CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CRISIS

HABEMUS PAPAM: Steely determination lies beneath Francis’s modest ways. REUTERS/ Alessandro Bianchi

Jorge Bergoglio is charming and humble, but also deeply political, people who know him say A political pope

By PAULO PRADA AND HELEN POPPER BUENOS AIRES, MARCH 27, 2013

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hen Jorge Bergoglio finished studying chemistry at high Wschool his mother asked him what he would study next. “Medicine,” replied the skinny 19-year- old, according to his younger sister, Maria Elena. Bergoglio’s mother cleared a storage room in the family’s working-class Buenos Aires home for him to use as a study. Every day, after his morning job in a lab, he would arrive home and disappear into the room. One morning, though, his mother got a surprise. In the room, she found not anato- my or medicine texts but books on theology and Catholicism. Perturbed at his change of course, she confronted her eldest son. “What is this?” she asked. Bergoglio responded calmly: “It’s medi- cine for the soul.” For the man who last week took over at the head of the Catholic Church, the shift MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL: Argentine Cardinal from medicine to religion was the first of Jorge Bergoglio in his early career (left and top many in a career that has often defied ex- left) and with his family (above). At first, he pectations. It was also an early hint at what told his mother he was studying medicine. Argentines who know Bergoglio, now 76, REUTERS/Clarin/Handout describe as a steely determination – pre- pared even to mislead his mother - that lies beneath his charming and modest exterior. “Jorge is a political man with a keen nose for politics,” says Rafael Velasco, a Jesuit was teaching. After being named a bishop he joked: “May God forgive you.” priest and former colleague who is now rec- climbed through the Church hierarchy itself, In Argentina, countrymen have ex- tor of the Catholic University of Cordoba, rising to lead Argentina’s largest archdiocese pressed glee that one of their own has be- in central Argentina. “It’s not an act, the and eventually being named a cardinal. come the first non-European pope in 13 humility. But it’s part of his great capacity Throughout his rise, Bergoglio eschewed centuries. Francis has also charmed millions to intuitively know and read people.” the trappings of the positions he attained. with his plainspoken banter, refusal to wear The first pope from Latin America is As of Buenos Aires, he fa- ornate vestments and his insistence that he also the first Jesuit pope. Like priests from mously took the subway from his one-room pay his hotel bill in person the morning af- other orders, Jesuits take vows of poverty, apartment in the Argentine capital instead ter the conclave. Some genuinely hope he chastity and obedience, as well as a fourth of accepting the grand residence at his dis- can revive a Church roiled by scandal and special vow of obedience to the pope. They posal. When his name emerged as a possible undermined by rival religions and secular- also make a promise to refrain from seeking successor to John Paul in 2005, Bergoglio ism, which many Catholics find to be out of high Church offices. told family, friends and Argentine media touch with contemporary values. But Bergoglio rose steadily through the that he didn’t want to be pope. He loved At the same time, questions remain, not order’s leadership posts and beyond, some- Buenos Aires too much, he said. He had no least about the exact nature of Bergoglio’s times crossing swords with colleagues and desire to leave. role during the Argentine dictatorship’s once proving so meddlesome that a Jesuit When the conclave named him succes- “Dirty War” against leftists and other boss dismissed him from the school where he sor to Pope Benedict earlier this month, he Text continues on page 4

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Experienced manager set for Vatican reform

