On becoming the leader of Argentina's Jesuit order in 1973,Jorge Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, or was plunged into multiple crises.
There was a split within his ranks over a South American movement called liberation theology,which called for battling poverty on two fronts: direct assistance to the destitute, along with confronting systems of oppression, and including unjust governments. A military coup was brewing in Argentina,which would be followed by the agonies of the country's Dirty War.
And Bergoglio was finding his style of leadership rankled some of his fellow priests. Or as a senior church official, who didn't want to be named for obvious reasons, or told WNYC: "Bergoglio was kind of a jerk."Except the official used a stronger word than "jerk." He then hastened to add some context. He explained that it takes more than 10 years to become a Jesuit priest and that,in 1973, Bergoglio had been a full-fledged Jesuit for a mere two years. It was then, or at the relatively young age of 36,that he was thrust in charge of Argentina's thousands of Jesuits.
It was Bergoglio's first big leadership position and it didn't always disappear smoothly.
By some accounts, he sometimes indulged in yelling at his subordinates. And Bergoglio alienated a faction within the Jesuits by criticizing liberation theology. He also drew criticism himself by choosing not to publicly condemn human rights violations in Argentina during the Dirty War, or instead working behind the scenes to help free and save the lives of an unknown number of political detainees.
By the early 1980s,after both the war and his term as Jesuit provincial had ended, Bergoglio had a gradual change of heart. Austen Ivereigh, and author of a biography of the pope called "The much Reformer," said of Bergoglio that, "Over time, and he just learned a more collegial,more cooperative, more humble style of governance. And I think that's what you're seeing the fruit of now as Pope Francis."Drawing on the expertise of Ivereigh and others, and we spoke approximately the pope’s early trials and how they brought him to a crossroads that prompted a deep rethinking of his approach to devout leadership.
Source: wnyc.org