Parolin map. Meeting with the nuncios: "to be united to the pope"

ANDREA TORNIELLI – Vatican City

A "positive balance", a meeting between "simplicity" and "fraternity". This is how Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, comments on the meeting held in recent days at the Vatican, where the Apostolic Nuncios gathered.

How do you evaluate the meeting of the pope with the apostolic nuncios that took place these days in the Vatican?

"The balance is certainly positive, these meetings have a value in themselves because they are a moment of meeting between people who work for the same purpose, in the same spirit and in the service of the same reality as the Church. and, in particular, The Pope, even though they do so very far from each other, and the topics discussed during these days aroused great interest from the participants, which was especially evident in the many presentations that followed the various conferences.

I think the weather has been good. There was also a moment of intense participation in the death of the Apostolic Nuncio to Argentina, Leon Kalenga, who saw us all united in prayer with the Holy Father during the funeral celebration. It is a positive encounter that perpetuates tradition and has led the pope to continue these appointments every three years, after the experiences of 2013, immediately after his election, and in 2016, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Mercy.

How was received the speech that Francis gave to the nuncios? The media highlighted some of the text's recommendations and highlighted the reprimands.

"I saw that there had been a reception, and it was also pretty obvious, the media are always on the lookout for what is tempting in the interventions of the Holy Father or other members of the Church. " Personally, I do not think that we can limit ourselves to In my initial greeting to the pope, I spoke of "corrections". I said: We are open to receiving all the encouragement and corrections that can really improve our service, because we want to render an ever greater service to the Church. Therefore, for the Pope and for the people, the references of the Holy Father's speech must also be read in this positive context, and it seems to me that this is how the participants received and experienced it ".

In his speech, Francisco recalled that the nuncio is called to be a "man of God", representative of the Church and the pontiff, mission "incompatible" with the criticism of the pope, with "to have blogs or even join hostile groups "him and the church. How do you judge this call?

"I think it's a fair decision, there are debatable things in the sense that they can be discussed, like an old axiom in necessaris unitas, in dubiis libertas, in the omnibus states caritas (unity in what is necessary, freedom in doubt, charity in all, ed.). However, we are representatives of the Pope and therefore we can say things, we think we should say them very freely. I believe that the Holy Father is very open and willing to receive comments, observations and reflections on the different issues.

At the same time, we must try to maintain unity, which is the condition of the effectiveness of our action in the world. We will be more effective if we are truly united in the fundamentals. This is why, first and foremost as pontifical representatives, we must have this unity with the pope and this adherence to his teaching, which must then concretely translate into attitudes of sharing his thought and his direction. "

What can you tell us about the closed dialogue between the pope and the nuncios?

"It was a very open and frank dialogue in which, with a lot of simplicity and a lot of fraternity – notes that characterize all the meetings of those days – some topics were put on the table, but on which I would not like At a closed meeting, the nuncios surely appreciated the answers given by the pope, because he was not afraid to enter into sensitive subjects by speaking to them with much frankness and openness ".