Pope Francis will be cried around the world on Saturday, but only one of his relatives is expected to attend his funeral.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pontiff was the oldest of five children born of former Regina Maria Sivori and Mario Jose Francisco, Italian immigrants who raised the family in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His only living brother, Maria Elena Bergoglio, 77, saw her older brother in March 2013, before going to Rome to attend the conclave and finally became the head of the Catholic Church, the Argentine media Hi! Reported.
Maria Elena did not go to Rome for the inauguration of Francis, since “my brother asked us to save money and use it for charitable works,” he said at that time.
He currently has poor health and lives among the nuns who take care of her, The Outlet reported.
His son and the nephew of Francis, José Bergoglio, said his family would go to Rome for the funeral processing of his uncle, according to an X position on Wednesday by the Secretary of Adoration and Civilization of Argentina, Noul Sotelo.
“Joseph told me that and his mother’s decision was to follow the examples of the Holy Father and that they had never considered traveling, since they believe it is the best way to honor Francis” memory, “Sotelo wrote.
Maria Elena’s daughter and Francis’s niece, Cristina Bergoglio, a famous artist based in Madrid, Spain, confessed in a 2014 interview that she is not religious, calling the “outdated” church.
But another of Francis’s nephews, Mauro Bergoglio, is expected to be present in Italy, since the Pope is buried in the basilica of St. Mary Major, thanks to a private donor who pays him and his wife to travel, according to The born.
Mauro, son of Francis’s late brother, Oscar, said he was sacrificed tickets for the owner of the Rita Mattiello Travel Agency, who heard Heard say about an Argentine news transmission that could not pay the trip.
“I broke my heart to hear that I couldn’t travel,” Mattiello said The born. “I saw him helpless. He and his wife should have been among the first to be invited to travel officially.”
Mauro said the Argentine government had not invited the family despite sending its own delegation, including President Javier Milei.
“I never asked for a favor; he sacrificed me, and the truth is that I accepted because it was the only opportunity I had to say goodbye,” said Mauro, a nurse, to Radio Miter.
“We are not media personalities, we are workers and, like most people, we barely reach the end of the months,” wrote Mauro, Vanesa, in X, according to the times of Buenos Aires.
Vanesa wrote that her brother “really wanted to be there” for the funeral of “our last uncle”, and was “grateful to allow him to make that trip”, referring to the television program that initially caught attention to finance.
Carla Rabezzana, the Pope’s cousin, told the national Catholic reporter in March that pure worried about the decrease in Francis’s health.
In a photo shared with the departure, Rabezzana, now 93, saw smiling next to the Holy Father, whom he called with love “Cousin Giorgio”, while the couple sat to lunch at home in the community of the Italian North of Portacomaro, Italy, on November 19, 2022. It is not clear if it can attend the funeral.
The Pope’s granddaughter, Dr. Carolina Bergoglio, honored him in a Facebook post.
“The death of Pope Francis marks a deeply symbolic moment in the history of humanity. He was a spiritual leader who knew how to speak to the heart of the world with humility, closeness and a deeply human perspective,” Carolina Wreote Monday.
Felipe Bergoglio, Francis’s 21 -year -old overwin, currently plays for the Italian Soccer Club Castiglionense 1919, daily right -right.
Felipe never personally met the Pope, revealed in an August interview with the Nazione, but Francis “always asked Aur Family” while talking to Felipe’s father, one of Francis’s cousins.
“When we all live in Argentina, the relationship was difficult due to distances between Buenos Aires and Córdoba, but the link was always there,” Felipe told The Outlet. His older brothers, Mateo and Benjamin, met Francis, the daily right reported.
