Full text- Papacy-winning speech of Cardinal Bergoglio

Hours before his election, Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis made ​​a strong criticism of the Church and urged his fellow cardinals to wake up and work with the Gospel in the geographical peripheries as well as the existential peripheries pain, sin and ignorance .





Cardinal Jaime Ortega, archbishop of Havana, revealed the contents of a document containing the intervention delivered by his counterpart Jorge Bergoglio, before being elected Pontiff.

Ortega released the text Bergoglio gave him in handwritten form of his presentation made before the conclave in which the cardinals then elected him Pope.

Bergoglio was elected on 13/3 by the Cardinal electors, among whom was Ortega.

"Cardinal Bergoglio made ​​a speech that seemed masterful, insightful, engaging and certain", said Ortega for whom the document expresses the personal view of the present Church of Pope Francis.

The Cuban cardinal revelations only came to light during last Saturday's Mass at the Cathedral of Havana and were reported Tuesday by the magazine Palabra Nueva, mouthpiece of the Archdiocese of Havana, reports the Miami-based Cuban site MartíNoticias.com.

The Palabra Nueva site was inaccessible.

According to the document, Bergoglio's paper is based on four highlighted points about the religious institution and could point the way which the new Pope will now take.

On the first point on evangelization, Bergoglio said "the Church take leave of itself and go to the peripheries" but not just in the geographical sense "but also the existential sense, manifested in the mystery of sin, pain, injustice and ignorance , among others, " said Ortega.

The second section characterized the institution as a "self-referential" church and self-centered in a kind of "theological narcissism".

In point three Bergoglio criticized "the worldly Church living in itself, of itself, for itself." According to Ortega, the idea of the Pope is that the institution must find a balance in "the changes and reforms that have to be undertaken".

The point 4 reported by Ortega indicates that the Pope, not knowing that he would be elected, said he expected a top pastor of the Church of Rome "a man who, from the contemplation of Jesus Christ ... helps the Church to emerge from itself to arrive at the existential limits ".

According Palabra Nueva, the Archbishop of Havana asked the the Cardinal Bergoglio asked for a copy of his speech at the General Congregation of cardinals prior to the conclave, to preserve that which "coincided" with his thoughts on the Church.

The then Cardinal Primate of Argentina refused to let hgim have a copy of his words but the next day gave Ortega the written text in his handwriting and authorized its dissemination.

The Palabra Nueva website states that in a subsequent meeting in the Vatican between the Cuban Cardinal and the newly elected Pope Francis he "reaffirmed his authorization for the dissemination of the text, the original of which (...) Ortega judges as a special treasure of the Church and a privileged memory of the current Pope ".

The full text:

Reference was made to the evangelization. It is the reason for the Church.

- "The sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing" (Paul VI). - It is the same Jesus Christ who, from within, drives us. 1.

Evangelizing supposes apostolic zeal. Evangelize implies that the Church should speak candidly, coming out of herself. The Church is called to come out of herself and to go to the peripheries, not only in the geographical sense but also to go to the existential peripheries: those of the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and of religious indifference, of thought, of all misery.

2. When the Church does not come out of itself to evangelize, it becomes self-referential and then get sick (cf. the woman hunched over the Gospel). The evils that, over time, occur in t ecclesiastical institutions have roots of referentiality, a sort of theological narcissism. In Revelation Jesus says he is at the door and knocks. Obviously the text refers to hitting from outside the door to enter ... But think of the times when Jesus knocks from within to let himself out. The self-referential Church seeks Jesus Christ within and does not let him out.

3. - When the Church is self-referential, unwittingly believed to have its own light, no longer the mysterium lunae and leads to the evil that is so serious spiritual worldliness (According to de Lubac, the worst evil that can befall the Church). That live to give glory from one another. The Church, when it is self-referential, without realizing it, believes it has a light of its own; it ceases to be the mysterium lunae (for an explanation of this phrase) and gives rise to this evil that is so serious that of spiritual wordliness (according to De Lubac, the worst evil that can occur to the Church). It lives for the glory to be given to each other Put simply, there are two images of Church: the evangelizing Church taking leave of itself which religiuously hears the Word of God and faithfully proclaims it (Dei Verbum religiose audiens et fidenter proclamans)or the worldly Church living in itself, of itself, for itself. This should shed light on the possible changes and reforms that must be done for the salvation of souls.

4. - Thinking about the next pope: a man who, from the contemplation of Jesus Christ and from worshiping Jesus Christ helps the Church out of itself to the outskirts of the existential, that helps Her to be a fruitful Mother, living "the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing. "

Source

Comments

Geremia said…
Very interesting… except the parts where he makes it seem the Church lacks the fulness of truth/light (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15) and that the active virtues of evangelization should be stressed over the passive, the "theological narcissism" of a contemplative Church "living in itself, of itself, for itself."

It seems he's a big advocate of "secondary Christianity."

Cf. this thread.