I Rejected Pope Francis’ Marriage Proposal - Pope's Ex Gf Amalia

The new Pope’s childhood sweetheart revealed yesterday that she had rejected the pope’s marriage proposal.

Amalia Damonte, 76, the 'ex-girlfriend' of the newly elected pope, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who grew up in the same neighourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, south America, with the pope, claimed that  Pope Francis asked her hand in marriage before he was ordained as a priest in 1969.

“I froze in front of the television. I couldn’t believe that Jorge was the Pope!” she said.

“He had a crush on me, you know. We used to play on the streets here. It was a quiet neighbourhood then, and, well, he was very nice. He said that if I didn’t say yes, he would have to become a priest. Luckily for him, I said no!” said Ms Damonte, who stills lives four doors up from the pope ‘s childhood home.

The now white-haired pensioner revealed that it was either in 1948 or 1949 when the future Pope, then aged 12, wrote her a letter declaring he would like to marry her but she rejected his marriage proposal.

She says she spurned Jorge Bergoglio when he popped the question because her parents did not think that much of him.

Pope Francis, who became the 266th  pope of the Catholic Church on 13 March, decided to take religious orders in 1958 when he was 21 but he was ordained by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano in 1969 when he finished his theological studies .

Bergoglio, who chose the papal name Francisco in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi, is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere.
Francis is the first pope born outside Europe in 1,272 years, since Syrian-born St. Gregory.