Pope Francis (Pastor of Mercy)
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Cover image of Pope Francis by Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency. Photograph taken by Roberto Stuckert Filho.
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About the Author
Michael J. Ruszala holds an M.A. in Theology & Christian Ministry and a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology summa cum laude from Franciscan University of Steubenville and is certified as a parish catechetical leader by the Diocese of Buffalo. He is director of faith formation at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Getzville, NY, and an adjunct lecturer in religious studies at Niagara University in Lewiston, NY. Michael is also an active member of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and serves on the Catechumenate Board and the Faith Formation Assessment Committee for the Diocese of Buffalo. He has been published in several religious journals including the Social Justice Review, the Catholic Social Science Review, and Lay Witness online edition, with articles often touching on contemporary papal teaching. With interests in music, art, tennis, and kayaking, he also enjoys directing the Children’s Choir at his parish.
About Wyatt North Publishing
Foreword
Introduction
Early Life in Argentina
Vocation as a Jesuit
Dark Days in Argentina
Bergoglio’s Peaceful Secret Resistance
Growth of a Pastor of Souls
A Cardinal for the Poor
Promoting a Culture of Cooperation
A Window to the Soul
The Papacy and Resignation of Benedict XVI
The Conclave of 2013
Pope Francis Greets the World
‘Bishop and People’
Pope Francis and Saint Francis
Mercy: A Key to Understanding Pope Francis
Church Reform
Pope Francis and the Youth
Pope Francis’ Role in the Church
The Rosary
Foreword
Understanding the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio is essential to understanding how Pope Francis shepherds his flock - and the key is mercy.
What exactly do people find so attractive about Pope Francis? There is something about him that captivates and delights people, even people who hardly know anything about him.
Aldo Cagnoli, a layman who developed a friendship with the Pope when he was serving as a cardinal, shares the following: “The greatness of the man, in my humble opinion lies not in building walls or seeking refuge behind his wisdom and office, but rather in dealing with everyone judiciously, respectfully, and with humility, being willing to learn at any moment of life; that is what Father Bergoglio means to me.”
This book uncovers the life of the 266th Bishop of Rome, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
“Dear young people, please, don’t be observers of life, but get involved. Jesus did not remain an observer, but he immersed himself. Don’t be observers, but immerse yourself in the reality of life, as Jesus did.”
— Pope Francis, July 27, 2013 Youth Prayer Vigil at Rio
Introduction
There is something about Pope Francis that captivates and delights people, even people who hardly know anything about him. He was elected in only two days of the conclave, yet many who tried their hand at speculating on who the next pope may be barely included him on their lists. The evening of Wednesday, March 13, 2013, the traditional white smoke poured out from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and spread throughout the world by way of television, Internet, radio, and social media, signaling the beginning of a new papacy. As the light of day waned from the Eternal City, some 150,000 people gathered watching intently for any movement behind the curtained door to the loggia of St. Peter’s. A little after 8:00 p.m., the doors swung open and Cardinal Tauran emerged to pronounce the traditional and joyous Latin formula to introduce the new Bishop of Rome: “Annuncio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus papam!” (“I announce to you a great joy: we have a pope!”) He then announced the new Holy Father’s identity: “Cardinalem Bergoglio...”
The name Bergoglio, stirred up confusion among most of the faithful who flooded the square that were even more clueless than the television announcers were, who scrambled to figure out who exactly the new pope was. Pausing briefly, Cardinal Tauran continued by announcing the name of the new pope: “...qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum” (“who takes for himself the name Francis”). Whoever this man may be, his name choice resonated with all, and the crowd erupted with jubilant cheers. A few moments passed before the television announcers and their support teams informed their global audiences that the man who was about to walk onto the loggia dressed in white was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, age 76, of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
To add to the bewilderment and kindling curiosity, when the new pope stepped out to the thunderous applause of the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, he did not give the expected papal gesture of outstretched arms. Instead, he gave only a simple and modest wave. Also, before giving his first apostolic blessing, he bowed asking the faithful, from the least to the greatest, to silently pray for him. These acts were only the beginning of many more words and gestures, such as taking a seat on the bus with the cardinals, refusing a popemobile with bulletproof glass, and paying his own hotel bill after his election, that would raise eyebrows among some familiar with papal customs and delight the masses.
