ROME (CNS): Pope Francis turned 85-years-old on December 17 and according to his nephew, Jesuit Father José Luis Narvaja, he is still raring to go.
“I see him doing very well, with so much strength; really, he doesn’t seem to be 85,” the priest told the Italian Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, for its December 12 issue.
Father Narvaja, the son of the pope’s youngest sister, the late Marta Regina Bergoglio, visited his uncle right after his colon surgery in July. Even then, “he was doing well but he was still in a bit of pain, and he told me, ‘Don’t make me laugh, the stitches hurt!’” he said.
“He is very active, enthusiastic, he doesn’t stop. He said some people had hoped his illness would make him shut up a little, but it didn’t. He’s doing very well,” Father Narvaja said.
Speaking about his uncle’s approach to his ministry as pope, he said, “He does what he feels the Spirit is asking of him.”
Pope Francis’ idea of reform “is to put Christ at the centre of the Church and our lives, and this is a process that takes time,” he said. “Of course, sometimes he feels he has to say a harsh word, but he knows he is an instrument of God.”
Making Jesus the central point “does not mean putting a statue in the centre of the house, but [it means] listening to Jesus to understand what he wants from each of us, allowing him to transform our hearts,” Father Narvaja said.
“The pope is not a manager. It is Jesus who, by being at the centre, puts things in place,” he said, adding that the pope feels “he has to give time to transform hearts, which is what Jesus does.”
Father Narvaja said, “Sometimes we think that the Spirit … doesn’t speak any longer and therefore we do not want to change anything … but the Spirit continues to speak … to the Church and we must make sure that the Lord continues his work through us.”
He said, “The Spirit makes things new—not by magic, but through us.”
