When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
InterNations
CLARIN

Meet Amalia, Whose "No" To A Pre-Teen Wedding Proposal Gave Us Pope Francis

They were just 12, and her father didn't approve of their childhood love. Sixty-five years later, she watched him step onto St. Peter's balcony as Pope Francis.

Amalia teeling her story to the Argentinian press
Amalia teeling her story to the Argentinian press
Fernando Soriano

BUENOS AIRES - Almost a decade before he began the long journey that would take him from the seminary to St. Peter’s, Jorge Bergoglio was in love. It was pre-adolescent, platonic, and filled with naive sincerity. But something quietly stayed with Amalia, the woman in question, and she never forgot him.

They met in the neighborhood of Flores, in Buenos Aires, when they were both around 12 years old and had a crush on each other. Amalia, who told the brief story of their puppy love to the Argentinian press two days after Bergoglio became Pope Francis, described the innocence of how they met.

She remembered a letter that young Jorge sent to her, in which he imagined a future where they would be together for the rest of their lives: “I remember that little letter, and on it he had drawn a white house with a red roof. He said "this is the house I will buy you when we get married."”

Amalia explained that they were too young to call what happened between them “a relationship.” Even still, Bergoglio’s sweet intentions has stayed with her for more than 60 years. “We were not boyfriend and girlfriend," she explained. "I have the impression that I was the first person with whom he thought he could have a home and a family. He didn’t propose bad things to me, he proposed a home and for me, that meant a lot.” The young Bergoglio even told her that if she wouldn't marry him, he'd become a priest.

Angry parents, a farewell

Certainly in the context of the era, as well as the ages of Jorge and Amalia, the boy's letter got a blunt reaction from the girl’s parents. “My father gave me a beating -- how dare I get such a letter from a boy? My mother came to get me at school and scolded me: ‘So, boys send you letters?’ I said to her, ‘no mamá, just Jorge’. And she said ‘what do I care, you’re a fine young lady who we taught better.’”

So, after the clear message from her parents, Amalia asked Jorge to leave her alone and stop sending her letters because she was scared of more repercussions. “I said look, please, Jorge, don’t come any closer -- if my dad finds out, he’ll kill you,” she laughs, telling the story to a small group of reporters.

The two would never see each other again, as he rose through the ranks of the Church hierarchy to become a Cardinal and the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and she married and had a family.

On Wednesday, along with the rest of the planet, Amalia was surprised to hear that Jorge would be Pope Francis. “I jumped to my feet when it was announced. Jorge, I send you a big hug, with a lifetime of love,” she said.

Her entire life, all of the memories of her childhood, are vivid in Amalia’s mind, even these days. There is neither nostalgia for the past nor tears for a love that was denied. What this woman shows is respect and a wonderful memory of the type of person that Bergoglio has always been. “His heart was always this way; he’s a pastor who offers himself to others, he gives food to the poor and clothes to those who need them,” she said.

Amalia knows that it will be difficult to see him again, to remember their shared past, or to embody the hug she sent him through her TV set on Wednesday: “He is on a very high seat, I’m very humbled and I’m sure he will not lose his humility. But our surroundings force us to live differently, I am his past. A sweet, innocent and humble past.”

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Future

AI And War: Inside The Pentagon's $1.8 Billion Bet On Artificial Intelligence

Putting the latest AI breakthroughs at the service of national security raises major practical and ethical questions for the Pentagon.

Photo of a drone on the tarmac during a military exercise near Vícenice, in the Czech Republic

Drone on the tarmac during a military exercise near Vícenice, in the Czech Republic

Sarah Scoles

Number 4 Hamilton Place is a be-columned building in central London, home to the Royal Aeronautical Society and four floors of event space. In May, the early 20th-century Edwardian townhouse hosted a decidedly more modern meeting: Defense officials, contractors, and academics from around the world gathered to discuss the future of military air and space technology.

Things soon went awry. At that conference, Tucker Hamilton, chief of AI test and operations for the United States Air Force, seemed to describe a disturbing simulation in which an AI-enabled drone had been tasked with taking down missile sites. But when a human operator started interfering with that objective, he said, the drone killed its operator, and cut the communications system.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest