Francesca Ambrogetti is the journalist who best knows Pope Francisco. She was born in Rome and lives in Buenos Aires, where she is a correspondent for the Italian news agency Ansa. She was president of the Foreign Press Association in Argentina and the Foreign Correspondents Association. She is co-author, together with Sergio Rubin, of El Jesuita, conversaciones con el Cardenal Jorge Bergoglio (Vergara, 2010). In the following interview, she talks about the Pope’s personality as well as the characteristics his papacy might have.
Do you think that his anti-protocol gestures which have surprised the entire world were predictable for the Catholic hierarchy?
Absolutely, people who know him also know that he is a consistent person and will not change his nature. He has a different vision of the Church at a time of great challenges. When he completed the seminar, he wanted to be a missionary and wanted to travel to Japan on a mission. He looks up to a missionary Church that goes beyond its four walls in search of followers, listening to their problems and needs.
In the Pope’s biography you say that he is not a charismatic figure or a great orator. But we are now witnessing that with small gestures and the breaking of old traditions and protocol, he is captivating the world!
People who are recently getting to know him tell me that they already feel completely captivated by him. Journalists working in the Vatican told me that this is the Pope they had been dreaming of. This election has taken place in the middle of a political and economic crisis. Italy is disoriented, undermined by political anarchy and corruption. I was recently interviewed on a program assisted by several politicians. When the presenter talked about the Pope’s gestures of austerity, people applauded. He then asked the politicians for their points of view regarding these gestures. He seemed to be telling them to “learn” from the Pope’s actions.
He asked business and political leaders not to go to Rome, suggesting that they donate instead the money to the poor. Can you imagine a significant change in citizen solidarity, in the amounts of donations to the poor, in the creation of new foundations and organizations with social ends as a result of the Pope’s suggestions?
When he was designated cardinal, he suggested the same things. I know many people who will now travel to Rome to see the Pope’s ceremony but will also make donations to the poor. Time will tell if this results in a substantial change in society. I really hope it does.
Francisco says that the worst sin is pride. How will this be reflected in his pontificate?
He is already showing it. It will be reflected in everything he does. Some people believe that his austere style is a pose. But those who really know him know for sure that he is extraordinarily authentic and transparent. He is not playing the role of a humble Pope, he is a humble Pope.
Do you think the removal of the top part of one of his lungs may prevent him from becoming a traveler Pope such as John Paul II was?
I never noticed any physical limitations nor did he address this issue. I imagine him walking the streets of Rome and taking a bus. He loves public transportation! I can also imagine him as a pilgrim Pope because in Argentina he was an itinerant archbishop.
At some point his intention of approaching people, their problems and needs, seems to contradict itself with certain orthodoxy in matters such as the communion of the divorced, celibacy rules, as well as the role of women in the Church.
He looks forward to a church that will move to meet people and will promote a church that will listen to people´s needs. A Church that is able to transform that capacity to listen, into concrete actions.
In the biography, Bergoglio recalls that Benedict XVI said that Catholicism should not be a simple list of requirements, pointing out to the need of flexibility, but he also states that we must be careful about pretending a “religion a la carte.”
I think he is a “middle point” man. We’ll see where that middle point is in specific and concrete cases as well as in the challenges he faces. I think that the Cardinals voted a balanced man capable of carrying out the changes needed by the Church. When he talks about education, he says that education can’t be only based on secure frameworks or on risk areas. “There has to be a proportion. You have to walk with one foot in the secure framework, in all that you have already acquired, and with the other foot in the risk area.” The teacher aspect of Francisco has not been yet properly analyzed and it is an aspect that can be extended to his pontificate. He argues that without risk there can be no real progress. He constantly makes references to movement. He thinks that a Church that does not move is a Church that collapses like a sand castle. The first thing he said to the Cardinals was to walk because walking implies change.
What opportunities may arise for Argentina, having an Argentine Pope?
Great opportunities! To begin with it means putting the country on the map. Many people in the world did not know where Argentina was. There will be business opportunities, religious and non-religious tourism. Countless pilgrims traveling as happened in Germany and Poland. Especially with a Pope who, with his first gestures, is generating a huge attraction. He has a special charisma, different from John Paul II, with a different style. In his first meeting with the journalists, all applauded with fervor, something that rarely happens. It reminds me of what John XXIII generated.
What is his image of Argentina?
He speaks of a country in conflict since its beginnings, a reality that hurts him, and asks for harmony. But he has hope and confidence in the future of both the country and the Church.
Do you think religious practice will increase and the number of Catholic followers will grow? Could there be a religious boom?
I wouldn’t say a “boom,” but I think there will be an important growth. An important fact that has not been taken into account yet is that he aims to transform the Church into a Missionary Church. I think that is why the cardinals voted for him. They trusted his vision of the Church, as well as his personality, his charisma, his empathy with the people, his humility and austerity. When he traveled to Rome without knowing he would be elected Pope, he arrived at Rome with a small suitcase and searched for a car at the airport alone. The other Cardinals came in procession. The Church looks forward to a change that may be driven by the new Pope.
Daniel Dessein is the Regional Vice President of the Inter American Press Association.
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