“80% of what the Pope says is based on real-life experiences: when I listen to him I am often able to make the connection with situations that actually occurred. He is not a theorist, he’s hands-on. And he is able to learn from the faith of the holy people of God.” Fr. Guillermo Ortiz is Read more
A photograph taken in Argentina in 2007 shows two cardinals, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Tarcisio Bertone, sitting side by side, although their chairs are on two different levels. At the time, Bertone was the Vatican’s Secretary of State, having traveled to a village in northern Patagonia “in the name of His Holiness Benedict XVI” to Read more
Pope Francis used to pick up La Nacion newspaper every day at a kiosk across from the city’s cathedral. Each edition was bound by a rubber band. But then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, being frugal, would save the rubber bands and return them in a ball at the end of every month. Guide Javier Cortese offered the anecdote Read more
As Jesuit provincial in Argentina, Pope Francis showed the abilities, prudence and shrewdness of a secret agent to save the lives of more than 100 people during the nation’s Dirty War in the 1970s. This is the assessment of Italian journalist Nello Scavo, who has just released a book recounting Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s efforts Read more
In June 1973 Juan Perón, the 77-year-old former Argentinian president, came home to Buenos Aires from exile in Franco’s Spain after an absence of 18 years. That same year Father Jorge Bergoglio of the Society of Jesus became the head of Argentina’s Jesuits at the age of 36. One day he would become pope. Perón Read more
A cardinal who was tipped as a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI has spoken of “signs” from the Holy Spirit that led to the election of Pope Francis. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, said he had personally had two “strong signs” that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was “the chosen one” in the Read more
This weekend marks the Holy Father’s two-month anniversary (!). Vatican Insider sums it up so far: What has Bergoglio done in the two months since he was elected Pope and what kind of a Pope has he been? Fondness and confessions The wave of affection for the new Pope is undeniable, with requests to attend papal audiences Read more
Clericalism and worldly priests are criticised by the future Pope Francis in a book of conversations he had with an Argentine rabbi in 2010. The dialogue between Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Rabbi Abraham Skorka has just been published in English by Image Books, with the title On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Read more
Veteran Catholic correspondent John Allen has delved into the background of Pope Francis as a bishop and cardinal in Argentina and clarified his record on such issues as liberation theology, sex abuse guidelines, civil unions and the former military dictatorship. On the Pope’s record in Argentina, Allen says: = Despite Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio’s reputation as Read more
He’s convinced the cardinals, wowed the crowds and on Saturday he attempted perhaps the trickiest task of all – to woo the hardbitten media. And Pope Francis pulled it off spectacularly, speaking warmly to several thousand journalists crowded into the Vatican’s Paul VI hall about their hard work covering his election and passionately of “a poor church for Read more