Pope Francis and December Saga

Month of December is a very festive month for people all over the world. But it is very special for globally scattered Christians / Roman Catholics, as they all commemorate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

Attended by about 7,000 faithful, the leader of the Catholic church Pope Francis, presided over the evening Christmas Eve Mass in the splendour of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

I thought it is relevant to mention a little about the long journey of Pope Francis, from Argentina to the Vatican. Following are a few extracts of my article, “Incredible voyages of a father and a son” that was published in this paper in May 2014.

“Italians began arriving in Argentina in great numbers from 1857 to 1940 for wide ranges of reasons. Among them was a young railway worker by the name Mario Jose Bergogliio who came to Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, leaving his family members and relatives in his ancestral home village, Portacomaro in the province of Asti, in Italy. In Argentina, after his marriage to Regina Maria Sivor, a daughter of another Italian migrant, they became parents of five children, two sons and three daughters.

One son, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born on 17th December 1936 got himself ordained as a Catholic priest on 13th December at the age of 33 years. Therefore, the month of December is very significant for him.

After the first voyage of his father, the son after many voyages arrived in Rome, Italy the capital of his ancestral country in 2013, for a very special occasion. On 13th March 2013 he was chosen as the successor to Pope Benedict XVI to lead the Holy See, the leader of the 1.2 billion (1.3 at present) Roman Catholics in the world.

The entire tearful congregation at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican yelled HABEMUS PAPAM in sheer joy, and at the same time a very small population at Portacomaro village became overjoyed, as one of their relatives, a close cousin of many from a distant land, became the leader of the Catholic Church, the 236th Pope after St. Peters”.

On the 18th of December one day after the 86th birthday of Pope Francis, Argentina, the birth country of our Pope, became the soccer champions in the world, beating France. Therefore, the Pope would have had celebrations on 13th, 17th and 18th December. A ‘treble’ in one month! the most important December for all of us.

At the end of the last General Audience a few days ago, Pope Francis requested for “special prayers” for Benedict XVI “who is very ill.” The Holy See Press Office director confirms there has been an aggravation in his health condition but says the situation remains stable.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI shocked the world by resigning on 28th February 2013 due to advanced age. That was the first time a Pope resigned, since the resignation of Pope Gregory XII, around six hundred years ago in 1415.

However, as per Vatican news, Pope Emeritus Benedict who received the sacrament of anointing of the sick on 28th drew his last breath at about 3 a.m. on 31st December, the last day of the year 2022 after murmuring his last words, “Lord I love you”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

(Luke 23: 43)

LALITH FERNANDO

Panadura