Family Photo<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When he was 12, the Argentine even had a girlfriend who, decades later, was chased by the press after his election to the papacy. <\/p>\n
Amalia Damonte told reporters in 2013 that the new pope had sent her a letter when they were both children. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018If I don\u2019t marry you, I\u2019ll become a priest,\u201d she recalled. <\/p>\n
Years passed and Bergoglio indeed opted for priesthood. His deep spirit of service made him choose the Church, according to Crespo. Bergoglio entered the Jesuit religious order as a novice in 1958, was ordained in 1969 and became the sole archbishop of his native Buenos Aires in 1998. <\/p>\n
He was made a cardinal in 2001 and served as president of the Argentine bishops\u2019 conference from 2005 until 2011. <\/p>\n
Bergoglio the priest and archbishop<\/h2>\n
As a Jesuit living under a vow of poverty, Bergoglio led a humble and austere life, forgoing even the slightest of luxuries. His rejection of the trappings of status once he became archbishop gave the world a hint of how his papacy would unfold years later. <\/p>\n
He declined to live in the archbishop\u2019s palace, choosing instead to live in a simple apartment. He also refused to use a chauffeured limousine, preferring to take the bus with ordinary people, and cooked his own meals. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe never had a car, that was the reality. I used to travel with him on public transport. And when I bought a car, I used to give him a ride,\u201d Crespo said. <\/p>\n
The journeys with Archbishop Bergoglio included visits to the \u201cvillas\u201d \u2013 shanty towns outside the capital \u2013 where he became a familiar face. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to the villas to see who he could help. He (had) told me clearly: Look, I am going to be a priest because my aim is to be at the service of the people. For that, I\u2019m going to the villas, I am going to go to the heart of the country,\u201d Crespo recalled. <\/p>\n
The austerity and simplicity of his life, along with a deep need to be close to the poor and marginalized, defined him as a priest and as a future pope, explained Argentine journalist Elisabetta Piqu\u00e9, author of \u201cPope Francis: Life and Revolution.\u201d <\/p>\n
Piqu\u00e9 met Bergoglio for the first time in 2001 for an interview in Rome, an encounter which sparked a friendship that lasted for decades. At that time, she described him as a shy man who surprised her. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was really an open-minded priest with whom you could talk about everything,\u201d Piqu\u00e9 said. <\/p>\n
A day after Cardinal Bergoglio became Pope Francis, on March 14, 2013, he called Piqu\u00e9 and asked her about the reaction in his native Argentina. <\/p>\n
The new pope mentioned he had been to pray at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where he would years later request to be buried, and then went in person to pay his lodging bill at the Paulus VI hotel at which he stayed during the conclave \u2013 a gesture that surprised everyone. <\/p>\n
Later that month, Francis\u2019s decision not to live in the papal apartment on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace but in the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City residence where cardinals stay during the conclave, was unexpected and considered a revolutionary act by the new pope, Piqu\u00e9 explained. <\/p>\n
As archbishop in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio would celebrate Mass in a prison or a hospital or hospice, trying to reach the marginalized and open the church up to everyone, a tradition that continued during his papacy and became part of his legacy. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis legacy is about an inclusive church, a church that is for all, not only for a small group of perfect people. This is a pope who speaks to everyone and who speaks specially to the sinners \u2026 We have seen him going to prisons all over the world. We have seen him on Holy Thursdays going to prisons and washing the feet of the prisoners,\u201d Piqu\u00e9 said. <\/p>\n
Emilce Cuda, an Argentine theologist who worked closely with Francis as secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, described him as a strategist who used humor to navigate the Vatican as pope. <\/p>\n
Crespo said that despite Bergoglio\u2019s obvious talents, it had never occurred to his contemporaries that he would come to lead the Roman Catholic Church. <\/p>\n
\u201cI never imagined a classmate would become a pope. We would have thought that due to his intelligence he would become a minister, a position in public office, even president, but that he was going to be pope? It didn\u2019t occur to any of us,\u201d Crespo said. <\/p>\n
He was a pope who never forgot his beginnings at the end of the world and always reached out to those on the peripheries, Piqu\u00e9 reflected. He stayed true to his friends too. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne day in June 2013 the telephone rang, and a familiar voice said: \u2018Hello Oscar, it is Jorge Mario,\u2019 and I said, \u2018The pope is calling me!\u2019 Despite our friendship, I was still very surprised the pope called me,\u201d Crespo said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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