A childhood friend of Pope Francis, Argentine Oscar Crespo, 87, reported to CNN that the Pontiff asked the other cardinals to stop voting for him to take the lead of the Catholic Church in the vote that elected former Papa Benedict XVI in 2005.
There are different versions about the backstage of the conclave that elected Pope German, Joseph Ratzinger. It is known, for example, that at the time Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (who would later become Pope Francis) received votes from part of the cardinals.
According to Pope Francis’s friend, when the Argentine saw that he would have a chance to be elected, he asked other religious not to vote for him anymore.
“He got up and said, Please don’t keep voting for me, because if they elected me, I won’t be able to accept this position because I have so much to do in Argentina. He told me like that,” Crespo told Crespo CNN.
According to the Pope’s friend, the pending chores in Argentina were precisely the help of the underprivileged. “He was not in a position to accept [assumir o papado] Due to his work in the Curia helping others, he traveled a lot to the interior of the country, fulfilled everything he thought of doing, ”he says.
About the conclave, Crespo states that “they started to vote for him and he didn’t know where it could come, so when he suspected he could continue to receive many votes, he cut the matter.”
Pope’s youth friend
Crespo met the Pope in the Technical Chemistry course they both did in Buenos Aires. The two even worked at the same food chemical analysis company. Today retired, Crespo says that as a young man, Bergoglio liked to have fun and even went with him to a ball of a neighborhood club.
Friendship persisted even when Bergoglio became the ultimate leader of the church in Argentina and lived in the archbishop, located in May Square.
“On Saturdays, when the administration staff would not go and stay only a guard there, he used to invite me and other former partner to lunch. These lunches were classic, because we took the wine and he was responsible for food. We started about noon and finished six in the afternoon,” recalls Crespo.
Crespo reports being thrilled when his friend was elected Pope. And he said that days later he received a call from him, saying that he did not expect to be chosen.
“He said, Yes, I am the new Pope, I did not expect. But upon entering the Council, the oldest cardinal said: gentlemen, we started the debate and whoever chosen cannot resign, no resignation will be accepted. So whoever is elected has to take office,” says the friend.
Crespo also says that Francisco preferred to move to Santa Marta’s residence instead of going to the papal residence. “I prefer to be with the simplest people, to have whom to talk to, to sit for lunch,” said the pontiff, saying to Crespo: “As I feel a little alone, with great taste I will receive you.”
