The Untold Story of Pope Francis' Rise to Power | Full Episode |Parable

[Music] the roman catholic church was in the throes of a grave crisis pope benedict had just stepped down and a desperate search for his successor was on [Applause] it led to a city more than 11 000 kilometers away where fervent faith and tango mix in the turret summer nights thousands of argentinians crowded into plaza de mayo the theater of the nation's great political moments on the other side of the world a momentous religious event was unfolding in saint peter's square in rome it was the inauguration of pope francis spiritual leader of 1.2 billion roman catholics worldwide jorge mario bergoglio the first non-european to occupy the papal throne in thirteen hundred years the first jesuit to become pope and as an argentinian indeed the first latin american it was a turning point in the 2000 year history of the church [Music] a month earlier ominous storm clouds gathered over saint peter's square for the first time in 600 years a pope had resigned well i turned on the news at six in the morning in chicago on monday after i had seen him on thursday and came back on sunday to chicago and monday morning i heard on the news that he was resigning i had a hard time adjusting to it i couldn't believe it the holy father is a man who made his choice freely at a time when he felt he didn't have the strength to serve the church his act is an act of great courage great humility and above all an act of great love for the church the shocked faithful speculated about why pope benedict had resigned his last year as spiritual leader of roman catholics worldwide had been especially challenging with scandals involving the vatican bank pedophiles and the vatican government known as the courier [Music] i think he's a sincere and honest man and that's what he just felt that that's what he ought to do nobody was influencing him in fact i think i don't think anybody knew i know the the the former carl secretary of state carlos saddam i only knew the night before and so i think it was a totally free decision jan luigi nutzi is the italian journalist who published papers stolen from pope benedict's apartment that spoke of corruption and blackmail in the vatican the pope's butler paolo gabriele was later found guilty of leaking the papers then pardoned by pope benedict in the last year we have seen two unexpected events regarding people in the church one was the papal renunciation which was unexpected and another event that was unpredictable was that the butler of this person made these documents public for the good of the church and the good of the pope one of the scandals involved the vatican bank infamous for its lack of transparency in early 2012 the bank was investigated for breaking money laundering laws and its president hector gotti tedeschi forced to resign we have a president of the vatican bank who resigned because he said i'm afraid of being killed that's what he wrote he told his secretary if i die give these documents to these three people and he indicated a journalist a historian and a friend [Music] there were even rumors of a murder plot against the pope himself cardinal dario castrillon hoyos received a report from china predicting benedict's death within 12 months the secret police recorded what was said and they gave me this document and i handed it over to the holy father personally benedict's greatest challenge was responding to the pedophilia scandals well there's no doubt that the child sex abuse scandal remains an open wound and not just for the church in the united states but i think for the church everywhere now of course the church in the united states has been dealing with this for a little longer you know our crisis really erupted in in late 2002 and so the american church has been dealing with it for more than a decade which i think makes our bishops and our cardinals even more sensitive the difficulty with the scandals is that every time old history is brought forward something happened 20 years ago it happened yesterday and so people came to think oh it's still going on benedict xvi said turn to the civil justice system for pedophilia and we saw how it all ended i think that in the los angeles diocese alone they paid 650 million dollars in damages to pedophilia victims and it's a terrible scandal and it should never have happened and we have to stay with it because we have to stay with the victims but in terms of handling it it's not a it's not an issue that's been ignored benedict ordered an investigation into the scandals a report was delivered in december 2012 the mysterious contents of that dossier remain one of italy's best-kept secrets the vatican spokesman father federico lombardi informed the media the pope has established that the report will be available to his successor this let's say is the content and he confirms the fact that the contents of the report have not been revealed to others so it is known only to those who wrote it and to himself despite chaos in the courier pope benedict made one last pastoral journey to latin america where a third of the globe's roman catholics live first he was invited by fidel castro and then by raul castro the choice of our country for his visit to latin america and as his last journey is in itself very significant significativa for him 85 86 getting feebler and he had been with pope john paul the last years of his life when really he could do nothing and there were a lot of cardinals i knew who thought maybe he should resign you know he after 2000 years and i i saw him once or twice then and certainly he wasn't capable of ruling the church benedict chose to spend the rest of his life here within the vatican wars in this convent specially restored as his new living quarters as the day of his departure approached his last appearances did little to lift the veil of mystery over why he stepped down [Music] on the 28th of february 2013 benedict left the vatican to take up temporary residence at castel gandolfo the papal summer palace cardinal bertone the vatican's secretary of state and all-powerful administrator locked and sealed the doors to the pontiff's apartments and declared the throne