Franz Jalics

Jalics was born in Budapest, Hungary. At a young age, he attended a school for cadets. He had a key spiritual experience while stationed in Germany, and after the Second World War, in 1947 he joined the Jesuit order. He studied philosophy in Germany, and later in Belgium. In 1956 he was sent to Chile, and one year later to Buenos Aires, to continue his studies. After being ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, he stayed in Argentina, and later became a professor of theology and the spiritual director of young Jesuits. He left South-America in 1977, moved first to the USA, and then in 1978 to Gries, Germany, where he gave contemplative retreats.[1]

While doing social work in Argentina in 1976 during the Dirty War in a poor neighborhood, Jalics and Orlando Yorio were captured by a death squad, abducted, and held captive for five months. Jesuit Father General Pedro Arrupe in Rome was informed by letter during the abduction. Both Jalics and Orlando Yorio left the Jesuit Order, but were later offered reinstatement to it: Jalics accepted but Yorio did not.[2]

On 15 April 2005, a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J.--then the Archbishop of Buenos Aires (and who became Pope Francis in 2013)--as superior in the Society of Jesus of Argentina, accusing him of involvement in the kidnapping.[3]

On 15 March 2013, Fr. Jalics made a public statement on the occasion of the election of his former superior, who as Pope had taken the same name (Ferenc is Hungarian for Francis), describing how they met up again years later and had concelebrated Mass together: "Ich bin mit den Geschehnissen versöhnt und betrachte sie meinerseits als abgeschlossen." ("I have been reconciled to the events and from my side consider them closed.")[4][5] Fr. Jalics wished God's providential blessing on the Pope: "Ich wünsche Papst Franziskus Gottes reichen Segen für sein Amt." (signed) P. Franz Jalics SJ, 15. März 2013 ("I hope God will bless Pope Francis abundantly in his duties")[6] Fr. Jalics subsequently elaborated on his experiences, in particular how a female lay catechist was culpable for their denunciations, "Wie ich in meiner früheren Erklärung deutlich gemacht habe, sind wir wegen einer Katechetin verhaftet worden, die zuerst mit uns zusammenarbeitete und später in die Guerilla eintrat [aufgrund eines Übersetzungsfehlers wurde sie in der vorigen Erklärung als Mann bezeichnet]." ("As I made perfectly clear in my prior statement, we were arrested because of a female catechist, who had at first collaborated with us and then later joined the guerillas [whose identity, owing to a translation error, was characterized as male in the earlier statement].") The second public statement was issued a week later, March 20, 2013, also through the Jesuits' German Province.[7][8]

The 2019 film The Two Popes shows different aspects of the life of Jorge Bergoglio. Lisandro Fiks plays Jalics when Bergoglio enters the seminary, while Bergoglio tries to make the Jesuits stop their work with the poor, followed by a then scene with reconciliation between Bergoglio and Jalics.[9]

• Literature by and about Franz Jalics in the German National Library catalogue
• see the Jálics genealogy in Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven (2020-09-02) [2010-07-01]. "Records of the Tötösy de Zepetnek Family / A Zepetneki Tötösy család adattára" (PDF). CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. Library Series (in English and Hungarian). Purdue University. ISSN 1923-9580. Retrieved 8 September 2020.