{"id":115442,"date":"2016-08-09T14:49:21","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T18:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=115442"},"modified":"2016-08-09T14:49:21","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T18:49:21","slug":"is-pope-francis-the-son-of-divorced-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2016\/08\/is-pope-francis-the-son-of-divorced-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Pope Francis ‘the son of divorced parents’?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This\u00a0story<\/a><\/strong> has been making the rounds of social media:<\/p>\n

\n

In a document that lays down revised foundations for the Catholic Church\u2019s teaching on a host of issues related to family life<\/a>, Pope Francis reminded married couples that a good marriage is a dynamic process:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLove does not have to be perfect for us to value it,\u201d Pope Francis said in Amoris Laetitia<\/a><\/em> (The Joy of Love), <\/em>a 200-page \u201capostolic exhortation\u201d to the world\u2019s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The document cites contemporary challenges faced by families<\/a> throughout the world, <\/span>reflecting on the Pope\u2019s instinctive tendency to try to make the Church seem a more merciful, less judgmental body in relation to those faithful who find themselves in \u201cirregular\u201d situations.<\/p>\n

In a lecture recently held at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, a Jesuit academic and author explained that the apostolic exhortation asks the church to help families make good decisions in life, taking into consideration their own struggles and issues.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about taking the time, giving something the time it needs. Pope Francis wants us to be gradual about our pastoral care and not looking for instant results,\u201d said Fr Michael Kirwan SJ, director of University of London\u2019s Heythrop Institute for Religion and Society (HIRS).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The \u00a0story notes:<\/p>\n

\n

Kirwan <\/span>underscored patience in the church\u2019s pastoral care and ministry to families.The apostolic exhortation, he said, asked married couples, families, and pastoral ministers to care for those in need of the Lord\u2019s mercy and healing.<\/p>\n

Amoris Laetitia<\/em> encouraged the church to consider the complexities of people\u2019s lives and to respect people\u2019s reasons behind their moral decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pope Francis, himself the son of divorced parents, said that the aim of the church is to \u201caccompany, discern, and integrate\u201d the people who fell short of the Christian ideals.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Whoa. That last paragraph made me do a double take. It has raised a few eyebrows around the Twitterverse, as well, with people wondering if it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

I went scrambling through all the online resources I could find. No biography of the pontiff mentions anything about his parents being divorced.<\/p>\n

I suspect that author of this story, Stephan Pedroza, is confusing Pope Francis with Cardinal\u00a0Christoph Sch\u00f6nborn<\/strong>,<\/a> who has spoken of the trauma in his own life as a child of divorce. \u00a0He also might have conflated the pope\u2019s biography with that of his sister<\/a><\/strong>\u2014who is divorced.<\/p>\n

To set the record <\/a><\/strong>straight:<\/p>\n

\n

[Jorge Bergoglio]\u00a0was born in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, the son of Italian immigrants. His father Mario was an accountant employed by the railways and his mother Regina Sivori was a committed wife dedicated to raising their five children.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As far as I can tell, they stayed married their entire lives. (Also worth noting: divorce wasn\u2019t legal<\/a><\/strong> in Argentina until 1987.) If anyone has other information, please let me know.<\/p>\n

Photo: CNN<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This\u00a0story has been making the rounds of social media: In a document that lays down revised foundations for the Catholic Church\u2019s teaching on a host of issues related to family life, Pope Francis reminded married couples that a good marriage is a dynamic process: \u201cLove does not have to be perfect for us to value […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":115444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Pope Francis 'the son of divorced parents'?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This\u00a0story has been making the rounds of social media: In a document that lays down revised foundations for the Catholic Church's teaching on a host of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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