The date is special: 10 years ago, on March 13, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was proclaimed pope. The Argentine, aged 76, succeeded Benedict XVI (who had abdicated a month earlier), becoming the first pope to use the name Francisco and the first non-European in more than 1,200 years.
To mark the date, the Vatican created a podcast with Francis this Monday. The name? pope cast (a pun on the word “pope”, pope in English). The Vatican news portal defines it not as an interview, but as an assessment of this decade (Vatican News) published some excerpts.
In the 9:30 minute conversation, Francisco begins by saying that his decade as supreme leader of the Catholic Church was one of “tension” because “time flies.” “If we see today that we have something to cling to, it will already be too late. Living like this is something new,” he assumes.
But Francis goes further and confesses that he had not imagined himself to be the “Pope of the Third World War”. “I didn’t expect it. I thought the [guerra na] Syria was unique, but in the meantime others have arrived,” the pope added. “Seeing young people die makes me suffer. Whether Russians or Ukrainians, it doesn’t matter. It’s tough,” he said of the war in Ukraine. ‘Behind the war is the arms industry. It’s diabolical,” he says at one point during the pope cast.
So what do you want on the occasion of your 10th birthday as pope? “Peace. We need peace.”
Orthodox leader praises religious dialogue
To mark the date, Patriarch Cyril, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, congratulated Pope Francis on his 10 years at the helm of the Catholic Church and wished him “good health, peace of mind and the inexhaustible help of Christ the Redeemer.”
The pope speaks of a pontificate of “tension”, characterized by the speed with which people live their daily lives.
In a post on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church, quoted by the Europa news agency, Cirilo also praised the openness to dialogue between religions. “In these difficult times, a dialogue between religious leaders can bear fruit and contribute to the unifying efforts of people of goodwill to “heal the wounds” (Jeremiah 30:17) of God’s creation,” he said.
CEP thanks the pope for paying attention to the poor
The Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP) also congratulated Francis on his pontificate.
In a note published this Monday in her placethe CEP – headed by D. José Ornelas – thanked the Pope for the “increased attention” to the underprivileged, “signaled with the annual celebration of the World Day of the Poor [celebrado a 19 de novembro]And at a time when allegations of sexual abuse against minors tarnish the Church’s image, the CEP also expresses its gratitude for Francis’ role in the Church’s “ongoing fight against sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults, involving the whole Church is called for zero tolerance”.
CEP concludes its message asking for prayers to be prayed for the Pope, “that God may continue to bless him with his gifts and strengthen him in his service to the community and mission of the Church”.
Source: DN
