Thursday 5th December 2024

Home » breaking » Currently Reading:

Pope Holds Press Conference On Flight Back From Korea

August 19, 2014 breaking No Comments

2014-08-18 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) From the possibility of the unification of the Koreas to the idea of “just war”, from the situation of persecuted minorities in Iraq to the Pope’s upcoming journey to Albania: on the flight back from Korea to Rome, Pope Francis answered questions put to him by journalists travelling with him aboard the papal plane.

In what has become a traditional impromptu press conference aboard the papal plane, journalists spent more than an hour questioning the Pope about his recent visit to Korea for the 6th Asian Youth Day, about issues raised during the journey, his take on the ongoing violence against Christians and other minorities in Iraq, and about plans for future foreign trips.

The first question, put to him by a Korean journalist, concerned his closeness to family victims of the Se-Wol ferry disaster, in which more than 300 people lost their lives. There is much anger in Korea regarding the government’s response to that tragedy and Pope Francis was asked whether he was worried his attitude could be politically exploited.

“When you find yourself face-to-face with pain and sorrow, you must do what your heart tells you to do,” the Pope said. He pointed out that he is a priest and he feels close to those who suffer. His closeness, he explained, brings consolation, not solutions; and he recalled that when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was there to bring comfort to the many victims of two terrible disasters (in a discotheque fire, which killed 193 young people, and in a train accident, which killed 120). In Korea, when someone pointed out he continued to wear the yellow ribbon of solidarity for the victims of the ferry disaster. he answered: “You cannot be neutral before the pain of your brothers and sisters”.

Answering questions regarding the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities by fundamentalists of the Islamic State (IS), the Pope said that “it is legitimate to halt the unjust aggressor”. And he underlined the word “halt” pointing out that does not mean to “bomb”. He said the methods used to halt the aggressor are to be evaluated. The Pope also pointed out that in these cases we must not forget “how many times with the excuse of halting the unjust aggressor (…) have powerful nations taken possession of peoples and waged a war of conquest!” A single nation, he said, cannot judge how to stop an unjust aggressor, and he pointed to the United Nations as the right venue to discuss the issue. Pope Francis also pointed out that persecuted Christians are close to his heart but he underlined the fact that there are also other minorities suffering persecution, and they all have the same rights.

Regarding his availability to travel to Kurdistan to be with the fleeing refugees, Pope Francis said he is ready to do so if it is deemed a good thing to do. At the moment, however, he pointed to the various initiatives undertaken by the Vatican, such as sending Cardinal Fernando Filoni, writing to the UN Secretary General, and writing a personal communiqué that was sent to all the nunciatures and governments in the area.

When asked about progress in dialogue with China, Pope Francis said he happened to be in the cockpit when the plane was about to enter Chinese airspace. He said he “prayed intensely for that noble and wise people”. He said his thoughts turned to the Jesuits and to Father Matteo Ricci and expressed his love for the Chinese people. He also referred to the letter written by Benedict XVI regarding relations with China and said this letter is still very up-to-date and it is good idea to read it again. “The Holy See,” he said, “is always open to be in touch, because it has true esteem for the Chinese people”.

Speaking about his upcoming visit to Albania, he pointed out that he is not going there, as some have surmised, because it is in his style to start with “the periphery”. He explained that he is going to Albania for two important reasons: first, because it has a government of national unity, which gathers Muslims, Orthodox and Catholics, thanks to an Inter-Religious Council that works and gives balance. And this, he said, is good: “The presence of the Pope is to tell all peoples that it is possible to work together!” The second reason he pointed to refers to the history of Albania, which was unique among the communist nations in that its Constitution foresaw practical atheism. “If you went to Mass, it was anti-constitutional” he said. And he recalled that 1820, churches were destroyed in Albania. So, today he feels the need to go there.

