The Jesuit Juan Carlos Scannone recalls some memories of his relationship with the future Pope.
He was surprised to see one of his articles published in L’Osservatore Romano: “Di fronte agli abissi che dividono poveri e ricchi”
(“Facing the abysses that divide rich and poor”). The Vatican newspaper
had rarely published anything about or by Scannone, who only recently
turned 80.
The Jesuit celebrated his birthday this week in the historic
Universidad del Salvador (USAL), a Jesuit university in Buenos
Aires. Then, at the beginning of April, completely out of the blue, it
published an interview on his student Bergoglio and an article on the
Philosophy of Liberation. A second part to this interview followed.
“In mid April I received a handwritten letter from
Bergoglio,” Scannone said. “Air mail” were the only two words he had
not handwritten but the rest, including the sender, F. Casa Santa Marta,
Vatican City, he had. Dear cachito … he wrote to me, addressing me with
the nickname I was given in the Jesuit residence of San Miguel; in the
letter he thanked me for the interview. “Only talk about the good
things, not the bad…”he said mockingly. The envelope contained a number
of prayer cards with an image of the risen Christ.”
This was actually the second time he was contacted
by Bergoglio, Pope. The first time was when Scannone had a letter sent
to Bergoglio in Rome, before the Conclave started. The letter was about a
Latin American network on the social doctrine of the Church, which he,
Carlos Ferrero (sponsor of Mgr. Mario Toso, the Secretary of the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace) and other Argentineans decided
to create “to say something, in tune with what we want, to the new Pope
when he is elected…”
When the tasks were handed out, Scannone was asked
to pass on the news about the creation of this new network, to
cardinals Rodriguez Maradiaga, Francisco Javier Errázuriz and Bergoglio.
“He was in Rome, so I sent the letter to the email address of the
Buenos Aires Curia, asking for it to be forwarded to him, wherever he
was at that time.”
What happened to Bergoglio next is common
knowledge. But not the fact that Pope Francis wrote to Scannone the day
after his election to thank him for the letter and not various other
things which his former teacher prefers to keep confidential.
Liberation theologian, Scannone, had always felt
Bergoglio’s support when the latter was a superior. “He was familiar
with all my writings,” Scannone said. “I cannot say he agreed with
everything I wrote but he certainly approved them and read what I wrote
about Liberation Theology during the military dictatorship; when bishops
asked him about me he defended me by saying that my views were linked
to the Church.”
It was Bergoglio in fact who encouraged him to
publish what he wrote. “When international magazines asked me to send in
articles … Mexico’s Christus asked me to write about the relationship between theory and practice in liberation theology, Concilium
… he encouraged me to accept and recommended that I did not send my
articles from the San Miguel post office but from the post offices in
central Buenos Aires, in order to avoid potential censorship here.”
Fr. Scannone knew that the military was keeping an
eye on him. “As a provincial, Bergoglio had contacts among military
chaplains and they told him to be careful with me because I was being
watched.” This is also why Bergoglio advised him to be prudent. “He told
me never to go round the neighbourhood unaccompanied because if I was
kidnapped there had to be witnesses in order to intervene. At the time I
was visiting a neighbourhood called La Manuelita which is where the
Assumptionists studying at the Jesuit university lived. Their superior
was Fr. Jorge Oscar Adur.
The military searched for him but did not find
him. They did however take away two seminarists who disappeared forever.
It was 4 June 1976. I remember it well because this was a special date
for me. They had nothing to do with the subversion; Fr. Adur was exiled
to France but in June 1980 when the Pope went to Brazil he also went to
visit a nun; they agreed to meet at Porto Alegre but he disappeared when
he was on his way to meet her. Operation Condor was probably behind
this.”
Juan Carlos Scannone witnessed many such cases.
“I was good friends with Fr. Jorio (who was
kidnapped with Francisco Jalics in 1977). Bergoglio was living here and
told me about what they were doing for them. Particularly to find out
who had kidnapped them: the army, the navy, the air force or the police.
He found out through the military chaplains that the navy was
responsible. This was why they had not been tortured, Jorio told me.
Torture involved leaving kidnapping victims tied up and blind-folded,
with the prison guards defecating and urinating on them until proven
innocent. Then they let them have a shower, gave them clothes and flew
them, unconscious, in a helicopter to the open countryside and left them
there.”
Another kidnapping case that sticks in Scannone’s
mind is that of a student of his, Alvarez. “Bergoglio proved he was
innocent but the boy saw the face of one of his torturers and was thus
condemned to death. He went to speak with the person in charge of the
unit where he was being kept prisoner; he said that knowingly killing an
innocent man just because he saw his torturer’s face, was a serious
sin. “If you believe in hell – he said – you should know that you get
sent to hell if you sin.” He saved the boy’s life.