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filmforthought · 7 years ago

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Novitiate

Starring Margaret Qualley and Melissa Leo

Rating: ★★★

There is a confession I must make Father, I mean, reader: I love nun films. Dating back to 1959’s The Nun’s Story starring Audrey Hepburn to as recently as last year with director Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, the stories of nuns are fascinating because of the invisible obstacles they face. Nuns answer a call to serve a life dedicated to the Lord, but after so much effort, isn’t it difficult to continue the lifestyle without a response from Him? They never receive a sign, pat on the back or even a high-five from the Lord saying, “hey you’re doing a good job, keep it up.” It’s a battle of dedication, faithfulness, love and restraint that is prevalent in nun films, which is present in Novitiate.

When Cathleen, played by Margaret Qualley, was a child, she had no Catholic upbringing. Cathleen’s father was out of the picture and her mother did not believe in religion. One day, Cathleen and her mother are approached by sisters to join a Catholic school on a full scholarship. Cathleen then takes on a spiritual education, where she receives a calling to join the convent. Against the will of her mother, Cathleen attempts to devote her entire life to God while the Church undergoes radical reforms from the Vatican II Council.

Cathleen’s time in the convent observes the strict way of life nuns endure to fulfill the Lord’s divine image. Nuns are ordered to begin their prayers at 5 AM, which is also the start of “grand silence,” where no one can speak to one another. After “grand silence” has adjourned later in the morning, nuns engage in activities such as confessing sins in a group or quietly eating a small meal. This lifestyle sounds particularly challenging to the students who start classes at 1:15 in the afternoon.

The person who runs the convent is the Reverend Mother, brilliantly played by Melissa Leo. The Reverend Mother is a traditionalist who enforces a hostile environment. When a sister says hello to Reverend Mother during the “grand silence,” she demands the sister to crawl to her destination saying Hail Mary’s in her head. Additionally, the Reverend Mother believes in old school punishment, such as flagellation, a religious beating discipline. When Cathleen wants to punish herself for deadly sins such as saying a word during “grand silence” or looking up when not supposed to, Reverend Mother hands her the small whip. Clearly, Reverend Mother is not the person you’d like to hang out with after a Saturday night.

Considering the hostile environment Reverend Mother establishes and the constant commitment required, Novitiate represents the struggles nuns grapple with over belief. It is fascinating to see nuns put themselves through such arduous tasks over something that is not concrete. The nuns believe in the Lord’s presence, but it is not truly known if He is there. Even Reverend Mother has a moment where she falls to the altar, begging to God, “Where are you?” For those who feel that death involves the unknown, watching this film is even more compelling, because the nuns are making a lifelong bet. Through Novitiate, a great amount of respect is given to those who act on their beliefs by doing the unthinkable of living a life dedicated to faith.

With Reverend Mother’s traditional practices, she is vehemently against the Vatican II reforms. The reforms encourage the Church to enter the 20th century and revolutionize the way nuns carry out their practices. This includes giving nuns more freedom in outfit choice and a life outside the convent, while offering new ways to hold mass. It’s a battle for the Church’s values as Reverend Mother fights with bishops and nuns to continue the regular system in place.

Melissa Leo’s performance as Reverend Mother is one of the best of the year. When Reverend Mother is introduced, she announces to the sisters-in-training, “Unfortunately God can’t be here to run this convent himself. My voice will serve as a stand-in.” Reverend Mother’s voice sounds like a yoga instructor during meditation: somber and soft. However, when someone disobeys the convent’s orders, a fire ignites Reverend Mother to shout towards the high heavens. When Reverend Mother is in a sister’s presence, they usually look down and move on because if they stir any trouble, Lord knows what will happen.

Reverend Mother is also intimidating to outsiders. There is a standout scene where Cathleen’s mother comes to visit. In this part, Cathleen has transformed into a person with little emotion or energy. Cathleen’s mother confronts Reverend Mother about the state of her daughter, where the Reverend Mother states, “you have sent your daughter to die here and be born into the life of the Lord.” This is when Cathleen’s mother realizes this isn’t summer camp.

The moment with Cathleen’s mother serves as a voice for the audience who find it difficult to comprehend a nun’s lifestyle choice. The challenge nuns and other religious service members take on is daunting and something others may not understand.

There are two battles being fought in Novitiate. The first is dedicating one’s life to the unknown. As much as one prays or lights a sanctuary lamp, the Lord’s presence is difficult to find in moments of despair. To quote a nun from The Innocents, “religion is twenty-four hours of faith, one minute of hope.” The other is the implementation of the Vatican II Council. Do the reforms reflect the Church’s traditional teachings? Additionally, what type of effect will the Vatican II have on the sisterhood? This is a fight Reverend Mother battles by sticking to her old school approach and treating the nuns like the Church has for the past century. Watching both battles unfold is incredible because of the implications characters face and the perspective non-religious viewers can gain.

As students of higher education at Monmouth University, there are some who are religiously dedicated to their studies. Not only do they take pride in their work, but they put in the effort to receive the best results. Watching Novitiate will put a student’s work ethic into perspective. No, going to Monmouth is certainly not like living in a convent, just admire the quad on a Saturday night. However, Novitiate presents the question: how far is one willing to go for something they love, even though the result is not guaranteed?

#Novitiate #Margaret Qualley #Melissa Leo #Nun #Nuns #Movie #Movies #Movie Review #Film #Films #Film Review #Cinema #Cinemas #Cinema Review

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pope-francis-quotes · 8 years ago

