Pope Francis
By The Christian Portal,
https://www.truechristianity.info/index_english.html
Francis
(/ˈfrænsɨs/, /ˈfrɑːnsɪs/; Latin: Franciscus [franˈtʃiskus];
born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936) is
the 266th and current pope of the Catholic Church, elected by the
Papal conclave on 13 March 2013.
A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was ordained as a priest
in 1969. In 1998 he became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and in
2001 a cardinal. He was elected pope following the resignation of
his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013. Bergoglio
chose the name Francis (the first time a pope has taken that name)
in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. He is both the first Jesuit
pope and the first pope from the Americas. He is also the first
pope from outside Europe since Gregory III in the 8th century.
Early life
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five
children of Italian immigrants of Piedmontese origin, Mario José
Bergoglio, a railway worker, and his wife Regina María Sivori, a
housewife. As a teenager, Bergoglio had a lung removed as a result
of an infection. He graduated from a technical secondary school
as a chemical technician and then, at the age of 21, decided to
become a priest.
Pre-papal career
Jesuit
Bergoglio entered the Society of Jesus on 11 March 1958 and studied
to become a priest at the Jesuit seminary in Villa Devoto. In 1960,
Bergoglio obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo
San José in San Miguel; in 1964 and 1965, he taught literature and
psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada, a high school in the
province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and in 1966 he taught the same
courses at the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires.
In 1967, Bergoglio finished his theological studies and was ordained
to the priesthood on 13 December 1969, by Archbishop Ramón José
Castellano. He attended the Facultades de Filosofía y Teología de
San Miguel (Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel),
a seminary in San Miguel, Buenos Aires province. Bergoglio attained
the position of novice master there and became professor of theology.
The Society of Jesus promoted Bergoglio and he served as provincial
for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He was transferred in 1980 to become
the rector of the seminary in San Miguel, and served in that capacity
until 1986. He worked on a doctoral dissertation at Sankt Georgen
in Germany and returned to Argentina to serve as confessor and spiritual
director in Córdoba.
Bishop
Bergoglio was named Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and
was ordained on 27 June 1992 as Titular Bishop of Auca, with Cardinal
Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving as principal
consecrator.
Bergoglio succeeded Cardinal Quarracino as Archbishop of Buenos
Aires on 28 February 1998 and was concurrently named ordinary for
Eastern Catholics in Argentina, who had lacked their own prelate.
Cardinal
Cardinal Bergoglio SJ celebrating mass at the
XX Exposición del Libro Católico [20th Catholic Book Fair], in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
At the consistory of 21 February 2001, Archbishop Bergoglio was
created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II with the title of cardinal-priest
of San Roberto Bellarmino. As cardinal, Bergoglio was appointed
to five administrative positions in the Roman Curia:
- Member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments
- Member of the Congregation for the Clergy
- Member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life
and Societies of Apostolic Life
- Member of the Pontifical Council for the Family
- Member of the Commission for Latin America
Cardinal
Bergoglio became known for personal humility, doctrinal conservatism
and a commitment to social justice. A simple lifestyle contributed
to his reputation for humility. He lived in a small apartment, rather
than in the palatial bishop's residence. He gave up his chauffeured
limousine in favor of public transportation.
On the death of Pope John Paul II, Bergoglio was considered one
of the papabile cardinals. He participated as a cardinal elector
in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. La Stampa
reported that Bergoglio was in close contention with Ratzinger during
the election, until he made an emotional plea that the cardinals
should not vote for him. Earlier, he had participated in the funeral
of Pope John Paul II and acted as a regent alongside the College
of Cardinals, governing the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church
during the interregnum sede vacante period.
During the 2005 Synod of Bishops, he was elected a member of the
post-synodal council. Catholic journalist John L. Allen, Jr. reported
that Bergoglio was a frontrunner in the 2005 Conclave. An unauthorized
diary of uncertain authenticity released in September 2005 confirmed
that Bergoglio was the runner-up and main challenger of Cardinal
Ratzinger at that conclave. The purported diary of the anonymous
cardinal claimed Bergoglio received 40 votes in the third ballot,
but fell back to 26 at the fourth and decisive ballot.
