Pope Interview: talks with China,
migration, Chile abuse crisis
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| Pope Francis interviewed by Reuter's Philip Pullella. (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis has spoken about talks with China, migration
policy, populism, Chile’s clerical sex abuse crisis, reform of the Roman Curia,
and other issues in a wide-ranging interview with the Reuters news agency. The
interviewer was Philip Pullella, head of Reuter’s Rome bureau.
By Susy Hodges
In a new one-on-one interview Pope Francis has responded to
a series of questions on various issues including the Holy See’s talks with
China, the position of women within the Church, migration policy, populism,
Chile’s clerical sex abuse crisis and reform of the Roman Curia.
Talks with China “at a good point”
Asked in the interview about relations with China, Pope
Francis said he was optimistic about the outcome of normalization talks with
the Chinese authorities saying they were “at a good point” but couldn’t say
when they would conclude. He acknowledged that dialogue “is a risk” but said he
preferred that to “the certain defeat” of not holding a dialogue with Beijing.
The Pope talked at length about immigration during the
interview and was asked about the U.S. administration’s policy of separating
migrant families at the U.S./Mexican border. In his reply, he said he
supported recent statements issued by U.S. Catholic Bishops who called the
separation of children from their parents contrary to Catholic values and
immoral.
Turning to the migration situation in Europe, the Holy
Father said populists were “creating a psychosis” on the issue of immigration,
even as ageing societies like Europe faced “a great demographic winter” and
needed more immigrants.
“I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive. You
have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see
where to put them, but throughout all of Europe,” he said. He praised
Italy and Greece for being “courageous and generous” by taking in these
migrants.
Populism is not the solution
Pope Francis warned that populism does not resolve issues
like migration problems. “What resolves things is acceptance, study, prudence,”
he said. The Pope also said Europe should stop exploiting Africa and invest in
ways that benefit the continent more and this could help solve the problem of
migration at its roots.
When asked about women calling for more top positions in the
Roman Curia, Pope Francis said he agreed there were few women in positions of
responsibility there. He said he wanted to appoint more women to head Vatican
departments because “women are better at resolving conflicts.” At the same
time, he reiterated that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood.
“(Pope) John Paul II was clear on this point and closed the door and I am not
going back on that,” he said.
Chile’s clerical sex abuse crisis was another topic
discussed at length during the interview. Pope Francis has accepted the
resignation of three bishops in Chile and said he could accept more
resignations in the future.
He spoke of how he returned “a bit worried” after his
pastoral visit to Chile in January this year and explained why he decided to
send Archbishop Charles Scicluna to the Latin American nation to carry out further
investigations into the abuse crisis.
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