Franz Jalics

{{Infobox person

| name = Franz Jalics

| image =

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|11|16|df=y}}

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| birth_place = Budapest, Hungary

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|02|13|1927|11|16|df=y}}

| death_place = Budapest, Hungary

| body_discovered =

| education =

| occupation = Jesuit priest

| spouse =

| partner =

| known_for = Abduction and detention by an Argentinian death squad

}}

Franz Jalics ({{langx|hu|Jálics Ferenc}}; 16 November 1927 – 13 February 2021){{Cite web|url=https://www.vaticannews.va/de/welt/news/2021-02/ungarn-jesuit-jalics-gestorben-argentinien-verschleppung-rolle.html|title=Ungarn: Jesuit Jalics gestorben|date=2021-02-13|website=Vatican News|language=de}} was a Hungarian-born Jesuit priest and author of books on Christian spirituality.

Life

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.[https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/41548 Obituary], indcatholicnews.com; accessed 16 February 2021.

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 United States, and then in 1978 to Gries, Germany, where he gave contemplative retreats. He developed a special method of Christian meditation combining elements of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola with the Jesus Prayer.{{Cite web|title=Gries Path|url=https://www.haus-gries.de/english/|access-date=2021-02-13|website=Haus Gries|language=de}}

Until 2004, he was the director of Haus Gries, the retreat centre he had founded in Wilhelmsthal, Upper Franconia. In 2017, he moved back to Budapest, where he died from COVID-19 complications on 13 February 2021, aged 93.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jesuiten.org/news/pater-franz-jalics-sj-in-budapest-verstorben|title=Pater Franz Jálics SJ in Budapest verstorben|accessdate=15 February 2021|website=jesuiten.org|last=Bürgler|first=Bernhard|language=de|archive-date=14 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214203511/https://www.jesuiten.org/news/pater-franz-jalics-sj-in-budapest-verstorben|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/41548|title=Fr Franz Jalics has died|accessdate=13 February 2022|website=independent catholic news|last=Siedlecka|first=Jo|date=14 February 2021 }}

Abduction

While doing social work in a poor neighborhood in Argentina in 1976 during the Dirty War, 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.{{cite news |first=Horacio |last=Verbitsky |author-link=Horacio Verbitsky |url=http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/subnotas/144966-46534-2010-05-02.html |title=Los signos del cardenal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505131530/http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/subnotas/144966-46534-2010-05-02.html |archive-date=5 May 2010 |newspaper=Página/12 |date=2 May 2010 |access-date=1 January 2011 |language=es}} 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.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-17-fg-cardinal17-story.html |title=Argentine Cardinal Named in Kidnap Lawsuit |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=17 April 2005 |access-date=13 March 2013 |agency=Associated Press }}

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: "{{Lang|de|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."){{cite news |url=http://www.kath.net/news/40555 |title=Jesuit Jalics nimmt Stellung zu den Vorwürfen gegen den neuen Papst |work=KATH.NET |date=15 March 2013 |access-date=March 15, 2013}}{{cite news |url=http://www.br.de/nachrichten/oberfranken/franz-jalics-wilhelmsthal-100.html |title=Jesuiten-Pater aus Oberfranken Junta-Opfer Jalics mit Papst versöhnt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317124622/http://www.br.de/nachrichten/oberfranken/franz-jalics-wilhelmsthal-100.html |archive-date=17 March 2013 |work=Bayerischer Rundfunk |date=15 March 2013 |access-date=9 February 2020 |language=de}} Fr. Jalics wished God's providential blessing on the Pope: "{{Lang|de|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"){{cite web |url=http://www.jesuiten.org/aktuelles/details/article/erklarung-von-pater-franz-jalics-sj.html |title=Public Position Statement |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506053422/http://www.jesuiten.org/aktuelles/details/article/erklarung-von-pater-franz-jalics-sj.html |archive-date=6 May 2013 |work=German Province of Jesuits |date=15 March 2013 |access-date=9 February 2020}} Fr. Jalics subsequently elaborated on his experiences, in particular how a female lay catechist was culpable for their denunciations, "{{Lang|de|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, on 20 March 2013, also through the Jesuits' German Province.{{cite news |url=http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/21/pope-francis-argentinian-junta-priest |title=Pope Francis did not denounce me to Argentinian junta, says priest Francisco Jalics, who was imprisoned for five months in the 1970s, says he and the new pope reconciled in 2000 |first=Jonathan |last=Watts |newspaper=Guardian |date=March 21, 2013 |access-date=9 February 2020 |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jesuiten.org/aktuelles/details/article/erganzende-erklarung-von-pater-franz-jalics-sj.html |title=Second Declaration of Father Franz Jalics SJ |work=German Jesuit Web |date=20 March 2013 |language=German |access-date=21 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328015725/http://www.jesuiten.org/aktuelles/details/article/erganzende-erklarung-von-pater-franz-jalics-sj.html |archive-date=28 March 2016}}