On 8 November 2005, Bergoglio was elected president of the Argentine
Episcopal Conference for a three-year term (2005–08) by a large
majority of the Argentine bishops. He was reelected on 11 November
2008.
As a cardinal, Bergoglio was associated with Communion and Liberation,
a conservative Catholic association of the faithful.
In Argentina, opinion is divided; some support Bergoglio and admire
his austere lifestyle, while others disapprove of his opposition
to issues like same-sex marriage and are uneasy about his supposed
ties to the country's oppressive military dictatorship in the 1970s.
Relations with the Argentine government
As provincial
Bergoglio has been the subject of allegations regarding the kidnapping
of two priests by the military during Argentina's Dirty War in 1976,
whom he had dismissed just prior to their disappearance. In 2005,
a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Bergoglio,
as superior in the Society of Jesus of Argentina, accusing him of
involvement in the kidnapping by the Navy in May 1976 of the two
Jesuit priests. The lawyer's complaint did not specify the nature
of Bergoglio's alleged involvement, and Bergoglio's spokesman flatly
denied the allegations. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed. The
priests, Orlando Yorio and Franz Jalics, had been tortured, but
found alive five months later, drugged and semi-naked. Yorio accused
Bergoglio of effectively handing them over to the death squads by
declining to tell the regime that he endorsed their work. Yorio
(who died in 2000) claimed in a 1999 interview that he believed
that Bergoglio did nothing "to free us, in fact just the opposite".
Jalics initially refused to discuss the complaint after moving into
seclusion in a German monastery. However, after the election of
Pope Francis, Jalics issued a statement confirming the kidnapping
and attributing the cause to a former lay collaborator who became
a guerrilla, was captured, and named Yorio and Jalics when interrogated.
Jalics further stated: "I can not comment on the role of P.
Bergoglio in these processes". Father Jalics has publicly reconciled
with Bergoglio and considers the matter closed. Alicia Oliveira,
a former Argentine Judge, states that she has known Bergoglio for
decades, and that during the "Dirty War" the future Pope
"was anguished" and "very critical of the dictatorship".
Oliveira met with him at the time and urged Bergoglio to speak out
— he told her that "he couldn't. That it wasn't an easy thing
to do."
Bergoglio told his authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin, that after
the priests' imprisonment he worked behind the scenes for their
release; Bergoglio's intercession with dictator Jorge Rafael Videla
on their behalf may have saved their lives. In 2010, Bergoglio told
Sergio Rubin that he had often sheltered people from the dictatorship
on church property, and once gave his own identity papers to a man
who looked like him, so he could flee Argentina. The interview with
Rubin, reflected in the biography El jesuita, is the only time when
Bergoglio spoke with the press about those events.
The artist and human rights activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who
won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, said: "Perhaps he didn't
have the courage of other priests, but he never collaborated with
the dictatorship ... Bergoglio was no accomplice of the dictatorship."
Graciela Fernández Meijide, member of the Permanent Assembly for
Human Rights, also said that there was no proof linking Bergoglio
with the dictatorship. She told Clarín: "There is no information
and Justice couldn't prove it. I was in the APDH during all the
dictatorship years and I received hundreds of testimonies. Bergoglio
was never mentioned. It was the same in the CONADEP. Nobody mentioned
him as instigator or as anything."
Cardinal Bergoglio SJ celebrating mass
at the XX Exposición del Libro Católico
[20th Catholic Book Fair], in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
As bishop
When Bergoglio celebrated Mass in 2004 at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan
Cathedral to mark Argentina's First National Government holiday,
then President Néstor Kirchner attended and heard Bergoglio request
more political dialogue, reject intolerance, and criticize exhibitionism
and strident announcements. Kirchner celebrated the national day
elsewhere the following year and the Mass in the Cathedral was suspended.
