Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has expressed that a conclave “is not a political thing, but a prayer” and that a Pope “must be a man of faith” in a recent interview given to the Spanish YouTube channel Conclave Informs.
“For me it is important that the conclave is not a political thing, but a prayer. Above all, the main protagonist of a conclave is the Holy Spirit and we must pray for this,” she noted.
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In this context, he has expressed that “a Pope’s first task is to be faithful to the will of God, because he must instruct all Christian people” and, consequently, “he must be an example of seeking the will of God.”
Furthermore, he emphasized that “a Pope must be a man of faith and above all also of Christian values in the world. Especially in Europe, which has lost many, many Christian roots from its history and does not bode well for a good future.”
He also points out that the document The Bishop of Rome is “above all a study document” that is based on the conviction that “the primacy of the Bishop of Rome is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we cannot keep only for ourselves.”
“It is clear that some see that we need a head, a first at all levels of the Church, at the local, regional and universal level. Especially some Orthodox see it that way. With Protestants the situation is very different,” he added in this regard.
The crisis of the Catholic Church and catechesis
Cardinal Koch asserts that “the great crisis of faith that we have in the Church today is also a crisis of catechesis, because it is very important to live faith in today’s society.”
“If young people no longer know what Christianity is, what the Christian faith is, they cannot grow in faith and then they leave it behind. This is why catechesis has a primordial primacy in the life of the church, or should have,” he added, before underlining the need to cultivate a personal relationship with God:
“It is very important that the faithful have a personal relationship with God. If they do not pray, they do not have a personal contact with God, they cannot know the divine reality. Because even among men, if a person talks only about another, but does not talk to her, he cannot know her anymore.
Key to interpreting the Second Vatican Council
Asked about the voices that affirm that the Catholic Church has suffered a process of “Protestantization” after the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Koch considers that “the fundamental problem is how we see, how we read the Second Vatican Council, especially the texts, not only the Spirit.”
Thus, he considered it “very important” to follow Benedict XVI’s teaching on the application of a hermeneutic of reform and not of rupture when analyzing the Second Vatican Council.
The Eucharist, key to conversion
Based on his experience in ecumenical dialogue, and having witnessed numerous conversions from Protestantism, Cardinal Koch emphasizes that the Eucharist plays a fundamental role in these processes.
“I have asked these people: Why? And the answer has always been: Through the Eucharist. Because we have not lived in the Protestant faith the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ that is truly present in our lives. And for this we want to change and become Catholic,” he said.
This is the reason why he encourages “deepening the Eucharistic reality also in our Church” since “the Eucharist is the source and culmination of the life of the Church.”
The Virgin Mary, model of the Church
“Mary is the model of the Church. Everything that Holy Scripture says about the Church, it has said before about Mary. And from Mary the Church can learn what the Church is,” explained Cardinal Koch.
“If we see in the Holy Scripture the veneration of Mary is present and if we want to be faithful to the Holy Scripture, we cannot forget Mary, but we must see the main reality of the Marian faith. And this is very, very important,” she continued.
In an ecumenical context, the cardinal added that “today we have to deepen faith, also in ecumenism, which must be a reality of faith, because the end of ecumenism is faith, apostolic faith, that each new member of the body of Christ receives in baptism. Ecumenism has to be a baptismal thing. Faith is not above all a political, ecclesial church, but rather it must be the center of life.”
A wish regarding the secularization of Spain
On the other hand, he expressed his desire that “faith remains in the blood of the Spanish people” in a recent interview with Cónclave Informa.
“It would be very nice to see that faith remains in the blood of the Spanish people. I hope that’s the case,” said the Cardinal, who appreciated that Spain has “a great history,” despite which, I reflect on the fact that “when you visit the cathedrals, the basilicas, the churches, they look like museums and sometimes I wonder : Where are the faithful who can pray? But I hope that it is not a widespread reality and that in the parishes it is different,” he concluded.
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.