Felt ‘complete joy’ when he became Pope Francis

WOODHAVEN — In 1970, Father Francisco Walker recalls living in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, when his uncle, a priest, paid him a visit accompanied by a friend.

The uncle, Father Eduardo Peralta Ramos, a Jesuit, often visited the family home of his sister in Bella Vista, about 19 miles west of Buenos Aires, the nation’s capital. 

This time, he arrived on a motorcycle with his passenger, Father Jorge Bergoglio, then the Jesuits’ provincial superior in Argentina. 

Father Walker, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Woodhaven, was 7 or 8 years old at the time and doesn’t remember much about meeting Father Bergoglio 55 years ago.

However, he did recall that the two Jesuits had coffee with his parents, Carlos and Beatriz Walker. They chatted amicably and then got back on the motorcycle to continue their priestly duties.

“I was just a kid, so I don’t have pictures,” Father Walker said. “There were no cell phones those days. So, taking a picture was such an event. We didn’t record anything in those days.”

In 2013, when Father Walker was a priest and pastor at St. Agatha Parish in Sunset Park, the name Jorge Bergoglio re-emerged — this time, as the new pope.

Details began to fill the gaps in Father Walker’s memory. He recalled how his mother’s other brother, Dr. Jose Peralta Ramos, often hosted the future pope for dinner.

“He said Bergoglio was a good guy to have at the table,” Father Walker recalled. “He said, ‘Oh, he sometimes comes when Eduardo comes. He loves pasta, Italian food, red wine, bread, and we talk politics.’ ”

Bishop Bergoglio was perceived as being aligned with progressive political platforms that mirrored his Jesuit stances on social justice. Meanwhile, Father Walker said, his physician uncle was “more free-market.”

“But they didn’t clash,” Father Walker added. “It was a very friendly conversation.”

RELATED: Local Argentinian Priest, Sisters Rejoice Over Pope

The Tablet interviewed Father Walker when Cardinal Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013. He said at the time he was filled with “complete joy” that a priest from Argentina, the first from the Americas, would lead the Church.

He remembered how a woman from Mexico, who worked in the rectory at St. Agatha, was on the verge of tears upon hearing about the new Pope Francis.

“I said, ‘What happened? What’s going on?’ And she said to me, ‘Finally, we’ll have a pope who will understand us,’ ” he recounted.

“Now, that is not to say she didn’t like the former popes. I mean, in Mexico, John Paul II was a rock star,” he added. “But she got the feeling of, well, one of our own — of our language, our culture — has moved to the top of the Church.”

Father Walker said Pope Francis met those expectations.

Along with his uncle, Father Eduardo, his sister Maria and brother Carlos, also a priest, have had contact with Father Bergoglio after he became Pope Francis.

Father Walker, however, never had that opportunity, but he feels like he knows the pope by reputation. 

His 12-year papacy is remembered for shepherding everyone, including the marginalized, such as the poor, migrants, and people from Latin America.

Still, Pope Francis never set foot again in Argentina and never explained why.

Father Walker agreed with speculation that the pope worried his presence would become a point of contention that could worsen existing political and social rifts in Argentina. 

“But also, he probably thought, ‘It will be too much attention on me. It’s about Christ and the Church — I don’t want to be taken as a star,’ ” Father Walker suggested.

“I might be wrong,” he acknowledged. “But that’s my take, knowing him.”