“I don’t know if it’s not providential” to have a Pope who has experienced “the liberal capitalism without rules in the USA and the extreme poverty in Peru,” stated Cardinal António Marto, former bishop of Leiria-Fátima, during a press conference featuring the three cardinals who stayed at the Pontifical Portuguese College before the Conclave.
“Francis was Francis, there are no clones,” but according to António Marto, Leo XIV will “follow the line of Pope Francis, respecting immigrants and opposing the deportation without further ado of those seeking a better and more dignified life.”
The former bishop of Leiria-Fátima noted that “the world is very different today and the regimes in communist countries are now state capitalism,” in addition to issues of “technological innovation and the digital continent,” which present new challenges and a “new way of being in society,” with “extreme individualism that has led to a loss of common good and a sense of community.”
António Marto reminisced about the encyclical Rerum Novarum, in which Pope Leo XIII “set limits on liberal capitalism where the strength of the larger dominates the weaker,” seeking “to defend the freedom of the human person and workers.”
“We are witnessing an epochal change that requires an updating of the Church’s social doctrine,” said António Marto, adding that “the Church is not Eurocentric today, nor is the world Eurocentric. Today, the world is polycentric, it is multilateral,” expressing confidence that the Pope will complete the synodal process, a consultation of the Church’s foundations promoted by Francisco.
António Marto criticized the association of “the Church solely with the hierarchy,” neglecting the laity, because “the laity is a sleeping giant and still remains asleep,” and believers “are there where the problems are.”
The emeritus patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, recalled the “very beautiful greeting” from St. Peter’s balcony and the commitment to “build bridges, to bring parts together and make them listen to each other.”
“There are a number of circumstances that predict a very happy pontificate,” stated Manuel Clemente, adding that Leo XIV has a “migrant background, not only in a geographic sense but also culturally,” which will give him an advantage in dialogue with world leaders.
The meeting with the new Pope requested by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, was commented on by the former patriarch of Lisbon, who considered it will be “an audience where the Pope will listen with his characteristic calmness, and this can be a starting point for better days.”
Américo Aguiar, bishop of Setúbal, who coordinated the World Youth Day 2023, remarked that the personal background of Prevost, an American son of Spanish and French immigrants with ties to Canada, who did missionary work in Peru, demonstrates the universality of new generations of leaders.
“The more diverse a person’s history and life experience is relative to society, the more capable he will be of being sensitive, wise, and able to build bridges,” said the cardinal.
“We have to get used to it,” insisted the youngest Portuguese cardinal, smiling, shortly after mistaking Leo XIV’s name.
