Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., has publicly defended a prominent Argentine left-wing activist over accusations that he attempted to gain unauthorized access to Pope Francis’ hospital room at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
In a March 6 letter, Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, expressed his gratitude to Juan Grabois, an Argentine political activist and a consultant to the dicastery, for his visit to Rome and for his “closeness to Pope Francis and your witness of the Gospel.”
The cardinal also pointedly dismissed “unfounded versions that have been circulated in some media about alleged inappropriate behavior at the hospital,” related to Grabois having allegedly tried to force entry into the pope’s room.
Grabois, who is known to have a good relationship with both Czerny’s dicastery and the pope personally, seemed an unlikely figure to try to sneak past papal security and into the pope’s hospital room— but with both Czerny and the Vatican’s media department at pains to deny rumors about the alleged incident, why are they taking the matter so seriously?
It seems likely that the Holy See is as concerned with combatting online conspiracy theories as with clearing a longtime papal collaborator from Francis’ home nation.
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On Feb. 24, the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano and news service ANSA both reported that Grabois had tried to illegally enter the pope’s room, located on a private and secured floor of the hospital, but was caught and turned away by the Vatican gendarmerie.
Reports didn’t make much in the way of international headlines, yet nearly a week later they generated a full court press response from the Vatican.
Czerny, in his March 6 letter, expressed appreciation for Grabois’ work with his own Vatican department and for organizing a preliminary meeting for the upcoming Jubilee of Popular Movements to be held in October.
The cardinal also thanked him for his “pertinent and challenging reflections … on the major achievements of Pope Francis and his recovery, and on the Church’s mission in accompanying the poor.”
“The Holy Father knew of your presence in Rome and your daily vigils of prayer and spiritual solidarity. I am sure this brought him real consolation and great support,” Czerny wrote, before adding: “I know [the Holy Father] joins me in firmly repudiating the unfounded versions that have been circulated in some media about alleged inappropriate behavior at the hospital.”
On the same day, Vatican News also stated that Grabois had gone to the Gemelli Hospital to pray for the pope and deliver a letter, adding that the “supposed news that Grabois tried to break into the pope’s room does not correspond to the truth.”
It seems likely that the Vatican was, at least in part, trying to deter more unauthorized attempts to visit the pope during his hospital stay, and squash online conspiracy theories about the pope’s condition.
In recent days, two Italian TikTokers who have promoted the idea that the pope is actually dead went to the Gemelli Hospital and tried to enter the 10th floor of the Gemelli Hospital, where the Holy Father is being treated.
Of course, Grabois and the Vatican would also certainly have an interest in seeing false rumors of his conduct rebutted to stop the apparently fake incident from fueling online speculation. But perhaps just as importantly for Grabois would be preserving his good name and relationship with both Pope Francis and Cardinal Czerny.
Grabois, an Argentine activist and politician, first gained prominence as a labor union leader.
In 2019, he was appointed to oversee the Social-Urban Integration Fund under Argentina’s Ministry of Social Development in the administration of then-President Alberto Fernández.
Fernández is a member of the Justicialista Party, the dominant faction within Argentina’s Peronist political movement.
Peronism in Argentina arose with the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón in 1946, an Argentine general who tried to establish a third way between Marxism and capitalism through a nationalist and populist movement. Although the movement has historically swinged from left to right, most Peronists today, including the Justicialista Party, are part of the Argentine left and allied with other left-wing governments in Latin America.
Following his tenure in government, Grabois participated in the 2023 presidential primary for Unión por la Patria, a coalition of left-wing Peronist movements, but secured only 21% of the vote, losing the nomination.
Grabois’ association with the Vatican dates back to 2016, when he was appointed as a consultant to the now-defunct Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. In 2021, he continued in this role under the newly formed Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Grabois’ history with Pope Francis extends back even further.
Grabois said in a recent interview he first met then-Cardinal Bergoglio in 2005, when he was a union leader and Bergoglio the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Bergoglio’s pastoral outreach to labor unions and workers’ movements, he said, rekindled his own connection to the Church.
“[Bergoglio] rekindled my sense of belonging to the Church, which was very strong when I was a child, due to my mom. My dad was a Jew and my mom a devout Catholic; she transmitted the faith [to me] but it started to weaken in high school, and then political activism took me to a different path,” he said.
“But meeting Bergoglio changed my life,” he added.
Although he belongs to the Argentine ‘hard-left,’ Grabois also has his critics within this ideological sector precisely due to his Catholicism. In a recent book, he argued that many progressive causes, such as the legalization of marijuana and certain LGBT advocacy efforts, were "petit-bourgeois" concerns, criticizing the left for neglecting popular movements in Argentina.
In his role as consultant to the Dicastery for Promoting Human Integral Development, Grabois helped organize a symposium with the World Encounter of Popular Movements in September 2024, in which he spoke along Cardinal Michael Czerny and other activists, while Pope Francis sent a recorded message to the event.
As important as crushing conspiracy theories and rumors about the pope’s health undoubtedly is, the Vatican may have decided to vouch for him to shore up this unique figure in Argentine life.
