Jorge Bergoglio
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires to Mario Bergoglio, originally from Marshe, Italy, and Regina Sivoni. Mario was a hard working accountant who had a degree when he arrived in Argentina. Unfortunately, they didn’t accept it so he did the factory gig. Since he couldn’t write, his pay was less than the other workers. His wife was a homemaker. Jorge’s siblings include Oscar, Marta, Alberto and Maria Elena. They lived in a small house having a large kitchen. We’ll come back to that later. When Jorge was thirteen, he went to his grandmother’s house during the day – she and her husband lived close by. He returned in the evening, learning Piedmontese in the process.
Back home, Mario spoke Castillian to the children and talked of Italy, so they would not forget their homeland. Jorge played cards, including briscola, and occasionally joined his dad when the latter played basketball. The arts were instilled in Jorge and his siblings by Marshe, who treasured opera. She also knew how to cook and insisted that the five offspring learn to do the same. Mario died of a heart attack when Jorge was a teenager. Maria Elena related that her father had always been joyful and that Jorge followed in the same vein. The family was a happy one. Sunday involved going to Mass followed by extravagant lunches, some as long as seven courses. Dinner wasn’t necessary. Marshe produced delicious chicken, cappelletti and ragú risotto piemontese. She learned fast and well because frying an egg was no easy task for her when she and Mario first married.
The family wasn’t rich, but they never went without the basics. Nothing was thrown out, but Jorge’s dad wouldn’t allow the same meal the next day. I’m sure that Marshe was very creative with the leftovers. Much repair was done on clothing and then reused. The son who would become a priest developed frugal tastes, except when it came to food. Jorge played soccer and at twelve had a girlfriend, Amalia – sort of. She considered him a gentleman and related the words he said to her, If you don’t marry me, I’m going to be a priest.
After finishing primary school, his father insisted that he needed to find work while attending secondary school. He labored in a sock factory, did cleaning and administrative tasks, while studying accounting. In his fourth year, he learned food chemistry and worked in a lab. His classes lasted until eight in the evening, but he was appreciative of his dad’s directive.
While Jorge was in the lab, his boss there was Esther Balestrino de Carteaga, a commie sympathizer. One day he finished his work quite quickly and brought the results to her. She was surprised and asked if he had done all the verifications, which he hadn’t. She then said, you have to do things right, It was a reminder which stayed with him. He admired her and saw Esther as a great individual.
Bergoglio was seventeen and about to celebrate a spring holiday, Student Day. The day was September 21 – don’t forget this was in the Southern hemisphere. There was a girl in one of his groups to whom he was attracted. A picnic had been planned and he went to San José de Flores church first. There he met a priest who brought spirituality to Jorge. The latter made his confession to the padre and Bergoglio realized he had a vocation. He decided not to join his friends for Student Day. That experience changed his life so much that he didn’t propose to the girl that day at the picnic.
He wouldn’t start seminary right away. That would take four years. He stayed at work in the lab, completing school and realized that he wasn’t quite ready, even though he knew his fate. He just wasn’t concentrating on religion and needed to settle his unrest. He read Nuestra palabra y proposito, a Communist Party publication, but never joined the group. He became ill with a lung infection before entering the seminary, being diagnosed with pneumonia. This was overcome, but not before a part of his lung was removed.
He recovered and while in the hospital was visited by Sister Dolores, who told him, keep imitating Jesus. This inspired him as he realized that suffering can be virtuous. It wasn’t removed but it became significant. Jorge would eventually say, what a person who is suffering needs is to know that there is someone with him, who wishes him well, who respects his silence and prays that God may enter into this space that is sheer solitude. Sister Dolores was the one who worked with him before he made his First Communion.
Jorge entered seminary in 1957, choosing the Jesuits. One reason was because of its missionary approach. He considered the possibility of working in Japan, but because of his illness, was not allowed to pursue it. His choice of becoming a priest wasn’t quite accepted by his mom, even though she had instilled religious spirituality into his life. She welcomed Jorge when he came home but never visited him in the seminary. On March 11, 1958, he began the Jesuit novitiate, completing his studies of humanities five years later. He came back to Buenos Aires and earned a degree in philosophy at Saint Joseph Major Seminary in San Miguel. This was followed by teaching psychology and literature at Immacolata College and the University of El Salvador. He was ordained a priest on December 13, 1969. In April 1973, he took his perpetual vows and was then a Jesuit.
