Pope Francis will see a lively faith in Peru and Chile, Lima’s cardinal says

December 5, 2017 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Rome, Italy, Dec 5, 2017 / 11:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead of Pope Francis' trip to Chile and Peru, the Archbishop of Lima has said that the Bishop of Rome will encounter a lively faith in the countries, where there are “great expression of popular religiosity.”

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne spoke to CNA ahead of Pope Francis' trip to Chile and Peru, which he will make Jan. 15-21, 2018.

The cardinal is visiting Rome, and met with Pope Francis Monday for a conversation that largely focused on the Pope's upcoming visit to his country.

In his comments to CNA, the cardinal said Latin America, and Peru in particular, maintain a staunchly Christian culture where traditional values on marriage and family issues specifically are widely upheld.

Peru itself is a largely Catholic nation, and while traditional forms of marriage and family life are threatened by the same secular ideologies growing throughout the U.S. and many countries in Europe, the defense of marriage is much stronger.

The country is also traditional when it comes to the abortion issue, with roughly 89 percent of the population defending life, he said.  

Because of this, Cipriani said he believes the Pope's visit is an opportunity for the world to look at Latin America and learn from their example of faith.

This faith is largely expressed in Peru through various and colorful forms of popular piety such as processions, vigils, and public prayer. Among the biggest of these are the processions on the feasts of Corpus Christi and the Lord of Miracles.

“The popular piety is going to move [Francis] a lot because he is going to see it in all corners” of the country, the cardinal said, explaining that this show of faith is part of the 'cultural DNA' in Peru, and will play a big role in the Pope's visit.

“I think that the Holy Father will meet the population with a great expressions of popular religiosity that will be very near to his heart,” he said.

The visit to Peru, which holds the theme “United by Hope,” will also be key in terms of helping the Peruvian bishops' conference become more unified, he said, noting the country is composed of a variety of backgrounds, which at times makes it difficult to be on the same page.

“The country is very diverse, geographically, ethnically, so the reality that the bishops have on the coast, in the mountains, or in the jungle is very different,” the cardinal said. With 50 bishops representing these different areas, trying to combine everything into one cohesive conference “isn't easy.”

In Peru, there are dioceses that have 100,000 inhabitants, while others, such as Lima, have 10 million. Some are areas more advanced in terms of development while in other areas people live “in absolute poverty.”

With all this in mind, Cipriani said he believes the Pope will encourage the Peruvian bishops “to say: 'in seeking holiness you have to come together in a vision that brings Christ to all'.”

Another key theme of the trip, the cardinal said, will be the role of Peruvian saints, which the Pope brought up in their meeting yesterday, and which he mentioned in a short videomessage he released for the trip in August.

“In a few words he told me that Peru has many saints and great saints, and I think that this is something that moves me and that I hope will be developed in this trip,” the cardinal said.

Among the most well-known Peruvian saints are Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres, and and Toribio de Mogroviejo.

According to Cipriani, the Pope's favorite is Martin de Porres, who was the son of a Spanish nobleman and a black slave woman. The saint had wanted to enter the Dominican order, but was initially prevented from becoming a brother due to a law at the time that prevented people of mixed race from joining religious orders.

Instead, he lived with the community and did manual work, earning the nickname “the saint of the broom” for his diligence and care in cleaning the friars' quarters. Eventually, he was permitted to join the order despite the law, and he worked with the sick in the infirmary.

On Martin de Porres, Francis says “he likes him more than anyone because of the broom, because he had to clean many things so that the Church was better,” Cipriani said.

Other big themes for the trip, the cardinal said, will be environmental issues, particularly related to the Amazon region, and the youth.

The highlight will be the Pope's visit to Puerto Maldonado, an area of the Amazon affected by extreme poverty and which has a wide variety of wildlife. During his visit there, Pope Francis is going to see “a lot of poverty, a lot of (the) force of nature.”

When it comes to the nation's youth, Cipriani said Francis is going to see a lot of young people “very excited for the coming of the Pope.”

Pope Francis' visit, he said, is important above all because “the Vicar of Christ is coming … it's a wonderful occasion in which God blesses the Peruvian people.”

Peru, he said, “needs the presence of a man that sows peace, unity and joy among us, and who strengthens us in the faith. Because of this we are awaiting him with enthusiasm.”

Above all, Peru will greet the Pope with “great joy, with a lot of noise, with the streets full,” he said, adding that the Pope “is going to have a great time.”

 

Alvaro de Juana contributed to this report.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Papua New Guinea’s cardinal has bigger concerns than Amoris Laetitia

February 17, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Rome, Italy, Feb 17, 2017 / 02:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While many in different sectors of the Church are pulling out their hair trying to resolve the Amoris Laetitia communion debate, Papua New Guinea’s new cardinal said his country has a much more immediate problem.

