Pope Francis: I went to the psychiatrist once a week
Vatican City/Munich - A pope is only human: in his new autobiography, Francis reveals his emotions and character flaws. The head of the Church does not conceal visits to a psychiatrist.
Published on 14.01.2025 at 14:23 –Tears, neuroses, visits to a psychiatrist: in his autobiography "Hope", published on Tuesday, Pope Francis shows his vulnerable side and admits to character weaknesses. "I also enjoy a few neuroses," writes the 88-year-old, "One of them is that I am quite attached to my surroundings." This also explains his peculiarity of preferring to spend his holidays as Pope in his flat in the Vatican guest house Santa Marta instead of doing the same as his predecessors with summer stays in the papal summer residence Castel Gandolfo or in the Alps. Francis advises people to take care of their own neuroses - for example with South American tea: "Infuse them with a little mate every day..."
A certain melancholy has accompanied the native Argentinian since childhood, as Francis writes. It helps him to slow down, to clarify many things. "It is a signal that tells me that I have to pay attention, that something is happening and that life demands an answer from me. I have also learnt to move forward from there."
Time and again in the almost 400 pages, Francis describes moments that made him cry. Not being afraid of his feelings is something he learnt in his first year at boarding school, reports the Argentinian born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Together with his brother Oscar, he attended the Salesian College Wilfrid Barón from the sixth grade onwards after his mother needed relief due to her state of health.
Therapy during the military dictatorship
He also talks openly about his regular visits to a psychiatrist over the course of almost a year. During the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983) - which he describes vividly in "Hoffe" - there were emotionally gruelling moments that had to be endured, writes Franziskus. "I went to see her once a week and her advice was always very useful to me. I have kept them in mind to this day, and they are still instructive for me."
Francis sees a weakness - even as Pope - in his impatience, "a problem I always have". He writes: "When I stumbled, it was often because I lacked patience. Because I couldn't wait for some processes to develop normally and for the fruit to ripen."
However, little Jorge showed patience during his own birth. Because he was already a week overdue, the family's doctor quickly sat on his mother's stomach to induce labour. This is how he was born on 17 December 1936 - weighing five kilograms. (KNA)
AI-International
English.katholisch.de provides selected news and topics from katholisch.de translated into English with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) implemented as an additional online service into the editorial system of katholisch.de. This way the majority of the daily news produced by the journalists on the editorial team of katholisch.de are now available for more readers around the globe.