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30th April >> (Yesterday) Pope Francis talks to journalists during an inflight press conference on his return from Egypt . (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday evening, during his return from Egypt, held his traditional inflight “press conference” with journalists onboard the Papal plane touching on a wide range of issues. Amongst the topics elaborated upon, he spoke of his concern for the North Korea crisis for which he urged diplomatic mediation, of the phenomenon of populism in Europe and across the world and of the dramatic situation of forced migrants and refugees in many refugee camps. Please find below CNA and EWTN’s full transcript of the Pope's inflight press conference: Greg Burke (Vatican press director): Here among the journalists are those who are making a trip for the first time and those who have made almost 100.. No, more than 100, I think… And you, I don’t know if you know how many international trips you’ve made… Pope Francis: 18! Greg Burke: Ah, 18, alright great. I didn’t know. Nineteen is around the corner, so also you have a good number of Papal trips now. Thanks for this moment which is always a strong moment for us and let’s start with the Italian group, Paolo Rodari. I don’t know if you want to say something first. Pope Francis: Yes, good evening and thanks for your work because these were 27 hours, I think, of much work. Thanks so much for what you did, thank you. And I’m at your disposal. Greg Burke: Thank you, Holy Father. Paolo Rodari (Repubblica): Hello. Holy Father, thank you. I wanted to ask you about your meeting yesterday with al Sisi. What did you speak about? Topics of human rights were mentioned and, in particular, that you were able to speak about the case of Giulio Regeni, and do you think the truth will be reached in that regard? Pope Francis: On this I will give a general response, to then reach the particular. Generally when I am with a head of state in private dialogue, that remains private, unless, by agreement, we say ‘let’s say on this point, we’ll make it public.’ I had four private dialogues here with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, with al Sisi, with Patriarch Tawadros and with Patriarch Ibrahim and I believe that if it is private, for respect one must maintain privacy… it is confidential… but later there is the question on Regeni. I am concerned, from the Holy See I have moved on that topic because the parents also asked me to. The Holy See has moved. I will not say how or where, but we have moved. Greg Burke: Dario Menor Torres, from El Correo Espanol. Dario Menor (El Correo Espanol): Thank you, Holiness! You said yesterday that peace, prosperity and development deserve every sacrifice and later you underscored the importance of the inalienable rights of man. Does this mean a support for the Egyptian government, a recognition of its role in the Middle East, and how it tries to defend Christians despite insufficient democratic guarantees from this government? Pope Francis: Could you repeat… what does what mean? I didn’t hear… Dario Menor: If these words that you said on the importance of peace, of prosperity and development, saying that they deserve every sacrifice, if we should interpret them as a support of the Egyptian government and how it tries to defend Christians despite insufficient democratic guarantees. Pope Francis: No, No… one must interpret (it) literally as values in themselves… I said that defending peace, defending the harmony of peoples, defending the equality of citizens, whichever the religion they profess may be, are values. I spoke of values! If a person who governs defends one value or defends another, it is another issue. I have made 18 [international] visits. In many of those nations, I’ve heard, ‘But the Pope, going there, gives support to that government,’ because a government always has its weaknesses or it has its political adversaries, and some say one thing or another… I don’t get mixed up (in that)... I speak about values, and every person sees, is a judge if this government, this state, that from here, that from there, carries those values forward… Dario Menor: Were you left with the urge to visit the Pyramids? Pope Francis: But, do you know that today at 6:00 in the morning, two of my assistants went to visit the pyramids? Dario Menor: Would you have liked to go with them? Pope Francis: Truly, yes. Dario Menor: Thanks a million. Virginie Riva (Europe 1): Holy Father, a question possibly starting from the trip and extending it to France, if you accept. You spoke at al-Azhar, at the university, about demagogic populism. French Catholics in this moment are tempted by the populist or extreme vote, they are divided and disoriented. What elements of discernment could you give these Catholic electors? Pope Francis: Great… there is a dimension of “populisms” - in quotes, because you know that this word for me, I’ve had to relearn it in Europe, because in Latin America it has another meaning - there is an issue in Europe and there is an issue of the European Union behind it… that which I said about Europe I will not repeat it here… I’ve spoken about it four times, I believe, twice in Strasbourg, once at the Charlemagne Prize and at the beginning of the commemoration of the 60th. There is everything I’ve said about Europe. Every nation is free to make choices that it believes convenient before this. I cannot judge if this choice is made for this reason, or for another, because I don’t know the internal politics. It is true that Europe is in danger of dissolving. This is true! I said it softly in Strasbourg. I said it more strongly at the Charlemagne [Prize ceremony] and lately without nuance. We must meditate on only that - the Europe that goes from the Atlantic to the Urals - there is an issue that scares Europe and perhaps feeds … the issue is emigration. This is true. But let’s not forget that Europe was made by migrants, centuries and centuries of migrants. We are them! But it is an issue that must be studied well, also respecting opinions, but the honest opinions of a political discussion - with the capital letter, big, with the big ‘Politics’ and not with the little ‘politics’ of the nation that in the end winds up falling. About France, I’ll tell the truth. I don’t understand the internal French politics. I don’t understand it. I’ve sought to have good relations, also with the current president, with which there was a conflict once, but after I was able to speak clearly about things, respecting his opinion. On the two political candidates, I don’t know the history. I don’t know where they come from, nor - yes, I know that one represents the strong right, but the other I truly don’t know where they come from - for this (reason) I cannot give a clear opinion on France. But, speaking with Catholics, here in one of the gatherings, while I was greeting people, one said to me, ‘But why don’t you think big about politics ?’ What does that mean? Well, he said it to me as if asking for help… eh, to make a party for Catholics. This is a good man but he’s living in the last century. For this, the populisms have relationships with migrants, but this is not from the trip. If I still have time later I can return to this. If I have time, I will return. Vera Shcherbakova (ITAR-TASS): Holy Father, thank you first of all for the blessings… you blessed me. I knelt down some minutes ago. I am Orthodox and I don’t see any contradiction with my baptism, anyway, I see it as a great pleasure. I wanted to ask: what are the prospects for the relations between the Orthodox, obviously Russian, but also yesterday in the common declaration with the Coptic Patriarch, the common date of Easter (came up) and that they speak of a recognition of baptism… where are we on this point? How do you evaluate the relations between the Vatican and Russia as a State, also in light of the defense of the values of Christians in the Middle East and especially in Syria? Thanks. Greg Burke: This is Vera Shcherbakova, of the TASS Agency. Pope Francis: Christos Anesti! I, with the Orthodox, have always had a great friendship, since Buenos Aires, no? For example, every January 6th I would go to vespers, to the complete readings, at your Cathedral of Patriarch Plato, who is in an archbishop in the area of Ukraine, no? And he… two hours and forty (minutes) of prayer in a language that I didn’t understand, but you could pray well, and then the dinner with the community. Three hundred people, a Christmas Eve dinner, not a Christmas dinner. They still couldn’t eat dairy or meat, but it was a beautiful dinner and then bingo, the lottery… friendship… also with the other Orthodox, also sometimes they needed legal help. They would come to the Catholic Curia because they are small communities and they would go to the lawyers. They’d come in and out. But, I’ve always had a filial, fraternal relationship. We are sister Churches! With Tawadros, there is a special friendship. For me, he’s a great man of God! And Tawadros is a patriarch, a pope that carries the Church forward, the name of Jesus before (him). He has a great apostolic zeal… He is one of the most - permit me the word, but in quotes - ‘fanatics’ of finding a fixed date for Easter. I am too. We are seeking the way. But he says, ‘Let’s fight!’ He is a man of God. He is a man who, when he was bishop, far from Egypt, went out to feed the disabled, a man who was sent to a diocese with five churches and he left behind 25, I don’t know how many Christian families with the apostolic zeal. The you know how they make the election among them. They look for three, then they put the names in a bag, they call a child, they close their eyes and the child chooses the name. The Lord is there. He is clearly a great patriarch. The unity of baptism is moving ahead. The guilt of baptism is an historical thing (Editor’s note: Pope Francis seems to be referring to the historical ‘breach’ between the recognition of baptism between the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic traditions. Neither currently recognizes baptism carried out in the other Church), because in the first Councils it was the same, then as the Coptic Christians baptized children in the shrines, when they wanted to get married, they came to us, they were married with a Catholic, they asked for the faith… but they didn’t have it and they asked for baptism under a condition. It started with us, not with them… but now the door has been opened and we are on a good path of overcoming this issue, the door…. In the common declaration, the penultimate paragraph speaks of this. The Russian Orthodox recognize our baptism and we recognize their baptism. I was a very close friend as the bishop of Buenos Aires with the Russians, also with the Georgians, for example… but the patriarch of the Georgians is a man of God, Ilia II. He is a mystic! We Catholics must learn also from this mystical tradition of the Orthodox Churches. During this trip, we had this ecumenical encounter. Patriarch Bartholomew was there too. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop was there and then there were other Christians - Anglicans, also the secretary of the Union of Churches of Geneva (Editor’s note: Pope Francis is referring to the Conference of European Churches) but all that makes ecumenism is on the path. Ecumenism is made on the path, with the works of charity, with the works of helping, doing things together when they can be done together. Static ecumenism doesn’t exist! It is true that theologians must study and come to an agreement, but it will not be possible for this to finish well if we’re not walking. What can we do together? Pray together, work together, do works of charity together… but, together, eh! And move ahead. The relations with Patriarch Kirill are good. They are good. Also, Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion has come many times to speak with me and we have a good relationship. Greg Burke: She’s asking about with the State… Pope Francis: Ah, with the State! I know that the State speaks of this, of the defense of Christians in the Middle East. This I know and believe that it is a good thing to fight against persecution… today there are more martyrs than in the first centuries, most of all in the Middle East. Greg Burke: Phil Pulella...this question will address the trip, but then let's see where it ends... Phil Pulella (Reuters): If I can I would like to speak about another topic, but I'll start with the trip. You spoke yesterday in your first speech about the danger of unilateral action, and that everyone must be builders of peace. Now you have spoken very clearly about the "third world war in pieces," but it seems that today this fear and anxiety is concentrated on what is happening in North Korea... Pope Francis: Yes, it's the focal point! Pulella: Exactly, it's the point of concentration. President Trump sent a team of military ships to the coast of North Korea, the leader of North Korea threatened to bomb South Korea, Japan and even the United States if they succeed in building long-range missiles. People are afraid and speak of the possibility of a nuclear war as if it were nothing. You, if you see President Trump, but also other people, what will you say to these leaders who are responsible for the future of humanity? Because we are in a very critical moment... Pope Francis: I would call them, I call them and I will call them like I called on leaders in different positions to work on resolving problems along the path of diplomacy, and there are facilitators, many of them, in the world. There are mediators who offer...there are countries like Norway, for example, no one can accuse Norway of being a dictatorial country, and it's always ready to help, to name an example, but there are many. The path is the path of negotiation, the path of diplomatic solutions. This world war in pieces of which I've been talking about for two years more or less, it's in pieces, but the pieces have gotten bigger, they are concentrated, they are focused on points that are already hot. Things are already hot, as the issue of missiles in North Korea has been there for more than a year, now it seems that the thing has gotten too hot. I always say to resolve problems on the path of diplomacy, negotiation, because the future of humanity...today a widespread war destroys I don't say half of humanity, but a good part of humanity, and it's the culture, everything. It's terrible. I think that today humanity is not able to support it. Let's look to these countries that are suffering an internal war, inside, where there are the fires of war, in the Middle East for example, but also in Africa, in Yemen. Let's stop! Let's look for a diplomatic solution! And there I believe that the United Nations has the duty to resume their leadership, because it's been watered down a bit. Pulella: Do you want to meet President Trump when he comes to Europe? Has there been a request for a meeting? Pope Francis: I still have not been informed by the Secretariat of State if there has been a request, but I receive every head of state who asks for an audience. Greg Burke: I think the questions on the trip have finished. We can take one more still, then we have to go to dinner at six-thirty. There is Antonio Pelayo from Antena 3, who you know… Antonio Pelayo (Antena 3): Thank you. Holy Father, the situation in Venezuela has deteriorated recently in a very serious way, and there have been many deaths. I want to ask you if the Holy See intends to carry out this action, this peacemaking intervention, and what forms could this action take? Pope Francis: There was an intervention from the Holy See at the strong request of the four presidents that were working as facilitators. And the thing didn’t turn out. And it remained there. It didn’t turn out because the proposals weren’t accepted or they were diluted. It was a ‘yes-yes,’ but ‘no-no.’ We all know the difficult situation of Venezuela. It is a nation that I really love. And I know that now they are insisting, I don’t know well from where, I believe that it’s from the four presidents, on relaunching this facilitation and they are looking for the place. I think that this has to be with conditions already, very clear conditions. Part of the opposition doesn’t want this. Because it’s curious, the very opposition is divided and on the other hand it appears that the conflicts are always worse. But, there is something in movement. I was informed of that, but it is very up in the air still. But all that can be done for Venezuela has to be done, with the necessary guarantees, if not we’re playing ‘tin tin pirulero’ (Editor’s note: this is a Spanish term for trying one thing, then another and another without knowing what one is doing). It’s not working... Greg Burke: Thank you Holy Father. And now we go to... Jörg Heinz Norbert Bremer (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung): Some days ago you spoke about the theme of refugees in Greece, in Lesbos, and you used this word "concentration camp" because there were too many people. For us Germans this was obviously a very, very serious word, and very close to "extermination camp." There are people who say that this was a linguistic lapse. What did you intend to say? Pope Francis: First, you must read well everything that I said. I said that the most generous in Europe were Italy and Greece. It's true, they are closer to Libya, to Syria. From Germany, I have always admired the ability of integration. When I studied there, there were many integrated Turks in Frankfurt. They integrated and had a normal life. There was no linguistic lapse: there are concentration camps, sorry: refugee camps that are true camps of concentration. Perhaps there are some in Italy, or in another area...in Germany, I'm not sure, but you think of what people do who are closed in a camp and can't leave. Think about what happened in Northern Europe when they wanted to cross the sea and go to England. They are closed inside. But it made me laugh a bit, and this is a bit of Italian culture, but it made me laugh that in a refugee camp in Sicily, a delegate of Catholic Action told me, one of the delegates from the dioceses in Argentina - there is one or two in the area there, I don't know which diocese - the heads of that city where the camp was spoke to the people in the refugee camp, and they said: you, here inside, it will hurt you and your mental health too...you have to go out, but please don't do anything bad. We can't open the door, but we can make a little hole behind. Go out, have a nice walk, and this is how relationships were made with the people who lived in that city, good relationships, and these (refugees) aren't delinquents, they don't commit crimes. The sole fact of being closed without anything (to do), this is a lager! (Editor’s note: he is referring to the German name for concentration camp. For example, Auschwitz was a “lager”). But it doesn't have anything to do with Germany, no. Greg Burke: Thank you Holy Father. Pope Francis: Thanks to you for this work you do which helps a lot of people. You don't know the good that you can do with your news pieces, with your articles, with your thoughts. We must help people and also help communication, because communication...may the press lead us to good things, may it not lead us to disorientations that don't help us. Thank you very much! Have a good dinner, and pray for me!

