2023-04-23 18:02:00
April 23, 2023 / 11:02 a.m.
Pope Francis said he wants to travel soon to Argentina, his homeland to which he has not returned since he was elected successor to Saint Peter in 2013.
“I want to go to the country next year”, the Holy Father told the journalist Joaquín Morales Solá of the Argentine newspaper The nationaccording to an article published this Sunday, April 23.
“I always wanted to return to the country,” the Holy Father also said, asking that he not be linked to the politics of his native country. “Don’t link me to Argentine politics, please,” he requested.
A little over a month ago, in an interview with Infobae, Pope Francis explained that his trip to Argentina was planned for 2017, but due to various circumstances it could not be carried out.
In that interview, the Holy Father also specified that a papal trip should not be made at election time “to prevent the presence from being used by the ruling party for re-election or something of the sort. I want to go to Argentina”.
If the trip takes place, the Pontiff would arrive in the country after the presidential elections in October 2023.
Pope Francis also told La Nación that the process to name the successor to the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Mario Poli, whose resignation has already been accepted, is underway.
“I can only anticipate that there are three strong candidates,” the Pope said, but he specified that “I cannot name anyone because only one will be appointed.”
“I must take into account the opinion of the Vatican institutions and the cardinals who are in charge of those institutions. It is not just a personal decision, ”he stressed.
Pope Francis also came out in defense, once again, of Pope Saint John Paul II, in the face of recent accusations in the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old teenager who disappeared in 1983 and whose whereabouts are unknown to this day.
“John Paul II was a saint in life and is now formally so after death. No one can honestly doubt the decency of Pope Wojtyla,” the Holy Father said.
Regarding Benedict XVI, who died on December 31, 2022, Pope Francis recalled that “I have always had only good advice and permanent help from him. We saw each other much more than is known, especially in recent times when he was It was evident that his health was deteriorating irreparably.
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