At Buenos Aires, Las Villaz crys to Pope Francis

Mary Duhamil – Vatican City

It embodies the priests who work in misery villas in Argentina. In 1997, at the age of 35, Father Baby de Paula was one of the first to trust Monsignor Jorge Mario Berglo, bishop of bishops Kodgutor of Buenos Aires, with a task accompanied by many believers to a diocese that is beats by maximum poverty and medicine, Villa 21, in the heart of the capital, Argentina. Over the years, “Bishop Jorge” has never stopped supporting his pastoral work and person, especially when the priest was threatened by drug dealers, who have not estimated the prevention and interest initiatives of people with drug addiction. The mission of the Church in the neighborhoods received a new motivation in 2009, when the Cardinal Bergolio Vicaria created the villas, responsible for directing the acts of priests in the emergency villages of Buenos Aires.

Father Baby de Paula is reviewing the Haddad of Argentina, the Pope is close to the residents and priests of the Villa Villa Buenos Aires, the explosion of the priestly professions to take the church to the poorest of the poor, and the journey of the Pope to his homeland has never taken.

Father Baby de Paula with young men from the Mother’s Care Center in Carretero Bridge, who belong to the families of Christ and the parish, “Lady of Wordis from Buenos Aires”.

What are the login villas to the Francisco Church?

The villas are the image of the church that Francisco wanted. A poor church for the poor and the church, which is a campaign hospital, where no one leaves behind it. This is a special misery villa, that attention for everyone. If the mother is with an orphan children, you will take care of them. It is a big family. No one left alone. In Las Villas, the church is the entire living, not just the temple.

From Buenos Aires to the Vatican, what is the legacy of this “Church in Exit”?

The Sunday procession (in Buenos Aires) is an expression of this church when the exit, which was embodied by Jorge Mario Begolio, who was in hospitals, in prisons, in the squares, in the places where the wise lived, which was in the villas of misery.

It is a church that does not look inside, however. He said on several occasions that you should be careful with those who only care about their sheep, and not those that spread elsewhere. Therefore, the idea of ​​the church to exit is something that Francisco embodies. It was not limited to preaching.

What is the proximity that Jorge Mario Bergolio made you with you, the priests of the villas?

I always say he was harmonious with us because of the way he lived. That is, the priests of the villas were an example of it, meaning that they lived in the neighborhood and realized that they should live as good neighbors with everyone. In this link that was created, there was great confidence between the population and the priests. The life of the Church has evolved in this environment. Bishop Pergolio became very close to us and so much supported that we moved from 7 or 8 priests to about twenty, and the diocese of the Devoto Villa was already sent doctors to seminars to the villas.

Monsignor Bergoglio also moved this in preaching. For example, in 2000, John Paul II suggested that all the dioceses be allocated to the Virgin Mary. On December 8, every December 8, Monsignor Bergoglio came to Villa 21. That year, I called him on the phone and said: “Le virgin of Caacupé, in Villa 21? What is better, Bibi?”

A mural with Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis and Virgin Logan, Argentina’s sponsor.

How can the church follow the footsteps of Jorge Mario Bergolio, now Francisco?

For the Church of Tomorrow, I think we need the Pope know how to organize. Jorge Mario Bergolio, or Francisco has given us very clear horizons and goals that must be achieved: to be closer to the Bible, closer to the mission church, where we seek to reach others rather than looking at our navel, he said. But what is missing now is someone who completes all this. The Pope who can implement all these projects that were in the spirit and preaching of Pope Francis. For this reason, I think that the Pope who comes to be able to organize hope. In short, organize everything that Pope Francis spoke and preached to the world.

Father Baby de Paula.