Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts

Friday, February 16, 2018

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Why doesn’t Francis just go ahead and declare Judas a saint?


The man in sneakers and the clothes of a layman interviewing 
Francis is Marco Pozza and he is a priest.

Francis is back at it again with one of his favorite pet projects, the rehabilitation of Judas.  We previously covered Francis and Judas in two posts on Call Me Jorge... :


This book, Padre Nostro (Our Father), contains 
Francis’ blasphemies and anti-Catholic ideas.


Francis has a soon to be released book, Padre Nostro, with Don Marco Pozza that is being published simultaneously with a television series also titled, Padre Nostro, airing on TV2000it.  Here’s part of the excerpt published by Il Corriere della Sera newspaper on 23 November 2017 and translated into English by Aleteia.
The third case, “the one that moves me most, is Judas’ shame,” the pope said.

“Judas is a difficult character to understand; there have been so many interpretations of his personality. In the end, however, when he sees what he has done, he turns to the ‘righteous,’ to the priests: ‘I have sinned: I handed over an innocent man to be killed.’ They answer him: ‘What does that matter to us? That’s your affair.’ (Matthew 27:3-10) Then he goes away with that guilt that suffocates him.”

The Pontiff invites us to imagine a different fate for Judas: “Perhaps if he had met the Virgin Mary, things would have gone differently, but the poor man goes away, doesn’t find a way out of his situation, and he went to hang himself.”

“But, there’s one thing that makes me think that Judas’ story doesn’t end there … Perhaps someone might think, ‘this pope is a heretic…’ But, no! They should go see a particular medieval capital of a column in the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalen in Vézelay, Burgundy [in France],” he said.

The Successor of Peter describes how people in the Middle Ages taught the Gospel through sculptures and paintings. “On that capital, on one side there is Judas, hanged; but on the other is the Good Shepherd who is carrying him on his shoulders and is carrying him away.”

He revealed that he has a photograph of that two-part capital behind his desk, because it helps him meditate. “There is a smile on the lips of the Good Shepherd, which I wouldn’t say is ironic, but a little bit complicit,” he describes.

“There are many ways of reacting to shame; one is to despair, but we must try to help despairing people to find the true path of shame, so they don’t go down the path that put an end to Judas’ life.”
 
Francis has a photo of this column behind his desk.


First off Francis is projecting the profane ideas of Fr. Primo Mazzolari onto this pillar of Basilica Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vézelay, Burgundy, France.  The late Fr. Primo Mazzolari gave a sermon on Holy Thursday in 1958 titled, Nostro Fratello Guida (Our Brother Judas) and Francis in the above quoted interview is regurgitating blasphemous ideas from it.  In our research and also according to the University of Pittsburgh’s Vézelay Abbey website one reads, “On the left side of the capital a man carries Judas's body over his shoulder.”  No mention about Jesus the Christ being the man carrying Judas!

Next in the interview Francis says, “There is a smile on the lips of the Good Shepherd, which I wouldn’t say is ironic, but a little bit complicit.”  What!?  Complicit is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “helping to commit a crime or do wrong in some way”.  Not only has Francis projected Christ onto the pillar falsely, now he is implicitly stating that Our Lord, Jesus the Christ is a sinner!

What are the words of Jesus the Christ concerning Judas?
“The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but wo to that man, by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: It were better for that man if he had not been born. And Judas, that betrayed him, answering, said: Is it I, Rabbi? he saith to him: Thou hast said it.” (Matthew 26, 24-25)

Doesn’t sound as if Judas was receptive to the Mercy Our Lord had for him does it?

Why is Francis trying to rehabilitate Judas then?

Keep in mind, Francis meditates on this blasphemy when he is in his office.

Does Francis remind you of anyone as he nullifies the words of God?

To us at Call Me Jorge..., he is most definitely sounding and behaving like a Talmudic rabbi.

Not to worry though as Francis assures you he isn’t a heretic! 


Even though Call Me Jorge... has asked this question before, we ask
it again — Does Francis see himself as a modern day Judas Iscariot?



A video in Italian of Francis addressing the priests of his diocese where he discusses Judas, the column, Fr. Primo Mazzolari, and how Jesus is dirty. (click here for English transcript)

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Oh, the irony...

Now, ask your questions


Tomorrow another (we’ve lost count) interview book with Francis will be released in Italy.  It is titled, Adesso fate le vostre domande (Now, ask your questions), and subtitled, Conversazioni sulla Chiesa e sul mondo di domani (Conversations on the Church and on the world of tomorrow).   

In the preface Francis writes the reason for his countless interviews.  He wants a church of dialogue, one that is “the church of Emmaus, in which the Lord ‘interviews’ the disciples who are walking discouraged.”  He continues, “I desire a church that knows how to insert itself into the conversations of people, that knows how to dialogue.”  Francis then states this is how he communicates to his ‘parish’, “It is a way of communicating my ministry and I tie these conversations in the interviews with the daily homilies in Santa Marta, which is — let's say it like this — my ‘parish.’”

Recall, that in December 2014 interview with Elisabetta Piqué that Francis said, “I’m constantly making statements, giving homilies. That’s magisterium. That’s what I think, not what the media say that I think. Check it out; it’s very clear.”  Wow, one would think that Francis would choose his words carefully during these interviews but that is not the case, “For me, interviews are a dialog, not a lecture. For this reason I do not prepare.”  “Sometimes I receive the questions in advance but I almost never read or think over them.  Other times, in the plane press conferences, I imagine the questions they might ask me. But to respond I need to encounter the people and look into their eyes.”  When Francis is making these off-the-cuff magisterial proclamations he understands that his revolutionary ideas might not be understood properly, “Yes, I have a fear of being poorly interpreted but, I repeat, I want to run this pastoral risk.”

Finally, Francis explains that interviews are really encounters with the public, “I need to have this communication with people.  I have a true need of this direct communication with people. Giving an interview ... means having an encounter with journalists who often ask you questions taken from the people.”  Besides the newly written preface the book consists of eight interviews and Q & A sessions: the 2013 interview with Antonio Spadaro; the 2016 interview with Ulf Jonsson; the 2015 dialogue with Jesuits in the Philippines; and the 2016 dialogue with Jesuits in Poland.  One can be confident that Francis will not directly answer any of the five questions sent to him by the four cardinals (Caffarra, Burke, Brandmuller, and Meisner) inbetween the covers of the book.  Once again Francis shows that his words are hollow and he is an echo chamber of hypocrisy.

“It is true that I do not give interviews, but why, I do not know, I can’t, it’s just like that. For me it is quite an effort to do so, but I thank all of you here.”



Nothing symbolizes a ‘Potemkin Papacy’ better than a cardboard Francis.


*Francis doesn’t believe Catholics should #bemultiplied, only Talmudists.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Is Benedict XVI still in touch with John Paul II?


Benedict XVI being interviewed in the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo.


Benedict XVI was interviewed by Polish television on 16 October 2005.  It was his first television interview after his election.  During the interview the reporter asked Benedict XVI about his first homily which he gave to the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on 20 April 2005, specifically when he said, (underlines are ours for emphasis),
“Dear friends, this deep gratitude for a gift of divine mercy is uppermost in my heart in spite of all. And I consider it a special grace which my Venerable Predecessor, John Paul II, has obtained for me. I seem to feel his strong hand clasping mine; I seem to see his smiling eyes and hear his words, at this moment addressed specifically to me, "Do not be afraid!".”

Benedict XVI answered explaining,
“The Pope [John Paul II] was always very close to me through his writings [texts]: I see him and hear him speak, and I can be in a continuous dialogue with the Holy Father because he always speaks to me through these words; I also know the origin of many writings, I remember the conversations we had about one text or another. I can continue the dialogue with the Holy Father. Of course this proximity through the words is not just a proximity purely with the writings but also with the person; behind the writings I feel the Pope himself. A man who goes to the Lord does not leave; more and more I feel that, being with the Lord, he [John Paul II] is close to me also. Insofar as I am close to the Lord, I am close to the Pope and he helps me now to be close to the Lord. I try to enter into his ambience [atmosphere] of prayer, into his love for the Father, his love for the Mother of God, and I entrust myself to his prayers [intercession]. It is thus a continuous dialogue and a being-close-to-one-another — although in a new, yet also very profound, way.” (English translation is CMJ’s)

After reading this a few questions spring to mind:
  • Was John Paul II holding Benedict XVI’s hand when he resigned?
  • Did John Paul II whisper the incorrect Latin into Benedict XVI’s ear as he read his resignation?
  • Did the deceased spirit of John Paul II help Benedict XVI clean up ‘gay lobby’?
  • Is Benedict XVI in his retirement still in contact with this saint?
  • Is this what is meant by the hermeneutics of continuity?
  • Did he congratulate Benedict XVI for revealing the “Third Secret of Fatima”?
  • Etc...

John Paul II in touch with Cardinal Ratzinger.

Cardinal Josef Ratzinger touching John Paul II.

Maybe they will touch hands again, one day soon...

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Francis’ first interview with a German language publication

“I am a Sinner and am Fallible”
 

  
[and am modernist,
and am rabbinical traditionalist,
and am a heretic,
and am gabby,
and am an idiot,
and am a powderkeg,
etc...]





Giovanni di Lorenzo interviewing Francis for Die Zeit in Casa Santa Marta.


Francis granted his umpteenth interview this time to the German national weekly newspaper, Die Zeit (The Time).  It was conducted by Giovanni di Lorenzo in Italian and then translated by him into German.  Francis proof read and gave the German translation his approval.  Francis has retained the ability to comprehend the German language when it is written or spoken slowly from the time he lived in Germany and was doing research for his still uncompleted doctoral thesis on Romano Guardini.  There is much laughter and joking in the interview compared to others.  It’s obvious that Giovanni and Francis had a rapport as it is very relaxed atmosphere.  The interview can be found here, “Ich bin Sünder und bin fehlbar” on the Die Zeit website in its original German.  This entry will cover some but not all of this most recent interview.