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newssplashy · 6 years ago

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ROME — At 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò showed up at the Rome apartment of a conservative Vatican reporter with a simple clerical collar, a Rocky Mountains baseball cap and an explosive story to tell.

Viganò, the former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, spent the morning working shoulder to shoulder with the reporter at his dining room table on a 7,000-word letter that called for the resignation of Pope Francis, accusing him of covering up sexual abuse and giving comfort to a “homosexual current” in the Vatican.

The journalist, Marco Tosatti, said he had smoothed out the narrative. The enraged archbishop brought no evidence, he said, but he did supply the flair, condemning the homosexual networks inside the church that act “with the power of octopus tentacles” to “strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations.”

“The poetry is all his,” Tosatti said.

When the letter was finished, Viganò took his leave, turning off his cellphone. Keeping his destination a secret because he was “worried for his own security,” Tosatti said, the archbishop then simply “disappeared.”

The letter, published Sunday, has challenged Francis’ papacy and shaken the Roman Catholic Church to its core. The pope has said he won’t dignify it with a response, yet the allegations have touched off an ideological civil war, with the usually shadowy Vatican backstabbing giving way to open combat.

The letter exposed deep ideological clashes, with conservatives taking up arms against Francis’ inclusive vision of a church that is less focused on divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality. But Viganò — who himself has been accused of hindering a sexual misconduct investigation in Minnesota — also seems to be settling old scores.

As the papal ambassador, or nuncio, in the United States, Viganò sided with conservative culture warriors and used his role in naming new bishops to put staunch conservatives in San Francisco, Denver and Baltimore. But he found himself iced out after the election of Pope Francis.

Then in 2015, he personally ran afoul of Francis. Viganò's decision to invite a staunch critic of gay rights to greet the pope in Washington during a visit to the United States directly challenged Francis’ inclusive message and prompted a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip.

Juan Carlos Cruz, an abuse survivor with whom Francis has spoken at length, said the pope recently told him Viganò nearly sabotaged the visit by inviting the critic, Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who became a conservative cause célèbre when she refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“I didn’t know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me, and of course they made a whole publicity out of it,” Francis said, according to Cruz.

“And I was horrified and I fired that nuncio,” Cruz recalled the pope saying.

Now, three years later, Viganò appears to be trying to return the favor.

Known for his short temper and ambition, Viganò has clashed with superiors who stunted his ascent in the church and has played a key role in some of the most stunning Vatican scandals of recent times.

While Viganò, who was once criticized by church traditionalists as overly pragmatic, has aligned himself with a small but influential group of church traditionalists who have spent years seeking to stop Francis, many of his critics think his personal grudges are central to his motivations.

After one church leader shipped him out of the Vatican to America, thwarting his hopes of receiving a scarlet cardinal’s hat, Viganò's private 2011 memos — many of them deeply unflattering to the leader responsible for his ouster from Rome — were leaked and splashed around the globe.

Supporters of Viganò, who did not return a request for comment, bristle at the notion that his letter calling on the pope to resign represents the fury of a disgruntled excellency. They portray him as principled and shocked by what he sees as the destruction of the church he loves.

Tosatti said the archbishop had explained to him that, as a bishop, he felt a deep responsibility to the church and that, as a 77-year-old man, he wanted to clear his conscience for when his moment came. But he said the archbishop was also infuriated by a recent article in the Italian press sympathetic to Francis and critical of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI — and felt he needed to retaliate.

Viganò is well versed in Vatican infighting. In 1998, Viganò became a central official in the Vatican’s powerful office of the secretary of state. In the letter, he writes that his responsibilities included overseeing ambassadors out in the world but also the “examination of delicate cases, including those regarding cardinals and bishops.”

It was then he says he first learned of the abuses committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the American Catholic leader whose history he says Francis knew about for years — and covered up.

In 2009, then-Bishop Viganò was moved to another job in the Vatican City State, a job with less influence over policy but with power over some of its revenue.

Known as parsimonious, he turned Vatican City’s deficit into a surplus. But his hard-management style prompted complaints, and anonymous emails alleging he was inappropriately promoting the career of his nephew began making the rounds in the Vatican. His style and rigor on vetting Vatican contracts also bothered some leaders, including Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and an anonymous report in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale claimed he had designs on the Vatican’s security services.

Cardinal Bertone, who Viganò writes in the letter “notoriously favored promoting homosexuals,” banished him to the United States.

Throughout his power struggle, Viganò wrote urgent appeals to Benedict to stay in the Vatican.

He said he needed to stay because his brother, a Jesuit biblical scholar, was sick and needed care, and he accused Bertone of breaking his promise to promote him to the rank of cardinal.

In 2012, when he was already in the United States as nuncio, or ambassador, the letters started appearing in leaks eventually pinned on the pope’s butler. The scandal consumed the Vatican and prompted intense blowback.

But Viganò's brother, Lorenzo Viganò, told Italian journalists that his brother “lied” to Benedict that he had to remain in Rome “because he had to take care of me, sick.” To the contrary, he said he had lived in Chicago and was fine and hadn’t talked to his brother in years over an inheritance dispute.

Viganò maintained his position as ambassador in the United States after the election of Francis. But in the letter published Sunday, he alleged the former Cardinal McCarrick “orchestrated” the selection of bishops blinded by a gay ideology that he blames for the sex abuse crisis.

Yet Viganò has been accused of covering up misconduct as well. According to documents disclosed as part of a criminal investigation into the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, he ordered bishops in April 2014 to quash an investigation into accusations that Archbishop John Nienstedt engaged in sexual misconduct with adult men and adult seminarians.