Kirchner considered Bergoglio as a political rival ever since. Bergoglio's
relations with Kirchner's widow and successor, Cristina Fernández
de Kirchner, have been similarly tense. In 2008, Bergoglio called
for national reconciliation during disturbances in the country's
agricultural regions, which the government interpreted as a support
for anti-government demonstrators. The campaign to enact same-sex
marriage legislation was a particularly tense period in their relations.
In 2006 Bergoglio publicly opposed an attempt by the Argentine government
to legalize some cases of abortion. During his time as archbishop,
Cristina Fernández rejected 14 requests for meetings by Bergoglio.
As cardinal
In 2012, Bergoglio said that the British Overseas Territory, the
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas in Spanish), whose sovereignty
is disputed by Argentina and Britain, "belong to Argentina."
He said that the islands were "usurped" by the British.
Following Bergoglio's ascension to the papacy, British Prime Minister
David Cameron said that he "respectfully" disagreed with
these views expressed in the past, and that the wish of the people
of the islands to remain a British Overseas Territory as shown in
the March 2013 referendum should be respected by everyone.
In her first meeting with Francis after he became pope Argentine
President Fernández asked him to mediate the Falklands dispute.
The British Foreign Office later issued a short statement saying
that the dispute over the Falklands was a political matter involving
two sovereign nations, in which the Holy See "does not have
a role to play."
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio meets Argentine
president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Relations with other religious communities
Evangelical Protestant community
Evangelical leaders including Argentine Luis Palau, who moved to
the US in his twenties, have welcomed the news of Bergoglio's election
as Pope based on his relations with Evangelical Protestants, noting
that Bergoglio's financial manager for the Archdiocese of Buenos
Aires was an Evangelical Christian whom Bergoglio refers to as a
friend. Palau recounts how Bergoglio would not only relax and "drink
mate" with that friend, but would also read the Bible and pray
with him, based on what Bergoglio called a relationship of friendship
and trust. Palau describes Bergoglio's approach to relationships
with Evangelicals as one of "building bridges and showing respect,
knowing the differences, but majoring on what we can agree on: on
the divinity of Jesus, his virgin birth, his resurrection, the second
coming." As a result of Bergoglio's election, Palau predicts
that "tensions will be eased."
Juan Pablo Bongarrá, president of the Argentine Bible Society,
recounts that Bergoglio not only met with Evangelicals, and prayed
with them—but he also asked them to pray for him. Bongarrá notes
that Bergoglio would frequently end a conversation with the request,
"Pastor, pray for me." Additionally, Bongarrá tells the
story of a weekly worship meeting of charismatic pastors in Buenos
Aires, which Bergoglio attended: "He mounted the platform and
called for pastors to pray for him. He knelt in front of nearly
6,000 people, and [the Protestant leaders there] laid hands and
prayed."
Other Evangelical leaders agree that Bergoglio's relationships
in Argentina make him "situated to better understand Protestantism".
Noting that the divide between Catholicism and Protestantism is
often present among members of the same families in Argentina, and
is therefore an extremely important human issue, "Francis could
set the tone for more compassionate conversations among families
about the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism."
Other Christian communities
Gregory Venables, Anglican Bishop of Argentina, has called Bergoglio
a "devout Christian and friend to Anglicans". Rev. Mark
Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
(ELCA) greeted the news of Bergoglio's election with a public statement
that praised his work with Lutherans in Argentina.
Bergoglio is also known for his efforts "to further close
the nearly 1,000-year estrangement with the Orthodox churches".
Father Antoni Sevruk, rector of the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint
Catherine the Great Martyr in Rome, said that Bergoglio "often
visited Orthodox services in the Russian Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral
in Buenos Aires" and is known as an advocate on behalf the
Orthodox Church in dealing with Argentina's government.
Jewish community
Bergoglio has close ties to the Jewish community of Argentina,
and attended Jewish Rosh Hashanah services in 2007 at a synagogue
in Buenos Aires. The Catholic Zenit News Agency reported that Bergoglio
told the Jewish congregation during his visit that he went to the
synagogue to examine his heart, "like a pilgrim, together with
you, my elder brothers."
