Six years ago, Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francisco | Chronic

By Jorge Cicuttin
@jorgecicu

On a cold and rainy evening in Rome, a white smoke came out of the Vatican's chimney where the whole world set its eyes. Shortly after, the French bishop Jean Louis Tauran He went to the balcony of St Peter's Basilica at 19:12, Italy time, and said: "Anuntio vobis gaudium, habemus Papam"(I announce a great joy, we have the pope).

The seconds waiting for the name have become giants. Waiting World Tauran – died in June 2018 – spoke eight languages, the expected name of the new pope said it in Latin: "Georgius Marius Dominum Sanctae Romana Ecclesiae Cardinalem Bergoglio, Impossuit Who Sibi Nnomen Franceso " (Cardinal Jorge Mario of the Church of the Holy Roman Empire, Bergoglio, which bears the name of Francisco).

Plaza San Pedro was shaken. Rome shook. And of course, Argentina. "Francesco, Francesco", the crowd is exclaimed. It was born a hinge in the modern history of the Catholic Church. He was not only the first Argentine and Latin American pope, but also the first Jesuit and the first non-European pontiff since 741.

A convulsed world

After seven centuries, a pope gave up. This fact convulsed the Catholic world, the new pontiff was going to have to perform his duties with his predecessor in life. Benedict XVI resigned from his post on February 28, alleging a "lack of strength". But this is not the only question in which the world is watching.

Tuesday, March 5, the death of the Venezuelan president was announced Hugo Chavez. His wake, at the headquarters of the military academy of Caracas, was an unprecedented fact. There, world leaders and millions of Venezuelans marched for a week.

Who wrote these lines was these days in Caracas and arrived in this country on the 13th, where the election of Jorge Bergoglio everything changes. Argentina was one of the papal considered, ideal for a reformist stage of the Church. Despite being different in their idea of ​​how the Vatican should be treated at this moment in history, always – even today -, Benedict and Francisco They were treated with affection and respect.

But the Italian cardinal Ángelo Scola, was the big favorite to be elected pope in 2013. This has been predicted by major betting houses. "Whoever enters the conclave as pope, comes out as a cardinal ", says a centenary Vatican maxim. And that is what happened in March 2013.

Eight years ago, when the German cardinal J was electedOoseph RatzingeArgentina Bergoglio was the second most voted candidate. In 2013, after only two black fumes, five votes were needed in the beautiful Sistine Chapel to elect the new pope.

It is said that the first two were won by Scola, but still far from getting the necessary 77 votes. In the third ballot, Bergoglio won more than 50 votes; in the fourth, it exceeded 70. And the fifth came at 19:05 in Italy, in which Argentina won the huge sum of 90 votes.

"A road begins"

Bergoglio chose for his pontificate the name of Francisco. The beloved saint saint of Assisi, identified with simplicity, peace, poverty and who abandoned his wealth to found the order of the Franciscan friars in 1290. He was the first pope to choose this name. At 4:23 pm, Francisco went out on the balcony to give his first blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) dressed in the white papal cbadock.

He prayed the Lord's prayer and asked the Virgin Mary to accompany the renouncing Benedict XVI. In his first public appearance, he said that he started "a path", and asked the faithful to pray "One for the other so that there is a great brotherhood". In addition, he asked for a silent prayer for him so that God could help him in his work.

On the other side of the ocean, in Argentina, many worshipers gathered in front of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral to celebrate the election. Later, a mbad was celebrated on this occasion. The same thing is repeated in other cities of the country.

It started a different path.

That he expressed during his first trip out of Italy, to Rio de Janeiro, when he called on young people to "to enter life"and do not see her move from the balcony, be protagonist, be interested in others and not let yourself be won over by apathy. "Make a mess". The Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega He then made public the presentation of Jorge Bergoglio at the time before the cardinals, before the conclave.

There he expressed: "The Church is called to part with and move towards the peripheries, not only geographical, but also existential: those of the mystery of sin, those of pain, those of injustice, those of ignorance and misery. religious ignorance, those of thought, those of all misery.

He called on the Church to stop being "self-referential"and to choose a pope who is "A man who, from the contemplation of Jesus Christ …, helps the Church to leave to the existential peripheries".

That's Francisco.