Sophia Magazine vol.7 / SUMMER 2018

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Professor Sugimura: Fr. Haidar, “Let’s Speak to Pope Francis” was an event born out of your personal ties with the Pope, since you both were part of the Jesuit Scholasti-cate in Argentina. What was your relationship with Pope Francis back then?Fr. Haidar: I joined the Society of Jesus in 1983. At the time, he was the Superior of the Scholasticate we were studying in, so we lived under the same roof and learned from him. We talked things over when I was leaving for Japan in 1991, after which we stayed in touch through let-ters and email. We continued to meet, as I would go to see him when I returned home, for example. Professor Sugimura: Fr. De Luca, I hear you studied in the same Scholasticate as well?Fr. De Luca: Yes, I entered the Society of Jesus two years before Fr. Haidar in 1981, and was taught by Pope Francis at the same seminary. But as I came to Japan in 1985, I did not get to know him as well as Fr. Haidar did.Professor Sugimura: So the plan for “Let’s Speak to Pope Francis” started with your friendship with the Pope. I hear it was an email from you, Fr. Haidar, that got the ball roll-ing?Fr. Haidar: Pope Francis loves talking with young people, so I sent an exploratory message on behalf of the students of Sophia University to see if something could be arranged. In reality, I would have been more than happy with a re-corded message, but in response to the options I suggested, including a video conference, the Pope gave an extremely favorable reply. I was delighted, but at the same time, I wondered just what I had got us into…Professor Sugimura: From there the preparations began, but as such an unusual endeavor for anywhere in the world, you must have had a lot of work to do. Fr. Haidar: We were worried about the technology con-necting Japan and the Pope by video link, but it was not a major issue as a Vatican staffer was extremely helpful. The date of the event was moved back to December to fit the Pope’s schedule, which was good because that allowed us plenty of time to fully prepare.Fr. De Luca: When I first heard about the plan, I thought it was a great idea, but also that there would be so many challenges to overcome to make it happen. And so it was to be.Fr. Haidar: Right until the end, I had no idea how much time the Pope would have for us. At first, I was expecting 10 or 15 minutes, but in the end he gave us an hour.Fr. De Luca: Even we would never have such a long au-dience with the Pope. He must have heartily enjoyed this event. When I went to meet the Pope during a training course in Rome last autumn, he asked me, “Will you be Born in Argentina, Fr. Renzo De Luca came to Japan in 1985 at the age of 22. He graduated with Master’s degrees from both Sophia University Graduate School of Theology (1996) and Kyushu Uni-versity Graduate School of Humanities (2002). As a priest, he was posted to the 26th Japanese Saints Memorial Hall in Nagasaki. After 20 years of service to the museum, he resigned from his position as Director in 2017 to take on his current role as Provincial of Japan Province of the Society of Jesus.Fr. Renzo De Luca, S.J.Pope Eager to Engage with Students On December 18 last year “Let’s Speak to Pope Francis,” a special dialogue between students and Pope Francis, was organized by Sophia University. Professor Miki Sugimura, Sophia University’s Vice President for Global Academic Affairs, spoke about the “Let’s Speak to Pope Francis” dialogue event with Fr. Juan Haidar, S.J., Professor of the Faculty of Theology, and Fr. Renzo De Luca S.J., Provincial of Japan Province of the Society of Jesus, both compatriots of Argentina-born Pope Francis and students of his during their seminary years.Special Talk22