Pope Francis also mentioned his desire to travel to Philadelphia next year for the World Meeting of Families and said he has received a “shower” of invitations from across the world including New York, Mexico and Spain. But, he said, nothing has been decided yet.

Asked about his relationship with Benedict XVI, Francis said he visited him before his departure for Korea and they discussed theological questions. The Pope also said he considers Benedict’s resignation a noble, humble and courageous gesture. And he said that should conditions be such, he would pray but he would consider doing the same: “He opened a door which is ‘institutional’ not ‘exceptional’ ”.

Asked if he were planning to visit Japan and pray for that country’s “hidden Christians”, who historically suffered similarly to Korea’s Christians, the Pope said that yes, he had been invited by the Japanese government and the Bishops and that such a trip would be “wonderful”.

Speaking about the historic suffering of Korea and the divisions afflicting it today, the Pope said: “The Korean people have not lost their dignity. (The Korean people) have been invaded, humiliated, suffered wars, and (are) now divided with much suffering.”  Recalling his brief meeting at Monday’s Mass in Seoul with aged, so-called “comfort women” (women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II and who have been seeking an official apology), Pope Francis marveled that “they have not lost their dignity”.

“To think that in that invasion they were hauled away as girls to the barracks to be taken advantage of,” he said. The suffering of these women, martyrdom and other kinds of suffering, the Pope said, are “fruits of war”

“Today,” he continued, “we are in a world at war – everywhere!” Pope Francis then remarked on a comment someone once made to him that we are witnessing the Third World War.  “It is a world at war where these cruelties are carried out,” he said.

He then highlighted “cruelty” and “torture” as hallmarks of the kind of war we see today. “Today, children don’t count. Once, one spoke of conventional warfare. Today, this doesn’t count.  I am not saying conventional warfare is a good thing, no.  But today a bomb goes off and you have an innocent killed with the guilty one, the child, with the woman, with the mother… they kill everyone.”  “The level of mankind’s cruelty at this moment is a little frightening.”

The Pope said “today, torture is one of the most – I’d say – ordinary methods of behavior of the intelligence services, of judicial process.  And torture is a sin against humanity; it is a crime against humanity. And to Catholics, I say: to torture a person is a mortal sin; it is a grave sin!”

Asked if his schedule has been too tiring for him so that he has had to cancel some appointments,  Pope Francis said he has taken some vacation time at home where he read an interesting book about being “happy to be neurotic”.

“I have some neuroses,” he quipped, “and you need to treat them well.”  One of his neuroses, the Pope admitted, is that “I am a bit too attached to life.”  The last time he had taken a vacation with the Jesuit community outside Buenos Aires, he added, was in 1975.  When he takes time off now from his busy schedule, he says, “I sleep more, read the things that I like, listen to music, pray more…In July and part of August I did this and it’s ok.” Remarking on his cancellation of several appointments, including a last-minute cancellation of a June visit to Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the Pope said those were “very busy days” and that he needed to be “more prudent.”

Asked how he perceives his “intense popularity”, Pope Francis said he “thanks the Lord that His people are happy” and for “the generosity of the people.”  “Inside,” the Pope added, “I try to think of my sins and my mistakes so as to not believe that [….], “because I know that this will not last long, two or three years, and then, to the House of the Father.”

Asked what he does every day apart from his working schedule while in the Vatican and the Santa Marta guesthouse, the Pope answered, “I think I’m free…There are the office, the work appointments… Sure, I’d like to be able to go out, but it’s not possible, not possible.”  Within Santa Marta, he said, “I have a normal life of work, rest, chatting.”  Pope Francis acknowledged that there are reasons for some of the constraints though “some walls have fallen.”

Asked about an encyclical on the environment long-said to be in the works, the Pope confirmed it has been written with much collaboration from Cardinal Peter Turkson (President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace) and others, and it is still being revised. He revealed that it is “one-third longer than ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ and that it posed many difficult questions, because, he said, it is possible to discuss the stewardship of creation and ecology with clarity “only to a certain point, but then scientific hypotheses come into play, some feasible, and others perhaps not”. He pointed out that an encyclical that must adhere to the Magisterium must be based only on certainties.