In fiction

The 2019 film The Two Popes shows different aspects of the life of Jorge Bergoglio, with Lisandro Fiks playing Jalics. Jalics is shown extensively throughout pivotal moments of Bergoglio's spiritual life, from the moment Bergoglio joins the seminary, to a later scene where Bergoglio tries to make the Jesuits, Jalics among them, stop their work with the poor. The film implies that, though Bergoglio did not denounce him directly, he removed the protection of the Church from Jalics' mission, indirectly leading to Jalics' arrest, imprisonment and torture. Near the end, a scene of reconciliation between Bergoglio and Jalics is shown.{{cite news |last1=Martinelli |first1=Marissa |title=What's Fact and What's Fiction in The Two Popes |url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/two-popes-movie-accuracy-francis-benedict-fact-fiction.html |access-date=8 September 2020 |publisher=Slate |date=Nov 26, 2019 |language=en}}

Publications

= In English =

Contemplative Retreat. An introduction to the contemplative way to life and to the Jesus prayer (translated by Lucia Wiedenhöver), Longwood: Xulon Press, 2003, {{ISBN|1-594671-56-7}}.
Called to Share in His Life: Introduction to a Contemplative Way of Life and the Jesus Prayer (a Retreat), Mumbai: St Pauls, 2010, {{ISBN|81-7109-398-1}}
The Contemplative Way. Quietly savoring God's presence (translated by Matthias Altrichter), New York: Paulist Press, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-809-14722-9}}.

= In German =

Lernen wir beten: Eine Anleitung, mit Gott ins Gespräch zu kommen, München: Pfeiffer, 1981 {{ISBN|978-3-7904-0353-4}}.
Kontemplative Exerzitien, Würzburg: Echter, 1994, {{ISBN|978-3-429-01576-3}}.
Der kontemplative Weg, Würzburg: Echter, 2006, {{ISBN|978-3-429-02767-4}}.
Miteinander im Glauben wachsen: Anleitung zum geistlichen Begleitgespräch. Aus dem Spanischen von Isabella Jalics, Würzburg: Echter, 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-429-02988-3}}.
Die geistliche Begleitung im Evangelium, Würzburg: Echter, 2012, {{ISBN|978-3-429-03482-5}}.

= In Spanish =

Aprendiendo a Orar, San Pablo 1984, {{ISBN|9788428510097}}.
Ejercicios de contemplación. Introducción a la vida contemplativa y a la invocación de Jesús, Ediciones Sígueme 1998, {{ISBN|9788430113309}}.
Cambios en la fe, San Pablo 2007, {{ISBN|9789508613134}}.
El camino de la contemplación, Paulinas 2010, {{ISBN|9500915766}}.
Jesús, maestro de meditación: el acompañamiento espiritual en el evangelio, PPC 2015, {{ISBN|9788428827935}}.
La fase contemplativa de los Ejercicios ignacianos, Cristianisme i Justícia (Fundació Lluís Espinal) 2018, {{ISBN|978-8497304108}}.

References

External links

{{DNB-Portal|109811690}}
see the Jálics genealogy in {{cite journal |last1=Tötösy de Zepetnek |first1=Steven |title=Records of the Tötösy de Zepetnek Family / A Zepetneki Tötösy család adattára|journal=CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture|orig-year=2010-07-01 |date=2020-09-02 |url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweblibrary/totosyrecords |access-date=8 September 2020 |series=Library Series |publisher=Purdue University |language=en, hu |format=PDF |issn=1923-9580}}

Category:1927 births

Category:1970s missing person cases

Category:2021 deaths

Category:20th-century Hungarian Jesuits

Category:Clergy from Budapest

Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary

Category:Formerly missing people

Category:Hungarian expatriates in Argentina

Category:Hungarian expatriates in Belgium

Category:Hungarian expatriates in Chile

Category:Hungarian expatriates in Germany

Category:Hungarian expatriates in the United States