The severely-damaged car in which the nephew of Pope Francis, Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, and his family were travelling when they crashed into a truck near James Craik yesterday.
Two infant grandnephews of Pope Francis and their mother were killed yesterday when their car slammed into the back of a truck in Argentina, authorities said.
The Pope’s nephew Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash, was in serious condition, they said.
His children - aged eight months and two years old - were killed in the crash along with their mother, Cordoba police commissioner Carina Ferreyra told AFP.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Pope had been informed about the accident and was “deeply pained.”
“He asks all those who share in his pain to join him in prayer,” Lombardi added.
Francis has not been back to his native Argentina since being elected Pope in March 2013.
The family was traveling on a highway in the central province of Cordoba when their vehicle slammed into the back of a truck and burst into flames, police said.
The circumstances surrounding the crash were under investigation.
Bergoglio, who was hospitalised with multiple injuries, is the 38-year-old son of Alberto, the Pope’s late brother.
Both he and his two-year-old son were pulled from the wreckage alive and taken to hospital some 30km away where the child died shortly after being admitted.
“The boy had severe trauma to the thorax and a collapsed cranium. We worked for an hour but he didn’t survive his injuries,” said the hospital’s adjunct director Ignacio Bruno.
Another hospital official, Sergio Arroyo, said Bergoglio was admitted around 1 am with multiple trauma, an exposed fracture of the right humerus and a liver injury, which was operated on.
“He is breathing with the help of a respirator,” Arroyo told reporters.
The truck driver, a 60-year-old man, was not hurt.
The accident happened some 550km northwest of the capital Buenos Aires near the city of James Craik.
Yesterday marked the end of a long weekend in Argentina, and traffic was heavy as travellers made their way home from their holidays.
The weather in the area was fine at the time of the crash.
Fire Chief Gustavo Ponce de Leon told the TN television channel that Bergoglio was conscious when he was rescued and that he was at the wheel while his wife and children were in the back seat.
‘God will give me two or three more years’
Pope Francis on Monday publicly broached the prospect of his own death for the first time, giving himself “two or three years” but not ruling out retirement before then.
Talking to reporters on a flight back to the Vatican from South Korea, the 77-year-old Pontiff, who seemed in good spirits, was asked about his global popularity, which was evident again during his five-day visit.
“I see it as the generosity of the people of God. I try to think of my sins, my mistakes, not to become proud. Because I know it will last only a short time. Two or three years and then I’ll be off to the Father’s House,” he replied light-heartedly.
The Argentina-born Pope said he could handle the popularity “more naturally” these days, though at first it had “scared me a little”.
While the Pope has not spoken publicly before about when he might meet his maker, a Vatican source said he had previously told those close to him that he thought he only had a few years left.
Pope Francis also mentioned the possibility of retiring from the Papacy, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did last year, if he felt he could no longer adequately perform his duties.
Resigning the papacy was a possibility “even if it does not appeal to some theologians”, he told reporters.
He added that 60 years ago it was practically unheard of for Catholic bishops to retire, but nowadays it was common. “Benedict opened a door,” he said.
Francis admitted that he had “some nerve problems”, which required treatment. “Must treat them well, these nerves, give them mate (an Argentine stimulant tea) every day,” he joked.
“One of these neuroses, is that I’m too much of a homebody,” he added, recalling that the last time he’d taken a holiday outside of his native Argentina was “with the Jesuit community in 1975 “.
