Pope Francis returns to his father's birthplace in northern Italy for the first time since ascending the papacy to celebrate the 90th birthday of a second cousin who long knew him as simply 'Giorgio.'
The elder Bergoglio was born in the town of Portacomaro, 10 kilometers east of Asti, an agricultural town that lost population not only to emigration abroad but also to nearby Turin as it became an industrial center. Today, the town has 2,000 residents, but it numbered more than 2,700 a century ago, and dropped as low as 1,680 in the 1980s.
Often citing his own family story, Francis has made the welcoming and integration of migrants a hallmark of his papacy, often facing criticism as Europe in general, and Italy in particular, are consumed with the debate over how to manage today’s migrations. “We have known each other forever,” Rabezzana told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “When I lived in Turin, Giorgio -- I always called him that -- came to stay because I had an extra room. That is how we maintained our relationship.“We always would joke. When he told me would come to celebrate my 90th birthday, I said it made my heart race. And in response I was told: ‘Try not to die.’ We burst out laughing.
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