El Papa inicia un viaje que “no será simple”, según el Vaticano

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
La Tercera

>>The Pope begins a journey that “will not be simple”, according to the Vatican

January 14, 2018

By Juan Paulo Iglesias

El secretario de Estado, Pietro Parolin, que acompañará al Pontífice durante su recorrido por Chile y Perú, reconoció que “no será un viaje simple”.

“Mañana (hoy) iré a Chile y Perú. Les pido que me acompañen con la oración en este viaje apostólico”, pidió el Papa Francisco al final de su tradicional saludo del Angelus, que pronuncia los domingos desde el Palacio Apostólico. En la Plaza San Pedro algunos aplausos, un par de banderas chilenas y peruanas, y un grupo de jóvenes con un extenso lienzo donde se podía leer buon viaggio recibieron las palabras del Pontífice, quien sólo un par de horas antes había celebrado una misa en la Basílica de San Pedro con ocasión de la jornada mundial de los migrantes y los refugiados. Bajo un cielo parcialmente nublado y apenas ocho grados -muy distinto a las temperaturas que recibirán al Papa en Chile-, el tradicional pedido de oración que hace el Pontífice cuando emprende alguna peregrinación fuera del Vaticano tenía esta vez una cercanía mayor y se leía, inevitablemente, a la luz de los últimos acontecimientos producidos en Chile, como el ataque incendiario a la Iglesia de San Agustín, de la comuna de Melipilla.

En una entrevista concedida al nuevo sitio de noticias del Vaticano, Vatican News, el secretario de Estado, Pietro Parolin, quien acompañará al Pontífice durante su recorrido por Chile y Perú, reconoció que la cuarta visita a Sudamérica de Francisco “no será un viaje simple”, aunque luego agregó: “Pero, definitivamente, será apasionante”.

[Google Translation: The Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, who will accompany the Pontiff during his tour of Chile and Peru, acknowledged that “it will not be a simple trip.”

“Tomorrow (today) I will go to Chile and Peru. I ask you to accompany me with prayer on this apostolic trip, “Pope Francis asked at the end of his traditional Angelus greeting, which he pronounces on Sundays from the Apostolic Palace. In the Plaza San Pedro some applause, a couple of Chilean and Peruvian flags, and a group of young people with an extensive canvas where you could read Buon Viaggio received the words of the Pontiff, who only a couple of hours before had celebrated a mass in the St. Peter’s Basilica on the occasion of the world day of migrants and refugees. Under a partly cloudy sky and barely eight degrees -very different from the temperatures that will receive the Pope in Chile-, the traditional prayer request that the Pontiff makes when he undertakes a pilgrimage outside the Vatican had this time a greater closeness and was read,

In an interview with the Vatican’s new Vatican news website, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who will accompany the Pontiff during his visit to Chile and Peru, acknowledged that Francisco’s fourth visit to South America “will not be a simple trip “, But then added:” But definitely, it will be exciting. ”

“The Pope as pastor of the universal Church is going to find the local churches (…), particularly active churches, but they have to face many challenges,” the cardinal said. Among these, Parolin highlighted two: the situation of indigenous populations – a topic that the Pope would address during his visit to Temuco – and the corruption that, he said, “prevents the development and overcoming of poverty and misery.”

A few words that, added to the latest events in Chile and Peru, have been collected by various Vatican analysts, who highlight the complexity of the visit that the Pontiff will begin today, at 19.55, when the Boeing 777 of Alitalia that transports it lands in Pudahuel, after about 16 hours of flight.

For Andrea Tornielli, one of the journalists closest to the Pontiff and editor of the Vatican Insider site, Francisco’s visit to Chile will be a complex journey. “The protests in Santiago, the resentment toward the Church by the cases of pedophilia and the Mapuche question make it difficult for the Pope to visit,” he wrote in an article published last Saturday, where he warns about the effects that the recent revelation could have. of a letter in which the Pope recognizes before the Chilean episcopate the problems of the situation of the Bishop of Osorno, Juan Barros.

In addition, Tornielli assures that in order to reverse what he describes as “loss of credibility of the Chilean Church in public opinion”, he must “know how to move outside the pre-established programs and the protocols of a trip that is pre-announced complicated.” According to Tornielli, the trip undertaken by Francisco, “which was expected to be a peaceful return to his Latin America and countries he knows well”, may be one of the most complex of his five years of pontificate.

Like Tornielli, the American religious site Crux, of the Vaticanist John Allen, also addressed the difficulties of the visit, especially the effects that pedophilia cases have had on both the Chilean and the Peruvian Church. For the journalist Inés San Martín, the complexity of the trip of the Pontiff is clear in the words of Cardinal Parolin: “It will not be a simple visit”.

But apart from these concerns and as usual before each trip, Pope Francis visited on Saturday the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome to entrust his pilgrimage to the Virgin, and yesterday left the day at 10.00 with the Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

A celebration that brought together about 10,000 people in the Basilica of San Pedro and in which the Pope made a strong call to welcome migrants, despite what he called “legitimate fears and doubts that their arrival generates in the populations local”.

The Pontiff also stated in his message that “the collective and arbitrary expulsions of migrants and refugees are not a suitable solution, especially when they are carried out in countries that can not guarantee respect for dignity or fundamental rights.”

The Mass brought together representatives of communities from 49 countries present in Rome, including the Chilean Marisol Silva, who has been in Italy for 17 years and was in charge of carrying the Chilean flag during the ceremony. “It was a great emotion,” said the woman, who collaborates in the mission of Spanish-American immigrants in Rome.]

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