After the 1994 AMIA bombing in that city, a terrorist attack to
a Jewish Community Center which killed 85 people, Bergoglio was
the first public personality to sign a petition condemning the attack
and calling for justice. Leaders of the Jewish community around
the world, not just in Argentina, noted that his words and actions
"showed solidarity with the Jewish community" in the aftermath
of this attack.
The AMIA, a Jewish Community Center
in Buenos Aires
A former head of the World Jewish Congress, Israel Singer, reported
that he worked with Bergoglio in the early 2000s, distributing aid
to the poor as part of a joint Jewish-Catholic program called "Tzedaka".
Singer notes that he was impressed with Bergoglio's modesty, remembering
that "if everyone sat in chairs with handles [arms], he would
sit in the one without." Bergoglio's numerous other actions
in support of the Jewish community included his co-hosting a Kristallnacht
memorial ceremony at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral in
2012.
Abraham Skorka, the rector of the Latin-American Rabbinical Seminary
in Buenos Aires, and Bergoglio published their conversations on
religious and philosophical subjects as Sobre el cielo y la tierra
(Between Heaven and Earth). An article in Israel's The Jerusalem
Post notes that "Unlike John Paul II, who as a child had positive
memories of the Jews of his native Poland but due to the Holocaust
had no Jewish community to interact with in Poland as an adult,
Pope Francis has maintained a sustained and very positive relationship
with a living, breathing [Jewish] community in Buenos Aires."
Bergoglio joined a group of clerics from a number of different
religions to light candles in a 2012 synagogue ceremony on the occasion
of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Islamic community
Leaders of the Islamic community in Buenos Aires welcomed the news
of Bergoglio's election as pope, noting that he "always showed
himself as a friend of the Islamic community", and a person
whose position is "pro-dialogue".
Buenos Aires Islamic leaders praise Bergoglio's close ties with
the Islamic community by citing his reactions to a 2005 incident
when Pope Benedict XVI quoted a medieval document that described
Muhammad as "evil and inhuman". According to them, Bergoglio
immediately distanced himself from the quotes, noting that statements
that create outrage within the Islamic community "will serve
to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship
with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last 20 years.”
King Fahd Islamic Centre, Buenos Aires
Bergoglio visited both a mosque and an Islamic school in Argentina,
visits that Sheik Mohsen Ali, the Director for the Diffusion of
Islam, called actions that strengthened the relationship between
the Catholic and Islamic communities. Dr. Sumer Noufouri, Secretary
General of the Islamic Center of the Argentine Republic (CIRA),
added that Bergoglio's past actions make his election as pope a
cause within the Islamic community of "joy and expectation
of strengthening dialogue between religions". Noufouri said
that the relationship between CIRA and Bergoglio over the course
of a decade had helped to build up Christian-Muslim dialogue in
a way that was "really significant in the history of monotheistic
relations in Argentina".
Interfaith dialogue
Bergoglio has also written about his commitment to open and respectful
interfaith dialogue as a way for all parties engaged in that dialogue
to learn from one another. In the 2011 book that records his conversations
with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Sobre el cielo y la tierra, Bergoglio
said:
Dialogue is born from an attitude of respect for the other person,
from a conviction that the other person has something good to
say. It assumes that there is room in the heart for the person’s
point of view, opinion, and proposal. To dialogue entails a cordial
reception, not a prior condemnation. In order to dialogue it is
necessary to know how to lower the defenses, open the doors of
the house, and offer human warmth.
Papacy
As pope his manner is less formal than those of his predecessors.
On the night of his election he took the bus back to his hotel with
the cardinals, rather than be driven in the papal car. The next
day he visited Cardinal Jorge María Mejía in the hospital and chatted
with patients and staff. At his first media audience, the Friday
after his election, the Pope said of Saint Francis of Assisi: "The
man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man," and he
added "How I would like a poor Church, and for the poor".