Francis of Assisi began his saintly career a coterie of close advisers and Curia following what he said was God’s command: departments that answer to the pope but “Rebuild my Church.” The new pope who often don’t talk to each other. took his name heard the same message Francis’s references to himself simply from the cardinals who elected him. as the bishop of Rome - the position from The 13th-century Francis toured the which his papal authority flows - hints at a Italian countryside repairing dilapidated willingness to involve the hierarchy around the chapels before realising his mission was to globe in running the world’s largest church. change the whole Roman Catholic Church. Hanvey said a first step would be to At 76, does not have as call heads of national bishops conferences ‘NOT TAMED BY LEADERSHIP’: Well-liked by his much time to get to work. around the world to meet regularly in staff, Bergoglio is also demanding and has little What the first Jesuit pope has is management Rome as advisers. This was proposed by the patience for bureaucracy. experience in his native Argentina ashead of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), but REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi Jesuit province and chairman of the national John Paul and Benedict used it so bishops conference. As archbishop of Buenos rarely that some bishops complained they Aires, he dealt with everything from poverty were being “treated like altar boys” rather clashes over the management at the bank. to national politics. than senior colleagues. The Council of Europe and the Bank of “He’s been at the top of the The Curia needs regular cabinet Italy have criticised it for lax anti-money- organisation, but he’s not been tamed meetings, more international staffers to laundering controls and oversight, two areas by that,” says Rev James Hanvey, a Jesuit overcome its domination by Italian clerics where the Vatican says it is improving. theologian. “In management speak, he’s and a full work day rather than schedules Critics also say the Church has not held to the core values. He wants us all to that end in early afternoon, U.S. theologian compensated victims of sexual abuse enough refocus on the core values.” George Weigel said. or held bishops sufficiently responsible for Bergoglio’s record shows he has strong It has only two women in senior posts, covering up cases. Francis would quickly convictions and is not afraid to take another aspect of the Curia critics say tarnish his compassionate image if he did not unpopular decisions. Jose Maria Poirier, needs to be changed. go beyond the apologies and meetings with editor of the lay Catholic monthly Criterio One overlooked fact is that the Curia, victims that Benedict pioneered. in Buenos Aires, said Church staff there with just over 2,000 employees, is actually Reputed to be a theological conservative, described him as an “attentive, human and understaffed. “They’re overwhelmed,” said one Francis has criticised Argentina’s considerate” boss who is also demanding, senior figure from another religion in contact government for legalising same-sex has little patience for bureaucracy, and with the Curia, who asked not to be named. marriage, opposes abortion and women appoints talented assistants. priests and defends the celibacy rule for His predecessor Benedict’s failure in this WAITING FOR OTHER SIGNALS male clergy. But he has also upbraided regard was partly to blame for the infighting The opaque operations at the Vatican priests who refused to baptise babies of that crippled the Curia bureaucracy and came bank, known as the Institute for Works of unmarried mothers. He has admitted to to light in leaked Vatican documents last year. Religion (IOR), were widely discussed among being “dazzled” by a young lady while in The first hint Francis gave of plans to change cardinals ahead of the conclave. Francis the seminary and said he helps priests who the Curia came three days after his election has criticised globalisation and unfettered struggle with their vow of celibacy. when he reappointed its top bureaucrats capitalism in the past, so he may take a All this suggests a softer edge to some of temporarily rather than permanently, as critical look at the bank, but he has not his positions. “Benedict was clearly labelled” Benedict did after being elected in 2005. indicated his plans. as a doctrinaire conservative, said Italian With his humble style, the pope has The book “His Holiness,” which theologian Massimo Faggioli. “It will be begun deflating the imperial side of the published the leaked Vatican documents easier for (Francis) to say things without the Vatican, which resembles a Renaissance last year, detailed alleged corruption, audience having a ready response.” monarchy with an absolute sovereign, inflated prices for work in the Vatican and By Tom Heneghan

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SOCCER FAN: When he emerged as a possible successor to John Paul in 2005, Bergoglio said he loved Buenos Aires too much to leave. Here in 2011, he is pictured with fans of the San Lorenzo soccer club, which he supports. REUTERS/San Lorenzo Athletic Club/Handout

political opponents in the 1970s and early of Flores in central Buenos Aires. His fa- During his first year at high school – a 1980s. Some also point to his description ther, an Italian immigrant, worked as an ac- six-year vocational course focused heavily of gay marriage as “the work of the devil” as countant in a hosiery factory. His mother, on chemistry - Bergoglio sought permis- proof of a hard-line conservatism. also of Italian descent, worked at home. sion to ask classmates if they had taken The Vatican has moved quickly to de- His paternal grandparents, who lived their first communion. The school director fend Francis. The attacks, said Vatican close by, taught him Italian. His grand- agreed and Bergoglio tutored four class- spokesman Federico Lombardi, “reveal an- mother, he has said, taught him to pray. mates about the sacrament and introduced ti-clerical, left-wing elements that are used Friends and family recall the neighbour- them to a local priest. A few months later, to attack the Church.” hood as a simple and friendly area where all four took communion. Interviews with nearly two dozen people residents would sometimes set up tables in “He already had that vocation,” says including his sister, colleagues from the the street and share meals. Maria Elena, Alberto Omodei, one of the classmates. “He Jesuit order in Argentina, his archdiocese his only surviving sibling, recalls that their had a desire to bring people closer to God.” and social circle, build a picture of a devout father would gather the family to pray the Four years on, Bergoglio decided to and dedicated priest whose scholarly grasp rosary before dinner. make it his life. Walking to a spring picnic of Church doctrine rarely hindered his Bergoglio, she said in an interview, was a one morning, he felt the strong urge to en- down-to-earth focus on charity, compassion studious and kind brother. “He was a great ter a church. At a confessional, he had an and social work. They also reveal a calculat- companion,” she says. “He always looked intense conversation with a priest, decided ing leader so used to getting his way that he out for friends and family.” to skip the picnic and vowed to enter the once summoned a courtroom to him, rather priesthood. than walk a few blocks to the courthouse. Pain is not a virtue in itself, “I don’t know what happened,” he told an Argentine radio station last year. “But I EARLY YEARS but the way that one handles it can be. knew I had to become a priest.” Bergoglio, the first of five children, was born When he eventually let his parents into and raised in the blue-collar neighbourhood Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio his plan, his mother worried the life of a