vacant [Music] the cardinals of the catholic church soon descended on rome to elect a new pope and confront the institution's worst crisis in decades in buenos aires cardinal jorge bergoglio known for his humble lifestyle took the metro homewoods to prepare for his trip to rome the sound of his favorite music filled the air as argentinians tangoed the night away unaware that the world spotlight would soon be turned upon them [Music] pope benedict appeared in public for the last time in castel gandolfo where he saluted the crowds before retreating from the vatican stage [Music] [Applause] eight years had passed since the death of his predecessor the charismatic john paul ii four million people you know who were here was just uh incredible uh for his funeral and it was a very movie it was very dramatic and even the the conclave which sort of uh followed was a much quieter affair benedict xvi a soft-spoken german intellectual seemed unable to control the powerful lobbies within the vatican government known as the courier fabrizio mastrofini is a reporter at vatican radio ratzinger came from the roman courier before becoming pope he had worked there for 20 years but in the end he proved unable to be fully in control of its inner workings as catholic leaders arrived in rome pressure groups soon followed so did the bookmakers pope betting you know let us not forget goes back to 500 years as old as the conclave itself you know back in 1513 so 500 years ago um they were betting on on the the conclave around leo the 10th the the big banks were were running the sort of books between them and they had sort of minions scarring between the two with the updated odds so we're not doing anything new here members of a victims association the survivors network of those abused by priests also arrived in rome to make their voices heard until we see the pope defrocking bad bishops and until we see the secular justice system jailing bad bishops then things aren't going to change and this isn't about being punitive this is about deterring the cover-ups of child sex crimes a remarkably open discussion focused on some thorny issues such as whether some cardinals in the conclave had covered up abuse yet another scandal hit the headlines cardinal keith o'brien archbishop of edinburgh resigned after admitting inappropriate sexual behavior towards young priests i believe that cardinal o'brien has released a declaration on his own behalf in scotland at least i see that it is being talked about this is of another jurisdiction as far as we are concerned we have the acceptance by the holy father of the resignation of the government of the diocese of edinburgh the us cardinals broke with tradition and began holding their own press conferences every day after the congregation of cardinals the courier later asked them to stop however the north american college remained a powerhouse for change in the old days the idea was you can't have an american pope because that would be a super power pope and you know america already has too much power and everybody would think the cia had taken control of the vatican and so on but you know these days america is no longer the only superpower in the world the calculus has changed finally a conclave date was set for march the 12th as each cardinal is also the parish priest of a church in rome they all went to their parishes in the city to say mass it was their last campaign push austrian cardinal christophe schonborn of vienna even held his own press conference this was in in france francis said but of course since francis did not become pope he did not want to what we're looking for is a man of the gospel this i believe is the deciding question on the morning of march the 12th 180 cardinals celebrated the mass to pray that orm would go well in the conclave about to commence [Music] under heavy rain and dark skies 115 cardinal electors all those under the age of 80 entered the sistine chapel to a litany of saints they swore an oath of secrecy the doors were ceremoniously closed two-thirds of the 115 cardinals would have to agree in order to elect a new pope speculation over who would get the 77 votes required was feverish we'll look at their strengths and their experiences things like what country they're from um the policy they've headed up um where they sit in the church obviously their their theological views do they have an active twitter following it's almost a pre prerequisite these days and then from there we let the market decide archbishop of milan angelo scala was the front runner as archbishop of the world's largest diocese and former patriarch of venice he was seen as the man who could reform the church from the inside angelo is well known especially in italy he is close to the theology of joseph ratzinger scholar started off about fifteen to one in the betting he was quickly cut to about two or three to one after we saw a lot of money for him take someone like um cardinal um cardinal orenzier from nigeria started off you know one of the front runners two to three to one quickly moved out sort of 50 to one after we didn't see much money on him there are many who have pointed to cardinal timothy dolan of new york who is this kind of media savvy freak of nature as one possibility some have talked about cardinal sean o'malley in boston who is a profiler on the sexual abuse scandals that have been such a cancer for the catholic church those who expected a latin american pope saw a potential leader in odilo chera archbishop of sao paulo in brazil it seems that during the congregations before the conclave cardinal sherer defended the workings of the roman courier as opposed to the other cardinals who criticized the roman courier we hope that the next pope will have mexico and the whole of latin america in his heart [Music] [Applause] as the faithful and the curious descended on rome a circus-like atmosphere permeated saint peter's square [Music] it would be very nice i think if the new pope be like francis the first or francis both in name and in his approach and the things he does following his teaching inside the conclave tension was mounting as the ballots came and went you'd ask what do you think