Bergoglio intus in animo

„There was another theologian who died a while back, Rafael Tello. Cardinal Aramburu had always supported (Lucio) Gera, but there were problems with Tello, and for a time he was suspended “a divinis”. When a priest wrote a book about Tello, compiling his unpublished texts, Cardinal Bergoglio, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, participated in the presentation of the book and vindicated him, saying: there was a time when the hierarchy had problems with him; now the hierarchy comes here to present his book“.

„Before going to Rome, he left a document I liked so much I made a copy of it even though I was not from his diocese. It was directed to priests, pastors, and to the directors of educational institutions of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and exhorts them to go out to the street. Meaning, it is not enough to wait in churches for people to come; rather, we have to go out and preach the Gospel. I believe that the name Francis goes beyond poverty, which is the most important. What Francis did was that he reformed the Church with his friars. Francis—Saint Francis of Assisi—preached on the streets. Archbishop Bergoglio, for example, had a huge tent put in the Constitution Plaza, which is a huge plaza that is next to the southern train station, where priests attended to the people passing by, who asked for everything from the blessing of a prayer card to spiritual direction or confession. Meaning, they went out to the streets, there, in the plaza. That is to say, to seek those who are away".

„After his time as provincial and rector, he went for a few months to Germany to get a doctorate, which he did not finish, about Romano Guardini, because he has a lot of regard for Guardini’s theology, above all the classic theme that has been translated [into Spanish] as contrasteidad, but this is not a Spanish word, which would be contrariedad (opposition), but German: Gegensatz. Guardini has a dialectic that is neither Hegelian nor Marxist, a form of dialectic of opposites, in German Gegensatz, and in the plural, Gegensätze. This perspective is presented by Guardini in a book that is called Der Gegensatz, which I have been told has been translated into Spanish as Contrasteidad, where the elements are in a living tension and are never resolved into a synthesis, as some interpret Hegel“.

„He not only encourages popular piety, it is obviously something very important to his pastoral work and theology, and he also participates in this piety, he lives it.“

„He will not be afraid to make changes, and this has been the case since he came out onto the balcony. For some people, this has fallen on them like a blow to the body, these very simple attitudes. He, indeed, is an austere and simple spiritual man, but at the same time, if he sees that something has to be done for the good of the Church, he’s going to do it.“

Juan Carlos Scannone, S.J. (professor of Jorge Mario Bergoglio), in: A. Bermudez, Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend, Ignatius Press 2013.