The interview begins with Francis discussing how he came across his favorite devotion, Mary Untier of Knots.  We hope sometime in the future to do a post on just this subject.  There is then discussion on the shortage of priests and how the church is nothing without the Eucharist. From there they move briefly onto the topic of Cardinal Burke of whom Francis says, “an excellent jurist”.  Next up in the conservation is Benedict XVI and his words, “The church of the future will be small”.  Francis opines that Benedict XVI is “a great theologian”.

Francis then clarifies (if that is possible) that the commission to study the question of women deaconesses is only to explore their role in the early church but not to open the door to them.

Francis then endorses the historical-critical method in the task of studying the Bible and Catholic theology. This comes into play a little later in the interview when Francis mentions Old Testament’s Book of Genesis and Judas in the New Testament.  It is also front and center every day at the Casa Santa Marta where Francis gives homilies according to his gospel.


What the Church teaches...
“We believe, then, that We have set forth with sufficient clearness the historical method of the Modernists. The philosopher leads the way, the historian follows, and then in due order come internal and textual criticism. And since it is characteristic of the first cause to communicate its virtue to secondary causes, it is quite clear that the criticism We are concerned with is an agnostic, immanentist, and evolutionist criticism. Hence anybody who embraces it and employs it, makes profession thereby of the errors contained in it, and places himself in opposition to Catholic faith.”
source: Pius X, Pascendi dominici gregis, #34

“It is clear, on the other hand, that in historical questions, such as the origin and the handing down of writings, the witness of history is of primary importance, and that historical investigation should be made with the utmost care; and that in this matter internal evidence is seldom of great value, except as confirmation. To look upon it in any other light will be to open the door to many evil consequences. It will make the enemies of religion much more bold and confident in attacking and mangling the Sacred Books; and this vaunted “higher criticism” will resolve itself into the reflection of the bias and the prejudice of the critics. It will not throw on the Scripture the light which is sought, or prove of any advantage to doctrine; it will only give rise to disagreement and dissension, those sure notes of error, which the critics in question so plentifully exhibit in their own persons; and seeing that most of them are tainted with false philosophy and rationalism, it must lead to the elimination from the sacred writings of all prophecy and miracle, and of everything else that is outside the natural order.”

source: Leo XIII, Providentissimus Deus, #17


In Francis’ world insults are OK but “gossip is terrorism!”


You knew it had to come, Francis now pulls out his insult book. Once again he takes aim and fires at his favorite target, Catholic fundamentalists (traditionalists, pre-Vatican II) when he says that, “crisis is central to the faith, if you are not in crisis you are not growing.  When Jesus hears Peter’s assurance, which reminds me of many Catholic fundamentalists, he says: ‘You will deny me three times.’  But I will pray for you. Peter denied Jesus, he was in a severe crisis.  And then they made him a pope. (Laughs)  I do not want to say that crisis is the daily bread of faith, but a faith that does not fall into crisis doesn’t grow, it remains infantile.”  Wow!  Not only does Francis have the audacity to say that faithful Catholics will deny Christ, he says that unless they accept the crisis that his revolution is causing they will remain infantile in their faith!  Note to Francis, you might want to re-read the New Testament, Jesus the Christ made Peter the Pope not “they”. 

Next up, Francis opens up about his anger, his crises of faith, his moments of darkness, “No, I just do not get angry anymore.  (Laughs)  My Lord is a lord of sinners, not of the righteous, even of the righteous, but he loves sinners.  The crisis helps us to grow in faith.  Without a crisis, we can not grow, because what fulfills us today will not satisfy us tomorrow. Life puts one to the test.”   Another wow!  Yes, crises often do help one grow but to say that what fulfills us today will not tomorrow!  He is saying in one sense that Christ won’t satisfy unless you are in a crisis.  What rubbish! 

Francis continues, “Yes.  Yes ...  (pause)  Moments of emptiness ...  (pause)  I've talked of dark moments and of empty moments.  I also know empty moments.”  The conversation carries on towards the devil whom Francis is a firm believer of in his existence and says, “he makes life difficult for me at times.”  Francis is just getting warmed up, he next describes The Book of Genesis as a, “mythical narrative” and proceeds to inform us that Adam was not evil when he sinned and that the first evil act was committed by Cain when he murdered Abel!  Francis follows that with, “The rebellion against the work of God, against man as the image of God — that’s the devil’s work.”  What!?  The devil (Lucifer) was a fallen angel who rebelled against God Himself and His Law!  Where does he get this trash?


Has Giovanni just handed Francis the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi?


Lorenzo then asks Francis if God could forgive mass murderers such as Hitler and Stalin to which Francis replies, “I do not know, it’s possible ... I do not know.  I can tell you something however that has deeply touched me.  In the Burgundy village of Vézelay, where the Way of St. James begins, is the Basilica Sainte-Marie-Madeleine.  There is a capital on the one side of which the hanged Judas is to be seen,  and on the other (side) the good shepherd who carries him on his shoulders.  This was the theology of the Middle Ages, as the monks taught them.  The Lord forgives to the end.”  What?  When Call Me Jorge... researched this capital with Judas at the University of Pittsburgh’s Vézelay Abbey website we read, “On the left side of the capital a man carries Judas's body over his shoulder.”  Where in the world is he getting this idea from?  His pectoral cross?


On the left, the images of Judas hanging himself and then being carried off by an unidentified man whom Francis claims is Jesus in the Basilica Sainte-Marie-Madeleine.  On the right, the pectoral cross of Francis carrying a sheep.  Has he interpolated the two?  Previously in late 2016, Francis said in a homily that, “Judas is the most perfect lost sheep”.


Giovanni then tries to give Francis an out by asking, “But you must ask forgiveness?”  Instead Francis replies with this nonsense, “At least one must feel the burden of his sin.  I do not claim that Judas is in heaven and saved.  But I do not claim the opposite.  I can only say, look at this capital, and what the monks of the Middle Ages thought, who taught the catechism with their sculptures.  And look at the Bible in which it is said:  When Judas becomes conscious of his deed, he goes to the high priests.  The Bible uses the word repentance.  Perhaps he has not pledged forgiveness, but he has repented.”  Francis is just regurgitating the favorite blasphemous ideas of the revolutionary, Fr. Primo Mazzolari.

What the Church teaches...
Ver. 3. Then Judas, ... repenting himself. A fruitless repentance, accompanied with a new sin of despair, says St. Leo. (Witham) [...] Although Judas conceived a horror at his crime, and confessed it, and made satisfaction to a certain degree by restoring the money, still many essential conditions were wanting to his repentance: 1. faith in Christ, as God, as a redeemer, as the sole justifier from sin; 2. besides this, there was also wanting hopes of pardon, as in Cain, and a love of a much injured and much offended God. Hence his grief was unavailing, like that of the damned. If Judas, says an ancient Father, had had recourse to sincere repentance, and not to the halter, there was mercy in store even for the traitor. (Haydock)
source: Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859 edition, St. Matthew 27, 3

Even though Call Me Jorge... has asked this question before, we ask 
it again — Does Francis see himself as a modern day Judas Iscariot?


Francis proceeds to then criticize those he sees as hypocrites such as the mafia, “it makes me even more angry when the Holy Mother Church, my mother, my bride, does not behave as the gospel says.”  This is only a segue into his one of his pet subjects as Francis isn’t finished with taking jabs at those whom he sees as of the conservative bent.  He warns of the “the spirit of the world” and that we must not support one who promises to “preserve the identity of the people!”  For this Francis believes is how Hitler rose to power and adds, “Populism always needs a messiah.”  Call Me Jorge... is no fan of Hitler and guesses that Francis wants us to instead support someone like himself who is doing everything he can to further the de-christianization of Europe. 

As Francis continues we find out exactly what he means as he believes populism only uses the people and “populism is evil and ends badly.”  So who does Francis recommend as examples of real leaders?  “(Robert) Schuman and (Konrad) Adenauer” because they are for the fraternity of Europe and not populists.  “These men had the gift of serving their country without placing themselves in the center, and this made them great leaders. They did not have to be a messiah.”  Schuman and Adenauer are two of Francis’ favorites and he thinks they are great because they helped create the anti-Christian monstrosity known as the European Union.  Francis previously compared the Italian pro-drug, pro-divorce, pro-abortionist Emma Bonino to the pair.

Next he shares his belief that the whole world is at war.  Duh Francis, hasn’t it always been that way?  Better make sure you are sitting down for the next one that flies out of Francis mouth is a dandy, “I am a sinner and am fallible, and we must not forget that the idealization of a person is always a subliminal kind of aggression.  When I am idealized, I feel attacked.”  You have to be kidding us!  The man who runs a personalty cult in the manner of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, or Castro wants us to believe that he feels attacked when the crowds and the mainstream media shower him with adulation?


Francis loved the pasquino but not so much the faux L’Osservatore Romano.


Francis when asked what he thought of the paquino and faux L’Osservatore Romano replies, “The fake Osservatore Romano no, but the Roman dialect of the posters was great. That wasn’t written by some guy off the streets but by someone who is smart.”  Is he saying that the author is not from the marginalized?  Or the peripheries?

Francis briefly returns to the subject of Cardinal Burke saying of him, “I do not regard [him] as an adversary.”  This goes against the narrative that some conservatives in the media have crafted of the relationship between the two even though Burke has said, “I’m not resisting Pope Francis, because he’s done nothing against doctrine.”


