Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel revealed that federal government officials suggested to Pope Francis in 2016 that he not visit San Cristóbal de Las Casas, to which he responded that if he couldn’t be there, he wouldn’t come to Mexico.
“People from the government and the apostolic nunciature told me that the government didn’t want me to go to San Cristóbal. I could go to Chiapas, but not to San Cristóbal, and he said that if I didn’t go to San Cristóbal, he wouldn’t come to Mexico. It was his decision,” he said.
In a telephone interview, he added that “the government was opposed because there are Muslims in the city and they thought they might harm him, and secondly, because the government didn’t strongly support the work of Don Samuel (Ruiz García), and being there meant seeing his work and continuing it.”
Furthermore, Arizmendi Esquive, who was then the bishop of San Cristóbal, added, he didn’t want him to come to that city “because the government likes to boast about its beautiful city and to be with the poor; it’s not something to boast about with the indigenous people. It’s a plea to the government. The Pope insisted—so I’ve been told, I didn’t know—that if he didn’t go to San Cristóbal, he wouldn’t be coming to Mexico.”
He noted that when he suggested to the Pope “that he eat after Mass not with his team, but with the indigenous people, he immediately accepted. They were eleven indigenous people we chose in the diocese, among young people, seminarians, deacons, nuns, priests, and catechists. At first, they were somewhat shy, but later he gave them confidence, and they dared to talk to him at length.”
Arizmendi Esquivel affirmed that the death of Pope Francis “is sad” “because it ends his service on earth, but at the same time it is joyful because he is now with God, resting from so many things, and because from heaven he can intercede for us.”
He maintained that Francis “tried to be faithful in two dimensions: first to Jesus Christ—he is a member of the Society of Jesus and insisted greatly on his passion for Jesus Christ—and second, precisely for this reason, his passion for serving people and addressing their needs, whether it be the issue of the poor, indigenous people, migrants, prisoners, or climate change. In other words, two dimensions that are deeply connected: Christ and the people. Not just Christ in an abstract way, nor just the people. He was concerned about the community, above all its needs.”
The cardinal stated that “we hope that the successor will not be someone from one continent or one line, but rather someone like those who came before, each with their own style, but who will be faithful to Jesus Christ, to the community, and in service to the people of God. Not just someone who cares more for the Church, of course, but a Church to serve the world, not one of inward conservation, but one that serves what Jesus Christ founded it for, which is to help people and the community.”
He emphasized: “A Church that serves everything from climate change to universal peace, migrants, indigenous people, the poor, the incarcerated, and so many people who have suffered from sexual assault by the clergy; may that not happen either. May it not be a Church that harms, but rather serves the community.”
He reported that he does not plan to travel to Rome for the election of the new Pope because he does not have the right to vote because he is over 80 years old, a situation that also affects Cardinals Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara; Alberto Suárez Inda, from Morelia, and Norberto Rivera Carrera, from Mexico City.
Only Cardinals Francisco Robles, from Guadalajara, and Carlos Aguiar Retes, from Mexico City, are required to participate in the conclave, so they will have to travel to Rome.
“If I don’t participate in the conclave, what am I going to do? Just out of curiosity, I can follow it here,” he said.
Source: jornada
