By
Shevlin Sebastian
When
his mother became temporarily paralysed after giving birth to her
fifth child, she would direct the children while seated on a chair
in the kitchen. “Now put this in the pot and that in the pan,”
she would say. As a result, Francis, the eldest child, learned to
cook. So, is he good at it? “So far, no one has died,” was the
impish reply.
These
anecdotes are recounted in the book, ‘Pope Francis (His Life In His
Own Words)' by Argentine journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca
Ambrogetti. This 2010 best-seller, published in Spanish, in
Argentina, is based on a series of interviews that the Pontiff gave
the journalists over a period of two years. So, it was not surprising
that when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis on March 13,
2013, an English translation has been put out, aimed at the estimated
worldwide audience of 1.2 billion Catholics.
Francis’
family migrated from Italy to Argentina in 1929 and his father, Mario
José Bergoglio,began his career as an accountant. The family was
reasonably well-off, so when Mario asked Francis, who was 13 then, to
start working, he was shocked. Nevertheless, Francis joined a hosiery
plant as a cleaner and the experience gave him a lifelong lesson on
the importance of work.
“Work
anoints a person with dignity,” says Francis. “Dignity is not
conferred by one’s ancestry, family life or education. Dignity
comes solely from work. We eat and support our families through work.
We can own a fortune, but if we don’t work, our dignity plummets.”
Francis
speaks on an array on topics, including the qualities needed to be a
good priest, the benefits of forgiveness, and the explosive subject
of sexual abuse of children by priests.
“If
a priest is a paedophile, then this perversion existed within him,
before he was ordained,” says Francis. “Celibacy does not cure
that perversion. They either have it or they don’t. Therefore, we
must be very careful whom we admit into the priesthood.”
Francis
has also been careful while refuting allegations that the Catholic
Church, and Francis, who was head of the Jesuit order, did not do
enough during the years of the military dictatorship, (1976-83), in
Argentina, when thousands of people disappeared, and their bodies
were never found.
“At
the beginning, nothing was known,” says Francis. “As a priest I
knew that something serious was happening, but I realised it was much
more only later. Society, as a whole, became fully aware of events
during the trial of the military commanders.”
But
Jon Lee Anderson, a staff writer of the respected 'New Yorker'
magazine, says, “The key allegation against Francis is that he
pointed out left-leaning priests to the military, as dissidents,
leaving them exposed, and that he did not defend two kidnapped
clerics or ask for their release. He has denied this, and says that
he protected priests and others, but, quietly, in secret.”
Gabriel
Pasquini, an Argentine writer and editor, contends that Francis did
not do enough. “He was not at the level required during those
dramatic times,” he says.
Meanwhile,
there are two surprises in the book. The foreword has been written by
an Argentine rabbi, Abraham Skorka. “As far as I know, this has to
be the first time in two thousand years that a rabbi has written the
foreword for a book about the thoughts of a Catholic priest,” says
Abraham.
And he explains why he did it. “Some will disagree with
Francis' assessments, but everyone will accept the humility and
compassion with which he confronts every one of the topics,” says
Abraham.
The
second surprise was to know that, in the previous election, in April,
2005, in the second round Francis received an unprecedented 40 votes,
and was tied with eventual winner Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict
XVI). To avoid a protracted contest, Francis stepped aside and asked
that his votes be transferred to Ratzinger. However, destiny did not
step aside. Instead, it beckoned him eight years later.
(His
Life in His Own Words)
By
Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti
Publisher:
GP Putnam's Sons
Pages
265.
Price:
Rs 799.
(Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)
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