Francis and Burke, two modernist peas in a pod.


Francis gets into the scandal of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and says he still considers Burke a Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and explains that someone with a “different personality” was needed to clean up the Order.


Roberto Benigni as Guido who is marching out to be shot in ‘Life is beautiful’


Mr. di Lorenzo asks Francis, “Life is beautiful!  Have you seen the film of Roberto Benigni?”  To which Francis responds, “Yes, only the fact that it was so decent and clean in the camps did not please me.  The real camps were quite different.  But it's just a movie.”  Not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?  Would you expect any other attitude from a clown who relishes mocking the Crucifixion of Jesus the Christ and says his favorite painting is Chagall’s blasphemous ‘White Crucifixion’?

The six-million Jews who perished in the concentration camps are the Golgotha of the Novus Ordo. The crucifixion has been replaced by the Holocaust.  You never see Francis joke around when it comes to his ‘true’ religion instead he is full of piety and seriousness.

The talk then moves onto to what Francis’ travel plans for the future are and where he would like to go and is finished with Mr. di Lorenzo showing Francis and then gifting to him the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi in the German language.


Sono finiti!

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Part Two of the interview with Francis that nobody cares about — the “Church in exit”

The first part of Francis’ interview with Noel Diaz can be viewed by clicking: Francis promoter of the half-gospel.


Part 2 of barstool theology



Francis’ message to the youth — Advice to single parents — Message to pastors = “sleep 20 minutes before Our Lord”



 What would Francis like to be remembered for?



Advice on money



Francis’ message to the apostolate of El Sembrador & a blessing



What do you want to be remembered for?


“The Church in exit...”

Francis the ‘vacuous’ explains how he became fat and so much more



The Corriere della Sera published this morning a ranging Q & A session Francis had with 140 Superior Generals of male congregations and orders.  This meeting happened on 25 November 2016 and the English transcript below was edited by Francis’ cohort in revolutionary modernism, Antonio Spadaro.   As usual, it is filled with the vapid ideas which float around inside the Argentinian’s head.

One thing which Francis clarified is why he is fat.  Dear reader, Francis believes that by eating everything put in front of him and eating it without complaint that he is practicing self-discipline, fasting, and mortification all in one! It’s no wonder his weight skyrocketed once he moved to Casa Santa Marta. 
“True asceticism must make me freer. I believe that fasting is something that is still relevant today, but how should I fast? Simply by not eating? St. Thérèse also had another way: by never saying what she liked. She didn’t complain and took everything they gave her. There is a kind of small daily asceticism, which is a constant mortification.”

Only in the past year has his weight leveled off because the kitchen staff was ordered by doctors to cut out carbohydrates and sugar from his diet.

The remainder of the Q & A covers the queer ideas Francis the ‘vacuous’ has on vocations, criticism, discernment, charismatic people, ‘restorationists’, ‘Pelagians’, serenity, tranquilizers, Blessed Virgin Mary, corruption, reform, ‘radical prophecy’, clericalism, sexual abuse, the peripheries, ad nauseum.  The straw men Francis sets up in the Q & A exist only in his wicked mind.  It sounds almost as if he is critiquing himself in much of the Q & A.

The New Testament warms us about people like Francis.  “A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways.” (Epistle of St. James 1, 8)  The act which Francis the ‘vacuous’ puts on is premeditated and intentionally nefarious.  He honed this back in his native Argentina where he helped destroy remnants of Catholicism in his diocese as well as the rest of the country.

One of Francis’ most telling answers is:
“What is the source of my serenity?  No, I don’t take tranquillisers!   Italians give some good advice: in order to live in peace we need a healthy couldn’t-care-less attitude.”   

Francis does care and very much so!  Like a spoiled child, he flies off the handle every time he doesn’t get his way.  He wants to finish dismantling the institution of the Church and denigrate the papacy until everyone sees it as a joke!  Hence, his implementation of noahide education programs, his promotion of his religion of Holocaustianity,  his blasphemies of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, his hatred of the Catholic Faith instituted by Christ, and his daily epithets.

And with that we leave the reader with Francis’ blather...





«If there is a problem, I write a note to St. Joseph and put it under a statue that I have in my room. It is a statue of St. Joseph sleeping. And now he sleeps on a mattress of notes!»
“The Pope is late” they tell me at the entrance to Aula Paolo VI on 25 November 2016. Inside the chamber where the Synods are held, 140 Superiors General of male religious orders and congregations (USG), were waiting at the conclusion of their 88th General Assembly. Outside, a light rain was falling. “Go and bring forth fruit. The fruitfulness of prophecy”: this was the theme of the Assembly, which took place from 23 to 25 November at the “Salesianum” in Rome. It is not usual for the Pope to arrive late. At 10.15 the photographers appeared, and then the Pope, at a brisk walking pace. After the applause to greet him, Francis began: “Sorry I’m late. Life is like that: full of surprises. To understand God’s surprises you have to understand life’s surprises. Thank you very much”.
He continued by saying that he did not want his late arrival to affect the time they had planned to spend together. For this reason, the meeting in any case lasted three whole hours. In the middle of the meeting there was a break. A private room had been prepared for the Pope, but he exclaimed: “Why do you want me to be all alone?”. And so during the break the Pope happily mingled with the Superiors, enjoying coffee and a snack. Neither the Superiors or the Pope had prepared speeches in advance. The CTV cameramen only filmed the initial greetings and then left; the meeting was to be held in a free and brotherly atmosphere, with “unfiltered” questions and answers. The Pope in fact did not want to read them in advance. After receiving a brief greeting from Fr. Mario Johri, Minister General of the Capuchins and President of the USG, and Fr. David Glenday of the Comboni Missionaries, Secretary General, the Pope listened to questions from the Assembly. And if there were any criticisms? “It’s good to be criticized,” the Pope says. “I have always liked this. Life is also made up of misunderstandings and tensions. And when criticisms make you grow, I accept them, and reply. The most difficult questions, however, do not come from religious congregations, but from young people. It’s young people who really put you on the spot. The lunches with young people on World Youth Days or other occasions are the situations where I find myself in difficulty. Young people are bold and sincere, and ask you the most difficult things. Now ask your questions.”

***

Holy Father, we acknowledge your ability to speak to young people and fire their hearts for the cause of the Gospel. We also know of your commitment to bringing young people to the Church; this is why you called the next Synod of Bishops on the subject of young people, faith and vocational discernment. What led you to call a Synod on young people? What suggestions can you give us to reach out to them today?
At the end of the last Synod each participant gave three suggestions on the topic to be addressed in the next one. Then the Bishops’ Conferences were consulted. There was a consensus on burning issues such as the young, the training of priests, interfaith dialogue and peace. There was a stimulating discussion at the first Council after the Synod, where I was present. I always go, but I don’t speak; for me it is important to listen. It is important for me to listen, but I let them work without my influence. In this way I can see what issues emerge, what proposals and problems, and how to address them.
They chose the issue of young people. But some stressed the importance of priests’ training. Personally, I am extremely interested in the question of discernment. I have on several occasions urged the Jesuits to focus on this: in Poland and then before the General Congregation . Discernment unites the issue of training young people for life: all young people, and in particular seminarians and future priests. Because the training and path that leads to the priesthood requires discernment.
It is currently one of the biggest problems we have in priests’ training. In education we are used to dealing with black and white formulas, but not with the grey areas of life. And what matters is life, not formulas. We must grow in discernment. The logic of black and white can lead to abstract casuistry. Discernment, meanwhile, means moving forward through the grey of life according to the will of God. And the will of God is to be sought according to the true doctrine of the Gospel and not in the rigidity of an abstract doctrine. Reasoning on the education of young people and on the training of seminarians, I decided on the final topic as it was announced: “Young people, faith and vocational discernment”.
The Church must accompany the young in their journey towards maturity, and it is only with discernment and not abstractions that young people can discover their path in life and live a life open to God and the world. So I chose this theme to introduce discernment more forcefully into the life of the Church. The other day we had the second meeting of the Post-Synodal Council, where we discussed this subject in depth. They prepared the first draft of the Lineamenta which will be immediately sent to the Bishops’ Conferences. Monks and friars also worked on it. The final document was a well-written draft.
This, however, is the key point: discernment, which is always dynamic, like life. Things cannot be static, especially when young people are involved. When I was young, it was fashionable to hold meetings. Today, static things like meetings are unpopular. You have to work with young people by doing things, working with the popular missions, social work, going every week to feed the homeless. Young people find the Lord in action. Then, after action they have to reflect. But reflection alone doesn’t help, because it is only ideas ... ideas. So, two concepts: listening and movement. This is important. But not only training young people to listen, but first listening to them, the young people themselves. This is an important priority for the Church: listening to young people. And in the preparation of the Synod the presence of religious communities is very important, because they work a lot with young people.

What do you expect from religious orders in the preparation of the Synod? What hope do you have for the next Synod on young people, given the falling numbers of those choosing the religious life in the West?

Of course, it is true that there is a decline in those choosing a religious life in the West. It is certainly linked to the demographic problem. But it is also true that sometimes the pastoral vocation does not respond to the expectations of the young. The next Synod will give us ideas. The decline of religious life in the West worries me.

But I am also worried about another thing: the rise of some new religious institutes that raise some concerns. I’m not saying there should be no new religious institutes! Absolutely not. But sometimes I wonder about what is happening today. Some of them seem to represent a new approach, to express a great apostolic strength, attracting many, only then ... to go bankrupt. Sometimes it even emerges that they concealed scandals ... Then there are small new foundations that are really good and work seriously. I see that behind these good foundations there are sometimes groups of bishops who accompany and ensure their growth. But there are others that do not arise from a charism of the Holy Spirit, but from a human charisma, a charismatic person who attracts by means of their human charms. Some are, I might say, ‘restorationist’: they seem to offer security but instead give only rigidity. When they tell me that there is a Congregation that draws so many vocations, I must confess that I worry. The Spirit does not follow the logic of human success: it works in another way. But they tell me that there are so many young people prepared to do anything, who pray a great deal, who are truly faithful. And I say to myself: ‘Wonderful: we will see if it is the Lord!’.

