What is Pope Francis like?
Calm person, friendly, colloquial, with a fine sense of humor.
How is your health after your operation?
A routine intervention, no need to worry about it.
Since when have you been working with him?
Four years ago he called me on the phone at home, in Buenos Aires, early in the morning. He did it through Cardinal Wallet, who asked a single question: "Do you want to come to Rome?".
To do what?
To connect, from the Vatican Curia, with the communities of Latin America and help conversion and walk together.
Is it true that Protestant communities are growing in Latin America?
This is neither a sports competition nor do I see any threat to Catholicism.
It is something innovative that the Vatican trusts a woman and a lay person.
This is an eloquent sign that Pope Francis is rooted in the world.
What did you think of his proposal?
I thought of my father, who died when I was a teenager. My father was very religious, he was a Latinist, and he dreamed of having a male son and that one day he would be ordained a priest.
His father was going strong…
My father used to say: "There is no career more complete than this!".
Maybe the father dreamed of a son who would one day be a pope.
"You don't have to run, life is very long", he repeated when faced with ambitions.
But a girl was born to him.
When he died, in order to pay for the studies I chose, the Philosophy and Theology courses, I had to start working as a seamstress... Oh, if you could see me today!
I would see her dispatching today with the Pope in person, in the Vatican Curia!
I have a doctorate in Humanities and a doctorate in Theology. I chair the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. And I am a member of the Pontifical Commission for Social Sciences. Oh, and also from the Pontifical ProVita Commission.
Will there be women priests one day?
This matter is of great interest here in Europe, but I assure you that it is not an issue in the rest of the world, where much more basic needs are imperative.
What is the important issue then?
The papal encyclical Laudato si' (praise be to you) sums it up well: its social approach puts the working people at the center of everything in order to one day overcome the current civilizational crisis, which is ecological and socio-environmental.
Describe to me the scope of this crisis.
Today's world is immersed in an extractive productivity that destroys us, which is against the poor and against the Earth: we must heed their cry.
Many believe that if the Vatican sold its treasures, it could distribute wealth.
Tell these many who have a capitalist outlook.
Oh yeah?
Clearly, the Catholic Church is not here to market. What the Church does is bring beauty to the world, and it is for everyone, for the soul of all humanity.
Regarding the problem of surrogacy, what does Catholicism think about it today?
I can't answer that, as I'm not a PhD in bioethics.
But he is on a ProVita commission…
Life is everything that extends between the purpose of abortion and the purpose of euthanasia.
The whole human life.
The same, and it is up to us to organize it union-wise so that it is a dignified human life. And this is where the role of politics comes into play, the necessary role of politics.
Oh, the messes of politics...
It is clear that in countries where workers are well organized by trade unions, fewer workers emigrate.
Is Pope Francis a Peronist?
No.
No?
And if it was... what would be wrong with that?
Good question: would it be bad?
Whether he said that the Pope is a populist or if he said that he is not a populist, a partisan position would follow. And the Pope does not take partisan positions.
And why not?
Because the Pope seeks reconciliation between all parties and defends the values of all workers, as established by the social doctrine of the Church.
She is a disciple of Ernesto Laclau, who inspired several founders of Podemos...
It is not for me to talk about it.
What message does the Pope impart to you in the Vatican?
"Either we unite or we collapse." And it is true: for two thousand years it has been like this.
