CV NEWS FEED // In a preview of his upcoming autobiography, Pope Francis predicts that confrontations with his critics will continue, reiterated his strong stance on life and family, and confirmed that he has no plans to retire and has no serious health issues.
The Italian daily “Corriere della Sera” on March 14, published extensive excerpts of “Life: My Story Through History,” Pope Francis’ autobiography, co-written with Vatican journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona. The book will be released in English and Italian on May 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph and the 11th anniversary of Francis’ installation as pope.
In the book, Francis tells his personal story, his early years growing among stories from World War I and World War II from his grandparents, his formation years at a Jesuit seminary, his early years as a priest and then his raise in the ranks of the Church from Auxiliary to Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and finally to Pope.
A passage from the book, recalling his first secular job as a lab assistant says:
Very important for the then student Bergoglio’s training was his boss in the laboratory, Esther, “a formidable woman, I really owe her a lot. She was a true communist, atheist but respectful: despite having her own ideas, she never attacked the faith. And he taught me a lot about politics: he gave me publications to read including that of the communist party, ‘Nuestra Palabra’…
Someone, after my election as Pope, said that I often talk about the poor because I too would be a communist or a Marxist. A cardinal friend also told me that a lady, a good Catholic, told him that she was convinced that Pope Francis was the antipope. The motivation? Because I don’t wear red shoes! But talking about the poor does not automatically mean being communist: the poor are the banner of the Gospel and are in the heart of Jesus!… In Christian communities, ownership was shared: this is not communism, this is Christianity in its pure state!”
Corriere della Sera also runs the following quote about the Pope and the right to life:
We must always defend human life, from conception to death; I will never tire of saying that abortion is murder, a criminal act, there are no other words: it means discarding, eliminating a human life that is not to blame. It is a defeat for those who practice it and for those who become complicit: hired killers, hitmen! No more abortions, please! It is essential to always defend and promote conscientious objection.
The Pope also condemns “the practice of renting wombs, an inhuman and increasingly widespread practice that threatens the dignity of men and women, with children treated as commodities”.
About his relationship with Pope Benedict, Francis tells how he tried to avoid a conflict with him, by making him change his mind regarding his plans to live a completely retired life.
The article quotes Pope Francis:
“We decided together that it would be better for him not to live in hiding, as he had initially hypothesized, but for him to see people and participate in the life of the Church. Unfortunately it was of little use, because there has been no shortage of controversy in ten years.”
…”It has saddened me to see, over the years, how his figure as Pope Emeritus has been exploited for ideological and political purposes by unscrupulous people who have not accepted his resignation.”
The article says that Pope Francis feels hurt by those who claim that he is destroying the papacy.
“What can I say? Only that my vocation is the priestly one: first of all I am a priest, I am a shepherd, and shepherds must be among people… It is true that the Vatican is the last absolute monarchy in Europe, and that often in here there is a court-style reasoning and maneuvers, but these schemes must be definitively abandoned,” Francis says.
He argues that in the 2013 conclave “there was a great desire to change things, to abandon certain attitudes that unfortunately still are hard to make disappear today. There are always those who try to slow down the reform, those who would like to remain stuck in the times of the Pope-King.”
Writing about the possibility of resigning, the Pope, according to Corriere, writes in his memoir:
I think that the Petrine ministry is ad vitam (for life) and therefore I see no conditions for a resignation. Things would change if a serious physical impairment occurred, and in that case I already signed the letter with the resignation at the beginning of my pontificate which is deposited in the Secretariat of State.
…But this is a distant hypothesis, because I really have no reasons that makes me think about giving up. Over the years, some may have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after hospitalization, I would make an announcement like this, but there is no such risk: thanks to the Lord, I enjoy good health and, God willing, there are many projects still to be accomplished.
The post Francis Takes Hard Line Against Ecclesial Opponents in Upcoming Autobiography appeared first on CatholicVote org.