Who is the current pope and what is his job?

Answer 1

Answer 1: Pope Benedict XVI is the current pope (2011) and was born Joseph Alois Ratzinger.

Answer 2: Benedict XVI is no longer the Pope. The above answer was made when he was still Pope.

The current Pope is Francis (the first), born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936. He is is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, elected on 13 March 2013 after Pope Benedit XVI announced his resignation on 11 February 2013, which resignation took effect on 28 February 2013. Though of Italian descent, Frances was born in Buenos Aires (in Argentina). He was ordained to the priesthood in 1969, and served as Argentina's Provincial superior of the Society of Jesus from 1973 to 1979; so he was already, then, on a fast track to high rank in the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Argentina. He became the country's Arch Bishop in 1998; then its Cardinal in 2001. He is the first Latin-American Pope.

Benedict XVI was the first Pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so on his own initiative since Pope Celestine V in 1294. He now holds the title "Pope Emeritus," and lives in retirement in the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the Vatican.

Answer 2

The current pope in 2013 is Pope Francis. His job is to be the vicar of Christ on earth and leader of the Christian faith.