Gerard O’Connell
December 16, 2019
Pope Francis gives the homily as he celebrates a marking the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 12, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Pope Francis concluded his quiet celebration of the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination by visiting the Jesuit Curia in Rome to present the writings of Father Miguel Angel Fiorito, the Argentine Jesuit known as “Maestro Fiorito,” who so influenced his life and ministry as a priest, bishop and pope.
Some 250 people, many of them Jesuits, together with a small number of cardinals and bishops and several lay people, applauded when Francis arrived, accompanied by the Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa, and by the pope’s nephew, José Luis Narvaja S.J., who has brought together Father Fiorito’s writings in five volumes.
Francis smiled broadly, with evident joy, when Father Sosa welcomed him once again “to your home” and thanked him for visiting on the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest in the Society of Jesus. The Jesuit leader recalled how over the past half-century as priest, bishop and now pope, Francis acquired “the style of listening” to the People of God and learned “to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit in human history.”
He thanked him for coming to present Father Fiorito’s writings, which show how God continues to give so many good things through the creative use of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that are still today “an inexhaustible well of spiritual freshness to which we continue to draw on.”
Then after listening to brief talks from his nephew, Father Narvaja, and the editor-in-chief of La Civilta’ Cattolica, Antonio Spadaro, S.J., who explained that Father Fiorito’s writings can be found on-line as well as in print, the first Jesuit pope took the microphone.
Pope Francis concluded his quiet celebration of the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination by visiting the Jesuit Curia in Rome to present the writings of Father Miguel Angel Fiorito, the Argentine Jesuit known as “Maestro Fiorito,” who so influenced his life and ministry as a priest, bishop and pope.
Some 250 people, many of them Jesuits, together with a small number of cardinals and bishops and several lay people, applauded when Francis arrived, accompanied by the Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa, and by the pope’s nephew, José Luis Narvaja S.J., who has brought together Father Fiorito’s writings in five volumes.
Francis smiled broadly, with evident joy, when Father Sosa welcomed him once again “to your home” and thanked him for visiting on the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest in the Society of Jesus. The Jesuit leader recalled how over the past half-century as priest, bishop and now pope, Francis acquired “the style of listening” to the People of God and learned “to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit in human history.”
He thanked him for coming to present Father Fiorito’s writings, which show how God continues to give so many good things through the creative use of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that are still today “an inexhaustible well of spiritual freshness to which we continue to draw on.”
Then after listening to brief talks from his nephew, Father Narvaja, and the editor-in-chief of La Civilta’ Cattolica, Antonio Spadaro, S.J., who explained that Father Fiorito’s writings can be found on-line as well as in print, the first Jesuit pope took the microphone.
