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| Pope reveals he had weekly psychoanalysis sessions at age 42 | Pope reveals he had weekly psychoanalysis sessions at age 42 |
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| Pope Francis has revealed that he sought the help of a psychoanalyst during the 1970s. | Pope Francis has revealed that he sought the help of a psychoanalyst during the 1970s. |
| The pope shared the details with Dominique Wolton, a French sociologist, during interviews for a book that will be published next week. | |
| He said he visited a psychoanalyst once a week for six months when he was 42. At the time he was Father Jorge Bergoglio and head of Argentina’s Jesuit order during the country’s military dictatorship. | |
| “The psychoanalysis helped me a lot,” he told Wolton for the 432-page book, Pope Francis: Politics and Society. | “The psychoanalysis helped me a lot,” he told Wolton for the 432-page book, Pope Francis: Politics and Society. |
| “I went to her home to clarify a few things. She was always there. Then one day, before she died, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, because she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue. She was a good person.” | “I went to her home to clarify a few things. She was always there. Then one day, before she died, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, because she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue. She was a good person.” |
| Now 80, Francis told Wolton he now “felt free”. He said: “I’m in a cage at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing frightens me.” The pope also took aim at priests who “are rigid, and afraid to communicate”. | Now 80, Francis told Wolton he now “felt free”. He said: “I’m in a cage at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing frightens me.” The pope also took aim at priests who “are rigid, and afraid to communicate”. |
| He also spoke about the influential role women have played in his life, including his mother, two grandmothers and Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, a communist and founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement in Buenos Aires who was killed during the dictatorship. | He also spoke about the influential role women have played in his life, including his mother, two grandmothers and Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, a communist and founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement in Buenos Aires who was killed during the dictatorship. |
| “Those I knew helped me a lot when I needed to clarify things,” he said. | “Those I knew helped me a lot when I needed to clarify things,” he said. |
| Robert Mickens, the Rome-based editor of the English language edition of La Croix, the Catholic daily newspaper, said the pope had previously acknowledged that social sciences can benefit human development and that there has been a gradual shift in attitudes within the Catholic church towards psychotherapy since the 1970s. | |
| “It’s very common in priest formation programmes, especially in the western world, for them to undergo a psychological evaluation before admission to a seminary or diocese,” Mickens said. | |
| “There’s a recognition that social sciences can help unearth issues that need to be dealt with. But what is still part of the mindset among some people is that those who have to get treatment are somehow ‘weak’, therefore to hear that the pope needed help is what makes [the revelations] eye-popping and headline-grabbing.” |