VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 132   
   DATE 14-07-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope on his return flight to Rome: encourage Latin America's young Church   
   - The Holy See regards the Iranian nuclear programme in a positive light   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope on his return flight to Rome: encourage Latin America's young Church   
    Vatican City, 14July 2015 (VIS) - During the return flight from Paraguay to   
   Rome, the Pope answered questions from the journalists who accompanied him on   
   his apostolic trip to Latin America, as summarised below.   
    Question: Why does Paraguay not have a cardinal? What sin has Paraguay   
   committed, so as not to have a cardinal?   
    Answer: Well, not having a cardinal isn't a sin. The majority of countries in   
   the world do not have a cardinal. The nationalities of the cardinals ... are a   
   minority compared to the whole. ... At times, for the election of cardinals, an   
   evaluation is made, the files are studied one by one, you see the person, the   
   charism especially, of the cardinal who will have to advise and assist the Pope   
   in the universal government of the Church. The cardinal, though he belongs to a   
   particular Church, is incardinated in the Church of Rome, and needs to have a   
   universal vision. This does not mean that there is not a bishop in Paraguay who   
   has it, but you always have to elect up to a number, there is a limit of 120   
   cardinal electors. ... I ask another question: Does Paraguay deserve a   
   cardinal,   
   if we look at the Church of Paraguay? I'd say that yes, they deserve two, but   
   it   
   has nothing to do with merits. It is a lively Church, a joyful Church, a   
   fighting Church with a glorious history.   
    Question: We would like to know whether you consider just the Bolivians wish   
   to   
   have sovereign access to the sea, to return to having a sovereign access to the   
   Pacific, and by what criteria. And, Holy Father, should Chile and Bolivia ask   
   for your mediation, would you accept?   
    Answer: The issue of mediation is very delicate, and it would be a last step.   
   That is, Argentina experienced this with Chile, and it was truly to stop a war.   
   It was a very extreme situation, and dealt with very well by those appointed by   
   the Holy See, always backed by John Paul II who was very interested. ... At the   
   moment, I have to be very respectful about this because Bolivia has made an   
   appeal to an international court. So at present if I make a comment, as a head   
   of State, it could be interpreted as involvement or pressure on my part. It is   
   necessary to be very disrespectful of the decision of the Bolivian people who   
   made this appeal. ... There is another thing I want to make very clear. In the   
   Cathedral of Bolivia, I touched on this issue in a very delicate way, taking   
   into account the situation of the appeal to the international court. I remember   
   the context perfectly - brothers have to engage in dialogue, the Latin American   
   peoples need to engage in dialogue. I stopped, I was silent a moment, and then   
   said, "I'm thinking of the sea". I continued, "dialogue and dialogue." I think   
   it was clear that my comment referred to this problem, with respect for the   
   situation as it is at present. It is in an international tribunal, so it is not   
   possible to speak about mediation or facilitation. We have to wait.   
    Follow-up question: Is the Bolivians' wish just or not?   
    Answer: There is always a base of justice when there is a change in the   
   territorial borders, particularly after a war. So this is under continuous   
   revision. I would say that it is not unfair to present something like this,   
   this   
   wish. I remember that in the year 1961, during my first year of philosophy, we   
   were given a documentary about Bolivia ... called "The Ten Stars". And it   
   presented each one of the nine provinces and then, at the end, for the tenth,   
   there was the sea, without a word. That stayed in my mind. It was the year   
   1961.   
   In other words, it is clear that there is a desire.   
    Question: Ecuador was in a state of unrest before your visit, and after you   
   left the country those who oppose the government returned to the streets. It   
   seems that they would like to use your presence in Ecuador for political ends,   
   especially because of the phrase you used, "the people of Ecuador have stood up   
   with dignity". I would like to ask you, if possible, what did you mean by this   
   phrase?   
    Answer: Evidently there were some political problems and strikes. I don't know   
   the details of politics in Ecuador and it would be foolish of me to give an   
   opinion. Afterwards I was told that there was a type of hiatus during my visit,   
   which I am grateful for, as it is the gesture of a people on their feet, of   
   respect for the visit of a Pope. ... But if these problems resume, clearly, the   
   problems and political debates continue. With regard to the phrase you   
   mentioned: I refer to the greater awareness of their courage that the people of   
   Ecuador have been gaining. There was a border war with Peru not long ago. There   
   is a history of war. Then, there's been a greater awareness of Ecuador's ethnic   
   diversity and dignity. Ecuador is not a throwaway country. Or rather, it refers   
   to the people as a whole and to all of the dignity of the people who, after the   
   border war, stood up with ever greater awareness of its dignity and the wealth   
   it has in its diversity and variety. In other words, it cannot be attributed to   
   one concrete political situation. That phrase - I was told, I did not see it   
   myself - was manipulated to suggest that the government had put Ecuador on her   
   feet, or that she had been raised to her feet by those opposing the government.   