Viganò, anticipating the criticism, gave Tosatti a statement denying those reports Wednesday.

After angering Francis during the Kim Davis episode, Viganò was called back to Rome to explain himself. In a sign of his desire to move back permanently, he refused to give up his Vatican apartment. Reports in the Italian media this week asserted that after removing Viganò from his position, Pope Francis also kicked him out of the apartment.

But Viganò returned from his Milan home often enough, joining forces with traditionalists antagonistic to Francis.

And he returned this summer to get working on the letter.

About a month ago, Tosatti said he received a call from the archbishop, asking if he could meet with him in a discreet place. Viganò told the reporter his story but said he wasn’t ready to go on the record.

But when news of decades of widespread clerical abuse in Pennsylvania broke, Tosatti urged the archbishop to tell his story. On Aug. 22, he returned, this time with a written statement.

Tosatti said that he saw no documents or other evidence, and after three hours, they finished.

The archbishop asked Tosatti if he knew anyone who could publish it in English and Spanish. Tosatti sent the letter to the National Catholic Register, which is owned by a company that runs several conservative Catholic platforms often critical of Francis.

“They are all tied,” said Tosatti, who said he alone helped draft and distribute the letter.

Its publication was delayed, not so that it would blow up Francis’ trip to Ireland over the weekend amid the sexual abuse crisis, he said, but so that it could be translated.

After they were done writing it, Tosatti said he accompanied Viganò to the door and bowed to kiss his ring, only to see the hand pull back.

Tosatti explained that it wasn’t a personal respect he wanted to show, but respect for his office and authority.

“It’s not for you,” Tosatti recalled telling him as tears welled in the archbishop’s eyes. “It’s for the role you have.”

The archbishop told him, “Now that I have finished, I can leave, and leave Rome, too,” according to Tosatti.

“Where will you go?” Tosatti recalled asking.

“I will not tell you so that when they ask you, you will not have to lie — and I will shut off my phone,” the archbishop said, according to the reporter, who said that both men suspected the Vatican of tapping their phones.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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visionmpbpl-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on http://www.visionmp.com/archbishop-went-vatican-loyalist-demanding-popes-resignation/

How an Archbishop went from Vatican loyalist to demanding the Pope’s resignation

At 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò showed up at the Rome apartment of a conservative Vatican reporter with a simple clerical collar, a Rocky Mountains baseball cap and an explosive story to tell.

The Roman Catholic Church has formally changed its doctrine to oppose capital punishment, reflecting an evolution in teachings that started with Pope John Paul II.

“The poetry is all his,” Tosatti said.

Then in 2015, he personally ran afoul of Francis. Viganò’s decision to invite a staunch critic of gay rights to greet the pope in Washington during a visit to the United States directly challenged Francis’ inclusive message and prompted a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip.

“I didn’t know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me, and of course they made a whole publicity out of it,” Francis said, according to Cruz.

“And I was horrified and I fired that nuncio,” Cruz recalled the pope saying.

Now, three years later, Viganò appears to be trying to return the favor.

After one church leader shipped him out of the Vatican to America, thwarting his hopes of receiving a scarlet cardinal’s hat, Viganò’s private 2011 memos — many of them deeply unflattering to the leader responsible for his ouster from Rome — were leaked and splashed around the globe.

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thenewsguru · 6 years ago

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EXCLUSIVE: Thoughts on the Unthinkable--The Catholic Church Scandal