Once ordained, Jorge assumed a number of roles, mixing teaching and pastoral duties. In the early 1970s, he was rector of the major seminary and taught theology at Villa Varilari. He did time in the kitchen on the weekend, when there was no other cook, doing it for the students. Asked about how good the food was, he said, well, I never killed anyone with my food. Rumor has it that Bergoglio makes an outstanding stuffed calamari. Besides learning this culinary behavior from his mother, he was also a lover of opera and the tango with an appreciation for Edith Piaf.
Eventually Jorge was elected Provincial of the Argentina Jesuits and served in that capacity for six years. This time was characterized by the dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo, who came to power after Isabelita Perón. Torture and assassination were prevalent then when the desaparecidos rebelled against the regime, resulting in their abduction and death. As a result, many false accusations were tossed at Bergoglio. Journalist Horacio Verbitsky credited the Jesuit with serious misdeeds. Many, including historian Matteo Luigi Napolitano, stood up for Jorge as he denounced all the lies. In March 2013, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi called these efforts against Bergoglio defamatory and scandalous.
While a bishop of Buenos Aires, he did a great deal of traveling. One day a young man approached him in great distress, asking for his confession to be heard. Bergoglio was on his way, fearing he would miss his train, and said that a priest would be there shortly to accommodate him. He began walking away but then returned and said that he would hear the lad’s confession. He comforted the young man, putting him in the care of Our Lady and then left. Actually, the train didn’t leave on time so Jorge realized he did the right thing. He knew that this was a sign from the Lord that told me: You see that I am directing the story. How often in life it is better to slow down and not try to settle everything at once.
As an archbishop, he was kind and considerate to the other priests, just as he had been before. He told the others to call him at any time. He refused to live in anything other than a humble residence, with no private secretary. He traveled by bus or subway with the people. He was one of them. In 2001, Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal. Jorge didn’t care for all the fancy red clothes, preferring alterations to what was already there. For those who cared to join him in Rome, he asked them to donate the cost of the trip to help the poor. Frugal may be a description here but I prefer merciful.
Bergoglio was a man of the poor, celebrating Mass often in the villas miserias. The book, El Jesuita, tells of one of those visits. Men of the group congregated and a bricklayer stood up and praised Jorge: I am proud of him, because whenever I passed by here, with my co-workers, I always saw him sitting in one of the last rows, like anyone else. It wouldn’t be long before the people would proclaim, now the lowly have a friend in Rome. Mariam had slept in the dumpsters and sought money for el paco, drugs. She was down on her luck and felt her case was hopeless, but she kept meeting a priest who assured her, God loves you. She now teaches catechism and sees much hope.
In the early twenty-first century, Pope John Paul II’s health deteriorated, especially his Parkinson’s Disease. On April 2, 2005, he died, shortly before his eighty-fifth birthday. Two weeks later, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger became the new pope, taking the name Pope Benedict XVI. The second choice with the most votes was Jorge Bergoglio. Ratzinger’s tenure ended less than eight years later when he left because of health problems, doing so on the last day of February 2013. On March 11, Bergoglio didn’t celebrate Mass that morning. Instead he was a server. This was also a practice of Pope John Paul I.
It didn’t take long as Bergoglio was elected Pope on March 13, 2013, becoming the first Latin American Pope, the first Jesuit and first to take the name of Francis. For those who wonder why he chose this name, he made the connection to St. Francis of Assisi, the man of peace, and patron of the creatures of the earth. Assisi represents poverty and was always concerned about the environment – a conservationist before it was fashionable.
When he first encountered the masses after becoming Pope, he preferred being referred to as the Bishop of Rome and his humble greeting was, good evening. He bowed before them, blessed and asked them to pray for him. He did this because he was a man of the people: old and young; rich and poor; Catholic, Jew or any other faith. After he finished, instead of going by limousine, he took the bus to the next stop. He rode with the cardinals and would continue to do that. The next day, he prayed alone at the Basilica of St. Mary Major. He also paid for his hotel lodging. Amazingly, he notified the man in Buenos Aires who brought him the paper so the subscription could be cancelled.
The new Bishop of Rome had a flight booked for Buenos Aires for March 23, mentioning an appointment with the Jewish community. His words were, I must return to my spouse, which referred to those in Argentina who he administered to. The only people who were surprised by the wife reference were those who had never heard of Jorge. As the new head of the church, Bergoglio didn’t care for the red shoes or the red cape, nor did he want to replace his iron cross for a more opulent one. His ring was fine, too. Just as in South America, he wanted to identify with the commoners.