Just four days before Jorge Bergoglio was chosen Pope in 2013, XIV lionhis successor, he visited Argentina and was present in the episcopal ordination of the auxiliary bishop Alberto Bocatey which was held in the Cathedral of La Plata.
“Yo I was guilty of coming to Argentina”He said Monsignor Bocatey remembering Robert Prevost’s visit on March 9, 2013. He studied with brand new Papa in Roma, described it as a “Brother” of the Order ” And he stressed: “Until recently, when I finished working in the Vatican, He ate in the Agustina community and even helped lift the table”, Said the bishop in an interview with Cadena 3.
In turn, he added: “Francisco I wanted it very much, he discovered it and gave him key responsibilities. “During the last period of the Argentine’s papacy, Prevost occupied the strategic position of Prefect of Dicastery for Bishopsa role that would make it In the main advisor of the Pontiff in the designation of bishops worldwide.
Prevost accepted the invitation of BoChatey for his ordination as a auxiliary bishop of La Plata. At that time, he was the general general of the order of San Agustín and lived in Peru.
Robert Prevost’s first visit to Argentina
Previously, the new Pope had already been in Argentina between August 26 and 28, 2004 To witness the inauguration of the Agustiniana Library in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa Pueyrredónact in which the Monsignor Mario Poli also participated, who would later be appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires and then thrown.
Prevost closed the debate of the second day, with a presentation entitled: “The Augustinians and the study of patrology.” He closed it with this invocation: “It is our hope that all of you, and throughout the Church, we can achieve an always more complete study of St. Augustine and the parents, and that this service serves to Help the Church in their mission of being ‘salt from Earth’ and ‘Light of the World’, promoting dialogue and openness, communion, and an authentic holiness”.
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Robert Prevost’s first visit to Argentina in 2004.
On that visit, the American was at the Agustinian Congress of Theology, whose closing mass was held by Jorge Bergoglio. That was where they met.