This Silere Non Possum interview is translated from Italian to English by a digital service which makes the English somewhat clunky. It’s fascinating:
We are wondering who could succeed this Pope. We do not do it starting from the people but from the needs».
«Your Eminence, but who could succeed Jorge Mario Bergoglio? Who could take the reins of the Church in this very delicate moment? If someone were to arrive - which we absolutely need - who would return to the essential and begin to eliminate all these intrigues between journalists, the media, etc... there are those who are already ready to start an unprecedented battle against the Pope.
As happened with Benedict», I ask.
«I don't think we should worry. On the contrary. We need someone - but I think you've already written this - who has courage. The first need is to put justice back at the center. We really appreciated what Pope Francis said about mercy. However, in times of growing social and legal complexity, the need for a man who can lead the Church by placing canon law at the center of its mission emerges forcefully. It is not a question of reducing faith to a mere normative question, but of recognizing how canon law is an essential tool for ensuring justice, transparency and even order within the Church. To put it as he would say, we do not need a bureaucratic Pope, but a pastor capable of seeing canon law not as a limit, but as a support for spiritual and community growth. John Paul II did this and had enormous difficulty. A Pope who is aware that justice is an integral part of the evangelical message. Furthermore, I believe that it is necessary to truly return to putting Jesus Christ first. We do not talk enough about Jesus Christ today" he replies.
I provoke him: «We talked about the Synod, about the positions we have to divide up, about the roles and for years we have been saying that decisions must be made synodally». «Yes, but we need someone who then makes these decisions! For this reason too, it is necessary to start making it clear who has authority and who does not. The apostles listen, they consult but the decision must then be made. This is what we as a Church have experienced in recent years. The ability to say "yes, yes" and "no, no" is completely lacking. To bless or not to bless? To allow access to the sacraments or not to allow access? Today everyone does what they want because in the end everything and its opposite has been said». I look at him, smile and say: «Yes, we need a courageous Pope. A kamikaze». He laughs: «The simple fact of returning to live in the Apostolic Palace will be seen as something to criticize. But has anyone asked themselves what will happen when the Pope dies? The Domus has been completely revised compared to what it was in 2013. Structural changes have been made." I interrupt him: "The press has never talked about this either. They keep saying that he lives in a small room." He smiles: "You know very well that it's not like that. The whole plan has been revised. There will be many more of us entering the Conclave now than before. Perhaps because he thought that this year many would leave over eighty."
The problems, therefore, will also be different with regard to the organization of the Conclave. Contrary to what conspiracy theorists and lovers of "behind the scenes" say, the cardinals are not making agreements or reflecting on specific people. Instead, they are wondering who will be able to collect the legacy of a pontificate like that of Francis. "Although very different from John Paul, let's say that the feelings are a bit like those of 2005. Collecting the legacy of a man like Bergoglio is difficult on a media level. As for the status of the Church, however, it is certainly an unprecedented challenge", he explains.
We walk and recite the holy rosary. After the litanies, the cardinal turns to me and says: "Write it on Silere non possum that last night at the recitation of the Rosary there were several cardinals and bishops who have suffered serious harassment by Francis. They were there to pray for him. Sometimes I meet someone when I come down from my apartment and we exchange a few words. I have never heard people speak badly of the Pope. Sometimes one of them has said to me: "Your Eminence, I don't understand why the Pope no longer has confidence in me. I don't understand what happened" but never a bad word. Sometimes newspapers create monsters to be able to tell the story of the Church for something that it is not. In recent years many priests have suffered because of the Pope's wrong choices. That's what you write, you're the only ones to say it. It's precisely that uncertainty, sometimes just one word. There was a good priest who was in his secretariat and he was kicked out just because he reproached him for having spoken about him on a television station in his hometown. He sent him back to the Secretariat of State into oblivion. Ruined lives because then people talk, chat and invent many conspiracy theories but what is most distressing is the fact that you live constantly thinking about what could have happened because the day before he hugged you and praised you and the next day he doesn't even want to see you. Then you come to find out, from other people, that he was told something by a person who doesn't even know you and that it isn't even true. However, in the meantime, he has decided so and there are no saints in heaven..."
The Conclave risks being long. Not only will there be more cardinals but it will be necessary to get more people who in reality don't know each other at all to agree. The common feeling, however, is precisely that of returning a little to justice. It seems to be a glue. Benedict XVI wrote in Caritas in Veritate: "On the one hand, charity demands justice: the recognition and respect of the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples. It works to build the 'city of man' according to law and justice. On the other hand, charity surpasses justice and completes it in the logic of gift and forgiveness. The 'city of man' is not promoted only by relationships of rights and duties, but even more and before that by relationships of generosity, mercy and communion. Charity always manifests the love of God in human relationships; it gives theological and salvific value to every commitment to justice in the world."