Others are Pelagians: they want to go back to asceticism, do penance. They seem like soldiers ready to do anything for the defence of faith and morals ... and then some scandal emerges involving the founder ... We know all about this, right? Jesus has a different style. The Holy Spirit made noise on the day of Pentecost: it was the beginning. But it usually the Spirit not make much noise, it carries the cross. The Holy Spirit is not triumphalist. The style of God is the cross that is carried until the Lord says ‘enough’. Triumphalism does not go well with a life of prayer.

So, do not put hope in the sudden, mass blooming of these Institutes. Instead, seek the humble path of Jesus, that of evangelical testimony. Benedict XVI put it perfectly when he said that the Church does not grow by proselytism but by attraction.

Why did you choose three Marian themes for the next three World Youth Days leading up to the Youth Days in Panama?

It wasn’t me that chose Marian themes for the next three World Youth Days! This is what they asked for in Latin America: a strong Marian presence. It is true that Latin America is devoted to the Virgin, and to me it seemed like a very good thing. I didn’t have any other proposals, and I was happy with this. But the real Madonna! Not the Madonna at the head of a post office that every day sends a different letter, saying: “My children, do this and then the next day do that.” No, not that Madonna. The real Madonna is the who generates Jesus in our hearts, a Mother. This fashion for a superstar Madonna, who seeks the limelight, is not Catholic.

Holy Father, your mission in the Church is not an easy one. Despite the challenges, tensions and opposition, you offers us the testimony of a calm man, a man of peace. What is the source of your serenity? Where does this confidence that inspires you and that can also support us in our mission come from? Called to be religious leaders, what can you suggest to help us live responsibly and pursue our task with peace?

What is the source of my serenity? No, I don’t take tranquillisers! Italians give some good advice: in order to live in peace we need a healthy couldn’t-care-less attitude. I don’t mind admitting that what I am experiencing is a completely new experience for me. In Buenos Aires I was more anxious, I admit. I felt more tense and worried. In short, I was not like I am now. I have experienced a sensation of profound peace ever since the moment I was elected. It has never left me. I live in peace. I cannot explain it.

When there was the conclave, they told me that in London I was number 42 or 46 in the betting. I didn’t expect it at all. I even had my homily ready for Holy Thursday . The newspapers said I was a king maker, but not the Pope. At election time I simply said: “Lord, let’s go ahead”. I felt peace, and that peace has not really left me.

There was talk in the General Congregations of the Vatican’s problems, there was talk of reforms. Everyone wanted them. There is corruption in the Vatican. But I’m at peace. If there is a problem, I write a note to St. Joseph and put it under a statue that I have in my room. It is a statue of St. Joseph sleeping. And now he sleeps on a mattress of notes! That’s why I sleep well: it is the grace of God. I always sleep six hours. And I pray. I pray in my own way. I love the breviary and it never leaves my side. Mass every day. The rosary .... When I pray, I always turn to the Bible. And the peace within me grows. I don’t know if this is the secret ... My peace is a gift from the Lord. I hope he doesn’t take it away from me!

I believe that everyone must seek to discover what the Lord has chosen for them. After all, losing peace does not help us to suffer at all. The Superiors must learn to suffer, but to suffer like a father. And also to suffer with a great deal of humility. This is the path that can lead from the cross to peace. But never wash your hands of problems! Yes, in the Church there are Pontius Pilates who wash their hands to avoid discomfort. But a superior who washes his hands is not a father, and doesn’t help.

Holy Father, you have often told us that what distinguishes religious life is prophecy. We have discussed at length about what it means to be radical in prophecy. What are the comfort zones we are called to go out of? You talked to nuns of a “prophetic and credible asceticism”. How do you understood this in a renewed perspective of a “culture of mercy”? How can the monastic life contribute to that culture?

Being radical in prophecy. This is extremely important to me. I will take Joel 2:28 as an “icon”. It often comes to mind, and I know it comes from God. It reads: “Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions”. This verse expresses in a nutshell the spirituality connecting the generations. Being radical in the prophecy is the famous sine glossa, the rule sine glossa, the Gospel sine glossa. In other words, without tranquillisers! The Gospel should be taken without tranquillisers. This is what the Church Fathers did.

It is in them that we should seek the radical nature of the prophecy. They remind us that we are called to come out of our comfort zones, forsake all that is worldly: in our way of life, but also in thinking up new ways forward for our Institutes. New roads are to be found in the founding charism and initial prophecy. We have to acknowledge what our worldliness is personally and as a community.

Even an ascetic may be wordly. But they must be prophetic. When I entered the Jesuit novitiate, they gave me a hair shirt. Even a hair shirt is fine, but be careful: it shouldn’t help me prove how good and strong I am. True asceticism must make me freer. I believe that fasting is something that is still relevant today, but how should I fast? Simply by not eating? St. Thérèse also had another way: by never saying what she liked. She didn’t complain and took everything they gave her. There is a kind of small daily asceticism, which is a constant mortification. I am reminded of a phrase of St Ignatius that helps us to be freer and happier. He said that mortification in all things possible helps us follow the Lord. If something helps you, do it, even a hair shirt! But only if it helps you to be freer, not if you need it to show yourself that you are strong.

What does community life involve? What is the role of a superior in cherishing this prophecy? What contribution can consecrated people give to renewing the structures and mindset of the Church?

Community life? Some saints called it a continual penance. There are communities where people flay themselves! If mercy does not enter into the community, this is not good. For those in religious congregations, the capacity for forgiveness must often begin in the community. And this is prophetic. It always starts with listening: everyone should feel listened to. It requires listening and persuasion also from the superior. If the superior is constantly reproaching, it doesn’t help create the radical prophecy of religious life. I am convinced that consecrated people are at the forefront in giving a contribution to renewing the structures and mindset of the Church.

In diocesan councils of priests, consecrated persons help them on their journey. They should not be afraid of saying things. A worldly and princely attitude has entered the structures of the Church, and religious communities can contribute to destroying this malign influence. And there is no need to become a cardinal to feel like a prince! It’s enough to be clerical. This is the worst thing in the organization of the Church. Monks and friars can help with the testimony of a more humble kind of brotherhood. They can give the testimony of an inverted iceberg, where the tip, i.e. the summit, the head, is turned upside down, and is at the bottom.

Holy Father, we hope that through your leadership better relations may be developed between the monastic life and the particular Churches. What do you suggest we do to fully express our charism in the particular Churches and to face the difficulties that sometimes arise in relations with bishops and the diocesan clergy? How do you think we can achieve dialogue between the monastic life and the bishops, and cooperation with the local Church?

For some time there have been requests to review the criteria of the relationship between bishops and religious, established in 1978 by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and by the Congregation of Bishops in Mutuae relationes. It was already discussed at the Synod of 1994. That document responded to a certain period and is no longer particularly relevant. The time is ripe for change. It is important for consecrated people to fully feel part of the diocesan Church. Fully. There are sometimes misunderstandings that do nothing to help unity, and then we have to find the root of the problem. Consecrated people must be in the local church governance structures: the boards, presbyteral councils ... In Buenos Aires monks elected their representatives in the Council of Priests. Work must be shared in the diocesan structures. Religious must be involved in the governance of these structures. We cannot help each other in isolation. There is much to be done in this field. This way, also bishops are helped to avoid faling into the temptation of becoming a little prince ...

But also spirituality should be promoted and shared, and consecrated people are bearers of strong spiritual currents. In some dioceses the priests of the diocesan clergy gather in spirituality groups of Franciscans, Carmelites ... But this is a lifestyle that can be shared: some diocesan priests are asking why they can’t live together in order not to be alone, why they can’t be more part of a community. The desire comes, for example, when you have the good example of a parish supported by a religious community. There is thus is a level of deep-rooted partnership, because it is spiritual, from the soul. And maintaining close spiritual contact in the diocese among the clergy and religious communities helps resolve possible misunderstandings. Many things can be studied and rethought. These may include the length of service as a parish priest, which I think is short, with priests changed too easily.

I do not deny that there are also many other problems at a third level, linked to economic management. The problems come when talk turns to money! There is for example the question of selling off assets. We have to take great care with selling off the assets we have. Poverty is central to the life of the Church. Both when it is observed, and when it is not. The consequences are always significant.

Holy Father, as in the Church, also religious communities are committed to addressing cases of sexual and financial abuse with transparency and determination. These abuses are a counter-testimony, cause scandals and also have repercussions on the vocational proposal and the help of benefactors. What measures can you suggests to prevent such scandals in our congregations?

Maybe there is not enough time for a comprehensive answer and I will rely on your wisdom. Let me say however that the Lord strongly wants consecrated people to be poor. When they are not, the Lord sends a bursar who leads the Institute to bankruptcy! Sometimes religious congregations are accompanied by an administrator considered a “friend” who then leads them to financial ruin. However, the fundamental criterion for a bursar is not to be personally attached to the money. Once it happened that a nun bursar fainted and a sister said to those who came to help: “Waft a banknote under her nose and she is bound to come round!”. It’s funny, but should also give us pause for thought. It’s also important to check how banks invest money. It must never happen that we are investing in weapons, for example. Never.

