Jorge Bergoglio

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio has earned the good will of Argentina's Roman Catholics with his self-effacing style -- he rides the bus to work instead of a chauffeur-driven car, spurns the official residence for a modest apartment, even does his own cooking.

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With speculation that a successor to Pope John Paul II could emerge from Latin America, where nearly half the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics live, the 68-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires is seen as a possible contender.

The son of middle-class Italian immigrants, Bergoglio became the first Jesuit archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was appointed cardinal three years later.

An advocate for the poor, he has championed social programs and won public respect for questioning free-market policies he blames for leaving millions of Argentines impoverished. Nonetheless, his conservative leanings on doctrinal and spiritual issues are widely seen as in keeping with John Paul's legacy.

If chosen, he would become the first Jesuit pontiff.

In a nation where politicians and business leaders were discredited after Argentina's devastating 2001 economic crisis, Bergoglio won accolades for his biting critiques of the problems afflicting South America's second-largest country.

His activism has established him as one of Argentina's more respected public figures. In one of his final Masses before departing for Rome, throngs chanted "Viva Bergoglio!" after a sermon honoring John Paul.

"He understands and responds to ordinary people," said Carlos Muckhaus, 49, a school bus driver. "After all we've been through in Argentina, he knows about the challenges facing the world: poverty and social injustice."

Bergoglio frequently spends his weekends visiting parishes in Buenos Aires' impoverished outskirts and shuns the formal trappings of office.

In speeches, Bergoglio has chided Argentina's bickering political leaders, urging them to set aside differences and help rebuild a country still recovering from its worst financial upheaval in history. The turmoil pushed 40 percent of Argentines into poverty.

He has also raised questions about an increasingly globalized economy.

Policies of those who oversee the new global economy, Bergoglio said, "don't take into account poverty, the lack of education, not even the suffering of the elderly."

On spiritual issues, he has opposed abortion and supported celibacy. On church matters, Bergoglio has called for tightening the Church's hierarchical structure to ease internal dissent.

Recently, he led a successful church campaign to shut down an art exhibit depicting Catholic saints, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in unusual settings like a frying pan and blender -- pieces he called "blasphemous."

Any Bergoglio candidacy may be hampered by health concerns -- he has only one lung after an operation when he was a teenager.

Also playing against him could be his background as a Jesuit, an order that doesn't urge its members to seek church honors.

Born in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was ordained in 1969, and four years later took over as the head of the Jesuits in Argentina, presiding as the country fell into the grips of a 1976-83 military dictatorship. The church came under severe criticism during that period for failing to call attention to the regime's atrocities.

The so-called "Dirty War" -- the military's crackdown on leftists and political opponents -- left at least 13,000 people missing or dead. Human rights groups say the figure is closer to 30,000.

Bergoglio's critics say he didn't take a strong stance against the dictatorship. However, in 2000, he led an effort by the church seeking public forgiveness for its inaction.

Bergoglio rarely gives interviews and has never commented publicly on his chances of becoming the first Latin American pontiff. He seemed in no mood to talk about it after his name surfaced.

Guillermo Marco, his spokesman, dismissed questions about any possible Bergoglio candidacy, keeping with the cardinal's tendency to maintain a low profile.

"It's all conjecture and it bothers the cardinal tremendously," Marco said.