The latest Catholic Church rape scandal has been compared to the British “grooming gangs” stories. They're both equally horrible, equally evil. There's a big difference, though. The priests who have raped kids, and the bishops and popes who have protected them, have betrayed the spirit of Christianity -- the spirit of the gospels -- even if the engineers of the cover-ups have, technically, acted in accordance with the precepts and priorities of their own Church. Indeed, nothing could be a more thorough betrayal of the spirit of the gospels than the sexual abuse of a helpless child. By contrast, the grooming gangs have not betrayed Islam. Their sexual abuse of infidel children is thoroughly in line with the teachings of the Koran and the lesson of their religion's founder. First, sex with a child? No big deal. The Prophet himself wed a six-year-old girl, although he waited until she was nine to consummate the marriage. Second, rape? “The seizure of Infidel girls and their use as sex slaves,” Robert Spencer has noted, “is sanctioned in the Qur’an.” There are other differences. The grooming gangs, while obeying their holy books, operate independently from any central authority. Islam has no Vatican, no Pope, no Magisterium. By contrast, the priests and bishops and pope are part of a human institution that makes the most monumental claim imaginable: it purports to be the only true Church of the only true God. In reality, the Catholic Church has proven to be a deeply corrupt institution. And its corruption is deeply intertwined with its extraordinary claims for itself. When a child is raped by an ordinary citizen, the situation is simple. A monstrous crime has been committed. Period. When a child is raped by a priest, the situation, in the eyes of the leaders of the Church, is equally simple. Yes, a child has been harmed. That's unfortunate. But to acknowledge it publicly would be to bring disrepute upon God's Own Church. And bringing the Church into disrepute is, in their eyes, a far greater calamity than the abuse of a single child. Or, for that matter, ten children. Or a hundred. Or a thousand. Or ten thousand. Whenever one of these scandals erupts, there is the talk of reform. But as long as the Catholic Church claims to have the power to forgive sins, it can't be reformed. The Church preaches that you can burn in Hell for any one of a thousand-odd actions that you or I would consider trivial, or for expressing doubt about any one of the Church's thousand-odd official tenets (for example, the doctrine, pronounced by Pope Pius XII in 1950, that the Virgin Mary, on her death, rose bodily into Heaven). Yet if you're a priest who rapes a kid and then owns up to it in the confessional and gets absolution, prepares to say hello to St. Peter. That twisted morality -- the idea that the vilest sin committed by a priest can be washed away with the wave of another priest's hand -- needs to be scrubbed. But of course, there's virtually no chance of that happening. Take away the purported power of priests to forgive sins, and the Catholic Church becomes just another religious institution. Do the rapist priests themselves, and the bishops, archbishops, and popes who protect them, truly believe that they occupy a special place in the cosmos, above the rest of humankind and subordinate only to God and his saints? I think it is clear that a great many of them truly do. The breathtaking documents, unearthed by the Pennsylvania grand jury, in which bishops express more sympathy for predatory priests than their innocent underage victims, seem solid evidence that these clerics see one another as members of a sacred confraternity that is, quite simply, closer to God, and more precious to Him, than the rest of us. No matter how much they may have strayed, their membership in that brotherhood is indissoluble and their virtue easily restorable -- for, as a consequence of their ordination, they all wield the power to absolve one another entirely of even the most savage of sins. Some critics suggest that rampant child sexual abuse by priests is a phenomenon that arose in modern times and that it has something to do with the rise of gay rights and open homosexuality. That argument makes no sense: covert homosexual activity is a phenomenon that occurs in a closeted society, not a society in which homosexuality is increasingly open and accepted and in which same-sex marriage is legal. Yes, I know that a disproportionate number of gays used to become priests or monks because their sexual orientation was socially unacceptable and, in many places, illegal. Back in the day, some churches and monasteries were as gay as a West Hollywood bar. But with the increasing acceptance of homosexuality, gay Catholics have better options than living a lie -- a life of furtive carnality and fake piety. In any event, a habit of child rape has nothing to do with normal adult sexuality or consensual adult intercourse, whether hetero or homo. Plus a fact, one of the surprises of the Pennsylvania grand-jury report -- for me, it's the only real surprise -- is just how many of the priests in question raped girls, not boys. My own suspicion has always been that many men who enter the Catholic priesthood do so in good faith but are emotionally immature and are therefore sexually drawn to children. Others may actually be aware that they're pedophiles and go into the priesthood precisely so that they can use their position to abuse kids – or, perhaps, pathetically, because they think that, if only they pray enough, God will cure them of their disorder. It would be interesting to know what the percentages are. Because the Church, which you or I may see as just another human institution, is in their eyes something infinitely greater. It is eternal. It is mystical. It is the sole link between God and his Creation. It is -- and this is the heart of the whole business -- every human only hoping for salvation. And nothing that happens on this earth is as important as salvation. Earthly life is finite. Salvation is forever. The view of bishops and priests who are authentic believers is that if you truly care about children who have been sexually abused by priests, you'll support efforts -- however insensitive and even wicked they may seem -- to cover up these abuses in order to protect the Church from scandal. For the more the Church is touched by scandal, the more that scandal will drive the faithful away -- and rob them of eternity. And that includes those abused children. The orthodox view is that if you care about them, you'll hope and pray that they forgive the Church, are reconciled to it, and remain trusting and obedient members of it -- so that when they come to the end of their lives, however filled those lives may have been with suffering, they'll rise to Heaven and spend eternity in glory (along with their forgiven abusers and those who assiduously covered up the abuse). That's the kind of thing you either believe or don't believe. If you believe it, then you can readily forgive churchmen for actions that the secular world would consider villainous. If you don't believe it, then you have to view every clergyman who has been complicit in these abuses and cover-ups as a common criminal who deserves to go to prison for a very long time. Whenever the subject of clerical sex abuse comes up, knee-jerk defenders of the Church are always quick to say: what about teachers? Or Boy Scout leaders? Or doctors? Members of all kinds of professions sexually abuse kids placed in their charge. But there's no comparison. Priests don't just have access to kids. They have something that child abusers in other professions don't have -- a claim to be God's representatives on Earth. They claim to be holding the Keys to the Kingdom. Kids believe that. Many of their parents believe it (although, fortunately, American Catholic parents aren't anywhere near as credulous in this regard as they used to be). Hence priests who rape kids don't just abuse them physically -- they abuse them spiritually. For the rest of those kids' lives, the idea of God, which they should identify with love and goodness, will be associated in their minds with the most painful and malignant images of their childhoods. Yes, Protestant ministers, Jewish rabbis, and clergy of other Western faiths rape kids, too. But none of them -- except in a few small local cults and fanatical sects -- make the kind of extraordinary claims for themselves that Catholic clergy does. And the plain fact is that extraordinary claims bring with them extraordinary responsibilities. Time and again, the Church has failed utterly to demonstrate its willingness to exercise those responsibilities. Instead, it has been found guilty of extraordinary abuses and systematic cover-ups thereof. Any other human institution guilty of such abuses and cover-ups would rightfully be shunned by all decent people and brought down, felon by felon, by the force of law. Should the Catholic Church be exempt from that rule? That's the question facing all of us now. Read the full article

#CatholicChurch #ChildAbuse #PopeFrancis #religion #Sexualmisconduct

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catholicwatertown · 8 years ago

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Pope Francis in-flight presser after Egypt visit

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday evening, during his return from Egypt, held his traditional inflight “press conference” with journalists onboard the Papal plane touching on a wide range of issues.

Amongst the topics elaborated upon, he spoke of his concern for the North Korea crisis for which he urged diplomatic mediation, of the phenomenon of populism in Europe and across the world and of the dramatic situation of forced migrants and refugees in many refugee camps.

Please find below CNA and EWTN’s full transcript of the Pope's inflight press conference:

Greg Burke (Vatican press director): Here among the journalists are those who are making a trip for the first time and those who have made almost 100.. No, more than 100, I think… And you, I don’t know if you know how many international trips you’ve made…

Pope Francis: 18!

Greg Burke: Ah, 18, alright great. I didn’t know. Nineteen is around the corner, so also you have a good number of Papal trips now. Thanks for this moment which is always a strong moment for us and let’s start with the Italian group, Paolo Rodari. I don’t know if you want to say something first.

Pope Francis: Yes, good evening and thanks for your work because these were 27 hours, I think, of much work. Thanks so much for what you did, thank you. And I’m at your disposal.

Greg Burke: Thank you, Holy Father.

Paolo Rodari (Repubblica): Hello. Holy Father, thank you. I wanted to ask you about your meeting yesterday with al Sisi. What did you speak about? Topics of human rights were mentioned and, in particular, that you were able to speak about the case of Giulio Regeni, and do you think the truth will be reached in that regard?

Pope Francis: On this I will give a general response, to then reach the particular. Generally when I am with a head of state in private dialogue, that remains private, unless, by agreement, we say ‘let’s say on this point, we’ll make it public.’ I had four private dialogues here with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, with al Sisi, with Patriarch Tawadros and with Patriarch Ibrahim and I believe that if it is private, for respect one must maintain privacy… it is confidential… but later there is the question on Regeni. I am concerned, from the Holy See I have moved on that topic because the parents also asked me to. The Holy See has moved. I will not say how or where, but we have moved.

Greg Burke: Dario Menor Torres, from El Correo Espanol. Dario Menor (El Correo Espanol): Thank you, Holiness! You said yesterday that peace, prosperity and development deserve every sacrifice and later you underscored the importance of the inalienable rights of man. Does this mean a support for the Egyptian government, a recognition of its role in the Middle East, and how it tries to defend Christians despite insufficient democratic guarantees from this government?

