Pope Francis asked us to “be a church that announces the good news of Christ,” said Cardinal Christophe Pierre, one of the many fruits of the Holy Spirit by having chosen the deceased Argentine prelate as the high pontiff.
Pierre, who has served as Apostolic Nuncio in several countries for several decades and has served as a nuncio in the United States under the government of Pope Francis, told the president and director of Operations of Ewtn News, Montse Alvarado, which as he sees it, the election of the Argentine pontiff in 2013 was the fruit of a process that arose from the Conference of Latin American Bishops and the Caribbean of appearance in Brazil in Brazil.
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The then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio headed the Drafting Commission that prepared the final document of the conference. The bishops felt “inspired and helped” by the future Pope, Pierre said.
“Six years later, Pope Francis was chosen Pope,” said Pierre, describing the choice as providential. “The Holy Spirit chose him to be an instrument of Christ in today’s world,” added the cardinal.
He also pointed out Francisco’s habitual statement – articulated for the first time in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – that “realities are more important than ideas.”
“Today in the world, we all feel tempted to transform reality into ideas,” Pierre told Alvarado. “And when reality is transformed, it is done into abstractions. And ideas become ideology, instruments of power, war, dispute between us. And it is impossible to achieve peace as Christ asks us.”
“Even in the Church, sometimes we are tempted to defend our ideas,” said the cardinal. “But what Christ wants us to be simply like Him, and as Pope Francis has been.”
When asked about what the Catholic Church needs after Francisco’s death, Pierre said that “he needs first of all to be close to people, be attentive to people’s real needs, especially the poor.”
In addition, he urged Catholics to remember that Jesus found them and changed their lives; and encouraged the faithful to be witnesses of Jesus for today’s world.
“I met Jesus, and this has transformed my life,” said the purple. “And because Jesus transformed my life, I can do nothing but announce his presence through my testimony of life, but also through my way of living and seeing the world.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA
Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne is a senior editor of Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.