Pope honors spiritual father on 50th anniversary as a priest


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis was to mark his 50th anniversary as a priest Friday by paying homage to his spiritual father, a fellow Argentine Jesuit whose teachings on popular piety and discernment have had an enormous influence on the papacy.

Francis is scheduled to attend the book launch for a collection of writings by the late Rev. Miguel Angel Fiorito. The collection is being published by the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica, and the launch is taking place at the Jesuit headquarters near the Vatican.

In a preface to the collection, Francis wrote that “Maestro Fiorito” taught his students how to pray and discern the will of God and the signs of the time. “His school of spirituality was a school of dialogue and listening,” Francis wrote.

Francis has riled conservatives with his emphasis on the role of discernment and conscience, as opposed to black and white rules, in making tough moral decisions. Francis has also held up popular piety and a “poor church for the poor” as the true church of the “people of God.”

The former Jorge Mario Bergoglio was ordained a priest on Dec. 13, 1969 in Buenos Aires. He is history's first Latin American, and first Jesuit pope. He is marking his 50th priestly ordination anniversary just a few days before he turns 83, on Dec. 17.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Religion stories

Related topics

Religion
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast