Full text of Pope Francis' Interview with 'La Vanguardia'

Vatican City, Jun 13, 2014 / 07:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an interview granted with Spanish-language magazine "La Vanguardia" on Monday, Pope Francis lauded Pius XII for his efforts in saving Jews, discussed Orthodox-Catholic relations, as well as the motivations behind his prayer meeting at the Vatican last Sunday.

Below, please find the full text of his interview in English:

Interview with Pope Francis: “One has to take the secession of a nation with grain of salt.”

“Our world economic system can’t take it anymore,” says the Bishop of Rome in an interview with La Vanguardia. “I’m no illumined one. I didn’t bring any personal projects under my arm.” “We are throwing away an entire generation to maintain a system that isn’t good,” he opines with respect to unemployed youth.

“The persecuted Christians are a concern that touches me very deeply as a pastor. I know a lot about persecutions but it doesn’t seem prudent to talk about them here so I don’t offend anyone. But in some places it is prohibited to have a Bible or teach the catechism or wear a cross… What I would like to be clear on is one thing, I am convinced that the persecution against Christians today is stronger than in the first centuries of the Church. Today there are more Christian martyrs than in that period. And, it's not because of fantasy, it’s because of the numbers."

Pope Francis received us last Monday in the Vatican - a day after the prayer for peace with the presidents of Israel and Palestine - for this exclusive interview with “La Vanguardia.” The Pope was happy to have done everything possible for understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.
Violence in the name of God dominates the Middle East.

It's a contradiction. Violence in the name of God does not correspond with our time. It's something ancient. With historical perspective, one has to say that Christians, at times, have practiced it. When I think of the Thirty Years War, there was violence in the name of God. Today it is unimaginable, right? We arrive, sometimes, by way of religion to very serious, very grave contradictions. Fundamentalism, for example. The three religions, we have our fundamentalist groups, small in relation to all the rest.

And, what do you think about fundamentalism?

A fundamentalist group, although it may not kill anyone, although it may not strike anyone, is violent. The mental structure of fundamentalists is violence in the name of God.

Some say that you are a revolutionary.

We should call the great Mina Mazzini, the Italian singer, and tell her “take this hand, gypsy” and have her read into my past, to see what [she finds]. (He laughs) For me, the great revolution is going to the roots, recognizing them and seeing what those roots have to say to us today. There is no contradiction between [being a] revolutionary and going to the roots. Moreso even, I think that the way to make true changes is identity. You can never take a step in life if it’s not from behind, without knowing where I come from, what last name I have, what cultural or religious last name I have.

You have broken many security protocols to bring yourself closer to the people.

I know that something could happen to me, but it’s in the hands of God. I remember that in Brazil they had prepared a closed Popemobile for me, with glass, but I couldn’t greet the people and tell them that I love them from within a sardine tin. Even if it’s made of glass, for me that is a wall. It’s true that something could happen to me, but let’s be realistic, at my age I don’t have much to lose.  

Why is it important that the Church be poor and humble?

Poverty and humility are at the center of the Gospel and I say it in a theological sense, not in a sociological one. You can't understand the Gospel without poverty, but we have to distinguish it from pauperism. I think that Jesus wants us bishops not to be princes but servants.

What can the Church do to reduce the growing inequality between the rich and the poor?

It’s proven that with the food that is left over we could feed the people who are hungry. When you see photographs of undernourished kids in different parts of the world, you take your head in your hand, it incomprehensible. I believe that we are in a world economic system that isn’t good. At the center of all economic systems must be man, man and woman, and everything else must be in service of this man. But we have put money at the center, the god of money. We have fallen into a sin of idolatry, the idolatry of money.

The economy is moved by the ambition of having more and, paradoxically, it feeds a throwaway culture. Young people are thrown away when their natality is limited. The elderly are also discarded because they don’t serve any use anymore, they don’t produce, this passive class… In throwing away the kids and elderly, the future of a people is thrown away because the young people are going to push forcefully forward and because the elderly give us wisdom. They have the memory of that people and they have to pass it on to the young people. And now also it is in style to throw the young people away with unemployment. The rate of unemployment is very worrisome to me, which in some countries is over 50%. Someone told me that 75 million young Europeans under 25 years of age are unemployed. That is an atrocity. But we are discarding an entire generation to maintain an economic system that can’t hold up anymore, a system that to survive must make war, as the great empires have always done. But as a Third World War can’t be done, they make zonal wars. What does this mean? That they produce and sell weapons, and with this the balance sheets of the idolatrous economies, the great world economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money, obviously they are sorted. This unique thought takes away the wealth of diversity of thought and therefore the wealth of a dialogue between peoples. Well understood globalization is a wealth. Poorly understood globalization is that which nullifies differences. It is like a sphere in which all points are equidistant from the center. A globalization that enriches is like a polyhedron, all united but each preserving its particularity, its wealth, its identity, and this isn’t given. And this does not happen.

Does the conflict between Catalunya and Spain worry you?

All division worries me. There is independence by emancipation and independence by secession. The independences by emancipation, for example, are American, that they were emancipated from the European States. The independences of nations by secession is a dismemberment, sometimes it’s very obvious. Let’s think of the former Yugoslavia. Obviously, there are nations with cultures so different that couldn’t even be stuck together with glue. The Yugoslavian case is very clear, but I ask myself if it is so clear in other cases. Scotland, Padania, Catalunya. There will be cases that will be just and cases that will not be just, but the secession of a nation without an antecedent of mandatory unity, one has to take it with a lot of grains of salt and analyze it case by case.

The prayer for peace from Sunday wasn’t easy to organize nor did it have precedents in the Middle East nor in the world. How did you feel?

You know that it wasn’t easy because you were there, and much of that achievement is due to you. I felt that it was something that can accidentally happen to all of us. Here, in the Vatican,99% said it would not happen and then the 1% started to grow. I felt that we were feeling pushed towards something that had not occurred to us and that, little by little, started to take shape. It was not at all a political act - I felt that from the beginning - but it was rather a religious act: opening a window to the world.

Why did you choose to place yourself in the eye of the hurricane, the Middle East?

The true eye of the hurricane, due to the enthusiasm that there was, was the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro last year. I decided to go to the Holy Land because President Peres invited me. I knew that his mandate would finish this Spring, so I felt obliged, in some way, to go beforehand. His invitation accelerated the trip. I did not think of doing it.

Why is it important for every Christian to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land?

Because of revelation. For us, it all started there. It is like “heaven on earth.” A foretaste of what awaits us hereafter, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

You and your friend, the Rabbi Skorka, hugged each other in front of the Western Wall. What importance has that gesture had for the reconciliation between Christians and Jews?

Well, my good friend professor Omar Abu, president of the Institute for Inter-religious Dialogue of Buenos Aires, was also at the Wall. I wanted to invite him. He is a very religious man and a father-of-two. He is also friends with Rabbi Skorka and I love them both a lot, and I wanted that that friendship between the three be seen as a witness.

You told me a year ago that “within every Christian there is a Jew.”

Perhaps it would be more correct to say “you cannot live your Christianity, you cannot be a real Christian, if you do not recognize your Jewish roots.” I don’t speak of Jewish in the sense of the Semitic race but rather in the religious sense. I think that inter-religious dialogue needs to deepen in this, in Christianity’s Jewish root and in the Christian flowering of Judaism. I understand it is a challenge, a hot potato, but it can be done as brothers. I pray every day the divine office every day with the Psalms of David. We do the 150 psalms in one week. My prayer is Jewish and I have the Eucharist, which is Christian.

How do you see anti-Semitism?

I cannot explain why it happens, but I think it is very linked, in general, and without it being a fixed rule, to the right wing.  Antisemitism usually nests better in right-wing political tendencies that in the left, right? And it still continues (like this). We even have those who deny the holocaust, which is crazy.

One of your projects is to open the Vatican archives on the Holocaust.

