Sr. María Antonia Minig C.J:
Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ, who at that time was Rector of the Colegio Máximo in San Miguel, accepted and accompanied us in our first Regional Congregation. For this occasion, he wrote three articles on Mary Ward and Ignatian spirituality, for three days of Spiritual Exercises and reflection (which were later published in his book Spiritual Reflections).
For me personally, he was an important spiritual reference in my life and in the journey of the Institute in Argentina, in its beginnings; thanks to him, for we deepened our Ignatian charism and from there, we made the annual Spiritual Exercises together, which marked the Argentinean Region.
Whenever he could, he visited us in Plátanos (Province of Buenos Aires), for example, for Christmas and Easter he offered Mass, and on many other occasions too. He gave spiritual accompaniment to the sisters who required it; several times he gave us Spiritual Exercises for three or eight days, and some of us the thirty days Spiritual Exercises. We also visited him regularly at the Maximo for accompaniment.
On many occasions, especially when he was already a bishop, he came to ask us to pray for him. I visited him several times in the Curia in Buenos Aires, and I could say that the fundamental thing I received from him was his spiritual accompaniment and the help of discernment in my life.
One of the anecdotes I remember was when he told me: “I want to repair the damage that many Jesuits did in their time to Mary Ward, by not helping her in the founding of the congregation”.
Sr Tereza de Jesús Fruto
I remember him as an introvert and very simple. He had a special reason for coming to Plátanos, for I remember that many times, with his sense of humour, he would say to us: “I come for the Hungarian sisters, not for you” (there were 12 Hungarian sisters here, and he had special sensitivity for their history as refugees in Argentina). He was very “gaucho”; when he came to Plátanos, he always passed by the kitchen and greeted the maids, and he had a great affinity with the driver of the house, whom the Hungarian sisters put at his disposal to return to the Federal Capital, because he used to come by train to Plátanos.
I remember him as a person of God who was very helpful, especially in discernment.
Sr. Liliana Raquel Castro CJ
I personally met him when he gave us eight days of the Spiritual Exercises in my second year of novitiate, and his first words (ironically) when speaking on the first day were: “Oh, I never saw a novice with common sense”, because he expected one of us who were making the Exercises to go and talk to him. The truth is that I have to thank him very much, because although he was demanding and I had some annoyances with him; throughout my life I have valued and capitalised on what he gave me about my personal knowledge and Ignatian spirituality and discernment.
I would define him in three words: a leader, a reformer, and one committed to humanity and our common home.