Speaking about the suffering caused by the division between North Korea and South Korea, Pope Francis said he is bringing back with him a crown of Christ’s thorns made with the barbed wire that marks the boundary. “A gift that speaks of the suffering caused by separation, the separation within a family.”  And he reiterated he is praying for the end of that suffering.

To a question regarding the cause for the beatification of Bishop Oscar Romero, the Pope confirmed it had been put on hold “for reasons of prudence”, but is now going forward.

And speaking about the Invocation for Peace in the Holy Land that recently took place in the Vatican in the presence of the leaders of Palestine and Israel, Pope Francis said “it was not a failure”. He said the event sprung from the political leaders themselves, who could not find the right place to do it. He revealed that initially they wanted to organize it when the Pope was in the Holy Land in May in a neutral venue like the Nunciature. But that would have posed problems as the president of the State of Palestine would have had to enter Israel and it was not easy. So they said to me: “Let’s do it in the Vatican!” the Pope said. They are both men of peace, he said. They are convinced that the only way forward is the way of negotiation and dialogue. “And today that door is still open, he said, were there to open the door of prayer. Peace, Francis said, is a gift and it was important to show humanity that the way of negotiation and dialogue is important, and it is not possible without prayer. Today, the Pope said, we cannot see that door through the smoke of the bombs, but it is open.

Pope Francis concluded his chat with the journalists saying that upon his return to Rome he will be dropping in at the Basilica of St. Mary Major to thank Our Lady. The posy of flowers he will bring her as a gift, he said, were given to him by a little girl in Korea before his departure.

(From archive of Vatican Radio)

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Trump CDC Nominee Dave Weldon Protected Pro-Life Doctors From Being Forced to Do Abortions

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the reason the government doesn’t give money to entities that discriminate against pro-life health care providers. In 2005, then-Rep. David Weldon, R-Fla., first proposed the Weldon Amendment, which prohibits Department of Health and Human Services funds from going to entities that discriminate against providers that don’t pay for, provide, cover, or refer for abortions. The amendment has been readopted in every HHS…Continue Reading

Donald Trump elected president in decisive win over Kamala Harris

(LifeSiteNews) — Republican former President Donald Trump has won this year’s election to become the 47th president of the United States, defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Fox News called the 2024 presidential race for Trump around 1:50 a.m. EST on Wednesday after declaring him the winner of swing states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Associated Press has since called the election for Trump.

This week at the Synod on Synodality — revolution or much ado about nothing?

Perhaps it is in the very nature of the Synod on Synodality to take steps back after having taken several steps forward. But the tone of the opening days of the synod’s final general assembly makes it apparent that, for the moment, there is no talk of revolution within the Church.  That tone was set days before the gathering got underway this week at the Vatican, when in his speech in Belgium on Sept. 27, Pope Francis…Continue Reading

Wyoming doctor fired by GOP governor for opposing child ‘sex changes’ asks to be reinstated

(The Daily Signal) — Wyoming’s governor removed a doctor from the state’s board of medicine because the doctor supported a law banning “gender-affirming care” for minors. The doctor is suing, and his lawyers are filing a motion Tuesday asking the court to reinstate him on the medical board. His legal team also revealed that more than 5,000 Wyoming residents have signed a petition asking the governor to reinstate him

Pro-life leaders express disgust with ‘fully booked’ mobile Planned Parenthood unit at DNC

(LifeSiteNews) — Planned Parenthood was “fully booked” with 25 appointments to dispense abortion pills at a mobile center on Monday and Tuesday during the Democratic National Convention (DNC). “Twenty-five innocent human beings whose lives are being ended at the DNC. And this is done as a political statement,” pro-life activist Lila Rose remarked Tuesday on her podcast.

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)