The Washington Post notes that although Francis is the first pope from Latin America, he is not the first non-European pontiff.

BBC Radio aired a program in January 2007 about the Jesuit religious order.

The World Union for Progressive Judaism is the international umbrella organization of the Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements, serving 1,200 congregations with 1.8 million members in more than 45 countries.

Read a Jan. 3, 2013, Catholic News Service story about National Migration Week and Catholic bishops’ renewed push for action on immigration.

Phillip Berryman is an affiliated faculty member in the Latin American studies program at Temple University in Philadelphia. His books include Liberation Theology: Essential Facts About the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America — and Beyond (February 2013).

Michael E. Lee is associate professor of theology at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York. He teaches a course in liberation theologies and discussed his views on the subject in the March 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic.

Thia Cooper is associate professor of religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., and the author of Controversies in Political Theology: Development or Liberation?

Gustavo Gutierrez is John Cardinal O’Hara Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. His book A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation is considered a foundational work on Latin American liberation theology, and he contributed an essay to The Cambridge Companion to Liberation Theology.

The Pew Research Center released a report April 8, 2013, examining how major Christian denominations, as well as other faith groups, apply their religious laws to internal matters. Examples include Roman Catholic diocesan tribunals, which rule on marriage annulments, and Protestant disciplinary hearings for clergy who violate denominational rules about officiating at same-sex weddings.