Pope
Francis
received this Wednesday at the Vatican the documentation that certifies the
burial place of the nun who saved his life in his youth
, 66 years ago, when he suffered from serious pneumonia.
This is the Italian Sister
Cornelia Caraglio
, whose ashes were found in the Buenos Aires town of
Merlo
, after a long investigation.
This morning, after the general audience, the Argentine pontiff was informed by the expert in the history of Italian emigration, Orsola Appendino, of his investigations to find the place where this nun rests, reported the official media
Vatican News
.
Sister Cornelia was one of the two nuns who
assisted the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio
in Argentina when he was
hospitalized in 1957
, at the age of 21, for severe
pneumonia
for which part of his lung finally had to be removed.
Francisco recalled on several occasions the nun who took care of him and who "knew better than the doctor what the patients needed," as he himself recalled in his book Let's Dream Together (2020), with his reflections on the pandemic.
"
I will always be indebted to them
. They fought for me until the end, until I recovered. They taught me what it means to use science and know how to go beyond, to respond to specific needs," said the pontiff in those memoirs.
Over time, the paths of the nurse and the patient separated and Bergoglio embarked on an ecclesiastical career that would lead him to become the first Latin American pope in history, although he never forgot her and on February 7 he received his relatives, encouraging them to find the place of his burial.
Today, Orsola Appendino was able to give him the documentation that certifies the place where the nun rests and
Francisco felt "very happy
," according to the same source.
The expert, a student of emigration in the 20th century from Italian Piedmont, the land of Bergoglio's parents and ancestors, managed to find the grave by speaking with the Dominican nuns of the convent of the Piedmontese municipality of Mondovì (north), where Sister Cornelia had been formed.
The building is currently a place of rest for elderly nuns but, thanks to the mother superior, Sister Antonella Olivero, Appendino was able to speak with two Argentine nuns who lived for 35 years with Sister Cornelia, Josefina Solioz and Ana Teresa Viola.
They were both nuns, aged 82 and 84 respectively, who were in charge of
organizing Sister Cornelia's funeral in 1995
, and despite their advanced age they lucidly remembered what happened.
At first, according to her testimony, Sister Cornelia was buried in the Merlo cemetery, in the province of Buenos Aires, but later, in February 2023,
they decided to cremate her remains and transfer them to the cinerary of the parish of Our Lady of Fátima. in Merlo
.
This Wednesday the Pope was able to find out where the nun who saved his life rests and received a letter from Sister Josefina and Sister Ana Teresa in which they explain some of their memories: "She is a very merciful saint," one of them assures him in the letter. they.
With information from EFE.