Election to the papacy
Bergoglio was elected pope on 13 March 2013, the second day of
the 2013 papal conclave, taking the papal name Francis. Francis
was elected on the fifth ballot of the conclave. The Habemus Papam
was delivered by Cardinal protodeacon Jean-Louis Tauran.
Francis appears to the public for the
first time as pope at the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, 13 March
2013
Instead of accepting his cardinals' congratulations while seated
on the Papal throne, Francis received them standing, reportedly
an immediate sign of a changing approach to formalities at the Vatican.
During his first appearance as pontiff on the balcony of Saint Peter's
Basilica, he wore a white cassock, not the red, ermine-trimmed mozzetta
used by the previous Pope Benedict XVI. He also wore the same iron
pectoral cross that he had worn as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos
Aires, rather than the gold one worn by his predecessors.
After being elected and choosing his name, his first act was bestowing
the Urbi et Orbi blessing to thousands of pilgrims gathered in St.
Peter's Square. Francis began with "Buonasera" ("good
evening"), breaking with the traditional formality at this
event. Before blessing the pilgrims, he asked those in St. Peter's
Square to pray for the pope emeritus, Benedict XVI and for himself.
Choice of name
At his first audience on 16 March 2013, Francis told journalists
that he had chosen the name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi,
and had done so because he was especially concerned for the well-being
of the poor. He explained that, as it was becoming clear during
the conclave voting that he would be elected the new pontiff, the
Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes had embraced him and whispered
"don't forget the poor", which had made him think of the
saint. Author and Vatican reporter John Allen remarked that the
choice of the name Francis sent a clear message to the Church about
the new Pope's intention to let "the church of the spirit,
a humble and simple community of equals with a special love for
the least of this world.... shine through." This is the first
time that a pope has been named "Francis"[c] and the first
time since Pope Lando's 913–914 reign that a serving pope held a
name unused by a predecessor.
Saint Francis preaches to the animals
Francis also mentioned at the audience that some cardinal-electors
had jokingly suggested to him that he should choose either "Adrian",
since Pope Adrian VI had been a reformer of the church, or "Clement"
as "payback" to Pope Clement XIV who had suppressed the
Jesuit order.
Health
Pope Francis, elected at the age of 76, is reported to be in good
health due to his austere and healthy lifestyle. Physicians say
that his missing lung tissue (which was removed in 1957) does not
have a significant impact on his health. The only concern would
be decreased respiratory reserve if he had a respiratory infection.
An attack of sciatica in 2007 prevented him from attending a consistory
and delayed his return to Argentina for several days.
Curia
On 16 March 2013, Pope Francis asked all those in senior positions
of the Curia to "provisionally continue" in office "until
other provisions are made".
Inauguration
Pope Francis celebrated his inauguration with a Mass in Saint Peter's
Square on 19 March 2013, the theme of which was protection. Highlighting
the role played by Saint Joseph as protector of the Holy family
and the Church, and Saint Francis's dedication to the poor, he told
those gathered for the ceremony the role of protector was not just
a Christian one. He called on "all those who have positions
of responsibility in economic, political and social life" to
be protectors of creation, urging world leaders to focus on the
protection of the environment, children, the elderly and those in
need. The Mass, attended by 200,000 people, was shorter and different
in style than previous papal inaugurations. Instead of all cardinals
just six representing them declared their obedience to the new pontiff.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew attended, the first time the spiritual
head of Orthodox Christians has attended such a ceremony since 1054.
Titles and styles
The official style of the Pope is His Holiness Pope Francis; in
Latin, Franciscus, Episcopus Romae.
As pope, his rarely used full title is: His Holiness Pope Francis,
Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the
Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy,
Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province, Sovereign of
the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.
Teachings
Encountering Jesus and rejecting worldliness
In both his first homily as Pope and in his first address to the
cardinals, Francis talked about walking in the presence of Jesus
Christ and stressed the church mission to announce him. In the audience
with the cardinals, he emphasized the concept of "encounter
with Jesus":
Stimulated by the Year of Faith, all together, pastors and faithful,
we will make an effort to respond faithfully to the eternal mission:
to bring Jesus Christ to humanity, and to lead humanity to an
encounter with Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth and the Life,
truly present in the Church and, at the same time, in every person.