On the subject of sexual abuse: it seems that half of those who commit abuse have themselves been victims of abuse. Abuse is thus sowed in the future and this is devastating. If priests or religious are involved it is clear that the devil is at work, who ruins the work of Jesus through those who should proclaim him. But let’s be clear: this is a disease. If we are not convinced that this is a disease, we cannot solve the problem. So pay attention when receiving candidates for the religious life and ensure that they are sufficiently emotionally mature. For example: never accept in a religious community or diocese a candidate that has been rejected by another seminar or another institute without asking for very clear and detailed information on the reasons for their rejection.

Holy Father, the religious life is not self-serving, but is concerned with its mission in the world. You urged us to be an outwardly-projected Church. From your vantage point, are religious communities in different parts of the world working towards this conversion?

The Church was born as outgoing. It was closeted in the refectory and then came out. And it must remain in the outside world. It must not shut itself off again. Jesus didn’t want this. And “outside” means what I call the outskirts, both existential and social. The existential poor and social poor impel the Church to go beyond its confines

***

At about 1.00 pm the meeting ended with some words of thanks and a long applause. The Pope, already on his feet, before leaving the room, addressed us all with these words: “Go forward with courage and without fear of making mistakes! Someone who never makes mistakes is someone who does nothing. We must go forward! We err at times, yes, but there is always the mercy of God on our side!”. Before leaving, Pope Francis wanted once again to say goodbye to all those present, one by one.


Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Who said this?


“It is true that I do not give interviews, but why, I do not know, I can’t, it’s just like that. For me it is quite an effort to do so, but I thank all of you here.”




Think carefully about it for about ten seconds...



And then take a guess...



You would never guess it was Francis would you?



To think of all the sacrifices Francis makes for us each time he opens his mouth for another interview. 



How many interviews has he given since he uttered these words?



Too many for us to count!



Francis isn’t humble, he’s garrulous and enjoys spewing out his cacophony of modernist garbage!







Sigh, the good ol’ days (the first 4 months of his reign) when Francis didn’t grant interviews



...if only they’d return!


source for quote: Vatican, Francis in-flight interview from Rome to Brazil, Monday, 22 July 2013

Monday, January 30, 2017

Francis promoter of the half-gospel

Below are the five of the questions asked by Noel Diaz and Francis’ answers to them.  In what can only be described as overblown (El Sembrador - ESNE promoted the interview as historical which it is anything but) and an in unusual format — after each question & answer, a panel which reminds us of ChurchMilitant.tv but with a Novus Ordo bishop, discusses what Francis said before returning to the interview.  Below each question is cued up so those who want to listen to Francis don’t have to also suffer through the discussion panel.  It’s only the first part of the show, the second part has yet to be posted.  If and when the second part is posted we will include it.


Francis the ‘proselytizer’ and his corporal works of mercy



Francis the ‘motivating proselytizer’ says that Jesus is knocking on the doors of the church because he wants to exit and evangelize



Francis suggests those living in fear in the USA (illegal aliens) take refuge under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary


Francis recommends prayer, the Lectio Divina, and the beatitudes (doesn’t specify if he means his beatitudes or Christ’s)



Francis the ‘wise’ and ‘keeper of the memory of faith’ says, “I tell you, if you abandon your grandparents, know that life can repay you with the same coin.”




Related:

Sunday, January 29, 2017

All that is left, is for Bp. Fellay to sign on the dotted line.


As the SSPX turns...



-Video Description -
Universal Church
Bishop Fellay is the Superior General since 1994 of the SSPX founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970. He exhibits in this interview the spirituality of the Society of St. Pius X and an update on the relations of the Society with the Holy See. After the lastest meetings between the Pope and Bishop Fellay, which resulted in new proposals, there seems to be no more than a "stamp" to conclude an agreement. This agreement is possible, according to the Superior General, in his view, without waiting for the situation in the Church to become completely satisfactory.


Bp. Fellay has until July 2018 to sign the deal with Rome, when his second 12 year term as Superior General of the FSSPX finishes.



“things are moving in the right direction. Rome has started to become more lenient over the last few years.” 
— Bp. Fellay —


Getting closer!

Saturday, January 21, 2017

While Donald Trump was taking the oath of office the rest of the world was being prepared to be subjected to one hour and fifteen minutes of this insanity!


Francis interview #666,000,000


Unfortunately, Francis mind isn’t empty like his hands, instead it’s filled with garbage.


Apparently Francis couldn’t bear the idea of Donald Trump stealing the limelight of the world for even one day, hence the motormouth gave a ranging interview which covers almost, but not quite, every inconsequential idea of his revolutionary mind.  This interview published in the Spanish newspaper, El País, is linked to below in the Spanish, Portuguese, and English languages.


It’s filled with the usual politically correct platitudes and pet-causes of Francis in the typical manner of Francis’ rambling stream of unconsciousness.  One thing which can be said about Francis is that he has taken away the title of the most garrulous papacy from Karol Józef Wojtyła, for he shares every idea he has no matter how mundane or incorrect it is.  Reality is a realm which Francis seldom occupies and this interview reflects it.  So, here’s more verbal drivel from the mouth of the imbecile himself, if the reader can stomach it.


“The danger is that in times of crisis we look for a savior”
On Donald Trump, Pope Francis says: “I don’t like to aniticpate events. Let us see what he does, we can’t be prophets of disasters”
Interview conducted by Antonio Caño & Pablo Ordaz

