• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
The name Jorge Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, is seen in a registry for overnight eucharistic adoration at the Basilica of the Blessed Sacrament in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in this recent photo. The pope said he was moved by this photo showing his participation in adoration as a young man between 1954 and 1955, when he was 18-19 years old. (CNS photo/Lucas Schaerer)

Pope ‘moved’ by registry of nighttime adoration he attended

April 8, 2021
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Eucharist, Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Pope Francis said he was “moved” by a photo of an old registry that showed his participation as a young man at sessions of overnight eucharistic adoration at a basilica in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The pope was sent a photo taken by Argentine journalist Lucas Schaerer of the registry from the Basilica of the Blessed Sacrament that featured his name, along with that of his brother Oscar and their neighbor, Gonzalo Bargiela.

In a letter sent to Schaerer and published April 8 in the Spanish Catholic weekly Alfa y Omega, the pope recalled his visits to the basilica between 1954 and 1955. At the time, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was 18-19 years old. He had already had what he called his “San Jose de Flores experience” — the experience of God’s mercy during confession on Sept. 21, 1953 — felt called to priesthood and was living what he described to Schaerer as “a normal Christian life.”

The nocturnal adoration, where participants took turns praying before the Blessed Sacrament throughout the night, had begun at the basilica in 1917. The future pope was registered as the 9,195th person to take part.

Adoration began about 9 p.m. after Spanish Sacramentine Father José Ramón Aristi preached, the pope recalled. “When it was your turn, the person before you would wake you up with the phrase, ‘Venite adoremus’ (‘Come, let us adore him’), and from there you go for an hour of adoration.”

Pope Francis had spoken in the past about his admiration for Father Aristi, his confessor who died when the future pope was serving as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.

During a 2014 meeting with parish priests of the Diocese of Rome, the pope recalled paying his last respects to Father Aristi in the crypt of the church where the late priest’s body lay.

After adorning Father Aristi’s coffin with flowers, “I looked at the rosary in his hand. Immediately that robber that is in each of us came out and while I arranged the flowers, I picked up the cross of the rosary and with a little effort, I pulled it off. I looked at him and said, ‘Give me half of your mercy,'” the pope said.

He put the crucifix in his breast pocket and carried it there until his election as pope March 13, 2013. “But a pope’s shirts don’t have pockets,” so now he carries it in a cloth pouch under his cassock. “And when I start having a bad thought about someone, I always put my hand here,” he said, showing the priests where the crucifix is.

also see

Caring for others, serving life is the ‘supreme law,’ pope says

Jesus did not ignore those in need, and neither should Christians, pope says

Cardinal Czerny asks church to remember seafarers on Sea Sunday

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Junno Arocho Esteves

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • Pope’s prayer intention for July: That the faithful might again learn how to discern

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

| Latest Local News |

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

| Latest World News |

80 years after ‘Trinity,’ Catholic-hosted gathering calls to abolish nuclear weapons

Gaza’s Christian community persevering amid hardship and hope

Nearly one in three conceptions in England and Wales end in abortion, government figures reveal

Caring for others, serving life is the ‘supreme law,’ pope says

Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’ new president ‘pioneer in his field,’ French lawyer says

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • 80 years after ‘Trinity,’ Catholic-hosted gathering calls to abolish nuclear weapons
  • Gaza’s Christian community persevering amid hardship and hope
  • Nearly one in three conceptions in England and Wales end in abortion, government figures reveal
  • The virtue of patriotism
  • Caring for others, serving life is the ‘supreme law,’ pope says
  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies
  • Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’ new president ‘pioneer in his field,’ French lawyer says
  • Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter
  • Jesus did not ignore those in need, and neither should Christians, pope says

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en