This encounter makes us become new men in the mystery of Grace,
provoking in our hearts the Christian joy that is a hundredfold
that given us by Christ to those who welcome Him into their lives.
In his homily, he stressed that "if we do not profess Jesus
Christ, things go wrong. We may become a charitable NGO, but not
the Church, the Bride of the Lord." He went on to teach that
"When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness
of the devil... when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are
not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly".
The theme of rejecting "spiritual worldliness", has been
described as a "leitmotif" of his teachings even before
he became Pope. Understanding this worldliness as "putting
oneself at the center", he said that it is the "greatest
danger for the Church, for us, who are in the Church".
Morality as response to God's mercy
Bergoglio views morality in the context of an encounter with Christ.
This encounter is "triggered" by mercy, and the "privileged
locus of the encounter is the caress of the mercy of Jesus Christ
on my sin." And thus, he says, a new morality—a correspondence
to mercy—is born. He views this morality as a "revolution":
it is "not a titanic effort of the will", but "simply
a response" to a "surprising, unforeseeable, and 'unjust'
mercy". It is "not a 'never falling down' but an 'always
getting up again.'"
He told his biographers that he changed his life when, at 17 years
of age, he started a day of student celebrations by going to confession.
"A strange thing happened to me...It was a surprise, the astonishment
of an encounter...This is the religious experience: the astonishment
of encountering someone who was waiting for you... God is the one
who seeks us first."
Responding to Jesus' mercy is also found in his papal motto: Miserando
atque eligendo. The phrase is taken from a homily of St. Bede, who
commented that Jesus "saw [St. Matthew] the tax collector and,
because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said
to him: 'Follow me'" (italics added to refer to English translation
of the Latin motto). Coincidentally the Gospel reading for the Sunday
he was scheduled to give his first public address was on Jesus'
forgiveness of the adulteress woman. This allowed him to discuss
ideas such as: God never wearies of forgiving us; hearing the word
mercy, this word changes everything; mercy is beautiful; never tire
in asking for forgiveness.
Creative transformation in evangelization
Another theme Pope Francis emphasized in his first address to the
cardinals is the new evangelization. He talked about "the certainty
that the Holy Spirit gives His Church, with His powerful breath,
the courage to persevere and to search for new ways to evangelise."
It is a theme he has repeated in other occasions, specifically
in his biography, where he spoke about "transforming pastoral
modes" and "revising the internal life of the church so
as to go out to the faithful people of God," with "great
creativity." He observed that church cannot be passively waiting
for clientele among people who are no longer evangelized and who
"will not get near structures and old forms that do not respond
to their expectations and sensibilities." He asked for pastoral
conversion from a church that regulates the faith to a church that
transmits and facilitates the faith.
He said that the heart of the mission is summarized in this: "if
one remains in the Lord one goes out of oneself... Fidelity is always
a change, a blossoming, a growth." Key to evangelization is
the role of the laity who should avoid the "problem" of
being clericalized as their "baptism alone should suffice".
Poverty and economic inequality
At a meeting of Latin American bishops in 2007 Bergoglio said "[w]e
live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the
most, yet reduced misery the least" and that "[t]he unjust
distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin
that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller
life for so many of our brothers". On 30 September 2009, Bergoglio
spoke at a conference organized by the Argentina City Postgraduate
School (EPOCA) at the Alvear Palace Hotel titled "Las deudas
sociales de nuestro tiempo" ("The Social Debts of Our
Time") in which he quoted the 1992 "Documento de Santo
Domingo" by the Latin American Episcopal Conference, saying
"extreme poverty and unjust economic structures that cause
great inequalities" are violations of human rights. He went
on to describe social debt as "immoral, unjust and illegitimate".