On Friday, just when Donald Trump was being sworn in to office in Washington, Pope Francis was giving a long interview to EL PAÍS at the Vatican, during which he was calling for prudence in the face of the alarm bells that were ringing due to the new US president.
During an hour and 15 minutes, in a simple room in the Casa de Santa Marta, where he lives, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was born in Buenos Aires 80 years ago and is on his way to completing his fourth year as Pontiff, explained that “in the Church there are saints and sinners, decent men and corrupt men,” but that what most worries him is “a Church that has been anesthetized by mundanity,” one that is far from the problems of the people.
Francis showed himself to be up to speed not just with what is happening within the Vatican, but also in the southern border of Spain or in the tough neighborhoods of Rome. He says that he would love to travel to China – “as soon as they invite me” – and that, although he sometimes “slips up,” his only revolution is the Evangelical one.
The drama of the refugee crisis has affected him greatly - “that man cried and cried on my shoulder, with the life-jacket in his hand, because he hadn't managed to rescue a four-year-old girl” – as much as the visits he has made to women who were sold into slavery by prostitution mafias in Italy. He still does not know whether he will die as pope or will opt for the open road of Benedicto XVI. He admits that sometimes he has felt used by his Argentinean countrymen, and he calls on Spaniards to do something that looks easy but is not: “Talk to one another.”
Question: Your Holiness, after nearly four years in the Vatican, what is left of that street priest that came from Buenos Aires to Rome with the return ticket in his pocket?
Francis: He is still a street priest. Because, as soon as I can go out on the streets to greet people at the general audiences, or when I am traveling... my character has not changed. I'm not saying that is deliberate: it has been a natural thing. It is not true that you have to change here. To change is unnatural. To change at 76 is putting on makeup. Perhaps I cannot do everything I want, but my street soul is alive, and you can see it.
Question: In the last days of his papacy, Benedict XVI said about his last years at the head of the Catholic Church: "The waters ran troubled and God seemed asleep". Have you felt that loneliness too? The Church hierarchy was asleep with regard to people's problems, both new and old?
Francis: Within the Church hierarchy, or among the Catholic Church's pastoral agents (bishops, priests, nuns, laymen), I am more afraid, rather than of those who are asleep, of those who are anesthetized. Those who are anesthetized by worldly affairs. They sell out to worldliness. That is what worries me. Everything is calm, everything is quiet, when everything goes right. Too much order. When you read the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul's epistles, it was a mess, there were troubles, people moved. There was movement and contact with people. An anesthetized person is not in touch with people. He protects himself against reality. He is anesthetized. Nowadays there are so many ways of anesthetizing oneself against the daily life, aren't there? Maybe the most dangerous illness for a pastor is the one produced by anesthetics, which is clericalism. I am here and the people are there. But you are those people's pastor! If you don't take care of those people, if you give up on taking care of those people, you should pack your bags and retire.
Question: Is there a part of the Catholic Church that is anesthetized?
Francis: It is a risk that we all have. It is a danger, it is seriously tempting. Being anesthetized is easier.
Question: It is a better life, a more comfortable life.
Francis: That is why, rather than those asleep, there is that anesthetized state that gives the worldly spirit. A spiritual worldly spirit. I am always struck by the fact that Jesus Christ, in his last supper, when he prays to his Father on behalf of his disciples, he does not ask "Look, keep from breaking the fifth commandment, keep them from killing, from breaking the seventh commandment, keep them from stealing". No, he says: "Keep them from the evils of the world, keep them from the world". The worldly spirit anesthetizes. When that happens, the pastor becomes a civil servant. And that is clericalism, which is the worst evil that may afflict today's Church.
Question: The troubles that Benedict XVI faced towards the end of his papacy and that were inside that white box that he gave you in Castel Gandolfo, what are they?
Francis: A very normal sample of daily life within the Church: saints and sinners, honest people and crooked people. Everything was there! There were people who had been questioned and were clean, workers... Because here, in the Curia, there are true saints. I like to say it. We talk too easily about the level of corruption in the Curia. And there are corrupt people. But there are also many saints. Men that have spent all their life serving people anonymously, behind a desk, or in conversation, or in a study, to get... Herein there are saints and sinners. That day, what most struck me was holy Benedict's memory. He said: "Look, here are the proceedings, in the box". An envelope twice this one. "Here is the sentencing of all the individuals". And here, "So-and-so, that much". He remembered everything! An extraordinary memory. And he retains it.
Question: Does he feel alright, health-wise?
Francis: Upwards, he feels fine. His problem are the legs. He needs help to walk. He has an elephant's memory, even in nuances. I may say something and he goes: "No, it wasn't that year, it was that other year".
Question: What are your main concerns with regard to the Church and the world in general?
Francis: With regard to the Church, I would say that I hope that it never stops being close. Close to the people. Proximity. A Church that is not close is not a Church. It's a good NGO. Or a good and pious organization made up of good people that does good, meets for tea and work in charity... The hallmark of the Church is its proximity, being close siblings. We all are the Church. Therefore, the problem we should avoid is breaking that closeness. Closeness among everyone. Being close is touching, touching Christ in flesh and blood through your neighbor.
Question: Does he feel alright, health-wise?
Francis: Upwards, he feels fine. His problem are the legs. He needs help to walk. He has an elephant's memory, even in nuances. I may say something and he goes: "No, it wasn't that year, it was that other year".
Question: What are your main concerns with regard to the Church and the world in general?
Francis: With regard to the Church, I would say that I hope that it never stops being close. Close to the people. Proximity. A Church that is not close is not a Church. It's a good NGO. Or a good and pious organization made up of good people that does good, meets for tea and work in charity... The hallmark of the Church is its proximity, being close siblings. We all are the Church. Therefore, the problem we should avoid is breaking that closeness. Closeness among everyone. Being close is touching, touching Christ in flesh and blood through your neighbor.
When Jesus tells us how are we going to be judged, Matthew chapter 25, he always talks about reaching to your neighbor: I was hungry, I was in prison, I was sick... Always being close to the needs of your neighbor. Which is not just charity. It is much more.
Also, in the world, there is war. We have a World War III in little bits. Lately there is talk of a possible nuclear war as if it were a card game: they are playing cards. That is my biggest concern. I am worried about the economic inequalities in the world: the fact that a small group of humans has over 80% of the world's wealth, with all its implications for the liquid economy, which at its center has money as a god, instead of the human being. Hence the throwaway culture.
Question: Your Holiness, about the world's problems that you have just mentioned, Donald Trump has just become the president of the US, and the whole world is tense because of it. What do you think about that?
Francis: I think that we must wait and see. I don't like to get ahead of myself nor judge people prematurely. We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion. But being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite unwise. It would be like prophets predicting calamities or windfalls that will not be either. We will see. We will see what he does and will judge. Always on the specific. Christianity, either is specific or it is not Christianity.
It is interesting that the first heresy in the Church took place just after the death of Jesus Christ. The gnostic heresy, condemned by the apostle John. Which was what I call a spray religiousness, a non-specific religiousness. Yes, me, spirituality, the law... but nothing concrete. No, no way. We need specifics. And from the specific we can draw consequences. We lose sense of the concrete. The other day, a thinker was telling me that this world is so upside down that it needs a fixed point. And those fixed points stem from the concrete. What did you do, what did you decide, how do you move. That is what I prefer to wait and see.
Question: Aren't you worried about the things we have heard up until now?
Francis: I'm waiting. God waited so long for me, with all my sins...
Question: For the most traditionalist sectors, any change, even if it is only in the language, amounts to treachery. For the other end, nothing is ever enough. You have said that everything was already written in the Gospel's essence. Is it then a revolution of normalcy?
Francis: I try —I don't know if I succeed— to do what the Gospel says. That is what I try. I am a sinner and not always successful, but that is what I try. The history of the Church has not been driven by theologians, or priests, or nuns, or bishops... Maybe in part, but the true heroes of the Church are the saints. That is, those men and women that devoted their lives to make the Gospel a reality. Those are the ones that have saved us: the saints. We sometimes think that a saint is a nun that looks up to the heaven and rolls her eyes. The saints are the specific examples of the Gospel in daily life! And the theology that you learn from a saint's life is immense. There is no doubt that the theologians and the pastors are necessary. They are part of the Church. But we must come back to that: the Gospel. And who are the best messengers of the Gospel? The saints.
You have used the word "revolution". That is a revolution! I am not a saint. I am not making any revolution. I am just trying to push the Gospel forward. In an imperfect way, because I make my blunders from time to time.
Question: Don't you think that many Catholics may feel something like the syndrome of the prodigal son's sibling, who thinks that you are more focused to those who left than to those who remained and obey the Church's commandments? I remember than in one of your trips, a German journalist asked you why did you never talk about the middle class, those who pay their taxes...
Francis: There are two questions in there. The syndrome of the eldest child: I know that those who feel comfortable within a Church structure that doesn't ask too much of them or who have attitudes that protect them from too much contact are going to feel uneasy with any change, with any proposal coming from the Gospel. I like to think about the owner of the hotel where the Samaritan took the man beaten and robbed by thieves along the way. The owner knew the story, the Samaritan had told him: a priest had passed by, he looked the time, saw that he was late for temple and left the man abandoned, he didn't want to get blood-stained because that would prevent him from celebrating according to the law. A lawyer passed by, he looked and said: "I better not get involved, it will make me late, tomorrow in court I will testify and... No, it's better not to get involved". As if he had been born in Buenos Aires, he turned around, with that city's slogan: "Better not get involved". And then came this one that was not Jewish, he was a pagan, he was a sinner, he was deemed the scum, and he was moved and he helped him get up. The owner's astonishment was tremendous, because it was unusual.
The novelty of the Gospel however astonishes because it is essentially scandalous. Saint Paul tells us about the scandal of the cross, the scandal of the Son of God become man. A good scandal, because Jesus condemns the outrage against children too. But the evangelical essence is scandalous by those days criteria. By any worldly criteria, it is an outrageous essence. So the eldest child syndrome is the syndrome of anyone who is too settled within the Church, the one who has everything clear, knows what must be done and doesn't want anyone to listen to strange sermons. That is the explanation for our martyrs: they gave their lives for preaching something that was upsetting.
That is your first question. As for the second one: I didn't want to answer the German journalist right there, but I told him: I am going to think about it, you may be somewhat right... I am always talking about the middle class, even without mentioning it. I use a term coined by the French novelist Malègue, who talks about "the middle class of sanctity". I am always talking about parents, grandparents, nurses, the people who live to serve others, who raise their kids, who work... Those people are tremendously saint! And they are also the ones who carry the Church onward: the ones that earn their living with dignity, that raise their children, that bury their dead, that care for their elders, instead of putting them into an old people's home, that is our saintly middle class.
From an economic point of view, today, the middle class tends to vanish more and more, and there is the risk that we take shelter in our ideological caverns. But this "middle class of sanctity": the father, the mother, who celebrate their family, with their sins and their virtues, the grandfather, the grandmother. The family. At the center. That is "the middle class of sanctity". That was a great insight on the part of Malègue, who writes a sentence that is really impressing. In one of his novels, Augustine, an atheist asks him: "But you believe that Jesus Christ is God?" He is presenting the problem: Do you think that the Nazarene is God? "For me, it is not a problem", is the protagonist's answer, "the problem would have been if God didn't become Christ". That is "the middle class of sanctity".
