Francis’s first love, Amalia Damonte claims he sent her a picture of a little white house where he apparently wanted them to live together”
FILIPPO FIORINI for Vatican insider
BUENOS AIRES
Amalia was Pope Francis’ childhood sweetheart. Now she is retired and still lives in the neighbourhood where she and the current Holy Father grew up together. “He always joked around but he was a gentleman. Our families tore us apart” as their parents were Italian immigrants (from the Italy’s northern Piedmont region) with good principles and insisted the two were still too young for love.
Amalia, what does it feel like to have been the first and only woman in a Pope’s life?
“We were just kids! Our relationship was entirely innocent.”
How old were you when you met?
“We grew up together, but I started seeing him more of him when we turned 12.”
When did you get to spend time together? At school?
“No – she laughs –back then boys and girls followed different courses. Jorge (the Pope is till Jorge to her) lived there with his parents and two brothers (she points to a little villa with burgundy-coloured tiles in Buenos Aires’ Flores neighbourhood, where the Pope spent his early years).”
What was your childhood like Amalia?
“It was very peaceful and calm. Times were different back then. We played on the pavements and in the nearby parks mostly.”
And you grew fond of each other?
“Yes, we started to spend all our afternoons together.”
Do you think he felt the vocation as early as then?
“I think so. Once he said to me: ‘If I can’t marry you, I’ll become a priest!’ so he had definitely mulled the idea over in his head. But it took a year or so before he took a decision.”
And what did you reply to him Amalia? Didn’t you want to marry him?
“We were happy together, but my family was opposed to us marrying. My parents are Piedmontese immigrants and so are his. The two families were very close-knit. They had known each other since before we were born, possibly since Italy. On Sundays we would meet and eat pasta together and my father intuited there was something between us, but he wasn’t happy about it because he thought we were too young. He forbid him to court me and Jorge stopped at once.”
Did you protest?
“Absolutely not. We were brought up with traditional values - honest and hardworking Italians. If our fathers told us to do something, we did it and that was that”
Do you regret this now?
“We took different paths. I became an accountant, got married, became a widow and remarried. I now have three children and six grandchildren.”
Were you glad to hear he was elected Pope?
“It was an immense joy. The minute I heard the news, I said out loud “God bless you.” I hope with all my heart that he’ll do some good as Pope.”
Has it been long since you last saw each other?
“Oh - she sighs – we haven’t seen each other for about 65 years.”
Don’t you feel an urge to go and visit him in Italy?
“No, goodness gracious no; I’ve never been to Italy in my life, I certainly won’t be going now, at my age. But when we were little, we spoke to each other in Italian, it sort of made us accomplices.”
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