Pope Francis: Could you repeat… what does what mean? I didn’t hear…

Dario Menor: If these words that you said on the importance of peace, of prosperity and development, saying that they deserve every sacrifice, if we should interpret them as a support of the Egyptian government and how it tries to defend Christians despite insufficient democratic guarantees.

Pope Francis: No, No… one must interpret (it) literally as values in themselves… I said that defending peace, defending the harmony of peoples, defending the equality of citizens, whichever the religion they profess may be, are values. I spoke of values! If a person who governs defends one value or defends another, it is another issue. I have made 18 [international] visits. In many of those nations, I’ve heard, ‘But the Pope, going there, gives support to that government,’ because a government always has its weaknesses or it has its political adversaries, and some say one thing or another… I don’t get mixed up (in that)... I speak about values, and every person sees, is a judge if this government, this state, that from here, that from there, carries those values forward… Dario Menor: Were you left with the urge to visit the Pyramids?

Pope Francis: But, do you know that today at 6:00 in the morning, two of my assistants went to visit the pyramids? Dario Menor: Would you have liked to go with them?

Pope Francis: Truly, yes.

Dario Menor: Thanks a million.

Virginie Riva (Europe 1): Holy Father, a question possibly starting from the trip and extending it to France, if you accept. You spoke at al-Azhar, at the university, about demagogic populism. French Catholics in this moment are tempted by the populist or extreme vote, they are divided and disoriented. What elements of discernment could you give these Catholic electors?

Pope Francis: Great… there is a dimension of “populisms” - in quotes, because you know that this word for me, I’ve had to relearn it in Europe, because in Latin America it has another meaning - there is an issue in Europe and there is an issue of the European Union behind it… that which I said about Europe I will not repeat it here… I’ve spoken about it four times, I believe, twice in Strasbourg, once at the Charlemagne Prize and at the beginning of the commemoration of the 60th. There is everything I’ve said about Europe. Every nation is free to make choices that it believes convenient before this. I cannot judge if this choice is made for this reason, or for another, because I don’t know the internal politics. It is true that Europe is in danger of dissolving. This is true! I said it softly in Strasbourg. I said it more strongly at the Charlemagne [Prize ceremony] and lately without nuance. We must meditate on only that - the Europe that goes from the Atlantic to the Urals - there is an issue that scares Europe and perhaps feeds … the issue is emigration. This is true. But let’s not forget that Europe was made by migrants, centuries and centuries of migrants. We are them! But it is an issue that must be studied well, also respecting opinions, but the honest opinions of a political discussion - with the capital letter, big, with the big ‘Politics’ and not with the little ‘politics’ of the nation that in the end winds up falling. About France, I’ll tell the truth. I don’t understand the internal French politics. I don’t understand it. I’ve sought to have good relations, also with the current president, with which there was a conflict once, but after I was able to speak clearly about things, respecting his opinion. On the two political candidates, I don’t know the history. I don’t know where they come from, nor - yes, I know that one represents the strong right, but the other I truly don’t know where they come from - for this (reason) I cannot give a clear opinion on France. But, speaking with Catholics, here in one of the gatherings, while I was greeting people, one said to me, ‘But why don’t you think big about politics ?’ What does that mean? Well, he said it to me as if asking for help… eh, to make a party for Catholics. This is a good man but he’s living in the last century. For this, the populisms have relationships with migrants, but this is not from the trip. If I still have time later I can return to this. If I have time, I will return.

Vera Shcherbakova (ITAR-TASS): Holy Father, thank you first of all for the blessings… you blessed me. I knelt down some minutes ago. I am Orthodox and I don’t see any contradiction with my baptism, anyway, I see it as a great pleasure. I wanted to ask: what are the prospects for the relations between the Orthodox, obviously Russian, but also yesterday in the common declaration with the Coptic Patriarch, the common date of Easter (came up) and that they speak of a recognition of baptism… where are we on this point? How do you evaluate the relations between the Vatican and Russia as a State, also in light of the defense of the values of Christians in the Middle East and especially in Syria? Thanks.

Greg Burke: This is Vera Shcherbakova, of the TASS Agency.

Pope Francis: Christos Anesti! I, with the Orthodox, have always had a great friendship, since Buenos Aires, no? For example, every January 6th I would go to vespers, to the complete readings, at your Cathedral of Patriarch Plato, who is in an archbishop in the area of Ukraine, no? And he… two hours and forty (minutes) of prayer in a language that I didn’t understand, but you could pray well, and then the dinner with the community. Three hundred people, a Christmas Eve dinner, not a Christmas dinner. They still couldn’t eat dairy or meat, but it was a beautiful dinner and then bingo, the lottery… friendship… also with the other Orthodox, also sometimes they needed legal help. They would come to the Catholic Curia because they are small communities and they would go to the lawyers. They’d come in and out. But, I’ve always had a filial, fraternal relationship. We are sister Churches! With Tawadros, there is a special friendship. For me, he’s a great man of God! And Tawadros is a patriarch, a pope that carries the Church forward, the name of Jesus before (him). He has a great apostolic zeal… He is one of the most - permit me the word, but in quotes - ‘fanatics’ of finding a fixed date for Easter. I am too. We are seeking the way. But he says, ‘Let’s fight!’ He is a man of God. He is a man who, when he was bishop, far from Egypt, went out to feed the disabled, a man who was sent to a diocese with five churches and he left behind 25, I don’t know how many Christian families with the apostolic zeal. The you know how they make the election among them. They look for three, then they put the names in a bag, they call a child, they close their eyes and the child chooses the name. The Lord is there. He is clearly a great patriarch. The unity of baptism is moving ahead. The guilt of baptism is an historical thing (Editor’s note: Pope Francis seems to be referring to the historical ‘breach’ between the recognition of baptism between the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic traditions. Neither currently recognizes baptism carried out in the other Church), because in the first Councils it was the same, then as the Coptic Christians baptized children in the shrines, when they wanted to get married, they came to us, they were married with a Catholic, they asked for the faith… but they didn’t have it and they asked for baptism under a condition. It started with us, not with them… but now the door has been opened and we are on a good path of overcoming this issue, the door…. In the common declaration, the penultimate paragraph speaks of this. The Russian Orthodox recognize our baptism and we recognize their baptism. I was a very close friend as the bishop of Buenos Aires with the Russians, also with the Georgians, for example… but the patriarch of the Georgians is a man of God, Ilia II. He is a mystic! We Catholics must learn also from this mystical tradition of the Orthodox Churches. During this trip, we had this ecumenical encounter. Patriarch Bartholomew was there too. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop was there and then there were other Christians - Anglicans, also the secretary of the Union of Churches of Geneva (Editor’s note: Pope Francis is referring to the Conference of European Churches) but all that makes ecumenism is on the path. Ecumenism is made on the path, with the works of charity, with the works of helping, doing things together when they can be done together. Static ecumenism doesn’t exist! It is true that theologians must study and come to an agreement, but it will not be possible for this to finish well if we’re not walking. What can we do together? Pray together, work together, do works of charity together… but, together, eh! And move ahead. The relations with Patriarch Kirill are good. They are good. Also, Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion has come many times to speak with me and we have a good relationship.