Is he making a pointed critique of previous pontificates? Is he simply posturing a persona to the world at large to make a point? The study of the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio gives a clear answer, and the answer is no. This is simply who he is as a man and as a priest. The example of his thought-provoking gestures flows from his character, his life experiences, his religious vocation, and his spirituality. This book uncovers the life of the 266th Bishop of Rome, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, also known as Father Jorge, a name he preferred even while he was an archbishop and cardinal.
What exactly do people find so attractive about Pope Francis? Aldo Cagnoli, a layman who developed a friendship with the Pope when he was serving as a cardinal, shares the followin
g: “The greatness of the man, in my humble opinion lies not in building walls or seeking refuge behind his wisdom and office, but rather in dealing with everyone judiciously, respectfully, and with humility, being willing to learn at any moment of life; that is what Father Bergoglio means to me” (as quoted in Ch. 12 of Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio, previously published as El Jesuita [The Jesuit]).
At World Youth Day 2013, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, three million young people came out to celebrate their faith with Pope Francis. Doug Barry, from EWTN’s Life on the Rock, interviewed youth at the event on what features stood out to them about Pope Francis. The young people seemed most touched by his authenticity. One young woman from St. Louis said, “He really knows his audience. He doesn’t just say things to say things... And he is really sincere and genuine in all that he does.” A friend agreed: “He was looking out into the crowd and it felt like he was looking at each one of us....” A young man from Canada weighed in: “You can actually relate to [him]... for example, last night he was talking about the World Cup and athletes.” A young woman added, “I feel he means what he says... he practices what he preaches... he states that he’s there for the poor and he actually means it.”
The Holy Spirit guided the College of Cardinals in its election of Pope Francis to meet the needs of the Church following the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI due to old age. Representing the growth and demographic shift in the Church throughout the world and especially in the Southern Hemisphere, Pope Francis is the first non-European pope in almost 1,300 years. He is also the first Jesuit pope. Pope Francis comes with a different background and set of experiences. Both as archbishop and as pope, his flock knows him for his humility, ascetic frugality in solidarity with the poor, and closeness. He was born in Buenos Aires to a family of Italian immigrants, earned a diploma in chemistry, and followed a priestly vocation in the Jesuit order after an experience of God’s mercy while receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation. Even though he is known for his smile and humor, the world also recognizes Pope Francis as a stern figure that stands against the evils of the world and challenges powerful government officials, when necessary.
The Church he leads is one that has been burdened in the West by the aftermath of sex abuse scandals and increased secularism. It is also a Church that is experiencing shifting in numbers out of the West and is being challenged with religious persecution in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The Vatican that Pope Francis has inherited is plagued by cronyism and scandal. This Holy Father knows, however, that his job is not merely about numbers, politics, or even success. He steers clear of pessimism knowing that he is the head of Christ’s Body on earth and works with Christ’s grace. This is the man God has chosen in these times to lead his flock.
Early Life in Argentina
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936, in the Flores district of Buenos Aires. The district was a countryside locale outside the main city during the nineteenth century and many rich people in its early days called this place home. By the time Jorge was born, Flores was incorporated into the city of Buenos Aires and became a middle class neighborhood. Flores is also the home of the beautiful Romantic-styled Basilica of San José de Flores, built in 1831, with its dome over the altar, spire over the entrance, and columns at its facade. It was the Bergoglios’ parish church and had much significance in Jorge’s life.
Jorge’s father’s family had arrived in Argentina in 1929, immigrating from Piedimonte in northern Italy. They were not the only ones immigrating to the country. In the late nineteenth century, Argentina became industrialized and the government promoted immigration from Europe. During that time, the land prospered and Buenos Aires earned the moniker “Paris of the South.” In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries waves of immigrants from Italy, Spain, and other European countries came off ships in the port of Buenos Aires. Three of Jorge’s great uncles were the first in the family to immigrate to Argentina in 1922 searching for better employment opportunities after World War I. They established a paving company in Buenos Aires and built a four-story building for their company with the city’s first elevator. Jorge’s father and paternal grandparents followed the brothers in order to keep the family together and to escape Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy. Jorge’s father and grandfather also helped with the business for a time. His father, Mario, who had been an accountant for a rail company in Italy, provided similar services for the family business (Cardinal Bergoglio recalls more on the story of his family’s immigration and his early life in Ch. 1 of Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio).
Providentially, the Bergoglios were long delayed in liquidating their assets in Italy; this forced them to miss the ship they planned to sail on, the doomed Pricipessa Mafalda, which sank off the northern coast of Brazil before reaching Buenos Aires. The family took the Giulio Cesare instead and arrived safely in Argentina with Jorge’s Grandma Rosa. Grandma Rosa wore a fur coat stuffed with the money the family brought with them from Italy. Economic hard times eventually hit Argentina in 1932 and the family’s paving business went under, but the Bergoglio brothers began anew.
