Just arrived in Chile after several weeks in Rome, the archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Fernando Chomali, shared his experience by participating in the funerals of Pope Francis and the conclave in which Leon XIV was chosen.
In a busy meeting via Zoom and broadcast live through the social networks of the archbishopric of Santiago, the cardinal recalled that everything began for him on April 21 at 3 in the morning, when he received the news of the death of the Argentine Pope.
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“They were moments of much sadness because Pope Francis made himself loved, he made himself loved with his language, he loved himself with his service to the poorest,” he valued.
“I started crying”
“I arrived early in the cathedral, there were many journalists and I got excited, I began to cry of knowing that the Pope had died and I remembered a phrase of Pope Francis when he said: you do not cry, you are so cold that do not cry, and the truth that I was very moved to see this strong man with a great capacity of government, a man of prayer, which after a painful disease had died.
The Mass “was remarkable,” he said. “Many people arrived, Ministers of State arrived, candidates for the presidency, the people of God arrived, priests, it was really moving and that same experience was the one I lived in Rome,” recalled the purple.
Invited to the funerals and the congregations prior to the conclave, the cardinal traveled to Rome with Cardinal Celestino Aós Braco, who having turned 80 years old, no longer participated in the conclave.
“Believe me that I had never seen so many people moved by the death of the Pope, never in my life,” he said. “As a cardinal he had the opportunity to enter on a special part (…) and contemplated those people how they cried to see the Holy Father who died there,” he recalled.
That same day, said the purple, the congregations began, that is, the meetings “to generate an atmosphere of seeing who could be the next Pope”, along with the preparations for the funeral.
The common project of the Cardinals: Live the Gospel
Cardinal Chomali was “moved” by the number of representatives “from many countries, with absolutely different stories, in an environment of extraordinary fraternity, in an environment of communion and also such different realities.”
“I thought why in Chile and the world there are so many divisions, there is so much difficulty in agreement, and it is because there is no common project. There were all different, but we had a common project, which is to evangelize, which is to dialogue, that it is to serve the poor, to live the gospel, be a bridge, be people of peace,” he acknowledged.
He then participated in the funeral of the Pope, who in a word described as “solemn”, with government representatives of many parts of the world and “an atmosphere of prayer” that made him think “how extraordinary the Church, what a wonder that a person, the Pope, is able to summon such different people.”
His first conclave and Chile in the heart
Regarding his first conclave, Cardinal Chomali defined him as “a unique experience.” There, he said, “everything began with a mass, all actions began with a prayer.”
Then he narrated a “wonderful” moment: “When we all enter a room, there is our chair with our name (…) Dresses with the red cassock called the choral habit, and then we enter into procession all to the Sistine Chapel. A wonderful chapel, a heritage of extraordinary humanity, and while we go in procession they sing the litanies. That moment is moving,” he described, he described, when he described, when he described, he described, when he described. doors closure, at which time “one feels immense responsibility.”
“I took the people of Chile in my heart at that time. And I voted thinking about the Church of Chile, the Chileans, in their joys, in their sorrows,” said the archbishop. “And at that time we were among Pope Francis who died and between what we were looking for according to the want of the Holy Spirit, to the successor of Peter, to the vicar of Christ, I felt that great feeling of orphanhood we experienced and the importance of having a Pope for us, who is a pastor, is a father, is a brother, is a friend,” he synthesized.
“I felt that I was wearing the weight and also the wonder of the Chilean Church that walks announcing the Gospel,” he said.
After the choice of Cardinal Prevost as Pope “there was a remarkable silence followed by great applause,” he said. “Then they open the doors, the ceremony takes the new one, who was chosen, takes him to the hall of tears and leaves potatoes. He is another man, he is no longer the same,” he said.
“He has a special chair where he is installed and all the cardinals are going to greet him. I told him to have Chile, that I will have our prayer, that he will have our support, because he is the vicar of Christ, the successor of the apostles, and that is what we have to move to know that God is with us until the end of time,” said the purple.
A man with many virtues
“A man was chosen, in parentheses, with many virtues. He is a man who comes from a family of professors, who enters the Congregation of the Augustinians early, has doctoral studies, he knows very well Latin America, he was a missionary, he was more than 20 years in Peru, and he also had 12 years as a general of the Augustinians, therefore he widely knows the world, because he dedicated himself to visiting all the communities, he knows the church of Africa. Asia, Latin America, in fact he was in Santiago, in Concepción there are photos with him, a very simple man, ”he said.
“We were no longer orphaned, we had someone who was going to lead us along the path of the Gospel,” he said. “The most important thing we have is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we are called to transmit it,” he insisted.
At the dinner after the election, Cardinal Chomalí revealed, “nobody wanted to sit with him” for a matter of “reverence.” Then the Pope “several who sees us around, tells us, come to sit with me.”
Why Leo XIV?
The Chilean cardinal asked the new Pope why he chose the name Leo XIV, to which the Pontiff replied: “I chose it for Leo XIII, because we are living a change of time. Just as Leo XIII lived in the industrial revolution we are now living another revolution that has to do with artificial intelligence, etc., and it seemed to me that it was a continuity name.”
Finishing his visit, the Archbishop of Santiago participated in the Pontificate Mass of Leo XIV, where “he asked for peace, he stated that we are called to offer God’s love to all to make that unity that does not annul the differences but that he values them, so he encouraged us to get our charisms, he told us that this is the time of love, of the charity of God, to build a church founded in love.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.