Archbishop Bergoglio and the Money of Monsignor González

Stealing the life savings of a sick priest who can no longer defend himself 

Bernardino Montejano, a retired notary in Buenos Aires, wrote on 24 October about Cardinal Bergoglio's "mismanagement" of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.

Montejano recalls that Cardinal Bergoglio's "heart was on the left, while his wallet was on the right", like the cat of the Roman poet Trilussa (+1950), who was a socialist when fasting but a good conservative when eating.

He recounts a case in which Montejano personally intervened as a notary: "I swear to God that everything I am saying is true, because I was a privileged witness, through proximity, to an unfortunate event."

The protagonist of the story was Monsignor Antonio González, parish priest of San Isidro Labrador and founder of the local parish school.

When Monsignor González was hospitalised with serious health problems, an inspection by Archbishop Bergoglio arrived at the school and ordered the director to open the safe.

The director declared that everything belonged to the school, except for an envelope marked Father G., which contained the parish priest's savings for his retirement (USD 22,000).

Everything was taken away.

As time went by without any news, Matías González, a brother of the priest who knew Bergoglio and was on good terms with him, asked for an audience with Bergoglio to claim his brother's money.

He received the following reply from Bergoglio: "Look, Matías, the Church has spent a lot on your brother, and what goes in here doesn't come out."

At the time, Monsignor González was living in an apartment on Avenida San Isidro 4200, lent to him by a cousin. A consecrated laywoman took care of him in a very precarious way.

Montejano gave him $5,000 and took the opportunity to tell him: "Monsignor, the Church is a mystery. Part of what was stolen by your archbishop is being returned to you through me."

His reply was: "Thank you, I can pay the lady who looks after me until the end of the year". After that he lived for free in a house, helped by his former parishioners.

The case with Bergoglio ended up in the civil courts, where Monsignor González demanded the return of the stolen money. Cardinal Bergoglio lost the case.

Montejano calls Francis "the worst pope of modern and contemporary times", adding that "not since Stephen VI and the Synod of the Cadavers (897), followed by the Century of Iron, has the Church experienced such perversity".