Question: Your Holiness, you have mentioned the ideological caverns. What do you mean by that? What are your concerns in this regard?
Francis: It is not a concern. I am stating the facts. One is always more at ease in the ideological system that he has built, because it is abstract.
Question: Has it been exacerbated in recent years?
Francis: It has always existed. I would not say it has been exacerbated, because there has also been much disappointment. I think there was more in the period before World War II. I think. I haven't given it much thought. I am putting things together... In the restaurant of life you always get many ideological dishes. Always. You may always take refuge in that. They are shelters that prevent you from connecting with reality.
Question: Holy Father, these years, during your trips, I have seen you get emotional and move many who listened to you... For instance, I remember three very special occasions: in Lampedusa, when you asked whether we had cried with the women who lose their children to the sea; in Sardinia, when you spoke about unemployment and the victims of the global financial system; in the Philippines, with the tragedy of the exploited children. My questions: What can the Church do about it, what is being done, and what are governments doing?
Francis: The symbol I proposed for the new Migrations office —in the new structure, I took directly over the department of Migrations and Refugees, with two secretaries— is an orange life jacket, such as the ones we know. During a general audience, there was a group of people working to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean. I was passing through, greeting people, and a man had that thing in his hand and started to cry, on my shoulder, and he went on and on: "I couldn't, I didn't get to her, I couldn't". And when he calmed a little he told me: "She wasn't over four years old, the kid. And she went down. I am giving this to you". This a symbol of the tragedy that we are living. Yes.
Question: Are the governments raising to the occasion?
Francis: Every one does what they can or what they want. It is a very hard judgment. Undoubtedly, the fact that the Mediterranean has become such a graveyard is food for thought.
Question: I would like to know if you feel that your message, your approach to the margins, to those who suffer and are lost, is welcome, is accompanied by a machine perhaps used to a very different pace. Do you feel that you and the Church go at a different pace? Do you feel protected?
Francis: I think that, fortunately, the responses are generally good. Very good. When I asked the parishes and the schools in Rome to take in immigrants, many said that it had been a failure. It is not true! It was not a failure at all! A high percentage of Rome's parishes, when they didn't have a big house or they had a very little one, they had their parishioners rent an apartment for an immigrant family. In convent schools, whenever there was room, they welcomed an immigrant family... The answer is that we have done more than you know, we haven't advertised it. The Vatican has two parishes and each parish has an immigrant family. An apartment at the Vatican for one family, another for the other one. The response has been constant. Not a 100%. I don't know the proportion. I think maybe 50%.
Then there is the problem of integration. Each immigrant constitutes a very serious problem. They are fleeing their country, because of hunger or because of the war. And the solution must be there. They are exploited. Take Africa: Africa is the symbol of exploitation. Even when giving their independence, in some countries, they are independent and the owners of their land on the surface, but not underground. So they are always used and abused...
The reception policy has several phases. There is an emergency reception: you have to welcome them, because otherwise they drown. Italy and Greece have led by example. Even now, Italy, with all the problems caused by the earthquake and all that, still cares for them. They welcome them. They get to Italy because it is the nearest shore, of course. I think they also get to Spain through Ceuta. But rather than staying in Spain, most of them tend to go north, in search of better opportunities.
Question: But in Spain there is a fence in Ceuta and Melilla, they cannot go through.
Francis: Yes, I know. And they want to go north. So the problem is: welcome them, yes, for a couple of months, give them accommodations. But the integration process must start at some point. Receive and integrate. The model for all the world is Sweden. Sweden has nine million people. Of those, 890,000 are "new Swedes", children of immigrants or immigrants with Swedish citizenship. The Foreign minister —I think it was her, the one who came to send me off— is a young woman, the daughter of a Swedish mother and a father from Gabon. Immigrants. Integrated. The problem is integration. On the other hand, when there is not integration, they get "ghettoized", and I am not blaming anyone, but it is a fact that there are ghettos. It may be that they didn't realize at that time. But the young guys who committed the atrocity in Zaventem [airport] were Belgian, they were born in Belgium. However, they lived in an immigrant neighborhood, a closed neighborhood. So the second phase is the key: integration. So much so that, what is the big problem for Sweden now? It isn't that they don't want any more immigrants to come, no! They can't get enough of the integration programs! They wonder what else can they do to get more people to come" It is astonishing. It is an example for the whole world. And it is nothing new. I said it right from the start, after Lampedusa... I knew of Sweden because of all the Argentinians, Uruguayans, Chileans that went there in the era of the military dictatorships and were welcomed there, I have friends who took refuge there and live there. You get to Sweden and they give you a healthcare program, and documents, and a residence permit... And then you have a home, and the following week you have a school to learn the language, and a little bit of work, and you are on your way.
In that respect, Sant'Egidio, in Italy, is another model. The people who came with me on the plane from Lesbos, and nine others who came afterwards. The Vatican is in charge of 22, and we are taking care of them, and they are slowly becoming independent. The second day, the kids were going to school. The second day! And the parents are getting gradually settled, in an apartment, with a bit of work here, a bit of work there... Instructors to teach them the language... Sant'Egidio has that same attitude. So, the problem is: urgent rescue, of course, for everyone. Second: receive, welcome as best as possible. Afterwards, integrate.
Question: Your Holiness, half a century has passed since almost everything happened. The Second Vatican Council, Paul VI's trip to the Holy Land and his embrace with Patriarch Athenagoras. Some people say that in order to know you one must know Paul VI. He was to a point the unappreciated Pope. Do you feel also that way, an uncomfortable Pope?
Francis: No, no. I think that I should be more unrecognized because of my sins. Paul VI was the unappreciated martyr. (...) Evangelii gadium, which frames the pastoral principles that I want for the Church, is an update of Paul VI's Evangelii Nuntiandi. He is a man who was ahead of history. And he suffered a lot. He was a martyr. There were many things that he wasn't able to do, he was a realistic person and he knew that he wasn't able and he suffered for it, but he offered his suffering. He did what he could. And the best thing that he did was planting the seeds. The seeds of things that history collected afterwards. Evangeli Gadium is a mix of Evangeli Nuntiandi and the Aparecida document. Things that developed from the bottom. Evangeli Nuntiandi is the best pastoral paper after the Council, and it still is current. I don't feel unrecognized. I feel accompanied by all kinds of people, young people, old people... There are some who don't agree, of course, and they have the right, because, if I felt bad because someone disagrees with me, I would have the germ of a dictator in me. They have the right to disagree. They have the right to think that the path is dangerous, that the outcome may be bad, they have the right. But provided they talk, that they don't hide behind others. Nobody has the right to do that. Hiding behind others is inhumane, it is a crime. Everyone has the right to debate, and I wish we all would debate more, because it creates a smoother connection between us. Debating unites us. A debate in good faith, not with slander nor things like that.
Question: You don't feel uncomfortable even with power?
Francis: But I don't have the power. The power is something shared. The power exists when we make decisions that have been meditated, talked about, prayed, prayer helps me very much, it is a great support for me. I don't feel uncomfortable with power. I feel uneasy with certain protocols, but that is because I come from the streets.
Question: You haven't watched TV for 25 years now, and I hear that you never were very fond of journalists, But you have reinvented the whole communication system of the Vatican, you have made it professional and have made it into a dicastery. Are media that important for the Pope? Is there a threat against the freedom of the press? Can social media be detrimental for the freedom of the individual?
Francis: I don't watch television. I simply felt that God was asking that of me, July 16, 1990, I made that promise, and I don't miss it. I only went to the television center that was next to the archbishopric to watch a couple of films that I was interested in, that I thought appropriate for my message. I used to love the movies, I had studied a lot about cinema, most of all the Italian cinema of the postwar period, Italian realism, and the Polish director Wajda, and Kurosawa, and several French directors. But not watching TV didn't prevent me from communicating. Not watching TV was a personal decision, nothing more. Communication comes from God. God communicates. God has communicated with us throughout history. God doesn't exist isolated. God communicates, and has spoken, and has accompanied us, and has challenged us, and has made us change course, and he is still with us. You cannot understand Catholic theology without God's communication. God is not static up there, watching how people have fun or ruin themselves. God gets involved, through the word and through his flesh. And that is my starting point. I feel a little afraid when mass media don't express themselves with an ethos of their own. For instance, there are ways of communicating that, instead of helping, weaken unity. A simple case. A family that is having dinner without conversation, because they are watching TV or the kids are with their phones, texting people that are somewhere else. When communication loses the flesh, the human element, and becomes liquid, is dangerous. It is very important for families to communicate, for people to communicate, and also in the other way. Virtual communication is very rich, but there is a risk if it is lacking human, normal, touching communication. The concrete element of communication is what will make the virtual element take the right course. As we see, the specific is non-negotiable, in everything. We are no angels, we are concrete individuals. Communication is key and must go forward. There are risks, as in everything. We must make adjustments. But communication comes from God. There are deficiencies. I have spoken about the sins of communication in a lecture I gave in ADEPA, in Buenos Aires, the association that bring together Argentinian publishers. The chairmen invited me to a dinner in which I gave this lecture. I signaled the sins of communication and said: don't commit them, because you have a great treasure in your hands. Today, communicating is divine, it always was, because God communicates, and is human, because God communicated in a Human way. So, for functional purposes, there is a dicastery, to channel all this. But it is a functional thing. It isn't because communicating is important today. Communication is essential to the human being, because it is essential to God.
Question: The Vatican's diplomatic machine works at full capacity. Both Barack Obama and Raúl Castro thanked it publicly for its work during their rapprochement. However, there are other cases such as Venezuela, Colombia or Middle East, that remain blocked. In the first case, the parties even criticize the Vatican's mediation. Do you fear that the Vatican's image may suffer for it? What are your instructions in these cases?
Francis: I ask the Lord that he give me the grace of not taking any measure for the sake of image. Honesty, service, those are the criteria. I don't think that getting a bit of makeup is a good idea. You make mistakes sometimes, your image will suffer, but it doesn't matter if there was goodwill. History will judge afterwards. And there is a principle, a very clear one for me, that must govern everything both in pastoral action and in Vatican diplomacy: we are mediators, rather than intermediaries. We build bridges, not walls. What is the difference between a mediator and an intermediary? The intermediary is the one that has for instance a real estate business, looks for someone who wants to sell a house and for someone who wants to buy one, the reach an agreement, he gets a commission, rends a good service, but he always gets something out of it, and rightly so, because it is his job. The mediator is the one who wants to serve both parties and wants both parties to win even if he loses. Vatican diplomacy must be a mediator, not an intermediary. If, throughout history, it has sometimes maneuvered or managed a meeting that filled its pockets, that was a very serious sin. The mediator builds bridges that are not for him, but rather for others to cross. walk on them. And he doesn't charge a fee. He builds the bridge and then he leaves. That is for me the image of Vatican diplomacy. Mediators, rather than intermediaries. Bridge builders.
Question: Will that Vatican diplomacy extend soon to China?