“For us, Amoris Laetitia will always be there,” Cardinal John Ribat told CNA Feb. 11.

“You can have time to talk about this,” he said, but stressed his country is facing one major problem that can’t wait for a solution: climate change.

“It is really the biggest issue for us. We cannot keep quiet about it. We have to come out with it,” he said, noting that the “king tides, king waves” and rough winds “belting” the island nation are already forcing many people from their homes.

These are the things “we cannot stop. They continue to come, and they are more powerful than us,” the cardinal said, explaining that while temporary sea walls have been set up, “they won’t hold.”

“Our situation, it’s timely, you either talk about it or you see these people finished…There’s not timing for it. The time is either now or never.”

Cardinal Ribat, a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was one of the 19 prelates that got a red hat from Pope Francis in November’s consistory, and is a prime example of the Pope’s affinity toward the global peripheries.

Not only does Ribat come from a small island nation with an equally small Catholic population, he is the first prelate from the country to ever be named cardinal, giving voice to a sector of the Church whose concerns might otherwise go unheard.

The cardinal said he didn’t know that he had been named a cardinal until the country’s nuncio came and told him.
 
“For me it was absolutely unexpected. I never dreamt about it, never, I never wrote for this. It just came. So it was really a shocking news for us,” he said, explaining that the appointment sent “a great message” to Papua New Guinea.

Not only did he get congratulations from the country’s Catholics, but he also received celebratory calls and messages from other Christian denominations as well as the nation’s small Muslim minority. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill also offered his congratulations in local papers and on TV.

For the cardinal, his appointment is “timely and it gives us a chance to come to the center and hear our voice, to listen to our voice.”

“It’s really looking at the small Church, the small area, and bringing it to the center. So the periphery, bringing us to the center where we are listened to, we are recognized, where we are appreciated, where our situation is also understood.”

Ribat said his red hat was timely above all because it allows him to have more heft when voicing the country’s concerns, particularly on the issue of climate change.

The phenomena is something new that most islanders have found themselves entirely unprepared for, he said, explaining that “we were happily living and it was not a concern for us. But at this time we cannot be quiet.”

“It’s happening at this time and we don’t know where it is coming from and why it is happening…we have islands disappearing, being washed because of the high-rise sea level and people there, they have to move,” he said, noting that many of the smaller islands “are not able to sustain themselves” for much longer.

Papua New Guinea is among the nations considered most at risk for the effects of climate change. For several years the country has been affected by rising sea levels and changes in temperature, rainfall patters and the frequency of tropical storms.

According to the Australian Government’s 2011 Pacific Climate Change Science Program report, temperatures in the capital city of Port Moresby have increased since at a rate of 0.11 degrees Celsius per decade since 1950, causing sea levels to rise at a rate of 7mm per year since 1993, since water expands as it gets warmer.

Predictions for the future look grim, anticipating that the trends will carry forward as temperatures continue to increase, leading to hotter days and more volatile rainy days, with sea levels continuing to rise.

Islands such as Carteret and Tuvalu have reportedly already begun to feel the sting, with rising sea levels leaving food gardens flooded while homeowners seek to transfer to higher ground. Coconut farms – the country’s primary agricultural product – have so far been most heavily affected.

The report also states that inconsistent weather and rain patterns have already led to more frequent onsets of malaria and the common flu, and will soon start to have an impact on the economy, since the country’s agricultural production is being affected.

In his comments to CNA, Cardinal Ribat, who met with Pope Francis right before coming to the interview, said he brought the issue up with the Pope during their meeting, and that Francis was sympathetic to their plight.

“His response was that the nations are not listening, that’s what he said,” Ribat explained, recalling how the Pope told him that while “we do our best, we try to voice our concerns,” the answer ultimately depends on other nations.

Pope Francis has often spoken out about the need to make more firm commitments in trying to find solutions to climate change, focusing on the issue at length in his 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato Si.

He also issued several strong statements on the issue ahead of the 2015 COP21 climate summit in Paris, which was attended by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Speaking of Laudato Si, Cardinal Ribat said the encyclical helped the world to see “the importance” of the problems they face not just in Papua New Guinea, but “in the whole Pacific.”

Ribat called on nations to take greater action, specifically asking “powerful” countries in the West “to respond in a positive way to help us, because this high-rise sea level, we’ve never experienced it before (and) we are wondering what is happening to us, why all this is happening.”

For those who doubt the effects of climate change or think that it’s a myth, the cardinal said his response would be to “come and see” if they “really want to be sure about what is happening.”

“This is where you really see the effect of what is happening,” he said. “So when you talk about climate change, maybe here because you have a big land mass you are talking about it and waiting for it to come in the future. For us, it is right now.”

[…]