Rorate Caeli

Interview: The Vatican Number Two Speaks on the Viganò Memo: "Great pain, the Pope is serene"

This is the entire interview granted by the number 2 man in the Vatican, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, excerpted from the article published by La Stampa:

How is the Holy Father after these difficult last days?

"I saw a declaration of the Vatican press office that states that the Pope is serene. From what I have seen (in these days, I have been with him during his trip to Ireland and afterwards), he seems serene. The Pope is a great grace, even faced with these things that obviously create so much bitterness ans also restlessness. But he has the capacity of having a very serene approach."

Was the trip to Ireland as difficult as some media state? The trip should have concentrated on the World Meeting of Families, and but the Pope switched the attention towards the sexual abuses of minors...

"To tell you the truth, I did not notice any particular difficulties; it is true, as you say, that the attention was focused mainly on the issue of abuses, which was separate from that regarding the family, but that was normal after what happened, it was natural that there would be such attention. To me it seems that the Pope has taken a very clear position regarding it, but I, personally, did not notice any difficulty."

What about you, how are you living these problems. Considering that Carlo Maria Viganò worked with you for so long.

"It is not possible to express anything else than pain when faced with these things, great pain. I hope that we all work in the search of truth and justice, that these be the points of reference, and not other things. Certainly the situation is not worrying at all."

What can you say on the former Nuncio's text? Is it fair? Is it wrong?

"It's better not to go down into details on such things. I repeat that which the Pope says: you read it, and make your judgement. The text speaks for itself."

La Stampa (in Italian); interviewer: Andrés Beltramo Álvarez Rorate Caeli translation