He uses the expression “vote with your feet,” which in Germany and the Anglo-Saxon world is used to indicate those who express their opinion through their movements, for example those who leave the Church out of disaffection. And instead, according to Cardinal Walter Kasper , the great German theologian, the first one Francis cited in his first Angelus to explain that “God always forgives,” this time the people of God in the Church have returned to it, coming on foot en masse to the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, going to visit his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore, and have indicated to the cardinals who will gather in the Conclave that we need a Pope who moves, again to use the metaphor of the feet, “in the footsteps of Francis.”
Your Eminence, what is the main legacy of Pope Francis?
“The closeness of the Church to all human beings, and in particular to the poor and the marginalized. The Pope then emphasized that the Gospel is the center of our faith and we must be disciples of Jesus Christ. And then for him peace and justice in the world were very important because without justice and without peace we cannot survive. And then there is the Synod.”
What did it mean that the Pope revitalized the synodal assemblies?
“The Synod is his legacy: the Church is all of us baptized and we must walk together. This is synodality: we must be for the other and with the other, and the Pope himself and the bishops must walk together with the faithful.”
In your opinion, is it possible to go back on this push by Francis?
“I don’t think we can go back, I hope we can’t go back, it would be senseless. I think we can move forward even with a new Pope.”
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