Francis: In fact, there is a committee that has been working for years with China, they meet every three months, once here and once in Beijing. There are many talks with China. China has always that aura of mystery that is fascinating. Two or three months ago they had the exhibition of pieces from the Vatican Museums in Beijing, and they were very happy about it. And next year they will come to the Vatican with their exhibits.
Question: And will you go soon to China?
Francis: As soon as they invite me. They know that. Besides, in China, churches are crowded. In China they can worship freely.
Question: Both in Europe and in America, the repercussions of the crisis that never ends, the growing inequalities, the absence of strong leadership are giving way to political groups that reflect on the citizens' malaise. Some of them —the so-called anti-system or populists— capitalize on the fears in face of an uncertain future in order to form a message full of xenophobia and hatred towards the foreigner. Trump's case is the most noteworthy, but there are others such as Austria or Switzerland. Are you worried about this phenomenon?
Francis: That is what they call populism. Which is an equivocal term, because, in Latin America, populism has another meaning. In Latin America, it means that the people —for instance, people's movements— are the protagonists. They are self-organized, it is something else. When I started to hear about populism in Europe I didn't know what to make of it, I got lost, until I realized that it had different meanings. Crises provoke fear, alarm. In my opinion, the most obvious example of European populism is Germany in 1933. After [Paul von] Hindenburg, after the crisis of 1930, Germany is broken, it needs to get up, to find its identity, a leader, someone capable of restoring its character, and there is a young man named Adolf Hitler who says: "I can, I can". And all Germans vote for Hitler. Hitler didn't steal the power, his people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people. That is the risk. In times of crisis, we lack judgment, and that is a constant reference for me. Let's look for a savior who gives us back our identity and lets defend ourselves with walls, barbed-wire, whatever, from other peoples that may rob us of our identity. And that is a very serious thing. That is why I always try to say: talk among yourselves, talk to one another. But the case of Germany in 1933 is typical, a people that was immersed in a crisis, that looked for its identity until this charismatic leader came and promised to give their identity back, and he gave them a distorted identity, and we all know what happened. Where there is no conversation... Can borders be controlled? Yes, each country has the right to control its borders, who comes and who goes, and those countries at risk —from terrorism or such things— have even more the right to control them more, but no country has the right to deprive its citizens of the possibility to talk with their neighbors.
Question: Do you see, Holy Father, any sign of that 1933 Germany in today's Europe?
Francis: I am no expert, but, with regard to today's Europe, I refer to the three speeches I have made. The two in Strasbourg and the third one on the occasion of the Charlemagne prize, the only award I have accepted because they insisted a lot due to the situation Europe was in, and I accepted it as a service. Those three speeches say what I think about Europe.
Question: Is corruption the great sin of our times?
Francis: It is a big sin. But I think that we must not think of ourselves as historically exclusive. There has always been corruption. Always. Here. If you read about the history of Popes, you will find some nice scandals... Just to mention my own house and not talk about others. There are examples of neighboring countries where there was corruption, but I will stay with my own. There was corruption here. A lot. Just think of Pope Alexander VI, and Lucrezia with her [poisoned] "teas".
Question: What do you hear from Spain? What do you hear about how are your message, your mission, your work received in Spain?
Francis: What I just got from Spain are some polvorones [shortbread] and turrón de Jijona [nougat] that I am going to share with the guys.
Question: Ha ha. In Spain there us a very lively debate on laicism and religiousness, as you know...
Francis: Very lively...
Question: What do you think about it? Is it possible that the laicism process, in the end, will force the Catholic Church out to the margins?
Francis: Talk. That is the advice I give to every country. Talk, please. A fraternal conversation, if you feel up to it, or at least in a civilized way. Don't throw insults at each other. Don't condemn before talking. If, after the conversation, you still want to insult the other, alright, but first talk. If, after the conversation, you still want to condemn the other, alright, but first talk. Today, with the level of human development, politics without talking is unconceivable. And that applies to Spain and to elsewhere. So, if you ask me for advice for the Spanish people, I say: talk. If there are problems, first, talk.
Question: It is no surprise that from Latin America your words and your decisions are followed with special interest. How do you see the continent? How do you see your country?
Francis: The trouble is that Latin America is suffering the effects —that I emphasized in Laudato Si— of an economic system that has the money god at its center, and that means policies that lead to a lot of exclusion. Which leads to a lot of suffering. It is obvious that Latin America today is the target of a strong attack from economic liberalism, the one I condemn in Evangelii Gaudium when I say that "this economy kills". It kills with hunger, it kills with a lack of culture. Migration flows not just from Africa to Lampedusa or Lesbos. Migration flows also from Panama to the Mexican-U.S. border. People migrate in search of something. Because liberal systems don't give them job opportunities and foster criminality. In Latin America there is the problem of the drug cartels, drugs that are consumed in the United States and Europa. They make them for the rich countries here, and they lose their lives in the process. And there are those who do it willingly. In my homeland we have a term to describe them: cipayos [sepoy]. It is a classic, literary word, included in our national poem. The cipayo es the one who sells his homeland to the foreign power who pays him the most. In the history of Argentina, for instance, there has always been a cipayo among the politicians. Or some political position worthy of cipayos. Always. So Latin America must rearm itself with political groups that recover the strength of the people. The biggest example for me is Paraguay after the war. The country lost the War of the Triple Alliance and was left almost entirely in the hands of women. And the Paraguayan woman felts that she had to rebuild the nation, defend their faith, defend their culture and defend their language, and she did it. The Paraguayan woman. She wasn't a cipaya, she defended what was hers, at the expense of anything, but she defended it, and she repopulated the country. I think that she is the most glorious woman in the Americas. That is the case of a position that never gave up. Of heroism. In Buenos Aires there is a neighborhood, on the bank of the Río de la Plata, where the streets bear the names of patriotic women, women who fought for independence, for their homeland. The women have more sense. Maybe I am exaggerating. So, I exaggerate. Correct me. But they have a stronger inclination towards defending their homeland because they are mothers. They are less cipayas. They are less at risk of being cipayas.
Question: That is why it hurts so much so witness the violence against women, which such a scourge in Latin America and so many other places...
Francis: Everywhere. In Europe... In Italy, for instance, I have visited organizations that rescue female prostitutes who are being taken advantage of by Europeans. One of them told me that they had brought her from Slovakia in a car trunk. They tell her: you have to earn such and such today, and if you don't bring it in, we will beat you. They beat her. In Rome? In Rome. The circumstances of these women, in Rome!, is terrifying. In the house that I visited, there was a woman that had had an ear cut off. When they don't earn enough, they torture them. And they are trapped because they are frightened, the abusers tell them that they are going to kill their parents. Albanians, Nigerians, even Italians. One very good thing this association does is that they go down the streets, approach the women and, instead of asking how much do you charge, how much do you cost, they ask: How much do you suffer? And they take them to a safe community so that they may recover. Last year, I visited one of those communities with recovering girls, and there were two men, two volunteers. And one of the women said to me: I found him. She had married the man who had rescued her and they were eager to have a child. The use of the woman is one of the worst things that are happening, also in Rome. The woman as a slave.
Question: Don't you think that, after the failed attempt of the Liberation Theology, the Catholic Church has lost many points to the benefit of other denominations and even cults? What is the reason?
Francis: The Liberation Theology was very positive for Latin America. The Vatican condemned the part that adopted the Marxist analysis of reality. Cardinal Ratzinger conducted two inquiries when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. One, very clear, about the Marxist analysis of reality. And a second one that recovered some positive aspects. Liberation Theology had positive aspects and also deviations, mainly in the part of the Marxist analysis of reality.
Question: About your relationship with Argentina. In the last three years, the Vatican has become a pilgrimage destination for politicians of all colors. Have you felt used?
Francis: Ah, yes. Some say: We are having our picture taken, just as a souvenir, and I promise it will be for my personal use, I will not publish it. And before getting out the door it is already published. [He smiles]. Well, if that makes him happy, that is his problem. His quality as a person diminishes. The user is a small person. What can I do. It's his problem, not mine. There are many Argentinians in the general audience. In Argentina there always was a lot of travel, but nowadays, coming to a general audience with the Pope is almost mandatory. [Laughs]. There are also those who come and are my friends —I lived for 76 years in Argentina—, sometimes family, several nephews and nieces. But I have felt used, yes, there are people that have used me, my pictures, my words, as if I had said anything to them, and whenever someone asks me, I always respond: it's not my problem, I didn't say anything. But I am not getting into it. Everybody deals with his own conscience.
Question: A frequent subject is the role of laymen and, most of all, the role of women in the Church. Your wish is that they have a bigger influence and even a role in decision-making. Those are your wishes. How far do you think that you will be able to get?
Francis: We must not look at the role of women from a functional point of view, because that way, in the end, the women, or the women's movement in the Church, will be some sort of chauvinism in skirts. No. It is much more important that a functional demand. The functional aspect is alright. The deputy director of the Press room at the Vatican is a woman, the director of the Vatican Museums is a woman. The functional aspect is alright. But my concern is that women give us their thinking, because the Church is female, is Jesus Christ's wife, and that is the theological foundation of women. When they ask me, I say yes, but women could have more. But what was more important on Pentecost, the Virgin or the apostles? The Virgin. The functional aspect may betray it when we put the woman in her place. We must do that, no doubt. Because there is a long way ahead yet, and we must work so that she may give to the Church the freshness of her being and her thinking.
Question: On some trips, I have listened to you addressing the churchmen, both from the Roman Curia and from the local hierarchies or even common priests and nuns, to ask of them more commitment, more proximity, even better humor. How do you think they receive those advices, those rebukes?
Francis: My focus is always proximity, closeness. And it is well received in general. There are always more fundamentalist groups, in every country, in Argentina. They are small groups and I respect them, they are good people that prefer to live their faith that way. I preach what I feel that the Lord asks me to preach.
Question: In Europe there is an increasing number of priests and nuns originating from the so-called Third World. What is the reason for this?
Francis: A hundred and fifty years ago, in Latin America, there were more and more European priests and nuns, same as in Africa and Asia. Young churches expanded. In Europe there are no births. Italy has a rate below zero. I think that France is leading the way now, thanks to all the natality laws. But there are no births. The Italian welfare of years ago cut down births. We'd rather go on vacation, we have a dog, a cat, we don't have children and, if there are no births, there are no vocations.
Question: In your consistories you have created cardinals from all over the world. How would you like the next conclave to be, the one that will elect your successor? Your Holiness, do you think that you will witness the next conclave?
Francis: I want it to be Catholic. A Catholic conclave that chooses my successor.
Question: And will you see it?
Francis: I don't know. That is for God to decide. When I feel that I cannot go on, my great teacher Benedict taught me how to do it. And, if God carries me away before that, I will see it from the afterlife. I hope it will not be from Hell... But I want it to be a Catholic consistory.
Question: I see you very happy to be a Pope.
Francis: The Lord is good and hasn't taken away my good humor.
Translation from Spanish by María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia.

Francis reminds us of this person who threw a fit because they didn’t get their way but not before making sure that the cameras were focused on them and their illogicality