{"id":21581,"date":"2013-03-16T22:14:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-17T02:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=21581"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:59:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:59:27","slug":"young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t make this stuff up:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he was spurned by his childhood sweetheart when they were both just 12 years old.<\/p>\n

According to 76-year-old Amalia Damonte, Pope Francis once declared \u201cIf I can\u2019t marry you, I\u2019ll become a priest\u201d after she rejected him during their childhood in Buenos Aires. \u201cLuckily for him, I said no\u201d, she joked.<\/p>\n

Speaking from her home, four doors down from where Francis grew up in Flores, Argentina, Damonte revealed her parents had kept the two apart because they disapproved of their budding romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were young, he wrote me a letter and I didn\u2019t reply to him,\u201d she told the Argentinean press. \u201cMy father had hit me because I had dared to write a note to a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Damonte\u2019s revelation came as the sister of the 266th pontiff, Mar\u00eda Elena Bergoglio, said she was concerned her brother would face \u201cinfinite loneliness\u201d in his new role.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can\u2019t make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he was spurned by his childhood sweetheart when they were both just 12 years old. According to 76-year-old Amalia Damonte, Pope Francis once declared \u201cIf I can\u2019t marry you, I\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1413],"class_list":["post-21581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nYoung Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can't make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You can't make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-17T02:14:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:59:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/03\/pope-girlfriend.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/\",\"name\":\"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-17T02:14:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:59:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"You can't make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart","description":"You can't make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart","og_description":"You can't make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-03-17T02:14:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:59:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/03\/pope-girlfriend.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/","name":"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-17T02:14:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:59:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"You can't make this stuff up:\u00a0 Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/03\/young-pope-francis-turned-to-god-after-snub-from-childhood-sweetheart\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Young Pope Francis turned to God after snub from childhood sweetheart"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}