Errata Corrige

by Michael Severance • April 6, 2013

I have corrected an error of mistaken identity published as an audio post (now corrected here) and reposted with transcript content here.

In these posts, I was relating a personal experience I had in meeting then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio some 12 years ago at the University of Dallas Rome Campus. This I have now verified as incorrect.

I had actually met a different Argentine Cardinal who came to speak at the Dallas Rome campus with the exact same first and similar second name –Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia. Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia is also from Buenos Aires, served as archbishop (curial) and was elevated to cardinal during the same February 2001 conclave as Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Both are also apparently close friends and very similar in humble disposition.

Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia is the archivist and librarian emeritus of the Vatican Secret Archives, but earlier served as Secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. He is a former Vatican colleague and was a guest of the university’s chaplain on the reported occasion.

I regret the error.

Michael Severance

Michael Severance earned his B.A. in philosophy and humane letters from the University of San Francisco, where he also studied at the university's St. Ignatius Institute, a great books program. He then pursued his linguistic studies in Salamanca, Spain where he obtained his Advanced Diploma in Spanish from Spain's Ministry of Education before obtaining his M.A. in Philosophy and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford. While living in Italy, Michael has worked in various professional capacities in religious journalism, public relations, marketing, fundraising, as well as property redevelopment and management. As Istituto Acton's Operations Manager, Michael is responsible for helping to organize international conferences, increase private funding, as well as expand networking opportunities and relations among European businesses, media and religious communities, while managing the day-to-day operations of the Rome office.

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