‘We must wait and see,’ pope says of President Trump

817 0

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As President Donald Trump was being sworn in, Pope Francis told an interviewer it would be “reckless” to pass judgment on the new president before he had a chance to do anything.

“We must wait and see,” the pope told two reporters from the Spanish newspaper El Pais during a 75-minute interview Jan. 20.

The interview was published late Jan. 21 in its original Spanish with an English translation.

Asked if he wasn’t worried at least about some of the things Trump said before his election, the pope responded, “I’m waiting. God waited so long for me, with all my sins.”

“Being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite reckless,” the pope said. “We will see. We will see what he does and then we will judge — always on the concrete. Christianity either is concrete or it is not Christianity.”

El Pais asked another question about Trump and populists in the United States and Europe who, the interviewer said, “capitalize on fear in the face of an uncertain future in order to form a message full of xenophobia and hatred toward the foreigner.”

“Crises provoke fear, alarm,” the pope said. “In my opinion, the most obvious example of European populism is Germany in 1933. After (Paul von) Hindenburg, after the crisis of 1930, Germany is broken, it needs to get up, to find its identity, a leader, someone capable of restoring its character, and there is a young man named Adolf Hitler who says: ‘I can, I can.'”

“Hitler didn’t steal the power, his people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people,” Pope Francis said.

In times of crisis, he said, large segments of the population think, “Let’s look for a savior who gives us back our identity and let’s defend ourselves with walls, barbed-wire, whatever, from other peoples who may rob us of our identity. And that is a very serious thing.”

Obviously, Pope Francis said, nations have a right and duty to control their borders, especially under the threat of terrorism, but “no country has the right to deprive its citizens of the possibility of talking with their neighbors.”

The El Pais reporters also asked Pope Francis about his hopes for improved diplomatic relations with China. As he has done in the past, the pope reported that a Vatican-Chinese committee has been meeting regularly for years and the dialogue continues.

“Are you ready to go to China?” he was asked.

“When they invite me,” he replied. “In China the churches are full. One can practice one’s religion in China,” he added, without mentioning the fact that religious practice is tightly controlled by the government.

El Pais also asked the 80-year-old pope if he expects to resign like Pope Benedict XVI did.

“That I don’t know. That is for God to decide,” he said. “When I feel that I cannot go on, my great teacher Benedict taught me what to do. And, if God takes me before that, I will see it from the other side — hopefully not from hell.”

Related Post

Italian journalist Paolo Ruffini has been appointed as head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication. Ruffini, who headed the television and radio network of the Italian bishops, will be the first layperson to head such a high-level Vatican dicastery. He is pictured in an undated photo provided by TV2000. (CNS photo/courtesy TV2000)

Pope names lay Italian journalist to head Vatican communications

Posted by - July 14, 2018 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has named a lay Italian journalist with decades of experience in print, radio and…
An immigration rally takes place April 18 outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. The U.S. bishops' migration committee chair in a July 18 statement urged President Donald Trump to "ensure permanent protection" for youth under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

U.S. bishops call for permanent protection for young migrants

Posted by - July 23, 2017 0
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The chair of the migration committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the Trump administration…
Pope Francis greets journalists aboard his flight from Rome to Maputo, Mozambique, Sept. 4, 2019. "We need stories that reveal who we truly are, also in the untold heroism of everyday life," Pope Francis wrote in his message for World Communications Day 2020. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

World needs stories of truth, peace, inspiration, pope says

Posted by - February 2, 2020 0
VATICAN CITY — With fake news becoming ever more sophisticated, people need the wisdom, courage and patience to discern and…