In 1990, when the Jesuits of Argentina were divided on the role of the Church in the country’s politics and society, the frustration with the style of leadership of the future Pope Francis led to his two -year exile in Cordoba. Then fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio used his solitary time in a Jesuit residence to pray, write and read – including a series of five volumes on the history of the papacy.
Francis will later describe his “dark night of the soul” as a “time of purification” for his inner life.
Three decades after this spiritual crisis – at 88 years old – Francis faces another spiritual crossroads when he recovers from his most serious physical challenge. His five weeks hospitalized for a double pneumonia that almost almost cost her life gave time to think about his life so far and what he hopes to do before dying.
“It has a great ability to learn from life, from all that comes, to grasp beauty even in dark moments. … I am sure that something very beautiful will come out of this experience.
—Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez
In his thinking on Sunday of March 30 Angelus, Francis alluded to his illness, encouraging the whole Church to consider the current wrestling season as a moment of healing.
“Me too, I lived it in this way, in my soul and in my body,” he wrote, saying that his health improved.
Now, at his Vatican residence for a two -month doctor, a compulsory convalescence, the days of François look like those he spent in Cordoba: read, pray, celebrate mass and light work, as well as physical and respiratory therapy.
Francis’ recovery has exceeded the expectations of his doctors; They now believe that he will resume 90 to 100% of his previous health. But the octagenaire pope, already one of the oldest popes in history, is surely aware that time is against him.
What is this period of solitude at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome and in the Vatican Casa Santa Marta teaches – or clarifying – for him?
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the longtime theological advisor of the Pope and now chief of the Vatican doctrinal office, believes that a new stage of the pontificate is waiting.
“He has a great ability to learn from life, from everything that comes, to grasp the beauty even in dark moments,” the Cardinal Argentinian said recently to journalists. “For this reason, I am sure that something very beautiful will come out of this experience. We do not know what it will be, it will be the surprises of Pope Francis.”
Jesuit Fr. James Hanvey, said that the Jesuit tradition of openness to the world would certainly influence Francis.
“This openness and this universalism, in particular marked by compassion, are clearly obvious in Pope Francis and it is an integral part of the deletion of its papacy, “said Hanvey, secretary of the Service of Faith to the General Curie of the Society of Jesus.
Hanvey said that Francis uses this convalescence period to think Rent, Or the sources of the mission of its papacy, it could be guided by important Ignatian contemplations on the incarnation and the Nativity.
“Here, St. Ignace invites us to be present in vulnerable Christ, newly born,” as a bad unworthy servant “,” yet attentive to the needs of the child and his family and ready to serve them in the way they need, regardless of the size of the gesture, “said Hanvey.” There is a feeling of his own unworthy and yet the privilege of being present. Here, we can see something from humility in service that also marks Francis’ papacy. “
This understanding of humility, Hanvey said, is at the heart of the understanding of François’s approach to governance. Francis seeks to discern where conversion is necessary, both at the personal and structural level – a discernment which probably only improves during its hospitalization and its prolonged recovery.
Dominican cardinal Timothy Radcliffe includes the challenges of refocusing his ministry after a deadly illness. After having regained consciousness after a 17 -hour operation for jaw cancer in 2021, Radcliffe said that he remembered being “just a body lying in the neighborhood with so many others”.
“All my claims to an important identity as a writer, speaker, priest, were nothing,” he said. “It was a stripping. But I also realized that the Lord’s love was freely given to each of the people lying there,” he told the national Catholic journalist.
A week before his diagnosis of cancer, Radcliffe had accepted a book a book with his Polish Dominican brother, the father. Lukasz Popko, on “Conversations between us on conversations in the Bible between God and humanity”.
Radcliffe recalled that he worked on the project during his long convalescence and have faced some of the most perplexed questions of the Scriptures with new ideas saved from time spent in prayer and reflection during his recovery.
“The questions are not only looking for information. The best questions are an invitation to live more deeply, to share the life of God and our friends,” he said. “At the moment in the life of the Church, when angry groups are opposed to accusation and suspicion, we must reach out with the deepest and most burning questions in our hearts, beggars for the truth rather than the arrogant champions of” our side “.
“Sharing our questions is not a sign of weakness, but of the strength of those who are traveling together,” added Radcliffe.
For Francis, this trip – and the method of resolving these tensions – was the synod of synodality, a continuous process of invitation of all Catholics at all levels of the Church to examine how a reform of its structures could lead to greater inclusion and participation. Even in his hospital bed on March 15, Francis signed a three -year synod implementation plan, guaranteeing that there remains a priority for the World Church after his death.
After the recovery of cancer radcliffe and a long inability to speak, Francis hit him to serve as a synod preacher at the Rome assemblies in 2023 and 2024 (and made him a cardinal the same year) – a reminder that even after his darkest tribulations, there is still an important work to do.
Elisabetta Piqué, an Argentinian journalist who knew Francis before becoming a pope, said that Francis had a “stubborn and determined character” who will be essential to sail in what had advanced for him – and the church.
“He will see that he has survived these two major health crises during hospitalization and will realize that God wants it here,” said Pique, author of Pope François: Life and Revolution.
Piqué said that the psychological advantage of being back home in the Vatican, his sense of humor and his Jesuit spirituality will help him to discern his direction. In addition, she said, Francis is “motivated by being a pastor close to people in difficult times”.
During the medical bulletins provided to journalists during his hospitalization, the Vatican often noted that the Pope read newspapers.
Pique said that the Pope is painfully aware that “the world is polarized, world leaders have little respect for the rule of law and that there are powerful and rich people enjoying the poor and migrants”.
All this, she predicted, “will give him the strength to say:” My voice must be there at the moment. “”
