VATICAN CITY. Resignation? «It is neither a thought nor a desire but a possibility open to all popes. But it's not on my mind at the moment.” With these words Pope Francis begins the interview conducted by Fabio Fazio during the TV show Che Tempo Che Fa on Canale Nove. Responding to the rumors of his possible renunciation of the pontificate, the Bishop of Rome says that he is “still alive” and that “as long as I feel like serving I will continue”, if the condition changes “it will be something to think about”.
Pope Francis at Che tempo che fa: “Today the interests of the arms industries are behind wars”
The Pontiff focuses at length on the wars that are tearing the world apart: «Every day I call the parish of Gaza and they tell me the terrible things that are happening. How many dead Arabs and how many dead Israelis, two peoples called to be brothers are self-destructing.” From the Middle East to Ukraine, recalling having met some children from Kiev in the Vatican a few days ago: «They no longer smiled, they forgot how to do it. Even though I offered them chocolate and joked with them, they didn't smile. A child who forgets a smile is a criminal thing, war takes away children's smiles.” Those Ukrainian children accompanied by their parents «saw something of the war but none of them smiled. Children spontaneously smile” but they “had forgotten the smile” and when “a child forgets a smile it is criminal. In June there will be a new world meeting of children because they are the future.”
The trade that pays the most is the arms trade. Many times wars continue” or become more extensive “to sell more weapons” or “test new weapons. Behind the wars, let us say it with shame, there is the arms trade”, reiterates the Pope, also highlighting that “forgiveness is for everyone. God never tires of forgiving. God always forgives. We are the ones who get tired of asking for forgiveness. God forgives everyone. The hardened heart becomes incapable of asking for forgiveness. This is a bad thing. The manufacturers of weapons are manufacturers of death but the Lord never tires of forgiving. In 54 years as a priest I have denied forgiveness only once, out of hypocrisy.”
The Church must “bless everyone, the Lord blesses everyone, all those who come, the Lord blesses everyone” but then “people must see the path that the Lord shows them”, explains Francis when asked by Fazio on blessings for LGBT+ people. “We must help them find that path – the Pope points out – not condemn them from the beginning”.
There is a “price of loneliness that you have to pay, sometimes decisions are not accepted” but “most of the time decisions are not accepted because they don't know each other”, he replies to the host who asked him if he didn't feel at times only for the decisions taken, such as the recent one on gay blessings.
During the dialogue Bergoglio reflects on his Argentina: «The country is going through a difficult moment, I would like to go there after missing ten years. But first I have a trip to Polynesia. I remember my grandparents accompanying me to school…”.
A thought also for migrants: «The right to migrate and to remain in one's own country must be respected. There is cruelty against migrants, a lot of cruelty in treating them from the moment they leave home to when they arrive in Europe.” Pope Francis cites the book «Little Brother» by Amets Arzallus Antia which recounts Ibrahima Balde's journey from Guinea to Europe. The Pontiff also recalls his meeting with Pato, who left Cameroon, who lost his wife and daughter on the journey.
He reveals that «this war escalation scares him. One wonders how we will end up, with atomic weapons destroying everything, how will we end up? Like Noah's Ark? This scares me: humanity's capacity for self-destruction.”
While the “tenderness of children, this makes me smile. And then the grandparents, they are my peers. I like talking to grandparents, having this relationship with grandparents. Grandparents have wisdom.” The Pontiff encourages us not to “forget these two abilities that we must have: to talk to children, to listen to them, talk to them and talk to grandparents, listen to their stories”, because they are “life stories and this helps”.
In closing there is also an appeal to viewers: «Always pray for me so that I always move forward and do not fail in my duty. But please pray for and not against…”.
At the end of the connection, everyone stood in the Che Tempo Che Fa studio to applaud the Pope.
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