They will bring a lot of light. 

Does it worry you something could be discovered?

What worries me regarding this subject is the figure of Pius XII, the Pope that led the Church during World War II. They have said all sorts of things about poor Pius XII. But we need to remember that before he was seen as the great defender of the Jews. He hid many in convents in Rome and in other Italian cities, and also in the residence of Castel Gandolfo. Forty-two babies, children of Jews and other persecuted who sought refuge there were born there, in the Pope’s room, in his own bed. I don’t want to say that Pius XII did not make any mistakes - I myself make many - but one needs to see his role in the context of the time. For example, was it better for him not to speak so that more Jews would not be killed or for him to speak? I also want to say that sometimes I get “existential hives” when I see that everyone takes it out against the Church and Pius XII, and they forget the great powers. Did you know that they knew the rail network of the Nazis perfectly well to take the Jews to concentration camps? They had the pictures. But they did not bomb those railroad tracks. Why? It would be best if we spoke a bit about everything.

Do you still feel like a parish priest or do you assume your role as head of the Church?

The dimension of parish priest is that which most shows my vocation. Serving the people comes from within me. Turn off the lights to not spend a lot of money, for example. They are things that a parish priest does. But I also feel like the Pope. It helps me to do things seriously. My collaborators are very serious and professional. I have help to carry out my duty. One doesn’t need to play the parish priest Pope. It would be immature. When a head of state comes, I have to receive him with the dignity and the protocol that are deserved. It is true that with the protocol I have my problems, but one has to respect it.

You are changing a lot of things. Towards what future are these changes going?

I am no illumined one. I don’t have any personal project that I’ve brought with me under an arm, simply because I never thought that they were going to leave me here, in the Vatican. Everyone knows this. I came with a little piece of luggage to go straight back to Buenos Aires. What I am doing is carrying out what we cardinals reflected upon during the General Congregations, that is to say, in the meetings that, during the conclave, we all maintained every day to discuss the problems of the Church. From there come reflections and recommendations. One very concrete one was that the next Pope had to count on an external council, that is, a team of assessors that didn’t live in the Vatican.

And you created the so-called Council of Eight.

They are eight cardinals from all the continents and a coordinator. They gather every two or three months here. Now, the first of July we have four days of meetings, and we are going to be making the changes that the very cardinals ask of us. It is not obligatory that we do it but it would be imprudent not to listen to those who know.

You have also made a great effort to become closer to the Orthodox Church.

The invitation to Jerusalem from my brother Bartholomew was to commemorate the encounter between Paul VI and Athenagoras I 50 years ago. It was an encounter after more than a thousand years of separation. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has made efforts to become closer and the Orthodox Church has done the same. some orthodox churches are closer than others. I wanted Bartholomew to be with me in Jerusalem and there emerged the plan to also come to the Vatican to pray. For him it was a risky step because they can throw it in his face, but this gesture of humility needed to be extended, and for us it's necessary because it's not conceivable that we Christians are divided, it's a historical sin that we have to repair.

In the face of the advance of atheism, what is your opinion of people who believe that science and religion are mutually exclusive?  

There was a rise in atheism in the most existential age, perhaps Sartrian. But after came a step toward spiritual pursuits, of encounter with God, in a thousand ways, not necessarily the traditional religions. The clash between science and faith peaked in the Enlightenment, but that is not so fashionable today, thank God, because we have all realized the closeness between one thing and the other. Pope Benedict XVI has a good teaching about the relation between science and faith. In general lines, the most recent is that the scientists are very respectful with the faith and the agnostic or atheist scientist says, “I don’t dare to enter that field.”

You have met many Heads of State.  

Many have come and it’s an interesting variety. Each one has their personality. What has called my attention is the cross made between young politicians, whether they are from the center, the left or the right. Maybe they talk about the same problems but with a new music, and this I like, this gives me hope because politics is one of the more elevated forms of love, of charity. Why? Because it leads to the common good, and a person who, [despite] being  able to do it, does not get involved in politics for the common good, is selfish; or that uses politics for their own good, is corrupt. Some fifteen years ago the French bishops wrote a pastoral letter reflecting on the theme “Restoring Politics.” This is a precious text that makes you realize all of these things.

