Local physician shares link to Catholic leader

A local physician has received communion, listened to the homilies and shaken hands with Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis.

Before Dr. Eduardo Gonzalez- Toledo, a neuro-radiologist at LSU Health Shreveport moved to the United States, he attended mass at the Buenos Aries Metropolitan Cathedral, where Bergoglio was presiding at the time.

As has been reported, Bergoglio was humble, lived in an apartment across from the cathedral and did not use the official car when he traveled. He took the metro, Gonzalez-Toledo said.

He confirmed that Bergoglio went to poor neighborhoods, visiting those in cardboard homes and those who had a “precarious way of life.” Gonzalez-Toledo said the archbishop helped the poor whether they were Catholic or not.

“He had an excellent relationship with the Argentinian Jewish community, one of the largest in the world,” Gonzalez- Toledo said. “One of his main friends was a rabbi in Buenos Aires.”

Bergoglio promoted interfaith dialogue. He was friends with the Anglican bishop and Lutheran bishop of Argentina, Gonzalez-Toledo added.

Sometimes if a woman brought a child to be baptized and she was not married, the child was denied baptism. “He called priests and said that this cannot be,” Gonzalez-Toledo said of Bergoglio.

The physician said Bergoglio has appointed a bishop in his place that is like Bergoglio – humble.

Back in Gonzalez-Toledo former city, there has been an increase in the number of people who were not going to church returning. “Masses for Easter were full,” Gonzalez-Toledo said. His daughter, a neurologist, still lives there and shares information. He believes the cardinals made a very good selection in Bergoglio.

“Never has a pope washed the feet of two women – one a Muslim,” Gonzalez- Toledo said, referring to Holy Thursday events. Asked about the pope having a chemistry degree, Gonzalez-Toledo said, “It is a] good thing because he knows the lay life. Some priests have had no contact with people outside of the church. I had a friend who was a priest and a lawyer first. He understood how lay people think and the difficulty of daily living.”

Gonzalez-Toledo pioneered nuclear medicine (first user of short life radioisotopes in Argentina), computed tomography (first body CT in Argentina in 1976) and magnetic resonance (first MR in Argentina in 1986). His curriculum vita is 111 pages.

Gonzalez-Toledo has been a member of the Catholic Physicians Association and attends St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, where he said he feels a sense of community. He is in the Knights of Columbus and serves on the Catholic Charities board of directors.

His wife, Adriana, is active in Hispanic ministry. She, too, was moved by the papal choice and follows the pope on Twitter.

Gonzalez-Toledo sent Pope Benedict a congratulatory letter in Latin and received a response. He did the same for Pope Francis.

– Mary Ann Van Osdell