Cardinal Villalba turns 90: I wouldn’t take anything away from my life

His 90th birthday finds Cardinal Luis Villalba in the full exercise of his ministry. A priest for 64 years, with 40 years as a bishop and a decade as a member of the College of Cardinals, he assures: “I wouldn’t take anything away from my life” and lists 3 key moments in his path.

Born in Buenos Aires on October 11, 1934, his episcopal ministry took him to Tucumán, where he now retired resides with his older sister and serves the community of the Holy Cross, where he celebrates Mass, hears confessions, visits the sick and offers catechism. .

On a daily basis he can be seen praying in the temple, sitting in the confessional, preparing the altar, and at the door blessing the faithful.

“I am having a beautiful moment of my life, now at the end,” recognized on the eve of his 90th birthday.

The first of the milestones that he remembered has to do with his years as superior in the seminary, when in 1968, as a result of the Second Vatican Council, he returned from Rome and was in charge of the first introductory course – the initial stage of formation for the priesthood – in the country. , “I don’t know if of the world.”

Secondly, he mentioned “the almost 11 years I spent in the Santa Rosa de Lima parish, one of the most beautiful moments of my life.” The temple is located in the City of Buenos Aires, between the Once and Congreso neighborhoods and is “a parish with a lot of dynamism,” he said.

There “we had two vicars and two priests who lived with us and collaborated, and a deacon,” he reviewed, and noted: “They were intense years.”

The third moment goes back to his time as Archbishop of Tucumán. In this context, he listed the pastoral visits, the implementation of pastoral plans and the development of the seminary.

“When I decided to be a priest my parents were opposed, my father not so much, he respected me. My mother cried because I was the only boy, and then over time they were happy, as I know they are now, the same as I live with my sister who is happy to be here”; story.

Then, when he was ordained a priest, he traveled to study in Rome, where he was able to participate in the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. “It was a grace,” he recalled, making special mention of “a torchlight procession that ended in Saint Peter’s with a great uproar” and a speech by Pope John XXIII who told those present: “When you get home, give your children a caress and tell them that this is the Pope’s caress.” With those words, the pontiff “went beyond all schemes,” he highlighted.

The Council “was a key moment for me because it was at the beginning of my priesthood,” he said.

Finally, he recalled that in January 2015, when Pope Francis announced that he would create him a cardinal, he was surprised because he had not announced it before, but rather “announced it at the Angelus on Sunday.”

“I found out because I always see the Pope’s angelus and that’s when I find out, and then he wrote to me telling me to send him the measurements because he was giving me the cassock, it was a letter with his ‘little letter’. Later I was with him several times and with a hug we understood each other,” he said.

The view on the Synod of Synodality

The cardinal shared his expectations regarding the Synod of Synodality, which is currently taking place in Rome: “I wish and hope from the Synod that the missionary aspect of the Church grows more and more. The Church has to be open, go to the people, come out of itself,” he stated.

“The Church is for everyone. I want an open, missionary, apostolic Church for all, where lay people and women have a place. The Pope is giving them importance, but we need to move in that direction,” he considered, also demanding “more place” and more authority for women in the decisions of the Church.

“I want the laity to have more and more space and place, as clearly shown in the Synod,” he concluded.

A message to the community

Addressing the people of Tucumán, Cardinal Villalba expressed: “Be good Christians, good children of God.”

“Let us faithfully live our Christian vocation by committing ourselves to the temporal task of making a more just, healthier province, one that emerges from this poverty, that there is work for everyone, especially that retirees can live, that there is food for children; Tucumán has more than 50% poor. It is up to Tucumán Christians to work for a more just society,” he concluded.