What do you think of the renunciation of Benedict XVI?

Pope Benedict has made a very significant act. He has opened the door, has created an institution, that of the of the eventual popes emeritus. 70 years ago, there were no emeritus bishops. Today how many are there? Well, as we live longer, we arrive to an age where we cannot go on with things. I will do the same as him, asking the Lord to enlighten me when the time comes and that he tell me what I have to do, and and he will tell me for sure.

You have a room reserved in a retirement home in Buenos Aires.  

Yes, its a retirement house for elderly priests. I was leaving the archdiocese at the end of last year and and had already submitted my resignation to Benedict XVI when I turned 75. I chose a room and said “I want to come to live here.” I will work as a priest, helping the parishes. This is what was going to be my future before being Pope.  

I am not going to ask you whom you support in the World Cup….

Brazilians asked me to remain neutral (he laughs) and I  keep my word because Brazil and Argentina are always antagonistic. 

How would you like to be remembered in history?

I have not thought about it, but I like it when someone remembers someone and says: “He was a good guy, he did what he could. He wasn’t so bad.” I’m OK with that.

Read more:

http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20140612/54408951579/entrevista-papa-francisco.html#ixzz34VC9wXkh  

This text was translated from the original Spanish by CNA's Alan Holdren, Estefania Augirre and Elise Harris.

Consequences of Breivik's mass murder

Breivik's mass shooting on the holiday island of Utoeya targeted youth members of Norway's Labour Party, which heads a relatively pro-immigrant, pro-multicultural government in coalition with the Socialist Left Party and the Center Party.

Utøya - killing spree's sequence of events inscribed onto the island (Photo credit: quapan)

Breivik's actions could help the current government, and in particular the Labour Party, analysts said.
"In the short term, the parties are not going to touch the immigration issue ... I think it's going to make politicians quite cautious in their wording, their rhetoric," said Hanne Marthe Narud, political science professor at Oslo University.

"In a time of tragedy, voters normally flock around the established parties, particularly those in office. The Labour Party has been particularly harmed by this, and the way the prime minister has acted is extremely good. His popularity will spill over to the Labour Party," she added.
Norway's Muslim leaders were hopeful for the future, seeing Breivik's violent call for Europe to shun Muslims as actually more likely to bring Muslims and Christians together.
"I think minorities will think of themselves as more Norwegian ... religion, ethnicity, color will go into the background. The Norwegian identity will be strengthened," said Mehtab Afsar, Islamic Council of Norway general-secretary.
"We are standing shoulder to shoulder with our Christian brothers and sisters in Norway," he added.

Breivik_GP3 (Photo credit: Uppdragsmedia)

Read more:

1. Breivik geen enkeling

2. Christian fundamentalism as dangerous as Muslim fundamentalism

3. Problems by losing the borders

   +++

   2013 update:

   Breivik, held in isolation in a high security prison near Oslo for killing 77 people in twin attacks in 2011, placed an application to create an association he wanted to call "The Norwegian fascist party and the Nordic league."
   But Mette Siri Brønmo, a spokeswoman for the body that registers such applications, told the Aftenposten daily that Breivik's bid fell short of the legal requirements.
   "To be an association, you need to have two people or more ... and in this case, there's only Breivik," she said.
   

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• venus: Utøya: after the massacre
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Religion, fundamentalism and murder

The self-confessed mass murderer of 76 people in Norway was an apparently normal youth who showed no signs of what he was planning even in the months right before the massacre, his ex-stepmother Tove Oevermo told The Associated Press.

Oevermo and Breivik's father divorced 10 years later, around the time Breivik claims, in his 1,500-page manifesto, that he became estranged from his father. Oevermo, 66, recalled the split, but declined to comment on what precipitated it. She did say, however, that she got the feeling Breivik wanted to have a relationship with his father, though he never spoke of their relationship.

