During a February 2 meeting with Congolese Jesuits (LaCivilta Cattolica.com, February 16), Francis said that “when they proposed me to be auxiliary bishop of San Miguel, I did not accept.”
He was also asked to become bishop of an area in Corrientes, northern Argentina. The nuncio encouraged him to accept saying that there were the ruins of the Jesuit past there.
Bergoglio replied that he did not want to be a “guardian of ruins” and refused, not caring about the people of these peripheries. But when he was offered Buenos Aires “with the authorisation signed by the Superior General, Fr Kolvenbach” [which was not needed], he accepted – humorous quote – “in a spirit of obedience.”
In The Dictator Pope, Henry Sire writes that Kolvenbach gave a negative evaluation of Bergoglio in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart his promotion.
Francis told the Jesuits that a pope should not resign because the papacy is for life and that he had no plans to resign.