In an interview with Pablo Rodari from Italian Swiss television, which will broadcast it on Sunday night, the eve of the tenth anniversary of his election as pontiff and which was broadcast to the press this Friday, Pope Francis addresses
current
issues .
He says that
he will resign
only if he suffers "a fatigue that does not let you see things clearly."
He also reiterates that
a Third World War is already being fought
and recalls the Argentine philosopher Amelia Podetti who influenced his thinking that "reality is seen better
from the peripheries
than from the center" because "universality is understood from a distance."
Below is the dialogue between the Argentine pope and Rodari.
Your Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI paved the way for resignations. You have said that it is a possibility but that for the moment you are not contemplating it. In the future, what could lead you to resign?
- A tiredness that does not let you see things clearly.
The lack of clarity, of knowing how to assess the situation.
Also the physical problem can be given.
I always sue about this and follow the advice.
How are things going?
What do you think I should do?
I ask people who know me and also some smart cardinals.
And they tell me the truth.
I continued that you are doing well.
But please, I ask you:
shout in time!
A dove flies past the Pope during a Wednesday general audience.
Photo: Andreas Solaro / AFP
-There are many wars in the world. Why is it difficult to understand the drama?
-In just over a hundred years there were three world wars: 14-19, 39-45 and this one, which is a world war.
It started in pieces and now no one can say that it is not worldwide.
The great powers are all involved.
The battlefield is Ukraine.
There they all fight.
This makes the gun industry think.
A technician told me: if weapons were not produced for a year, the problem of world hunger would be solved.
It is a market.
War is waged, old weapons are sold, new ones are tested.
-Before the conflict in Ukraine, you have met Putin several times. If he met him today, what would he say to him?
-I would speak clearly, as I speak in public.
He is a cultured man.
On the second day of the war, I went to the Russian embassy to the Holy See to say that he was willing to go to Moscow as long as Putin gave me a window to negotiate.
Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) replied to me saying thank you, but this is not the time.
Putin knows that I am available.
But there are always imperial interests there.
Not only of the Russian empire but of empires elsewhere.
It is typical of empires to put nations in second place.
(To Putin) I would speak clearly, as I speak in public.
He is a cultured man."
-What other wars do you feel are closest to?
-The conflict in Yemen, Syria, the poor Rohingyas of Myanmar.
Why these sufferings?
Wars hurt.
There is no spirit of God.
I don't believe in holy wars.
How have you changed in the last ten years?
-I'm old.
I have less physical resistance.
The knee has been a physical humiliation, although now I am recovering well.
I'm old.
I have less physical resistance.
The knee has been a physical humiliation, although now I am recovering well".
Has moving in a wheelchair been hard for you?
-I was a little embarrassed.
Francis arrives in a wheelchair for an audience at the Vatican.
Photo: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP
-Many describe him as the Pope of the last. Do you feel that way?
-It is true that I have a preference for the discarded, but this does not mean that I discard the others.
The poor are the favorites of Jesus.
But Jesus does not drive out the rich.
-Jesus asks to bring anyone to his table. What does it mean?
-It means that no one is excluded.
When those did not come to the party he said: go to the crossroads and call everyone, the sick, the good and the bad, small and big, rich and poor, everyone.
We must not forget this: the Church is not a home for some.
It is not selective.
The holy people of God is this: all.
The Church is not a house for some.
It is not selective.
The holy people of God is this: all".
-Why do some people because of their living conditions feel excluded from the Church?
-Sin is always there.
There are men of the Church, women of the Church who establish a distance. And this is somewhat the vanity of the world, to feel more just than others, but it is not fair.
We are all sinners.
At the moment of truth, put your truth on the table and you will see that you are a sinner.
-How do you imagine the moment of truth, the afterlife?
-I can't imagine.
I do not know what could be.
I only want the Virgin to be close to me.
-I can't imagine it (the afterlife).
I do not know what could be.
I only want the Virgin to be close to me."
- Why have you decided to live in Santa Marta (the interior hotel of the Vatican)?
-Ten days after the election I went to take possession of the apostolic palace.
It's not too fancy.
It's well done, but it's huge.
The feeling I had was of an upside down funnel.
Psychologically I can't tolerate this.
Just in case, I passed in front of the room where I live.
And I said to myself: "I'm staying here
.
"
It is a hostel, inhabited by forty people who work in the Curia.
And people come from everywhere.
- Is something missing from your previous life?
-Walk, go down the street.
I walked so much.
He used the subway, the bus.
Always with the people.
-What do you think of Europe?
-At this moment in so many politicians, heads of government or young ministers.
I always tell them: talk to each other.
That one is from the left, you are from the right, but they are both young, talk.
It is time for dialogue among young people.
-What does a Pope come from almost the end of the world bring?
-What the Argentine philosopher Amelia Podetti wrote comes to mind: reality is seen better from the peripheries than from the center.
From a distance, universality is understood.
It is a social, philosophical and political principle.
-How do you remember the months of quarantine, your solitary prayer in the Plaza de San Pedro?
It was raining and there were no people.
I felt that the Lord is there.
It was something that the Lord wanted to make us understand the tragedy, the loneliness, the darkness, the plague.
-You often talk about gossip, why?
-Gossip destroys coexistence, the family.
It is a hidden disease.
It's the plague.
-How have the ten years of (your predecessor) Benedict XVI been in the Mater Ecclesiae (the convent where he lived in the Vatican gardens)?
-Bravo, a man of God, I love him so much.
The last time I saw him was around Christmas.
He could hardly speak.
He was talking low, low, low.
It was necessary that they translate his words.
He was lucid.
He asked questions:
How is it going?
And that problem?
He was up to date on everything.
The last time it was seen that he was reaching the end.
-The funeral obsequies were sober. Because?
-The ceremonialists broke their heads to perform the obsequies of a non-reigning Pope.
It was hard to make a difference.
Now I have said that they study the ceremony for the funerals of the future Popes, of all the Popes.
We are also studying how to simplify a little things that liturgically do not go.
-When you say hello, ask everyone to pray for you. Because?
-I'm sure they all pray.
To non-believers I say: pray for me and if you don't pray send me good vibes.
An atheist friend wrote to me...
"and I send you good vibes"
.
It is a pagan way of praying, of loving oneself well.
And to love another well is a prayer.
Vatican correspondent
ap
look too
Pope Francis: "I want to go to Argentina"
The 10 years of Pope Francis: on the eve of the anniversary an unexpected visit makes Bergoglio uncomfortable