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priest would be too lonely. His father em- between right and left. Some members of braced the idea. the regional Church were beginning to flirt At 21, he was set to join a seminary in with Liberation Theology, a movement that Villa Devoto, another working-class area sought to empower the poor. Priests at the just west of Flores. But his studies were de- extremes of the movement began to advo- layed by a fever that doctors feared could cate armed struggle. kill him. They removed three cysts in his Though Bergoglio had worked for the right lung. According to an account in poor, he made it clear in discussions that the “The Jesuit,” an authorised biography by order would not stray too far toward Marxism, journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca according to several of his successors as pro- Ambrogetti published in 2010, Bergoglio vincial as well as other Jesuit officials. was annoyed by the hopeful assurances of Things got much harder when the people who tried to cheer him. Instead, he Argentine military seized power in a coup found strength in a nun’s declaration that NO SHOE-OFF: Bergoglio has charmed millions in 1976 and cracked down on opponents in he was “imitating Jesus” through suffering. with plain talk and a refusal to wear ornate a brutal campaign of kidnappings, torture “Pain is not a virtue in itself,” Bergoglio vestments, in contrast with Benedict. REUTERS/ and murders that left between 10,000 and told his biographers, “but the way that one Max Rossi/Andrew Milligan/Pool/Files 30,000 dead or “disappeared.” Among the handles it can be.” regime’s victims were at least 19 priests and The young man recovered, entered the scores more Catholic leftists. seminary and decided to join the Jesuits. a firm but enthusiastic teacher, able to bond One particular episode drew in The order at the time administered the with almost anyone – from young pupils Bergoglio. In May 1976, naval officers seminary and Bergoglio found their focus and their families to Church superiors and seized two Jesuit priests, Orlando Yorio and on education and brotherhood appealing. scholars. At one point he convinced Jorge Francisco Jalics, because of their pastoral A year later, in 1960, he moved to Luis Borges, one of the giants of Argentine work in a Buenos Aires slum. The military Cordoba, Argentina’s second city, where letters, to read to his students. believed the priests were helping anti-gov- the order trained initiates. The atmosphere, ernment activists. A DIRTY WAR fellow initiates recall, was disciplined and Fellow Jesuits say Bergoglio, by that formal. “Brother Bergoglio” was cheerful, After his ordination in 1969 and a brief as- time well versed in local politics, would but devout. He embraced the order’s cur- signment in Spain, Bergoglio returned to sometimes get tips about pending military riculum with its emphasis on language, lit- Buenos Aires to run the order’s programme sweeps and alert colleagues to avoid them. erature, and philosophy. for initiates. There, he quickly impressed su- In the case of Yorio and Jalics, though, no Occasionally, something else caught periors, according to fellow Jesuits from the hard evidence has emerged that Bergoglio his eye. In a book of conversations with a period. In 1973, aged 36, Bergoglio was cho- knew about the abduction in advance. rabbi friend, one of several Jewish leaders sen as the order’s national leader, or “provin- But Horacio Verbitsky, an Argentine with whom Bergoglio has maintained a cial,” a post that usually lasts six years. journalist who has written extensively on the public dialogue over the years, he mentions He earned a reputation as someone period, has said Bergoglio did not do enough a young woman he met while attending a who remembers names, home towns, ac- to warn the priests of the danger. According wedding while at seminary. quaintances and other small details about to Verbitsky’s book “The Silence,” Bergoglio “Her beauty and intellectual glow sur- his colleagues and Church faithful, say withdrew his order’s protection of the two prised me,” he says in the book, “On Heaven several Jesuit peers. He also made impor- priests after they refused to quit visiting the and Earth,” published in 2010. “I couldn’t tant contacts, most notably with Antonio slums, paving the way for their capture. He pray for an entire week because whenever Quarracino, the bishop who would precede offers no proof of this. I tried the girl would appear in my head.” him as archbishop and cardinal. In the authorised biography, Bergoglio The infatuation passed. For much of the But Bergoglio’s tenure coincided with said he long ignored such accusations “so as next decade, as he worked towards ordi- one of the most tumultuous periods in to not get caught in their game, not because nation, he studied at Jesuit universities in Argentina’s history. Like much of the rest I have anything to hide.” Argentina and Chile, and taught at Jesuit of Latin America, the country was riven In the book Bergoglio said he worked schools. Colleagues and students remember by economic crisis and growing conflict tirelessly to secure the men’s freedom. He