etc so you never ask people how you vote but who do you think would be a strong or you ask somebody about somebody else you do that quite often you'll ask a brazilian what you know about cardinal you know sherrer you ask i asked cardinal carlick who's a good friend who's retired now in paranoia in argentina what about cardinal bergoglio all over the world men and women prayed for a pope who could address the many different challenges facing the church when you reach 77 then you know you have elected a pope what to accept is another question but uh that's the moment when everybody you could just hear a kind of collective sigh of really fed people applauded and then they finished the tally of course they must i think the election of a pro is extraordinary as quick you know the death of one purple the resignation of a pope within a fortnight three weeks you've got a new one it's pretty quick when you think of uh elections in in countries you know you go on and on in the united states or indeed in germany you know they're at it for months he comes back clothed in white and then we all listen to the proto-deacon of the college of cardinals facing that uh great mural of the last judgment when christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead and the pope is there and he's listening to the 16th chapter of the gospel god saint matthew where he hears the words jesus is telling peter you are peter and on this rock i will build my church and only 266 men have ever heard those words directed to them personally finally white smoke signaled that the cardinals had reached the two-thirds quorum and chosen their man bells rang across rome and quickly's in peter's square filmed with a large crowd gathered to hear the news [Music] the proto-deacon stepped out onto the balcony to announce the new pope's name in latin [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] jorge mario bergoglio was the cardinal archbishop of buenos aires and had been the runner-up to joseph ratzinger in the previous conclave it was the first time in a thousand years that a non-european had been elected as the leader of the roman catholic church and the first time a jesuit had been elevated to the office it signaled radical change the choice uh was i think one that we took a long time to discern trying to do what god wants for the church and sometimes in the reports people assume motivations based upon geography where you're from based upon ideology but those don't play a large role i didn't have in my mind this man pope francis and i don't think any of the other cardinals or at least very few of them did and it was during uh the the the the congregations they called the meetings that took place at the cards all the cards for nearly a week i think that gradually you could see the the portrait of of someone and and and i think it it's centered eventually on this man they hadn't thought of his adopted name pope francis was inspired by saint francis of assisi defender of the poor and downtrodden the message to the world was clear [Music] white smoke billowing from a copper chimney was a sign to the world that one of its most powerful leaders had been chosen in the secrecy of the sistine chapel [Music] [Applause] the cardinals choice fell on jorge mario bergoglio the archbishop of buenos aires the enthusiastic crowd celebrated the new pope even though his election had come as a surprise to all carolina barros is the editor of the buenos aires herald and has followed cardinal begonia's career he didn't expect to be elected pope if you look at the way he bought his ticket he had a full trip ticket and he was meant to be back on on the 23rd he'll be staying in rome forever the future pope francis grew up in this middle class suburb of buenos aires called flores more than 11 000 kilometers away from rome now almost completely rebuilt this is the house where he was brought up by a family of italian immigrants just around the corner is his primary school nuestra signora de misericordia was his middle school and these were the places he played and prayed as a devout catholic boy here he played football when he was a small boy five years old when he was bigger he played football with his friends in the square he was a vivacious child known for his special charm there was another sister who died at 110 years of age and he'd ask what was i like when i was a kid and she'd answer a little devil the sister was wonderful she was immensely attached to him he was a devout boy and it is reported that when one of his lungs had to be removed due to a serious infection he found strength in his faith he entered the jesuit seminary aged 20 studied chemistry and became a priest at 33. the jesuits are one of the most powerful religious orders in the catholic church and he was appointed their superior in argentina aged just 37. society of jesus has been traditionally and long history very very politically minded and they know how to deal with with politics and power archbishop pegolio worked closely with father gustavo carrara a jesuit engaged in frontline missionary work in the slums of buenos aires the priests courageous priests worked in this area during the dictatorship pushing forward community creation today our work moves forward in the same spirit although the challenges are very different today because now these areas are more structured than before and our idea is how do we integrate these areas into the wider city in 1976 a military junta seized power and proceeded to kidnap and murder thousands of people among them those who preached the gospel as a manifesto of social justice the actions of the roman catholic leadership during the so-called dirty war are the subject of heated criticism some of it aimed directly at jorge bergoglio as head of the jesuits in argentina he was responsible for two priests who were kidnapped in the bajo flores slum in buenos aires their story is intimately connected with the tragic death of monica mignone a devout catholic teacher and volunteer who worked with them mercedes-mignone is her sister [Music] on the 14th of may 1976 about five in the morning the bell began ringing insistently they were from the armed forces they