Breivik would often speak of a book he was writing, Oevermo said. He was proud of the book, but was evasive about its contents.

Breivik spoke about politics "like every normal person does, not more than that. He never touch Islam and this hatred for it he must have had for it," Oevermo said.
As for the attack itself, Oevermo said she was horrified to learn the "quite informed and well spoken" man she had known.
"People say, 'I'm shocked.' They don't know what shock is all about, physically and psychologically. It was so unreal. I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it," she said. "If I'd had some kind of suspicion — some kind of idea that something was not right with him, it would have been easier, I think."

Not only in Italy were there is still a strong fascist group we could find some reactions to think of.

A politician in a party in Italy's governing coalition called some of Norway massacre suspect Anders Behring Breivik's ideas "great" while the leader of a British far-right group to which Breivik claims links called the attacks a sign of "growing anger" in Europe against Muslim immigrants.

Mario Borghezio, a European parliamentarian who belongs to Italy's right-wing Northern League party, told a mainstream Italian radio station that he sympathized with some of Breivik's ideas.
"Some of the ideas he expressed are good, barring the violence, some of them are great," he told Il Sole-24 Ore radio station.
The Northern League, the junior partner in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government, has caused a stir with its increasingly virulent anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic rhetoric.
Meanwhile, Stephen Lennon, leader of the English Defense League, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he does not condone Breivik's rampage but "the fact that so many people are scared - people have to listen to that."
"People should look at what happened in Oslo and understand that there is growing anger in Europe," said Lennon, 28. "You suppress people's rights you suppress people's voices and people will just continue to go underground - but that doesn't make the problem go away."

Also Patrick Buchanan gives us something to look out for, as he wrote:
"Breivik is evil - a cold-blooded, calculating killer - though a deluded man of some intelligence, who in his 1,500-page manifesto reveals a knowledge of the history, culture and politics of Europe. ...
But, awful as this atrocity was, native-born and homegrown terrorism is not the macro-threat to the continent.
That threat comes from a burgeoning Muslim presence in a Europe that has never known mass immigration, its failure to assimilate, its growing alienation, and its sometime sympathy for Islamic militants and terrorists.
With her native-born populations aging, shrinking and dying, Europe's nations have not discovered how to maintain their prosperity without immigrants. Yet the immigrants who have come - from the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia - have been slow to learn the language and have failed to attain the educational and occupational levels of Europeans. And the welfare states of Europe are breaking under the burden. "

*

Mr.Buchanan's writing is the biased idea of the predisposed general people opposing a growing cultural amalgam and a danger and prevention to cultural diversity. It are those ideas which are also a threat for the evolution of a inter-cultural global society
He is clearly creating a soil for anger against something which can only be attributed to a few fundamentalist groups which sickens all the rest.


Others should look out and also be careful for the extreme right wing ideas.

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Read more:

Christian fundamentalism as dangerous as Muslim fundamentalism

+

Breivik geen enkeling

Please do also to Read:

Pat Buchanan: Norwegian Right-Wing Terrorist ‘Breivik May Be Right’

and
Related articles

• Reacting to the Norway Attacks: Why a Western Terrorist Is No Different than a Muslim One (globalspin.blogs.time.com)
• Pat Buchanan go home (scienceblogs.com)
• Norway: Terror suspect ‘insane’? (waronterrornews.typepad.com)
• Breivik “an ordinary Norwegian,” ex-stepmom says (cbsnews.com)
• Norway Muslims share nation’s grief and hope for unity – Reuters (news.google.com)
• Italy lawmaker: Some of Breivik’s ideas “great” (cbsnews.com)
• Pat Buchanan “Breivik May be Right” [Dean's Corner] (scienceblogs.com)
• Pat Buchanan: Norway Terrorist Anders Breivik “May Be Right” (alan.com)

+++
2013 update:

Related articles

• Terrorist Anders Breivik Wants To Create His Own Party
• Red tape: Norway killer Breivik fails to start fascist organization