By Fr. Rudolph Juarez
When I first heard the name of the new pope I was scratching my head because his last name is Italian. And when I realized that he was Argentinian, I was impressed that the Church has truly come a long way in terms of truly being universal, now that we have a South American at the helm of the bark of Peter after having a Pole and a German.
I am reminded of a joke Latin Americans like to tell. It goes like this: A young boy asked his Argentinian father: “Daddy, where do the Mexicans descend from?” “The Aztecs,” the father replies. “What about the Peruvians, where do they descend from?” “The Incas,” says the father. “And the Argentinians, where do we descend from?” “From boats,” says the father.
Pope Francis’ ethnic lineage is Italian, but true to the history of the world, which is one of migration of peoples, his personal story is that of being the son of Italian immigrants to South America.
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