told monica to get dressed they told her not to take any money that they had come to collect her to answer some questions about a friend of hers and that two hours later she would come back fathers francisco jalix and orlando georgio were jesuit priests who worked with monica they were kidnapped a week later in the shanty towns where the destitute of buenos aires lived and where urban gorillas found refuge then more or less a week later they went to the slum of bajo flores and there they took away two priests charlix and chorio and a group of catechism teachers monica's father was determined to find out what had happened to her he discovered that she and the priests had been taken to this detention center the infamous school for naval mechanics or esme where dozens of detainees died under the dictatorship when my father found out what the situation was also with charles ensurio montes who was a member of the military at the time said oh but it's the navy that has them and a few days later the two priests reappeared and we think that in this case in this situation the fact that our father found out has a lot to do with the fact that they were freed jorge bergoglio however says it was he who intervened with high-ranking admiral emilio masera to have them released he testified to this effect before an inquest in 2005. what happened to these two jesuit priests seen here saying mass with their superior bergoglio is at the heart of the criticism leveled at the new pope by one of argentina's leading journalists poraccio verbitsky this is a document which in 1979 bergoglio delivered to the government of the dictatorship asking for the renewal of jalak's passport in this second document is the recommendation of the official who received it rejecting the request although these documents are not signed by jorge bergoglio himself the government official claims that his decision was based on bergoglio's reports in the third document the same official with the same signature explains what the reasons are and they are exactly the same as what jalex and yorio said bergoy was saying about them subversive activity in female religious institutes conflicts of obedience detainment in the navy school for mechanics they weren't detained they were kidnapped which is not the same he was accused with father giorio of suspected contact with gorillas these documents were delivered to us by father bergoglio himself thirty thousand young men and women were kidnapped tortured and murdered during argentina's dirty war human rights campaigner emilio mignone would discover just how ambiguous the church hierarchy was this is my mother angelica sosa de mignone and nora portinas they went to ask the pope what had happened to their children but the church or rather the hierarchy of the church did nothing shortly after jorge bergoglio's election as pope father jadix released a statement saying he had no further comment on bergoglio's role in this matter some say begolio's silent diplomacy may have actually saved lives but not everyone is convinced the grandmothers of platha de maijo are among his critics they are still searching for 400 children born in captivity complicity is either by action or by omission there were those who acted openly and straightforwardly in favor of the dictatorship such as the bishop and there are those who looked the other way and did nothing and did not help us and that was by omission they have responsibility because up to this point monsignor bergoglio has said nothing about the desaparacitos monica mignone never returned the grandmothers of plato di maijo meanwhile have successfully identified 108 grandchildren born in captivity who were placed in foster homes but have since been reintroduced to their biological families we estimate that around 30 000 people were kidnapped during the dictatorship and among them 500 babies of whom we have found 108. now there are grown men and women siento ocho jason that period when the when the church would go to the slums but but on the other hand would keep quiet on what was going on was in a way sent to the archives and nobody wanted to talk about that jorge mario brigoglio thinks that the church should be caring of the poor people that dedication to the poor is clear here in the very church where monica mignon used to work with fathers jalex and jorio this is where her sister was married the typical inhabitant of this slum is the laborer the worker the woman who wants a better life for her children and has to leave them to work outside the home the barrio of pajo is on the southern outskirts of the city these teenagers are traveling across the city to participate in a special mass for two young men about to enter the local seminary the celebration is an expression of the fervent popular catholic culture that thrives here many of the inhabitants of the slums are immigrants from neighboring countries such as bolivia they bring with them their own traditions by engaging with the poor of the slums the archbishop jorge bergoglio came to know intimately the realities of wider latin america in the barrio on the other side they hold the very popular feast of the virgin of copacabana who is the patron saint of bolivia and here there are many people who have immigrated from bolivia it's a festivity that attracts more than thirty thousand people who come from the different areas of the city and greater buenos aires to venerate the image of the virgin and dance their native dances [Music] jorge bergoglione's opposition to liberation theology won him the favor of pope john paul ii who first made him archbishop of buenos aires and then a cardinal he's very straightforward very authentic we're a man of great integrity because he's been pastor when uh it's been difficult for the church and so you have to kind of find your way in that and this is a time of some difficulty for all of us and so if he can help us find our way that's one very great help that will have a big impact on the church and help us all to govern jorge bergoglio's strong connection with the jewish community in argentina may contribute to peace in the middle east says augustine leader of the jewish youth movement in buenos aires