   One comment can be manipulated, and I believe that in this we must be very   
   careful.   
    Question: In your address to popular movements in Bolivia you spoke about the   
   new colonialism and the idolatry of money that subjugates the economy, and the   
   imposition of austerity measures that continually "tighten the belt" of the   
   poor. For some weeks now in Europe there is the situation in Greece, which   
   risks   
   leaving the Euro zone. What do you think about what is happening in Greece, and   
   which also affects all of Europe?   
    Answer: I am near to this situation, as it is a phenomenon present throughout   
   the world, all over the world. Also in the East, in the Philippines, in India,   
   in Thailand. There are movements that are organised among themselves not as a   
   form of protest but in order to keep going and to be able to live. And they are   
   movements that have momentum, and these people - there are many of them - do   
   not   
   feel represented by union, as they say that the unions are now corporations and   
   do not fight - I am simplifying somewhat - for the rights of the poor. And the   
   Church cannot be indifferent to this. The Church has a social doctrine and is   
   in   
   dialogue with these this movement, and does so well. You have seen the   
   enthusiasm of feeling that the Church - they say - is not distant from us, the   
   Church has a doctrine that helps us to fight for this. It is a dialogue. The   
   Church does not choose an anarchic path. No, we are not anarchists. These   
   people   
   work, they try to work hard even with waste, with what is left over; they are   
   real workers.   
    Then, regarding Greece and the international system, I do not understand it   
   well ... but it would certainly be all too simple to say that the blame lies   
   only   
   on one side. If the Greek government has advanced this situation of   
   international debt, it too bears responsibility. With the new Greek government,   
   there have been steps in the right direction, towards revision. I hope, and it   
   is the only thing I can say to you, as I do not know the situation well, that a   
   way will be found to solve the Greek problem, and also a path of supervision so   
   that other countries do not experience the same problem, and that this may help   
   us to go ahead, as the path of loans and debts never ends. I was told, about a   
   year or so ago, that there was a United Nations project ... whereby a Country   
   can   
   declare itself bankrupt - which is not the same as being in default - but it is   
   a project I heard about and I do not know how it ended or whether or not it was   
   true. If a company can declare bankruptcy why can't a country do it, so that we   
   can then go to the aid of others?   
    Then, with regard to the new colonialisms, evidently these are a question of   
   values. The colonialism of consumerism, for example. The habit of consumerism   
   is   
   the result of a process of colonisation, as it leads to a habit that is not   
   one's own and causes a personality imbalance. Consumerism also upsets the   
   balance of the domestic economy and of social justice, as well as physical and   
   mental health, for instance.   
    Question: Holy Father, what did you think when you received the hammer and   
   sickle with Christ on it, offered by President Morales? And what became of the   
   object?   
    Answer: I didn't know about it, and I was not aware that Fr. Espinal was a   
   sculptor and also a poet. I found out in these days. I saw it and it was a   
   surprise to me. It can be qualified as belonging to the genre of protest art.   
   For example, in Buenos Aires a few years ago there was an exhibition of protest   
   art by a good, creative Argentine sculptor - he is dead now - and I remember a   
   work which was a crucified Christ on a bomber that was falling down. It was a   
   critique of Christianity allied with imperialism, in the form of the bomber.   
   Firstly, then, I did not know about it and secondly, I would qualify it as   
   protest art that can in some cases be offensive; in some cases. Thirdly, in   
   this   
   specific case: Fr. Espinal was killed in the year 1980. It was a time in which   
   liberation theology had many different threads, one of which was the Marxist   
   analysis of reality, and Fr. Espinal subscribed to this. ... In the same year,   
   the   
   Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Arrupe, sent a letter to the   
   whole   
   Society regarding the Marxist analysis of reality in theology, stopping this to   
   some extent, saying no, this doesn't work, they are different things, it is not   
   right. And four years later, in 1984, the Congregation for the Doctrine of   
   Faith   
   published its first short volume, its first declaration on liberation theology,   
   which it criticised. Then there was the second, that opens up more Christian   
   perspectives. ... Let us consider the hermeneutics of that period. Espinal was   
   an   
   enthusiast of the Marxist analysis of reality, but also of theology. That work   
   came from this. Espinal's poetry also belongs to the protest genre: it was his   
   life, his thought. He was a special man, with great human geniality, who fought   
   in good faith. Through a hermeneutics of this type I understand the work. To me   
   it was not offensive. But I had to apply this hermeneutics and I say this to   
   you, so that there are not any mistaken opinions. I now carry the object with   
   me, it is coming with me. You perhaps heard that President Morales wished to   
   bestow two honours on me: one is the most important in Bolivia and the other is   
   of the Order of Fr. Espinal, a new Order. I have never accepted honours, but he   
   did this with such good will and with the wish to please. And I thought that   
   this comes from the people of Bolivia - I prayed about this and thought about   
   it   
   - and if I take them to the Vatican they will end up in a museum where nobody   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)