ROME — Pope Francis met recently with Dr. Juan Carlos Parodi, the Argentinian surgeon who operated on him for gall-bladder failure in 1980 and whom he attributes with saving his life.

Parodi was born in Argentina in 1942 and is known for his work in developing new techniques to repair the aorta. Parodi recounted the story to the Argentinean daily La Nacion May 20.

“It was a surprise for me,” Parodi said. “In 1980, I was called by a doctor who said he was treating a humble priest who was very sick. He was a Jesuit and had taken the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and did not have any money. He asked me, ‘Are you able to help him?’ I was honored. I dropped everything and went to see this priest. He was very sick.”

“I operated on him, I don’t remember much else, but that he came out okay and gave me a book. He insisted on paying me, and, of course, I refused. He gave me a book that he signed. Later, I found out that that humble and very sick priest was Bergoglio,” Parodi recalled.

Speaking on Radio Continental, the doctor shared details about his recent visit with his former patient.

“On April 9, I was at a congress in London, and I was told I could have a private audience [in Rome]. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. First, because I learned many things that I did not know, and plus to see the Holy Father.”

“He was radiant as he came into St. Martha’s, and he said to me, ‘Juan Carlo, you look the same as that night when I saw you, and I thought I was dying. You saved my life.’ ‘What?’ I said. [The Pope told me:] ‘Yes, you saved my life, because I had gall-bladder failure, and everyone knows that that is very deadly. You operated on me that very night. I will never forget your face, because when I saw your face, I began to feel better; I got better.’” 

“He was very ill, and, according to him, I saved his life. That made me very happy,” Parodi said.

The two men had “a very beautiful conversation for 40 minutes,” the Argentinian surgeon recalled, adding that he found the Pope to be in “perfect, incredible, very, very good health.”

“Obviously, I gave him some advice, what all doctors do, but he looked great, with a lot of joy and peace,” he said. “It was a very enriching experience that changed my life.”

On March 19, 2013, a few days after the election of Pope Francis, Parodi sent a letter to the editor to La Nacion describing the new pope as “a man who will be much loved and who will do great good for the world. He was my patient, and I operated on him some years ago. His humility is a perfect example of his personality.”

He wrote, “The Church does not need to be rich or ostentatious, but she needs to have resources in order to effectively carry out and fulfill her mission. Let us rejoice in the good fortune of having a good and intelligent man as the new pope of our Church.”