Pope Francis’s Salesian Roots
Jorge Bergoglio (circled) and his classmates
at the Salesians’ Villa Colon School in 1949
A family connection
that dates back to Valdocco
Mario Giuseppe Francesco Bergoglio, father of the future Pope,
was originally from Piedmont, Don Bosco’s homeland. He was born in Asti and
from there moved to Turin. He frequented the basilica of Mary Help of
Christians at a time when the SDB Generalate was still in Valdocco. As a result
of this closeness, and as evidence of it, when he emigrated to Argentina in
1929, he took with him a letter of recommendation for the Salesians in Buenos
Aires. Upon arriving in Argentina, he stayed with the Salesians at the Mater
Misericordiae Church, the historic destination of the first Salesian missionary
expedition in 1875.
A family formed thanks
to the friendship of a Salesian and consecrated in the shrine of Mary Help of
Christians
At the Salesian Mater Misericordiae house, he met Fr. Enrico
Pozzoli, who became his confessor and introduced Mario Bergoglio to the Sivori
brothers. Mario fell in love with Regina Maria Sivori and married her on December
12, 1935, in the church of Mary Help of Christians and St. Charles in Almagro.
Five children were born from the union, of whom Jorge Mario was the eldest.
Baptized by a Salesian
priest in a Salesian parish
A year after the wedding, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on
December 17, 1936. It was Fr. Pozzoli who baptized him on December 25, 1936, in
the baptistery of the basilica of Mary Help of Christians and St. Charles in
Almagro. Visitors to this place today can see a sign indicating that it was
there, in that eminently Salesian space, that the journey within the Church
began for the man who would go down in history as the first Latin American
Pope.
Salesian student in
sixth grade
Fr. Pozzoli (whom the future Pope Francis described in a letter
dated 1990 as “the spiritual father of the family”) arranged for Jorge Mario
and his 2d brother, Oscar Adrian, to be admitted as boarders at the Salesian school
in Ramos Mejia (Buenos Aires). There he attended 6th grade (in classroom 6B, to
be precise). His time in the Salesian classrooms, altho only one year, was
decisive: it was in the light of the work of Don Bosco’s sons that his priestly
vocation was born. As Pope Francis himself recalled: “I first felt my vocation
in Ramos Mejia, during my 6th year, and I spoke about it with the famous
“fisher of vocations,” Fr. Martinez, SDB, but then I started secondary school,
and that was it [he had to move to another school].”
The maturing of his
priestly vocation in the warmth of the Salesians
It was also Fr. Pozzoli who spoke with Jorge Mario’s parents in
1955 and convinced them to accept their eldest son’s priestly vocation. It was
in the chapel of Our Lady Help of Christians in the Salesian basilica in
Almagro that Bergoglio chose in 1957, after his pneumonia and lung operation,
to join the Society of Jesus. While he was preparing to join the Jesuits, and
to avoid hid spending too much time away from a religious house, Fr. Pozzoli
obtained permission from Bergoglio’s provincial to spend his holidays with the
Salesian clergy at their house in Tandil, whence he would go on to the Jesuit
novitiate, according to Fr. Alejandro Leon in his aforementioned book.
A Salesian devotion to
Jesuit brothers: Brother Zatti
In 1976, as provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina (1973-1979), he noted with concern the decline in vocations for brothers in the Society of Jesus. He felt that they were in imminent danger of extinction. It was then that he learned about Artemides Zatti, a Salesian brother and Italian immigrant to Argentina like his father. He prayed to him for a solution to this problem. According to Bergoglio in a letter dated 1986, in July 1977 the first young brother joined, followed by new vocations in the following years, to the point that by the year the letter was written, “since we began our requests to Brother Zatti, 18 young brothers have joined and are persevering,” in addition to 5 others who left, making a total of 23. Years later, in 2002, Brother Zatti was beatified, and in 2022 Pope Francis himself canonized him.
Fan of a soccer team
founded by a Salesian priest
Thruout his life Pope Francis was a fan of the San Lorenzo de
Almagro soccer team, founded in 1908 in the same neighborhood where Bergoglio’s
family lived by Fr. Lorenzo Massa, a Salesian priest. As Pontiff, he received
the players and directors of San Lorenzo when they won the Copa Libertadores in
2014. In September 2024, they were once again welcomed to the Vatican by the
Pope, who was delighted to hear that the team’s future stadium will bear his
name.
A Pope close to the
figure and work of Don Bosco
Thruout his pontificate, Francis expressed his admiration for
the figure of Don Bosco on more than one occasion, as well as his closeness to
the Salesians. His visit to the basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin on
June 21, 2015, on the occasion of the bicentennial of Don Bosco’s birth, was
particularly memorable. At World Youth Day 2019, he fondly recalled Don Bosco
as an example of someone who was able to see clearly the needs of his
situation. He also made significant contributions to the ecclesial recognition
of Salesian holiness. In 2017, he approved the heroic virtues of Bishop Octavio
Ortiz Arrieta, declaring him Venerable, and in 2022 he canonized Artemides
Zatti. A unique fact: in 2022, in audience with the then Rector Major Fr. Angel
Fernandez Artime, he received from the hands of Don Bosco’s 10th Successor a
copy of the book for the 100th anniversary of the basilica of Mary Help of
Christians in Lima, as an outstanding editorial gem among all Salesian
publications. Among the most recent milestones are the creation of Fr.
Fernandez as cardinal in 2023 and bishop in 2024, who in the coming days will
participate in the historic conclave where Francis’s successor will be elected.
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