(ANS - Rome)- Today, 17 December 2013, is the 77th birthday of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, known to the world from 13 March last simply as Pope Francis. Pope Francis has had many contacts with Don Bosco and his spirituality, thanks to encounters with people, places and circumstances. Today the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, sends him best wishes on behalf of the Congregation and the Salesian Family.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires and was baptized on Christmas Eve in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in the Almagro neighbourhood, which was at that time entrusted to the Salesians. The priest who baptized him was an Italian Salesian missionary, Fr Enrico Pozzoli, who had close links with the Sivori family to which the future Pope’s mother belonged.

Fr Pozzoli was also his first spiritual father and accompanied him as he grew in his priestly vocation. When he became Cardinal Bergoglio, he wrote to Fr Pozzoli telling him that his "example of service to the Church and religious life" had been a "strong influence" in his life .

Pope Francis had further experience with the Salesians when he studied for a year at the Wilfrid Barón Salesian School in Ramos Mejía. It is probably due to these contacts that Pope Francis developed a deep and by now well-known devotion to Mary Help of Christians whom he regularly honoured on the 24th of each month.

From religious devotion to football!  The future Pope came in contact with the Salesians again through the San Lorenzo de Almagro football team. The club was founded by Fr Lorenzo Massa, SDB, and the team colours are those of Mary Help of Christians. The Pope was a big fan since childhood. He often went to the stadium with his father to watch the team play and can still recall with pleasure the team that won the championship in 1946.

Now that San Lorenzo have once again been crowned as Argentine champions – they clinched the title just last Sunday, 15 December – the commentators are unsure how to interpret it. Did San Lorenzo win the championship as a birthday gift for the Pope, or was it the Pope’s support that drove the team to win a title they had not won since 2007?

The Congregation and the Salesian Family have, by their very nature, a special devotion to the figure of the Pope. Don Bosco offered young people and the Salesians, their friends and co-workers, a spirituality based on three main points: the centrality of the Eucharist, filial devotion to Mary and fidelity to the Pope and to his teaching.

For all these reasons, Fr Pascual Chávez, Rector Major, wishes happy birthday to Pope Francis today on the occasion of his first birthday as Pope:

Happy Birthday!
 

Published 17/12/2013