"For Francisco, the Argentineans do not allow him to be pope" | Chronic

By Alicia Barrios
[email protected]
Special envoy to the Vatican

My lord Oscar Ojea He is president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference and is in Rome with other bishops for the visit "ad limina" which did not last ten years. Ojea is "a shepherd with the smell of sheep"as Francisco says. "Chronicle" spoke alone with him at the Domus Romana Sacerdotalis, where the participants of this meeting stay.

"I saw Cardinal Bergoglio for the last time in February 2013, to ask him a question, he was ready to retire, deciding between San Cayetano and San Pantaleón, I would never have imagined that He would be pope. "

-And what did you feel after the conclave?

-I could not believe it. So much so that that night, I dreamed that a cardinal, dressed in red, was making a gesture no-no with the head and was telling me that he was wrong because Bergoglio was the Pope. The next day, as soon as I woke up, I sent him an email telling him the dream. He answered me with a beautiful letter: "This also caught my attention when the votes began to rise, I was invaded by a different kind of peace, thanks to this peace I live, that's me. support, I am protected by it ". For my part, everything that I dreamed about for the Church is happening now.

-In Argentina, Bergoglio being Pope, did the Catholic community develop?

-He grew up over the border. Those who were baptized but who were far away did not join, the agnostics regained faith through him. They still believed. Francisco is more loved outside the Catholic Church than in the interior. In the Jewish and Islamic community, they have unbounded admiration. Millions of people follow him around the world because of the need for spiritual leadership. He took the reins of values, the poor, care of the planet, humanization. Argentines do not allow him to be pope. For them, he must be in everything, even in football, and it is not like that. It's amazing how they follow it elsewhere because it's the pope they need. There is an orphan, a thirst for God. His presence is extraordinary. We, the Argentines, have no idea.

-How did your life start?

-It ordered me on September 2, 2006. He asked me to occupy the Vicaría Centro that goes from Caballito to the river and from Barracas to Barrio Norte. Bergoglio was interested in the presence of people in the squares. I took it to heart. We started with Constitution with inhabitants of the village 21, Barracas, Santa Elisa, different audiences. We have blessed. And then we went walking.

– Currently, the church is in a difficult context.

-C is like that. The church is accused of being patriarchal. The discussion on abortion, which caused so much damage to the Argentines. With that, I'm just listing some things. It is not easy. At the same time, we have a Holy Father who looks to the people of God and feels himself being watched. It's the understanding that others need to feel included.

– I doubt that we can be liberal and Catholic, because they privilege their economic interests in relation to their minds.

-The pope is not anti-capitalist. It's against wild capitalism. It highlights the social doctrine of the Church. He sets the aspirations of Christianity: the earth, the roof and the work. This is a challenge for economists. You can not stop prioritizing these points. We see Europe from the first world, like Spain. You can not believe that they are installing barriers with knives in the Mediterranean, so that the arriving victims have to cut themselves and cross the wire of a razor.

–In our country, we are talking about the call for government dialogue.

-The appeal is very important. Necessary Nobody can rule without dialogue. We are so bad that no community project has emerged. Not only do we have no food, but we will eat between us. In this sense, it is good to call for dialogue. This is an example to accept. You must start by listening.

-What does the Church need?

-The common good. May all the Argentine people live in dignity. Have what is right for life and sustenance. We have lost the mysticism of the homeland. And whoever is left without a homeland remains an orphan. Life does not make sense. The motherland is the mother. When he mentioned the death of the homeland in a homily, quoting a poem by Jorge Dragone: "Our homeland has long been dead in the small village, it was an almost adolescent country, it was a little girl. : a small group of schoolchildren, mostly people it was every day (…) We were sad, this country was our homeland, it's very sad to be an orphan of our country, then we have realized. " Francisco can help us recover it, we have to take care of it when he uses the word. Francisco celebrates the homeland.