How Bergoglio fired a Curial employee in Buenos Aires
In El Verdadero Francisco, the author Omar Bello relates the following dialogue regarding a Curial employee Cardinal Bergoglio wanted fired when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires:
“You have to throw him out now!” Bergoglio demanded, raising his voice.
The walls trembled. “Not one more day can this guy be here! Do you understand?”
He was referring to an employee of the Curia whom he couldn’t stand.
“Right away! Do you understand?”
“But he’s going to want to talk to you…”, one of the treasurers replied.
“I said to throw him out already. What language am I speaking?”
“Alright, Monsignor, we’ll throw him out right away.”
“Promoting to remove” is one of the most respected unwritten slogans of the Church. It sounds strange but someone who behaves badly can end up in a better position, yes, very far from the original place where he committed the offense. Of course, despite the motto, it is sometimes necessary to throw people out, and in those cases Bergoglio doesn’t abandon his tricks either. Once dismissed, the employee in question requested an audience with the cardinal and it was granted quickly, without asking questions.
“But I did not know anything about it, Son. You surprise me…”, the present-day Pope assured the dismissed employee when he told him of his troubles.
“Why did they throw you out? Who was it?”
The man left the cardinal’s offices without a job but with a brand new car as a gift, believing Francis to be a saint driven by circumstances beyond his control, dominated by a host of malicious assistants. The story of this dismissal is repeated even by the security officers of the Curia of Buenos Aires.
(Omar Bello, El Verdadero Francisco [Buenos Aires: Ediciones Noticias, 2013], pp. 36-37; our translation.)
“You have to throw him out now!” Bergoglio demanded, raising his voice.
The walls trembled. “Not one more day can this guy be here! Do you understand?”
He was referring to an employee of the Curia whom he couldn’t stand.
“Right away! Do you understand?”
“But he’s going to want to talk to you…”, one of the treasurers replied.
“I said to throw him out already. What language am I speaking?”
“Alright, Monsignor, we’ll throw him out right away.”
“Promoting to remove” is one of the most respected unwritten slogans of the Church. It sounds strange but someone who behaves badly can end up in a better position, yes, very far from the original place where he committed the offense. Of course, despite the motto, it is sometimes necessary to throw people out, and in those cases Bergoglio doesn’t abandon his tricks either. Once dismissed, the employee in question requested an audience with the cardinal and it was granted quickly, without asking questions.
“But I did not know anything about it, Son. You surprise me…”, the present-day Pope assured the dismissed employee when he told him of his troubles.
“Why did they throw you out? Who was it?”
The man left the cardinal’s offices without a job but with a brand new car as a gift, believing Francis to be a saint driven by circumstances beyond his control, dominated by a host of malicious assistants. The story of this dismissal is repeated even by the security officers of the Curia of Buenos Aires.
(Omar Bello, El Verdadero Francisco [Buenos Aires: Ediciones Noticias, 2013], pp. 36-37; our translation.)
