Francisco

By Mónica Hernández

He was born Jorge Mario in a family with the surname Bergoglio, 88 years ago (his birthday was December 17). When he was a boy, he was not sure what he wanted to be when he grew up and studied a brief career as a chemical technician before entering the seminary in the Society of Jesus (yes, Jesuits). While he was being ordained a priest, he worked as a professor of literature and psychology, until, at the age of 33 (the age of Christ, it is called, which is nothing more than the age at which the Son of God is supposed to have died crucified), he was ordained a priest. It has been said that his character and spirituality soon caught the attention of some bishops here and there, of a cardinal there... and he began his ecclesiastical career (which is nothing more than a political career within the bureaucratic apparatus of the Catholic Church). 

This account is relevant for two reasons: the health of the aging Pope is getting worse by the day. It is even said that he is making his will so as not to lose what he has built during the exercise of his function as Pope of the Church of Rome. Testament as a result of a disagreement with the Catholic Marco Rubio, who now wields almost as much world power as Donald Trump, but less than Elon Musk. The likelihood of his death from pneumonia and the complications that keep cropping up only increases. I don't know if by the time this column is published we will still be able to speak of Pope Francis in the present tense and not the past. 

The second reason is the movie Conclave, so right on time. Winner of the BAFTA for Best Picture (the more reliable antechamber to today's decaffeinated Hollywood Oscars), it depicts (in a novelistic, romantic and very creative way) the meeting that takes place inside the Vatican when a pope passes away. Actually, the film also shows in a very realistic way the (political) conspiracies that take place in a not at all surreptitious and less Christian way to find the successor of the one who was once the most powerful man on Earth. Although the figure of the Pope is still a symbol of command, he has lost the power, dominion and authority he had centuries ago. He has lost the lands, the palaces, the castles and also the clients. It must be said. The number of Catholics in the world has reached 1,390 million worldwide (17% of the world population, estimated at 8,025 million), according to data from the Vatican itself as of April 2024. America is the continent (not the country, let's be serious) where there are more Catholics and Africa where every year more faithful embrace this faith.