Pope Francis: Untying the
knots
Paul Vallely
Bloomsbury £12.99
(978-1-4729-0370-9)
Church Times Bookshop special offer price
£10.99 (use code CT559 )
IN 2005, I learned that the Cardinal Archbishop of
Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit, was emerging as the
chief contender with Joseph Ratzinger for the papacy after the
death of John Paul II. I knew little of Bergoglio then; so I
enquired from contacts I had in or close to the Jesuit order. I was
disconcerted by some of the replies. As head of the Jesuit province
of Argentina for six years from 1973, he had been authoritarian and
divisive, I was told. He was a man who did not smile.
How can such judgements be reconciled with the Jorge
Bergoglio now known to the world as Pope Francis, whose style in
five months since his election has taken the world and the media by
storm? Paul Vallely's answer, drawn from re-
search that included visits to Argentina and Rome, is that
Bergoglio has been on a journey of change. This is his golden
thread, and it puts this book in a different class from the other
instant biographies.
The charismatic Jesuit General Pedro Arrupe appointed
Bergoglio as Provincial in 1973, as soon as he had taken his final
vows, at the age of only 36. He was already seen as a leader. But
the order in Argentina was at sixes and sevens. Jesuits aim to be
"contemplatives in action", but some wanted more contemplation, and
some more action. Bergoglio sought to stabilise his men by taking
them back behind the Vatican II reforms that his predecessor had
been implementing. Vallely enumerates in disturbing detail the
conservative measures that Bergoglio imposed. They loved or loathed
him for it: the force of his personality was such that neutrality
was not an option.
Politically, too, he was on the Right. As Vallely
puts it, Bergoglio at this time believed that "something in
Peronism constituted Argentina's best hope." Peronists believed
that uniquely in Argentina they were implementing Catholic social
teaching in seeking to carve out a third way between capitalism
and communism. They envisaged a grand collective strategy that
would bring Church, army, and trade unions together. Peronism had a
left wing and a right wing. Many liked to think of themselves as
socialist; but their model pointed towards fascism, and in the
1970s it came apart under the weight of its own contradictions.
Left-wing guerrillas and right-wing death squads took
to the streets. Many Argentinians breathed a sigh of relief when
the military took charge in 1976. An appalling "Dirty War" followed the coup, when anyone associating
with the poor risked kidnapping, torture, and death as a
communist subversive.
Bergoglio brought his men through safely - a tribute
to his political antennae - but only just. The case of Francisco
Jalics and Orlando Yorio casts a shadow to this day. Vallely's
account of the torture centre to which the two snatched Jesuits
were taken is horribly graphic. He does not absolve Bergoglio of
all responsibility, though he gives him credit for his part in
getting the two out, at per-sonal risk. Bergoglio was courageous
also in setting up escape networks. But the Jesuits in Argentina
did not combat the repression as their colleagues in social
institutes elsewhere in Latin America did in similar
circumstances.
The book does not dwell on Bergoglio's second
important post, as Rector of the Colegio Máximo in Buenos Aires for
six years after his term as Provincial ended in 1979. By the time
Bergoglio had finished there, the Jesuits in Argentina had become
more open to the teaching and practice he had opposed. They had
moved on. Bergoglio was left somewhat stranded. Vallely thinks the
order did not know what to do with him.
While spending several months in Germany, he came
across an 18th-century painting,Mary, Untier of Knots, which gives
Vallely his subtitle. It showed the Virgin straightening out a
tangled ribbon. Bergoglio was struck to the heart by it, and a
full-sized reproduction now stands in a church in Buenos Aires.
Eventually he was sent to Córdoba - into exile, Vallely says,
stretching a point; for Córdoba is Argentina's second city,
containing important Jesuit institutions.
As a Jesuit, Bergoglio was schooled in
self-examination and discernment. It is inconceivable that he was
not now reflecting critically on his career so far. "From a young
age", he told two journalist interviewers in 2010, "life pushed me
into leadership roles. I had to learn from my errors along the way.
. . Errors and sins. It would be wrong for me to say that these
days I ask forgiveness for the sins and offences that I might have
committed. Today I ask forgiveness for the sins and offences that I
did indeed commit."
But he did not leave it there. "For me, feeling that
you have sinned is one of the most beautiful things that can happen
to a person. . . Sin properly assumed is the privileged place of
personally finding Jesus Christ our Saviour. . . It is the
possibility to live the wonder of having been saved." The twin
themes of mercy and joy have characterised his preaching.
In 1992, Cardinal Quarracino rescued him by
appointing him one of his auxiliaries in Buenos Aires. It was "a
relief for him and for the order", according to one Jesuit
observer. But Bergoglio was now a changed man. The authoritarianism
of the past had given way to humility and simplicity. In 1998, he
himself became Archbishop. He did not move into the palace. He
walked everywhere, or went by bus or Underground. He spent hours in
the slums, talking to the people, drinking tea with them. These
were signs that, though thought out, had become part of him. He
denounced structures of sin and supported initiatives by the poor
to raise themselves up. In 2007, a US diplomat described him
as the "leader of the opposition" to the government. Vallely
emphasises that he was now taking precisely the positions that in
his earlier life he had spurned.
Now he is Pope. The cardinals who elected him wanted
radical institutional change. Will he be able to deliver? He is
"easily tough enough", his sister says. We shall see. Meanwhile, we
have this compelling account of his conversion.
John Wilkins is a former editor of The
Tablet.