One of my outstanding Argentine students, Nacho Ibarzábal, founded “Grupo Sólido” a few years ago, an Argentine love and fidelity network similar to the one based in Princeton. (I wouldn’t like to be accused of an oversimplification, so you may want to check their webpage: http://www.gruposolido.org/). In 2011 Grupo Sólido put on a fundraiser in Washington DC. George Weigel was one of the keynote speakers at the event. After the event, he asked Nacho, “Does Cardinal Bergoglio know about these great things you are doing?” As soon as he returned to Buenos Aires, and with Weigel’s encouragement, Nacho wrote a formal letter to the Cardinal describing the group. As is customary, the letter included his contact details. Shortly after, he got a call on his cell phone: “Hello, this is Jorge Bergoglio. Thank you for your letter. Would you like to meet to talk about Grupo Sólido?” These were the simple words of someone who was already a public figure of remarkable significance in Argentina. The meeting, I’m told, was as simple and as agreeable as the telephone conversation.
My friend Jorge Rouillón, a journalist who covers religious affairs for one of the leading Argentine newspapers, had known Cardinal Bergoglio for decades. His older articles on the then-Cardinal are now being reprinted in Argentina and all around the world. When I gave him a celebratory call from Miami on the day of the election, he told me this revealing anecdote. Not many years ago he received a call from the archbishop: Cardinal Bergoglio was going to say Mass at a side chapel of the Cathedral and he was wondering whether Rouillón (my friend) would like to be the altar server. After the Mass had taken place, Monsignor Bergoglio asked the routine question, “How are you doing?” My friend, however, was very specific and shared with him that he was a bit (perhaps excessively) worried about a minor surgery that he might have to undergo. A few months later the two Jorges met again. The first words of the archbishop were: “So Jorge, do I still need to pray for your gallbladder?”
--Santiago Legarre
http://www.irishrover.net/archives/2776