the pope can use his charisma and can use the relations he's developed with the jewish community in argentina to open a channel of dialogue to bring an end to this conflict that is so harmful to everyone in the earliest hours of march the 19th 2013 the popular enthusiasm for the first argentine pope swept away considerations of the past and the future crowds gathered in the platform in rome thousands massed in saint peter's square the mood was festive jorge bergoglio was about to become the holy father of the whole roman catholic world [Music] it was the morning of march the 19th 2013. thousands were crowded into the platha di maggio to watch the inauguration of the argentinian pope in rome [Music] less than three weeks after his predecessor had resigned the roman catholic church had a new leader i think for non-catholics and or non-believers there's a certain fascination in this 2000 year old institution which in spite of all the troubles it's had through the centuries still somehow not only survives but continues to give that message of good news so we have a pope and that's the most important thing in our faith you must have somebody we've had good popes bad popes effective popes ineffective popes you know but you have to have a pope as bishop jorge bergoglio was a great communicator despite not using social media or even a computer he doesn't use internet he doesn't have a laptop he writes on an old writing machine he doesn't tweet but then he knows and he said it the importance of the media in this global world pope francis's quick wit and ability to relate to ordinary people has made him popular he's very frugal in his eating very austere and they say if you're invited to dinner take something with you or you'll come away hungry he has the wit of the people of buenos aires he's open quick funny sympathical laughs a lot he's not solomon not formal [Music] this man is going to have the whole world eating out of his hand see what we did despite his old-fashioned style pope francis understands the need for more openness with the media he gave the best pieces for to the media he gave it out to the media and at the same time he said look the moment things were getting very very dramatic hot he said uh on my side i had the bish the the cardinal of sao paulo brazil and he said you shouldn't forget the poor and so the pope says the name francis came to me the holy spirit of god sparked a whole movement in this case represented by saint francis of assisi which placed the church in front of the decision to return to the poverty of the gospel all that francis means for i mean for not only for for for the catholics but for the whole world everybody knows who francisco yeah sees or francis of ethisi is and the the saint that believed in going back to basics and to nature and the environment during his first sermon on the day of his inauguration in rome pope francis established the guiding values of his papacy the church and humanity he said are the custodians of the created universe and as such are called on not only to show brotherly love but to renew man's ties with nature all his first moves were i'm the bishop of buenos aires one day it's a big urban church with a lot of challenges i'm the bishop of this local church rome with all its challenges i can do this he knows how to speak to people as a pastor latin america as well is like the nest for populism the narrative is we belong to the poor we are doing everything for the poor so if you have instead a leader that leads 1.2 billion people in the world this is going to change the way latin america is going to look at the church once again father gustavo carrara parish priest of nuestra senora del pueblo likes to think that pope francis will embrace the farthest outposts of christianity as leader of the catholic church this present pope used to speak of existential frontiers by which i mean searching the frontier which is something that god did he became incarnate not in the heart of the roman empire but in the farthest reaches in a small forgotten village that no one had ever heard about pueblo there's a sort of return to god through pope francis and this has become his mission now so just as he would go out into the streets here now he is going out into the world he's a great politician with the church in crisis there was a need for a great politician to lead it to avoid the disaster it was going towards the church knows the church has archives the church has witnesses we now he's got to make a lot of choices about things he never had to think about much so he needs help about prayer and support and all he needs a lot of advice but his biggest strength is i think his simple integrity where you know there's nothing manipulative about him or false and that comes across and that will give us all courage to govern well too in any case the truth should never be hidden the truth does not offend the church is about keeping alive the message of jesus christ which is one of love of god and mercy of god and also giving hope and meaning to people i hope even beyond the grave and now people that's good news if if if it's preached and witnessed to witness to by a generous and sacrificial life this pope pope francis is the one who i think gives more emphasis to that by by his personal witness on march the 19th 2013 jorge mario bergoglio was installed as the 266th pope and bishop of rome roman catholics the world over will remember this day as the beginning of a new era for their 2000 year old church with his powerful message reaching the farthest frontiers of this global faith

Channel: Parable - Religious History Documentaries

Views: 1,623,161

Keywords: Catholic faith exploration, Church mysteries, Latin American history, Latin American legacy, Vatican controversies, Vatican politics, abduction allegations, catholic church history, catholicism history, faith transitions, historical revelations, history documentaries, jorge mario bergoglio, pontiff history, religious history, religious investigations, religious leaders' stories, vatican mysteries revealed, vatican politics, vatican revelations

Id: lkWRARsoORA

Length: 43min 34sec (2614 seconds)

Published: Fri May 06 2022