“Become a Dominican!”
This was the humorous response of the late Pope Francis, the first pope from the Jesuit order, when asked in 2024 what advice he would give young men aspiring to join the Society of Jesus.
Although said in jest, Pope Francis had once considered joining the Order of the Preachers in his youth, according to Dominican Master General Fr. Gerard Timoner III, in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Timoner, citing one of Pope Francis’s first interviews as pope with America Magazine, the Jesuit-run publication, said the pontiff ultimately chose the Jesuits out of familiarity.
“After his election as Pope, he was asked, ‘Holy Father, why did you become a Jesuit?’ And then he said, ‘I know the Dominicans, but I studied with the Jesuits, so I joined the Jesuits,’” Timoner said on April 22 at the sidelines of the first international assembly of Dominican canon lawyers in UST.
Pope Francis was ordained a priest in 1969 and made his final profession as a Jesuit four years later. In 1973, he was appointed provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina, his homeland. He became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and cardinal in 2001.
“So, it’s interesting that he has the Dominicans in mind. But of course, the Franciscans too — that’s why he took the name Francis,” Timoner said.
Timoner, one of a handful of Filipino heads of global religious orders based in Rome, became a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission under Pope Francis from 2014-2019, before becoming Master of the Order of Preachers, the mendicant order founded by St. Dominic de Guzman in 1216.
Despite belonging to a different religious order, Pope Francis maintained a warm relationship with the Dominicans, Timoner said.
By tradition, popes celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina, the oldest existing Roman basilica entrusted to the Dominicans, and the first of the Lenten stational churches.
The Master of the Order recalled how the late pontiff allowed his group of Dominicans to bypass the Swiss Guard upon recognizing their distinctive habit — a white tunic paired with a black cape. Popes have worn white cassocks since Pope Pius V, a Dominican, in 1566.
“My brothers were wearing the Dominican habit with a cappa, and the Swiss Guard told us, ‘You cannot approach.’ And then he (Pope Francis) saw the Dominican habit and he said, ‘Oh, Dominicos, Dominicos!’ And he came and had a chat with us,” Timoner recalled.
“After that, one friar put out his cellphone for a photo, and the Swiss Guard said, ‘No, you cannot do that,’” he continued. “But Pope Francis said, ‘Okay.’ He gave the camera to the Swiss Guard. He’s very grandfatherly.”
‘A good shepherd who cares’
Timoner said Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, April 21, at the age of 88 following a stroke and a bout of double pneumonia, was not only compassionate but also deeply attentive.
He recalled how Pope Francis found time to check in on Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., a former master general and one of three Dominicans elevated to the cardinalate in a December consistory, after the English friar underwent surgery.
“One of the most memorable (encounters) was when he called me by phone, and I was afraid of what the phone call would be,” Timoner said. “And it was just to say, ‘I heard that Timothy [Radcliffe] had a surgery yesterday. I called just to express my closeness to the Order and to let you know that I am praying for him.”
“The Pope has so many concerns, and yet he took the time to take the phone and call me.”
Pope Francis will be buried on April 26 and, after a nine-day mourning period called “novemdiales,” his successor will be chosen in a conclave, a closed-door vote among cardinals under the age of 80, which may start as early as May 5.
His successor will take on the leadership of 1.4 billion Catholics and the tall task of sustaining the broad appeal Francis — dubbed the “People’s Pope” — among believers and non-believers alike.
Timoner expressed hope that the next pope would reflect the spirit of Francis.
“We pray for his eternal repose,” Timoner said. “We pray also for the cardinals that they may elect a successor who has the heart of Pope Francis — a heart that is truly the heart of a good shepherd who cares for his people.” with reports from Ammiel B. Maestrado