During a 48-hour public servant strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Bergoglio observed the differences between "poor people who
are persecuted for demanding work, and rich people who are applauded
for fleeing from justice". In 2002, during an economic crisis,
Bergoglio harshly criticized those in power, saying, "Let's
not tolerate the sad spectacle of those who no longer know how to
lie and contradict themselves to hold onto their privileges, their
rapaciousness, and their ill-earned wealth." During a May 2010
speech in Argentina regarding the poor, he directed his message
to the wealthy by saying: "You avoid taking into account the
poor. We have no right to duck down, to lower the arms carried by
those in despair. We must reclaim the memory of our country who
has a mother, recover the memory of our Mother". In 2011, Bergoglio
stated: "There is a daily anesthesia that this city knows how
to use very well, and it is called bribery, and with this anesthesia
the conscience is numbed. Buenos Aires is a bribe-taking city."
In 2011, Bergoglio decried sweatshops and homelessness in Buenos
Aires as forms of slavery:
In this city, slavery is the order of the day in various forms,
in this city workers are exploited in sweatshops and, if immigrants,
are deprived of the opportunity to get out. In this city, there
are kids on the streets for years....... The city failed and continues
to fail in the attempt to free them from this structural slavery
that is homelessness.
In line with the Catholic Church's efforts to care for AIDS victims,
he is well remembered for his 2001 visit to a hospice, in which
he washed and kissed the feet of 12 AIDS patients.
Aparecida Document
Child abuse, trafficking, and prostitution
In 2007, as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio presented
the final version of a joint statement of the bishops of Latin America
– the "Aparecida Document" – upon its approval by Pope
Benedict XVI. Bergoglio denounced what he characterized as a cultural
tolerance of child abuse. He spoke strongly against the abuse of
children as "demographic terrorism" and decried their
exploitation saying, "Children are mistreated, and are not
educated or fed. Many are made into prostitutes and exploited."
In 2011, Bergoglio condemned child trafficking and sex slavery in
Buenos Aires:
In this city, there are many girls who stop playing with dolls
to enter the dump of a brothel because they were stolen, sold, betrayed
... In this city, women and girls are kidnapped, and they are subjected
to use and abuse of their body; they are destroyed in their dignity.
The flesh that Jesus assumed and died for is worth less than the
flesh of a pet. A dog is cared for better than these slaves of ours,
who are kicked, who are broken.
Abortion, euthanasia, birth control, and the elderly
Bergoglio also encouraged his clergy and laity to oppose both abortion
and euthanasia, describing the pro-choice movement as a "culture
of death", and had opposed the free distribution of contraceptives
in Argentina. As Archbishop, Bergoglio publicly spoke against the
Kirchner government's attempts to institute the free distribution
of contraceptives. The Aparecida Document links worthiness to receive
the Eucharist to compliance and acceptance of Church teaching against
abortion and euthanasia:
We hope that legislators, heads of government, and health professionals,
conscious of the dignity of human life and of the rootedness of
the family in our peoples, will defend and protect it from the
abominable crimes of abortion and euthanasia; that is their responsibility
... We should commit ourselves to "eucharistic coherence",
that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive Holy
Communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments,
in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes
against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies
particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.
He further denounced a "culture of discarding" the elderly
and treating them as if they are disposable and worthless due to
their advanced age.
Homosexuality and same-sex marriage
Bergoglio opposes same-sex marriage, describing it as the devil's
work. When Argentina was considering legalizing it in 2010, he believed
that the Church's opposition could not prevent its passage and proposed
that the country's bishops support civil unions as an alternative.
When his fellow bishops rejected that position, he joined their
unsuccessful opposition to the legislation and called it a "real
and dire anthropological throwback". In July 2010, while the
law was under consideration, he wrote a letter to Argentina's cloistered
nuns in which he said:
In the coming weeks, the Argentine people will face a situation
whose outcome can seriously harm the family…At stake is the identity
and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake
are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against
in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a
father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection
of God's law engraved in our hearts.