Greg Burke: She’s asking about with the State…

Pope Francis: Ah, with the State! I know that the State speaks of this, of the defense of Christians in the Middle East. This I know and believe that it is a good thing to fight against persecution… today there are more martyrs than in the first centuries, most of all in the Middle East.

Greg Burke: Phil Pulella...this question will address the trip, but then let's see where it ends... Phil Pulella (Reuters): If I can I would like to speak about another topic, but I'll start with the trip. You spoke yesterday in your first speech about the danger of unilateral action, and that everyone must be builders of peace. Now you have spoken very clearly about the "third world war in pieces," but it seems that today this fear and anxiety is concentrated on what is happening in North Korea... Pope Francis: Yes, it's the focal point! Pulella: Exactly, it's the point of concentration. President Trump sent a team of military ships to the coast of North Korea, the leader of North Korea threatened to bomb South Korea, Japan and even the United States if they succeed in building long-range missiles. People are afraid and speak of the possibility of a nuclear war as if it were nothing. You, if you see President Trump, but also other people, what will you say to these leaders who are responsible for the future of humanity? Because we are in a very critical moment...

Pope Francis: I would call them, I call them and I will call them like I called on leaders in different positions to work on resolving problems along the path of diplomacy, and there are facilitators, many of them, in the world. There are mediators who offer...there are countries like Norway, for example, no one can accuse Norway of being a dictatorial country, and it's always ready to help, to name an example, but there are many. The path is the path of negotiation, the path of diplomatic solutions. This world war in pieces of which I've been talking about for two years more or less, it's in pieces, but the pieces have gotten bigger, they are concentrated, they are focused on points that are already hot. Things are already hot, as the issue of missiles in North Korea has been there for more than a year, now it seems that the thing has gotten too hot. I always say to resolve problems on the path of diplomacy, negotiation, because the future of humanity...today a widespread war destroys I don't say half of humanity, but a good part of humanity, and it's the culture, everything. It's terrible. I think that today humanity is not able to support it. Let's look to these countries that are suffering an internal war, inside, where there are the fires of war, in the Middle East for example, but also in Africa, in Yemen. Let's stop! Let's look for a diplomatic solution! And there I believe that the United Nations has the duty to resume their leadership, because it's been watered down a bit.

Pulella: Do you want to meet President Trump when he comes to Europe? Has there been a request for a meeting? Pope Francis: I still have not been informed by the Secretariat of State if there has been a request, but I receive every head of state who asks for an audience. Greg Burke: I think the questions on the trip have finished. We can take one more still, then we have to go to dinner at six-thirty. There is Antonio Pelayo from Antena 3, who you know…

Antonio Pelayo (Antena 3): Thank you. Holy Father, the situation in Venezuela has deteriorated recently in a very serious way, and there have been many deaths. I want to ask you if the Holy See intends to carry out this action, this peacemaking intervention, and what forms could this action take?

Pope Francis: There was an intervention from the Holy See at the strong request of the four presidents that were working as facilitators. And the thing didn’t turn out. And it remained there. It didn’t turn out because the proposals weren’t accepted or they were diluted. It was a ‘yes-yes,’ but ‘no-no.’ We all know the difficult situation of Venezuela. It is a nation that I really love. And I know that now they are insisting, I don’t know well from where, I believe that it’s from the four presidents, on relaunching this facilitation and they are looking for the place. I think that this has to be with conditions already, very clear conditions. Part of the opposition doesn’t want this. Because it’s curious, the very opposition is divided and on the other hand it appears that the conflicts are always worse. But, there is something in movement. I was informed of that, but it is very up in the air still. But all that can be done for Venezuela has to be done, with the necessary guarantees, if not we’re playing ‘tin tin pirulero’ (Editor’s note: this is a Spanish term for trying one thing, then another and another without knowing what one is doing). It’s not working...

Greg Burke: Thank you Holy Father. And now we go to...

Jörg Heinz Norbert Bremer (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung): Some days ago you spoke about the theme of refugees in Greece, in Lesbos, and you used this word "concentration camp" because there were too many people. For us Germans this was obviously a very, very serious word, and very close to "extermination camp." There are people who say that this was a linguistic lapse. What did you intend to say?

Pope Francis: First, you must read well everything that I said. I said that the most generous in Europe were Italy and Greece. It's true, they are closer to Libya, to Syria. From Germany, I have always admired the ability of integration. When I studied there, there were many integrated Turks in Frankfurt. They integrated and had a normal life. There was no linguistic lapse: there are concentration camps, sorry: refugee camps that are true camps of concentration. Perhaps there are some in Italy, or in another area...in Germany, I'm not sure, but you think of what people do who are closed in a camp and can't leave. Think about what happened in Northern Europe when they wanted to cross the sea and go to England. They are closed inside. But it made me laugh a bit, and this is a bit of Italian culture, but it made me laugh that in a refugee camp in Sicily, a delegate of Catholic Action told me, one of the delegates from the dioceses in Argentina - there is one or two in the area there, I don't know which diocese - the heads of that city where the camp was spoke to the people in the refugee camp, and they said: you, here inside, it will hurt you and your mental health too...you have to go out, but please don't do anything bad. We can't open the door, but we can make a little hole behind. Go out, have a nice walk, and this is how relationships were made with the people who lived in that city, good relationships, and these (refugees) aren't delinquents, they don't commit crimes. The sole fact of being closed without anything (to do), this is a lager! (Editor’s note: he is referring to the German name for concentration camp. For example, Auschwitz was a “lager”). But it doesn't have anything to do with Germany, no.

Greg Burke: Thank you Holy Father. Pope Francis: Thanks to you for this work you do which helps a lot of people. You don't know the good that you can do with your news pieces, with your articles, with your thoughts. We must help people and also help communication, because communication...may the press lead us to good things, may it not lead us to disorientations that don't help us. Thank you very much! Have a good dinner, and pray for me!

(from Vatican Radio)

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newssplashy · 6 years ago

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World: The man who took on the Pope: The story behind the Viganò letter