Hope by Pope Francis review: a tale of two Francises, the lover of peace and the liberal control freak
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For fans of Conclave, there’s quite the inside story of the real thing in 2013 in the Pope’s new autobiography. We find that he arrived at the cardinals’ guest house with two cassocks and a return ticket to Buenos Aires. He was frisked, like the other cardinal electors, for phones, computers, newspapers. Someone in the queue behind him said “let’s hope he accepts”, but he was, it seems, deaf to all the signs he was in the running. An archbishop asked him, would he accept? “No cardinal can say no”, he said. He cast holding votes during the first round and assumed the ones for him were non-commital. The archbishop of Havana asked him for the text of a speech he had given earlier, and he reconstructs a few points, viz, that the Church is being called to come out of herself and go to the peripheries. That was quite the take-home message.
He got interrogated over lunch by European cardinals and then a Spanish speaking cardinal came up to ask him if he had a lung missing. Nope, he said. Just a lobe, back in 1957. “The cardinal turned red, uttered a swear word and clenched his teeth. “These last-minute manoeuvres!” he exclaimed. By which I think we can deduce that the dirty tricks department of a rival candidate had been spreading the word that poor old Bergoglio really wasn’t up to it health wise.
Didn’t work, of course, because after everyone had, yet again, knelt before the altar and placed his vote on a silver salver, he got the 77 votes that were needed for a majority vote. He was perfectly calm. And then he started to spoil everyone’s fun. No nice ring, just his old bishop’s one. No beautiful golden cross, just a nickel silver job. No scarlet shoes – the ones Pope Benedict rather liked – just his old orthopedic shoes. “I have flat feet”, he explained. And instead of sitting on a papal throne and letting everyone kiss his hand, he stands up to embrace the cardinals – pretty well give them a hug. When he goes out on the balcony he asks for the blessings of the people.