Let's not be naive: This is not a simple political fight; it
is a destructive proposal to God's plan. This is not a mere legislative
proposal (that's just its form), but a move by the father of lies
that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God… Let's look
to St. Joseph, Mary, and the Child to ask fervently that they
defend the Argentine family in this moment... May they support,
defend, and accompany us in this war of God.
After L'Osservatore Romano reported this, several priests expressed
their support for the law and one was defrocked. Observers believe
that the church's opposition and Bergoglio's language, which was
criticized by rights groups and politicians, including the President
of Argentina, worked in favor of the law's passage and that Catholic
officials learned from their failed campaign against the same-sex
marriage law to adopt a different tone in later debates on social
issues such as parental surrogacy.
Writings
Books
- Bergoglio, Jorge (1982) (in Spanish). Meditaciones para religiosos
[Meditations for the Religious]. Buenes Aires: Diego de Torres.
OCLC 644781822.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (1992) (in Spanish). Reflexiones en esperanza
[Reflections of Hope]. Buenes Aires: Ediciones Universidad del
Salvador. OCLC 36380521.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2003) (in Spanish). Educar: exigencia y pasión:
desafíos para educadores cristianos [To Educate: Exactingness
and Passion]. Buenes Aires: Editorial Claretiana. ISBN 9789505124572.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2003) (in Spanish). Ponerse la patria al
hombro: memoria y camino de esperanza [Putting the Motherland
on One's Shoulders]. Buenes Aires: Editorial Claretiana. ISBN
9789505125111.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2005) (in Spanish). La nación por construir:
utopía, pensamiento y compromiso: VIII Jornada de Pastoral Social
[The Nation to Be Built]. Buenes Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
ISBN 9789505125463.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2006) (in Spanish). Corrupción y pecado:
algunas reflexiones en torno al tema de la corrupción [Corruption
and Sin]. Buenes Aires: Editorial Claretiana. ISBN 9789505125722.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2007) (in Spanish). El verdadero poder es
el servicio [True Power Is Service]. Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana.
OCLC 688511686.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2009) (in Spanish). Seminario: las deudas
sociales de nuestro tiempo: la deuda social según la doctrina
de la iglesia. Buenos Aires: EPOCA-USAL. ISBN 9788493741235.
- Bergoglio, Jorge; Skorka, Abraham (2010) (in Spanish). Sobre
el cielo y la tierra [On Heaven and Earth]. Buenos Aires: Editorial
Sudamericana. ISBN 9789500732932.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2010) (in Spanish). Seminario Internacional:
consenso para el desarrollo: reflexiones sobre solidaridad y desarrollo.
Buenes Aires: EPOCA. ISBN 9789875073524.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2011) (in Spanish). Nosotros como ciudadanos,
nosotros como pueblo: hacia un bicentenario en justicia y solidaridad.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Claretiana. ISBN 9789505127443.
Other
- Bergoglio, Jorge (1995) (in Spanish). La vida sagrada y su
misión en la Iglesia y en el mundo. Argentina Catholic University:
Faculty of Theology. OCLC 806712655.
- Egan, Edward Michael; Bergoglio, Jorge (2001). "Episcopus
minister Evangelii Iesu Christi propter spem mundi: relatio post
disceptationem". The Catholic Church. The Synod of Bishops.
Ordinary General Assembly. E Civitate Vaticana. OCLC 749998123.
- John Paul, Pope; Castro, Fidel (2004). Bergoglio, Jorge. ed
(in Spanish). Diálogos entre Juan Pablo II y Fidel Castro [Dialogues
Between John Paul II and Fidel Castro]. Buenos Aires: Ciudad Argentina.
ISBN 9789875070745.
- Bergoglio, Jorge (2007). "Buscar el camino hacia el futuro,
llevando consigo la memoria de las raíces" (in Spanish).
Humanitas (National Humanities Institute) (47): 468–483. OCLC
176911626.
- Castiñeira de Dios, José María (2007) (in Spanish). El santito
Ceferino Namuncurá: relato en verso. Foreword by Jorge Bergoglio.
Buenos Aires: Lumen. ISBN 9789870007340.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
Re-published from TrueChristianity.info
in March 2013
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