [caption id=“attachment_660498” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AP[/caption] - At age 22, he decided to enter the Society of Jesus and began his studies for priesthood. - He spent his early career teaching literature, psychology and philosophy. - Between 1973 and 1979 he served as the Jesuit provincial in Argentina and in 1980 became the rector of the seminary from which he had graduated. - He was however, once the centre of controversy over the church’s inability to protect its worshippers from the Argentinian dictatorship that lasted till 1983 after the 1976 coup. - Two Jesuit priests — Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics — were kidnapped in 1976 from the slums where they advocated liberation theology, and one of them accused Bergoglio of effectively handing them over to the death squads by not telling the regime that he endorsed their work. Jalics refused to discuss it after moving into seclusion in a German monastery. - Bergoglio took extraordinary, behind-the-scenes action to save them, including persuading dictator Jorge Videla’s family priest to call in sick so that Bergoglio could say Mass in the junta leader’s home, where he privately appealed for mercy. His intervention likely saved their lives, but Bergoglio never shared the details until his 2010 biography. - Bergoglio has said that he regularly hid people on church property during the dictatorship, and once gave his identity papers to a man with similar features, enabling him to escape across the border. - Under his leadership, Argentina’s bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church’s failures to protect its flock. Not too many people were impressed. - He is not a fan of gay marriages or gay adoption and has reportedly said the former ‘ was a scheme to destroy God’s plan' - In 2001, he visited a hospice to kiss and wash the feet of 12 AIDS patients and has been a vocal advocate of the church officials doing more for people. - Came close to becoming pope during the last conclave in 2005. He reportedly gained the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running before selection of Vatican insider Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI. - Even after he became Argentina’s top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country, preferring a simple bed in a downtown building, warmed by a small stove on frigid weekends when the building turned off the heat. For years, he took public transportation around the city, and cooked his own meals. - After he was elected to the position of Pope, he preferred to pass on the official limousine and instead rode on the last shuttle bus with other cardinals to go back to the Vatican for a meal. (with inputs from AP)