Pope Francis reveals to Spanish seminarians that his mother did not want him to enter the seminar

Pope Francis revealed at an audience on Thursday, January 30 with seminarians and trainers of the ecclesiastical province of Valencia (Spain) that his mother put some resistance to enter the seminar.

As he told in his Facebook profile The bishop of Orihuela-Aliante, José Ignacio Munilla, during the meeting, in addition to the official discourse, there was an exchange of words in which the Holy Father made these revelations.

“The seminarians of the ecclesiastical province of Valencia have been able to share two whole hours with the Pope, in which all who have wanted to have freely asked questions, which he has answered in an endearing way …”, detailed the prelate in Social networks.

Bishop Munilla explained that the statements of the Holy Father about his mother’s opposition to initiate the priestly path, answered the question of one of the future presbyters who currently live a similar experience.

“One of the seminarians has expressed to the Pope his suffering due to the fact that his mother has not accepted his decision to go to the seminar, because he had ‘dreamed’ other paths for his son …, Munilla explained.

He then said that after listening carefully to this young seminarian, Pope Francis shared with those present “that he also lived that same situation.”

“His mother, despite the fact that he was Catholic, opposed the vocation of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and did not want He asked for the blessing … ”Munilla said ..

However, he said that the Holy Father’s advice so that this young seminarian could calm his anguish has been: “Prayer, tenderness and patience!”

“What a great testimony of spiritual fatherhood towards the seminarians!” Munilla wrote.

In any case, it is not the first time that he talks about this. The then Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires told him in a book-person written with journalists Sergio Rubin and Ángela Ambrogetti The Jesuit Posted in 2010.

“First I told Dad, and it seemed very good. Moreover, he felt happy. Then he told my mother, that, as a good mother, she had begun to introduce him … “, he explained.

With an affectionate Argentina expression, Jorge Bergoglio commented that the “old woman (expression to refer to her mother) became bad.”

“When I entered the Mama Seminar, she did not accompany me, she did not want to go. For years she did not accept my decision. We were not fought. Only I was going home, but she did not go to the seminar,” he said.

55 years of priesthood

On December 13 was the 55 Anniversary of Pope Francis’s priestly ordination. That day in 1969, just before turning 33 years old, the Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was ordained a priest by the Archbishop Emeritus of Córdoba (Argentina), Mons. Ramón José Castellano.

According to the book The Jesuit: Conversations with Cardinal Jorge BergoglioFrancisco found his vocation to the priesthood while he was on his way willing to celebrate Spring Day. When he went through a church to confess, he finally ended up being inspired by that priest.

In his early years as a presbyter, Jorge Mario Bergoglio continued his training as a Jesuit between 1970 and 1971 in Spain. On April 22, 1973 he issued his perpetual professions in the Society of Jesus. When he returned to Argentina, he served as a professor at the Faculty of Theology of San José in the town of San Miguel (on the outskirts of the City of Buenos Aires), rector of the College and, at the age of 36, he was appointed provincial of Argentina .