Jorge’s father, Mario, met his mother Regina at Mass in 1934. Regina was born in Argentina, but her parents were also Italian immigrants. Mario and Regina married the following year after meeting. Jorge, the eldest of their five children, was born in 1936. Jorge fondly recalls his mother gathering the children around the radio on Sunday afternoons to listen to opera and explain the story. A true porteño, as the inhabitants of the port city of Buenos Aires are called, Jorge liked to play soccer, listen to Latin music, and dance the tango. Jorge’s paternal grandparents lived around the corner from his home. He greatly admired his Grandma Rosa, and keeps her written prayer for her grandchildren with him until this day. Jorge recalls that while his grandparents kept their personal conversations in Piedmontese, Mario chose mostly to speak Spanish, preferring to look forward rather than back. Still, Jorge grew up speaking both Italian and Spanish.
Upon entering secondary school at the age of thirteen, his father insisted that Jorge begin work even though the family, in their modest lifestyle, was not particularly in need of extra income. Mario Bergoglio wanted to teach the boy the value of work and found several jobs for him during his adolescent years. Jorge worked in a hosiery factory for several years, as a cleaner and at a desk. When he entered technical school to study food chemistry, Jorge found a job working in a laboratory. He worked under a woman who always challenged him to do his work thoroughly. He remembers her, though, with both fondness and sorrow. Years later, she was kidnapped and murdered along with members of her family because of her political views during the Dirty War, a conflict in the 1970’s and 80’s between the military dictatorship and guerrilla fighters in which thousands of Argentineans disappeared.
Initially unhappy with his father’s decision to make him work, Jorge recalls later in his life that work was a valuable formative experience for him that taught him responsibility, realism, and how the world operated. He learned that a person’s self worth often comes from their work, which led him to become committed later in life to promote a just culture of work rather than simply encouraging charity or entitlement. He believes that people need meaningful work in order to thrive. During his boyhood through his priestly ministry, he experienced the gulf in Argentina between the poor and the well off, which left the poor having few opportunities for gainful employment.
At the age of twenty-one, Jorge became dangerously ill. He was diagnosed with severe pneumonia and cysts. Part of his upper right lung was removed, and each day Jorge endured the pain and discomfort of saline fluid pumped through his chest to clear his system. Jorge remembers that the only person that was able to comfort him during this time was a religious sister who had catechized him from childhood, Sister Dolores. She exposed him to the true meaning of suffering with this simple statement: “You are imitating Christ.” This stuck with him, and his sufferings during that time served as a cr
ucible for his character, teaching him how to distinguish what is important in life from what is not. He was being prepared for what God was calling him to do in life, his vocation.
Vocation as a Jesuit
Before meeting up with his friends at the train station to go and celebrate Student Day on September 21, 1953, Jorge decided to pay a visit to his parish, San José de Flores. Student Day marks the start of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. At church, Jorge was moved and inspired by a priest visiting that day and decided to ask the priest to hear his confession. The overwhelming experience of God’s mercy in receiving the sacrament awakened him to his vocation, that God was calling him to the priesthood in the religious life. “Something strange happened to me in that confession. I don’t know what it was, but it changed my life. I think it surprised me, caught me with the guard down,” Jorge recalls in Ch. 4 of Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio. In that moment, at the age of seventeen, he knew his vocation and was so moved that he stayed in the church praying instead of meeting his friends at the train station to celebrate Student Day.
His experience of God’s calling, through the mercy of Confession, became the inspiration for the motto he chose for himself when he was first appointed auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires and has remained the same during his papacy: “miserando atque eligendo”. These Latin words are taken from a homily on Saint Mathew by the Venerable Bede and are translated as “seeing through the eyes of mercy, he chose him” (as translated in Ch. 4 of John Allen’s Ten Things Pope Francis Wants You to Know). The complete sentence from the Venerable Bede reads like this: “Jesus, therefore, saw the publican, and because he saw by having mercy and by choosing, He said to him, ‘Follow me’” (as translated by Father Zuhlsdorf on ‘Father Z’s Blog’). The story of Saint Mathew reveals that he had one of the most hated and least ethical professions of his day in 1st century Palestine; he was a tax collector for the Roman occupiers. Yet, Christ showed him merciful love, called him, changed his life, and made him an Apostle.