Nine months ago, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost granted an interview in a parish of the Chicago area, Illinois (United States) before celebrating Mass. Now that it is Pope Leo XIV, his words about the National Eucharistic Congress of the United States, Pope Francis, Sinodality and more, have acquired a special meaning.
Next, some outstanding extracts of the interview Video recorded in the St. Jude church in New Lenox, Illinois.
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About the National Eucharistic Congress:
“I wasn’t there, I saw him online, but it was a magnificent experience.”
“There are dynamic experiences, full of life, that really fill us with hope, and we have to learn to share that message with others; that depends on all of us.”
“There are many good things happening, many things full of hope in which each of us can participate.”
About Pope Francis:
Prevost recalled the homily in the first public mass of Pope Francis about the passage in which Jesus shows mercy to the woman surprised in adultery.
“That is a fundamental part of who Francis is: justice in the sense of seeking true justice for all people, especially for the oppressed; will reach out to help the poor, those who suffer, immigrants and those who most need the mercy of God, who perhaps more need the Church. That is Francisco.”
“And everything else must be interpreted and placed in that context because he really believes deeply, and he really struggles to find the best way to express that message of the Gospel.”
About Francisco’s choice as Pope:
“I was not there, but I really believe that Pope Francis was chosen by that Cardinals College in 2013 because the Church at this time needs Francisco. At another time, we needed Pope Benedict, and at another time, we needed St. John Paul II, etc., etc.
“But the Holy Spirit will never abandon the Church. And if we can live putting our trust in that, then we may shake a little. We may need to ask questions, and there are many people to whom we can ask. But we continue walking by putting our trust and our security in the Lord, whose spirit is really with us.”
“Let’s relax a little and trust the Lord.”
About mercy:
Prevost recalled that Pope Francis showed him an image of a Gothic cathedral in France with a size of Jesus holding Judas’ body in his arms after Judas took his life.
“Is it possible to think that God’s mercy can really even reach the worst of sinners?”
“And that message in Francisco’s life … Some people get a lot bother. They say: ‘Well, they should talk stronger about this, and should condemn that.’ Pope Francis says: ‘There are already many people who are condemning things. We do not need that. We need people, and especially ministers, who can live, express and offer others mercy, forgiveness and healing of God.’
About the synodality synod:
“Francisco has a very acute mind and a very clear sense of the vision of where he wants to take to the church. And he recognizes that any large institution can become, like anyone, very rigid in our ways. ‘We always did so. We do not want to change. We have been doing so forever.'”
“And one of the risks of that attitude, which is comfortable for us, is that we create a security zone for ourselves, and that is wonderful – but one of the risks of that is that we lose the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
“The synod is, as they have probably heard, ‘Council‘, In Greek, it means walking together, following an initiative that goes back to the Second Vatican Council and Pope St. Paul VI. “
“But it really goes back to the first centuries of the Church. Pope Francis, along with others, has been looking for a way to help people understand that the Church is not the Father up there on Sunday with many spectators, but that all of us, in different ways, and each according to their vocation, ministry and called – we are all called to be part of this church.”
“That does not remove at all the authority or the ministry of those who are called to specific services in the Church, such as a bishop or a priest – but he calls to get the best of each to unite it.”
“There is the real synod, and then there is what is read on the Internet and in other places. There are many key issues that say: ‘Well, what are they going to do with this? Or what are they going to do with that? And who is on this side? Who is from the other?’ That is not what the synod is about. ”
“There is a magnificent hope in this experience of gathering people around the world, literally, and saying: ‘We want to be part of what is the Church and the mission of the Church in today’s world.”
About the media:
“The media sites, today we are all familiar with many of them. Some are very good and others do not. One of the difficulties that exist is that the common person who comes and begins to read does not know which one can trust. That is a big problem.”
“You have to learn to read with a very critical eye or mind, because it is very easy to distort the truth or mix the truth with absolute falsehood and look for ways to harm.”
About the Jubileo de la Esperanza:
“But we can live the jubilee right here, and we can live hope when in our heart we recognize that not everything has to be pessimism and fatalism, which sometimes invades us; that can really dye our vision.”
“Let’s hear the Word of God again. Let us understand what it means (being) an authentic community, communion, parish community, where we care about each other, where we recognize, as the Lord promised, ‘where two or three meet in my name, there I am in their midst,’ and we say, ‘we, as believers, have a magnificent message.”
Translated and adapted by Pope Francis. Originally published in CNA.
Kate Quiñones
Kate Quiñones is a Catholic News Agency and Member of College Fix. It has publications on the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register and Catholicvote. He graduated from Hillsdale College. Live in Colorado with her husband.