Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona collaborated with Pope Francis by writing one of his most complete autobiographies, Life: my story through history (Harpercollins, 2024), that the two men wrote an evil after a year of in -depth conversations about the memories of the Argentine pontiff, who died on April 21 at the age of 88. In an interview with I mondeThe Vatican expert shares his perspective on the actions and life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Civil Name of Francis), whose pontificate can only be understood by throwing light on his.
What do you take away at the 12 years of Pope Francis?
I find this revolutionary pontificate, focused on what I call a “revolution of tenderness.” The Church of Bergoglio is not one that judges it from above and tells him if he is right or is wrong. He advocated a church that is at the level of the faithful, reaching geographical and existential peripheries, with always open doors.
I would also highlight its personal closure with the public and their way of communicating: Franco, direct and accessible to all. Many saw him only as “marketing”, but those who knew him in private can testify that it was really like that. All this with a certain iony: with me, a meeting or a phone call with a joke never finished, Hey prayed everything to Saint Thomas more [1478-1535] For the gift of good humor.
Finally, in terms of reforms, Bergoglio achieved what the general congregations of the cardinals had requested the future Pope before the 2013 conclave, namely, a structural reform of the Roman curia, a rationalization and reorganization of all the procedures of ITESS and Itites.
On these fronts and others, such as the fight against pedophilia, the road is far from finishing. But in my opinion, he was a great Pope because he managed to change, at least a little. Even with the awareness of doing Many, he always continued advancing, fearfully.
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