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said he convinced a military chaplain – no head of the Jesuits in Italy. He contacted The bishop, now deceased, told de la name is given in the biography - to miss a Bergoglio, who wrote a carefully worded Cuadra he had no further details about the Mass so that he himself could officiate and letter for the father of the family, Roberto baby. Bergoglio, in written testimony to a ask the head of the governing junta to set Luis de la Cuadra, to give to Mario Picchi, court looking into the case in 2011, said he them free. a bishop near the family’s home. received no more specifics about the case The priests were held for five months, “I bother you to introduce you to Mr and only learned further details through blindfolded and chained, before being Roberto Luis de la Cuadra,” Bergoglio the media. drugged and released in a field. It’s not clear wrote, according to a photocopy of the let- Bergoglio’s allies and many historians what ultimately secured their freedom. ter still in the family’s possession. “He will say there was little he could do to limit such Bergoglio and others have described his explain to you what this is about, and I will atrocities. Many of those who did speak out efforts to hide or help other targets flee, in- appreciate anything that you can do.” were killed, and Bergoglio, though the head cluding one who Bergoglio said resembled Several months later, Picchi told de la of the Jesuits, was far less prominent than him and crossed the northern border in Cuadra he had learned that the infant girl more senior clerics outside the order. clerical garb and carrying his identity card. was alive, but had been handed for adop- Even those who did more at the time Another case that involved Bergoglio tion to another, less troublesome family, sympathise with Bergoglio’s position. “If I shows the delicate balance that he and according to a surviving family member, hadn’t come face to face with someone who many others sought between helping vic- Estela de la Cuadra. had been tortured, I wouldn’t have been tims and not falling foul of the regime. In able to speak out,” says Miguel Hesayne, 1976 and 1977, seven members of a leftist If I hadn’t come face to face a retired bishop who is widely regarded as family near Buenos Aires disappeared, in- with someone who had been one of the few senior Church officials who cluding a pregnant woman who would give tortured, I wouldn’t have been criticised the regime. birth to a baby girl in captivity. Siblings But others, including Estela de la who had exiled themselves in Rome, and able to speak out. Cuadra, other family members of disap- believed their family members had been Miguel Hesayne peared and human rights activists, criticise abducted by the military, appealed to the retired Argentine bishop him for not speaking out more at the time and for his reluctance to talk about the pe- riod later.

INTERFERENCE Bergoglio’s tenure as provincial ended in 1979. His successor appointed him rector of the top Jesuit school in Buenos Aires, the Colegio Maximo de San Miguel, where he taught, continued his own studies and re- mained an influential voice. In 1986, the next provincial sent Bergoglio to Germany to work on a doc- torate. Staying near Frankfurt, he studied the work of Romano Guardini, a Catholic philosopher active in the 1930s who wrote about the moral hazards of power. “Catholicism and confronting violence is something he too had to think about,” says Michael Sievernich, a professor of theology who met Bergoglio at the time and noted the parallels between the subject matter and the recent Argentine horror. TWITTEREMUS: Francis has taken over Benedict’s Twitter feed. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini Bergoglio stayed just a few months, to

