Full Text of
Pope Francis-Bergoglio' in-flight interview from Lesbos to Rome
Aboard the papal plane, Apr 16, 2016 / 11:09 am (CNA).-
Pope Francis on April 16 gave a 25-minute press conference for reporters during
his return flight to Rome from Lesbos.
The Pope spoke about the refugee crisis and the global
immigration crisis. He spoke of the 12 Syrian refugees, including six children,
he was bringing to Italy on the flight.
Pope Francis said he saw a global family crisis and
voiced concern that this was missed by media coverage of the controversy over
Holy Communion for those who have divorced and remarried.
The Pope also discussed his brief greeting for
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.). He said the greeting
in no way represented an intention of “getting mixed up in politics.”
Please find below the full transcription, translated into
English
Pope Francis: I thank you for your day of work, for me
and also for you it was a bit powerful.
Ines San Martin (Crux): Holy Father, what we’ve read…
The first question is about the trip. This trip is happening just after an
accord between the European Union and Turkey has come about … Do you think this
is a political question in order save time? This morning, you met with the
presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, at Santa Martha. I wanted to ask you
your feelings on the meeting and on your way of approaching North American
politics…
Pope Francis: “First of all, there is no political
speculation because I didn’t know much about these accords between Turkey and
Europe. I saw them in the newspapers. Bringing these refugees away is a
humanitarian thing. It was an inspiration from a week ago that I immediately
accepted, because I saw that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking.
Everything was done legally. They’ve come with us with their documents in
order. The Vatican, Italy and Greece have given them a visa. They will be welcomed
by the Vatican with the collaboration of Sant’Egidio who will find work for
them. But they are guests of the Vatican and they are added to the two Syrian
families that are already given hospitality by the two Vatican parishes.
Second. This morning when I walked out, there was
Senator Bernie Sanders who came to the congress on “Centessimus Annus.” He knew
that I was leaving at that time and he had the courteousness to greet me. I
greeted him and his wife, and another couple with him that was staying in Santa
Marta, because all of the members of the congress, except the heads of state
who I believe were staying in their embassies, were staying at the Santa Martha
residence. I gave a greeting and nothing more. A greeting is an educated thing
to do and does not mean to be mixed up with politics. If someone thinks that to give a greeting means to get mixed up in
politics, I think he needs a psychiatrist!
Franca Giansoldati (Il Messaggero): You speak much
about welcoming, but perhaps you speak too little about integration. Seeing
what is happening in Europe, where there’s this massive influx of immigrants,
we see that there are many cities that suffer from ghetto sectors… in all of
this, it emerges that Muslim immigrants are those who have the most difficult
time integrating themselves with our values, Western values… wouldn’t it be
more useful to favor the immigration of Christian immigrants? And why did you
favor three entirely Muslim families?
Pope Francis: I didn’t make a religious choice between Christians and Muslims.
These three families had their documents in order. There were, for example, two
Christian families who didn’t. This is not a privilege. All 12 of them are children of God. It’s a privilege to be a child
of God. For what regards integration…you said a word which in current culture
seems to be forgotten, after war still exist: the ghettos. And some of the
terrorists are children and grandchildren of people born in European countries
and what has happened? There was no policy of integration. And this, for me, is
fundamental. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation integration is spoken
of. One of the three pastoral dimensions for families in difficulty is
integration into society. Today, Europe must take up again this capacity that it
has always had: to integrate. With integration, Europe’s culture is enriched. I
think that we need an education, a lesson, on a culture of integration.
Elena Pinardi (EBU): Holy Father, they’re talking
about reinforcing the borders of different European countries, of deploying
battalions along the borders of Europe. Is it the end of Schengen, is it the
end of the European dream?
Pope Francis: I don’t know. I understand the
governments and the people that have a certain fear. I understand. And, we must
take a real responsibility for welcoming. How do we integrate these people with
us? I’ve said this, but making walls is not the solution. We saw it in the last
century, the fall of one. It doesn’t resolve anything. We must make bridges and
bridges are made with intelligence, dialogue, integration. I understand the
fear, but to close the borders doesn’t resolve anything. Because in the long
run, that closure will hurt the people themselves. Europe must make a policy of
welcoming, integration, growth, work, the reform of the economy. All of these
are the bridges that lead us to not making walls. After what I’ve seen in that
refugee camp, and what you saw, was to cry about. The kids. They’ve given me so
many drawings. The children want peace because they’re suffering. It’s true
that there they have educational courses in the camp. What have they seen? Look
at this: what they’ve seen: a drowned child! The kids have got this in their
hearts. Today was truly to cry about. It was to cry about. The same drawing was
made by an Afghan child. These children have this in their memories. They’ll
need time to remove this from their memories. There was a sun that cried in the
drawing. A tear would also do us well.
Fanny Carrier (AFP): Why don’t you make a distinction
between those who flee because of war and those who flee because of hunger? Can
Europe give welcome to the misery of the world?
Pope Francis: It’s true, I said that some run because
of war, others because of hunger. Together the two are both the effects of the
exploitation of the earth. A head of government in Africa told me more or less
a month ago that he is reforesting, because the land that was exploited was
dead because of exploitation. Some run because of hunger, others because of
war. I would invite the arms producers and traffickers, those who sell them to
make war in different places - in Syria for example - I would tell these traffickers
to spend a day in that camp, I think it would be healthy for them.
Nestor Pongutà, W Radio (Colombia): Good afternoon,
Holiness. I’ll ask you the question in Spanish and then you respond in Italian.
You said something very special this morning that really caught our attention:
this is a sad trip. (And we understood from your words that you were really
moved.) But, something changed in your heart when we found out about these 12
people, with this little gesture you’ve give a lesson to those who have turned
their gaze before so much pain, before this “piecemeal third world war.”
Pope Francis: I will respond with a phrase that is not
mine. They asked the same thing to Mother Teresa. They would say to her: ‘You
spend so much strength, so much work, to help people to die, but what you do is
not worth it.’ And she replied: ‘It’s a drop, it’s a drop of water in the sea,
but after that drop, the sea will never be the same.’ Like this it’s possible.
It’s a small act that we all must do in order to take the hand of those in
need.
Josh McElwee (NCReporter): Thank you, Holy Father.
We’ve gone to a nation of migrations, but also of an economic policy of
austerity. I would like to ask you if you have an economic thought of austerity
and also for another island, Puerto Rico. Do you have a thought on this policy
of austerity?
Pope Francis: The work austerity mean, from an
economic point of view, a chapter of a program. Politically it means another,
and spiritually it means another. When I speak, I do so in comparison with
waste. The FAO, it seems to me, in a meeting said that with one wasted meal,
you could nourish the world. And we, in our homes, how much do we waste without
intending to? This culture of waste. Austerity in the sense in which we speak
and austerity in a Christian sense, let’s stop here and divide it a bit. I
speak only in a Christian sense.
Francisco Romero (Rome Reports): Holiness, I simply
would like to say: you have said that this refugee crisis is the worst after
the Second World War. I would like to ask you what you think of the crises of
migrants that arrive in America, in the United States, from Mexico, from Latin
America…
Pope Francis: It’s the same thing. Migrants arrive
there fleeing from hunger, etc. It’s the same problem. In Mexico, I celebrated
Mass 100 meters from the border, where on the other side there were some 50
bishops from the U.S. and 50,000 faithful in one stadium. It’s the same. They
arrive to Mexico from Central America. It’s a global problem. I spoke about it
there to the Mexican bishops, I asked them to take care of the refugees.
Frank Rocca (Wall Street Journal): Thanks, Holy
Father. I see that the questions on immigration that I had thought to ask you
have been asked and answered by you very well. If you permit me, I’d like to
ask you another question about an event of recent days, which was your
apostolic exhortation. As you well know, there has been much discussion about
on one of the many, I know that we’ve focused on this a lot…there has been much
discussion after the publication. Some
sustain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that regulates
access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried, that the Law, the
pastoral praxis and obviously the doctrine remain the same. Others sustain that
much has changed and that there are new openings and possibilities. For a
Catholic who wants to know: are there new, concrete possibilities that didn’t
exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?
Pope Francis: I can say yes, many. But it would be an answer that is too small.
I recommend that you read the presentation of Cardinal Schonborn, who is a
great theologian. He was the secretary for the Congregation of the Doctrine of
the Faith, and he knows the doctrine of the faith well. In that presentation,
your question will find an answer.
Jean-Marie Guenois (Le Figaro): I had the same
question, but it’s a complementary question because you wrote this famous
‘Amoris Laetitia’ on the problems of the divorced and remarried (footnote 351).
Why put something so important in a little note? Did you foresee the opposition
or did you mean to say that this point isn’t that important?
Pope Francis: One of the recent popes, speaking of the
Council, said that there were two councils: the Second Vatican Council in the
Basilica of St. Peter, and the other, the council of the media. When I convoked
the first synod, the great concern of the majority of the media was communion
for the divorced and remarried, and, since I am not a saint, this bothered me,
and then made me sad. Because, thinking of those media who said, this, this and
that, do you not realize that that is not the important problem? Don’t you
realize that instead the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we
realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And
the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t
want to marry? Don’t you realize that the fall of the birth rate in Europe is
to cry about? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work
(available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up
alone? These are the big problems. I
don’t remember the footnote, but for sure if it’s something general in a
footnote it’s because I spoke about it, I
think, in ‘Evangelii Gaudium.’
Thanks a lot, I feel calm with you. Now, they will
give you something to eat!
Read more:
Bergoglio’s
great theologian who knows the doctrine of the faith well
Cardinal Schönborn: Church should embrace ‘positive elements’ of gay unions and other sexual sins
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