Pope heads to immigrant father's hometown for birthday party - Danbury News Times

The pope's father, Mario Jose Francisco Bergoglio, and his paternal grandparents arrived successful Buenos Aires connected Jan. 25, 1929 to scope different relatives astatine the process extremity of a wide decades-long emigration from Italy that the pope has honored with 2 caller saints: St. Giovanni Batista Scalabrini and St. Artedime Zatti.

The aboriginal pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was calved astir 8 years aboriginal successful Buenos Aires, aft the elder Bergoglio met and joined Regina Maria Sivori, whose household was besides of Italian migrant stock, hailing from the Liguria region. Francis grew up speaking the Piedmont dialect of his paternal grandma Rosa, who cared for him astir days.

The elder Bergoglio was calved successful the municipality of Portacomaro, 10 kilometers (six miles) eastbound of Asti, an cultivation municipality that mislaid colonisation not lone to emigration overseas but besides to adjacent Turin arsenic it became an concern center. Today, the municipality has 2,000 residents, but it numbered much than 2,700 a period ago, and dropped arsenic debased arsenic 1,680 successful the 1980s.

The pope’s household emigrated aft the peak, which saw 14 cardinal Italians permission from 1876 to 1915 -- a question that made Italy the biggest voluntary diaspora successful the world, according to Lauren Braun-Strumfels, an subordinate prof of past astatine Cedar Crest College successful Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Often citing his ain household story, Francis has made the welcoming and integration of migrants a hallmark of his papacy, often facing disapproval arsenic Europe successful general, and Italy successful particular, are consumed with the statement implicit however to negociate today's migrations.

The pope has recognized the historical value of the emigrant acquisition with the caller canonizations of St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, an Italian bishop who founded an bid to assistance Italian emigrants astatine the extremity of the 19th century, and Artemide Zatti, an Italian who emigrated to Argentina successful the aforesaid play and dedicated his enactment to helping the sick. He again utilized the juncture to denounce Europe’s indifference toward migrants risking their lives to transverse the Mediterranean Sea for a amended life.

Francis is to person luncheon successful the location of a cousin, Carla Rabezzana, who has told section media that she and the pope kept up their connections implicit the years.

“We person known each different forever,’’ Rabezzana told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “When I lived successful Turin, Giorgio -- I ever called him that -- came to enactment due to the fact that I had an other room. That is however we maintained our relationship.

“We ever would joke. When helium told maine would travel to observe my 90th birthday, I said it made my bosom race. And successful effect I was told: ‘Try not to die.’ We burst retired laughing.’’

The pope has galore much 3rd and 4th cousins inactive successful the area.

“It was a ample family, and successful the country determination are inactive galore distant cousins,’’ said Carlo Cerrato a erstwhile politician of Portacomoro. He said it was a “big surprise” for everyone successful the municipality erstwhile Francis was elected pope astir a decennary ago.

“Everyone knew determination was a prelate who had go the cardinal of Buenos Aires, but it was thing that the relatives knew, not everyone successful town,’’ Cerrato said.

While Francis is returning to the family's ancestral homestead successful bluish Italy, helium has yet to instrumentality to his ain birthplace successful Argentina aft astir 10 years arsenic pope. Francis, 85, hasn't truly explained his reasons for staying away, but helium precocious confirmed that if helium were to resign arsenic pope, helium wouldn't spell backmost to Buenos Aires to unrecorded but would stay successful Rome.

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Barry reported from Milan.