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the surprise of his fellow Jesuits, returning to Argentina with books and photocopies. The order lodged him at another Buenos Aires school, where he continued his stud- ies, resumed teaching and wrote. His standing in the capital remained high. But soon, several Jesuits recall, Bergoglio began voicing disapproval of the way his peers ran the school, mostly petty details about courses and administration. His interference was unwelcome. Soon the provincial at the time Victor Zorzin sent him back to Cordoba. “He needed to go somewhere he could relax,” says Zorzin. In Cordoba, Bergoglio’s duties would be simple: say Mass, hear confessions and con- tinue to work on his doctorate. He com- plied, colleagues recall, but he also brooded. “PRAY FOR ME”: People pray at Pope Francis’s inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square. When the “He was no longer as active,” says Andres conclave named him, he joked: “May God forgive you.” REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito Swinnen, a contemporary in the order and a successor to Bergoglio as provincial. Bergoglio’s exile ended abruptly in 1992 cardinals in obedience to the pope, who washing the feet of poor faithful as part of when Quarracino, now a cardinal, recom- decides these promotions. the ritual on Holy Thursday before Easter. mended to his superiors in Rome that he In the archdiocese, Bergoglio ascended Bergoglio’s political profile also grew. be made auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires. quickly. By 1997, with Quarracino ailing, He angered President Nestor Kirchner He returned to the city, but instead of Pope John Paul II designated Bergoglio in 2004 with a speech criticising the “exhi- moving into a house at the archdiocese, went his successor to lead the archdiocese. Eight bitionism and strident announcements” of back into a Jesuit residence. There, colleagues months later, Quarracino died. political leaders. In a chaotic dispute with from that period say, he began to meddle Church officials say Bergoglio inherited the administration of President Cristina again. Once, when a friend of the order left an archdiocese whose finances were in dis- Fernandez, Kirchner’s widow and successor, them a gift of pastries, Bergoglio grabbed it array. He soon proved an efficient adminis- he sided with farmers and opposed her push and carried it to the kitchen, where maids trator; one who would rearrange its affairs for a gay-marriage law. He did support an and cooks could share the goodies. to focus more on ministry to the poor. alternative bill to allow civil partnerships. “We didn’t need a bishop to teach us Among other measures, he created a With growing renown came renewed how to share,” recalls one Jesuit present, new vicariate to organise the charity work questions about his actions during the who requested anonymity because he does and preaching that priests carry out in the Dirty War. Lawyers looking into many not want to offend the pope. many villas, or slums, that surround Buenos of the disappearances sought to question After a few months, some Jesuits be- Aires. More than 30 priests are now perma- Bergoglio, but he exercised a provision in gan to ask when Bergoglio would leave. nently based in the villas - there were nine Argentine law allowing senior church of- Eventually, says a senior Jesuit at that time, when he first took over. ficials to decline a summons to court. the order formally asked him to move. “He carried the church out into the streets When attorneys insisted in 2010, he of Buenos Aires,” says Gabriel Marronetti, forced the court to come to him, prompt- “PRAY FOR ME” the parish priest at the church in Flores ing a group of dozens of lawyers and ju- Bergoglio is not the first Jesuit to climb the where Bergoglio felt the call to service. dicial officials to set up a tribunal inside ranks of the broader Church. While they His popularity grew among parishio- the archdiocese. An image of the Virgin do not seek higher office, they accept ap- ners. Photographers captured images of Mary hung on one wall and other priests pointments as bishops, and Bergoglio, on his own trips into the slums, sat nearby, protectively.

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“What sort of humility is that?” asks with their brother when he returned from Estela de la Cuadra, the aunt of the disap- the previous conclave. FOR MORE INFORMATION peared baby, who is still seeking answers “So you got off the hook,” Marta told him. Paulo Prada, Senior Correspondent, about her missing family members. “He’ll “Yes,” Bergoglio replied. “Thank the Rio de Janeiro pose for photos paying his hotel bill, but he Lord.” [email protected] won’t testify in court like the rest of us?” This time, before he left, Bergoglio Helen Popper, Chief Correspondent, When Benedict stepped down in phoned Maria Elena for a quick goodbye. Buenos Aires February, many Church observers thought “Pray for me,” he told her. “I’ll see you when [email protected] that Bergoglio’s moment had passed. He I get back.” Sara Ledwith, Assistant Enterprise Editor had lost out in 2005 and was now perhaps [email protected] too old to contend for the papacy at a time Simon Robinson, Enterprise Editor, many Catholics were calling for the rejuve- Additional reporting by Guido Nejamkis in Europe, Middle East and Africa nation of the Church. Buenos Aires and Edward Taylor in Frankfurt [email protected] His sister, Maria Elena, recalls how she Edited by Simon Robinson, Richard Woods Michael Williams, Global Enterprise Editor and a now deceased sister, Marta, had joked and Sara Ledwith [email protected]

CHURCH ON THE STREETS: As cardinal, Bergoglio organised priests’ visits to the slums of Buenos Aires. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

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