CUBA
Inquirer (Philippines)
Associated Press
4:18 am | Thursday, March 28th
HAVANA—Pope Francis issued a strong critique of the Church before the College of Cardinals just hours before it selected him as the new Pontiff, according to comments published on Tuesday by a Roman Catholic magazine in Cuba.
According to Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio urged the Vatican to eschew self-absorption and refocus its energies outward.
“The Church is called on to emerge from itself and move toward the peripheries, not only geographic but also existential (ones): Those of sin, suffering, injustice, ignorance and religious abstention, thought and all misery,” Bergoglio said.
Ortega said Bergoglio’s comments were made to cardinals as they gathered to select Benedict XVI’s replacement, and reflect his vision of the contemporary Catholic Church. He said Bergoglio later gave him a handwritten version and permission to divulge its contents.
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