Pope Francis gave a 42-minute press conference on the flight from Singapore to Rome on Sept. 13 at the end of his 12-day journey to Asia and Oceania.
Not surprisingly, he looked a little tired after this marathon journey. His visit to four countries—Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Singapore—served to encourage their Catholic communities and strengthen ties with their governments and other religious communities.
Notwithstanding a period of turbulence, Francis answered questions on topics ranging from advice he would give to Catholics voting in the U.S. presidential election to the war in Gaza, the abuse case of Abbé Pierre in France, relations with China, a possible visit to Argentina, the situation in Venezuela, his decision not to mention the death penalty in Singapore and climate change.
An Italian journalist raised the issue of the war in Gaza, which in three weeks will have been going on for a year. He noted that a recent bombing in a humanitarian zone in Gaza caused the death of 19 people, including some U.N. workers. He asked the pope: “What do you feel at this moment, and what do you feel like saying to the parties at war? Is there eventually the possibility for the Holy See to mediate so as to reach a ceasefire and the peace that is desired?”
Pope Francis, who has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid and medical assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, said in response: “The Holy See is working [for peace].” He added, “Every day I call Gaza, every day, the parish in Gaza. There inside, in the parish and in the college, there are 600 people, Christians and Muslims. They live as brothers. They tell me bad things, difficult things.”
Referring to the bombing mentioned by the journalist, he said: “I cannot say if this act of war is too bloody or not. But, please, when you see the bodies of children who have been killed, when you see the presumption that there are guerillas [embedded there] and when you see that they bomb a school, this is bad. It is bad. It is bad.”
He concluded, “I am sorry to say this, but I don’t think they are finding the steps to make peace.”
The pope recalled that during a visit to Verona in July, he met two fathers—one Jewish, one Palestinian—who had both lost loved ones in the war. “They both spoke of peace,” the pope said. “They hugged each other, and they gave a testimony of brotherhood.”
Francis emphasized: “I say that brotherhood is more important than the killing of a brother. Brotherhood…giving each other the hand. At the end, the one that will win the war will be greatly defeated. War is always a defeat, always without exception, and we cannot forget that. For this reason, everything that is done for peace is important.”
A French journalist asked the pope two questions. First, would he go to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame in December, as many people are expecting? Francis replied concisely: “I will not go to Paris! I will not go to Paris.” He gave no reason for his decision.
The journalist then recalled that the pope had spoken about abuse against children in Timor Leste and said, “We [journalists] thought, of course, about Bishop Belo,” though the pope never referred to him. (Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo was a hero of Timor Leste’s independence movement; only in 2022 did accusations that he had sexually abused minor boys become widely known.) The journalist said there was a similar case in France, that of Abbé Pierre, the popular founder of the Emmaus Community for homeless people and refugees and former deputy of the French National Assembly, who has been posthumously accused of sexual harassment. He said that in both cases, “their charisma made it harder to believe [the abuse they did].”
He asked the pope: “What did the Vatican know about Abbé Pierre, and what can you tell the victims and the general population who find it hard to believe that a person who did so [many] good deeds could also commit crimes?”
Pope Francis responded: “You touched a very painful and very delicate point. Good people, people who do good—you named the Abbé Pierre—and then, with so much good done, one sees that this person is a bad sinner.”
“This is our human condition,” the pope said. “We must not say, ‘Cover up, cover up so that this is not seen.’ The public sins are public and are to be condemned. For example, Abbé Pierre is a man who did much good, but he is also a sinner. We must speak clearly about these things and not hide them.”
He then spoke about the church’s effort to eliminate abuse. “The work against abuse is something that all of us must do,” the pope said. “But not only against sexual abuse but against all kinds of abuse: social abuse, the educational abuse [that aims] to change the minds of people, to take away freedom.“
“Abuse is, in my judgment, something demonic because every type of abuse destroys the dignity of the person,” he said. “Every type of abuse seeks to destroy that which all of us are, the image of God.”
Pope Francis said he did not know when the Vatican first learned about Abbé Pierre because he was not at the Vatican at the time.
The Argentinian correspondent (my wife, Elisabetta Piqué) told him that during the trip, many people had asked her if the pope would now go to his homeland. She recalled that the pope had said he might go at the end of the year and asked, “Will you go to Argentina?” Francis didn’t give an immediate “no” as he did for Paris, but neither did he say “yes.” He replied: “It’s something that is not yet decided. I would like to go, no? It’s my people, I would like to go, but it’s still not decided. There are a number of things to be resolved first.”
She followed up by asking, as many journalists in Spain are wondering, whether, if he does go to Argentina, he would make a stopover in the Canary Islands. Francis replied: “You are reading my thoughts. I am thinking a bit about going to the Canary [Islands]. There are situations of migrants that take to the sea, and I would like to be close to them, to the government and the people of the Canaries.”
She also spoke about the dramatic situation in Venezuela, where the presumptive winner of the presidential election has fled the country, and asked what message he would like to give to the people of Venezuela. “The message I would give to the government is: dialogue and make peace,” Francis said. “Dictatorships do not serve and end badly, before or after. Read the history of the church. I say this to the government and all the people: to seek to find a path to peace in Venezuela. I don’t want to give a political opinion because I don’t know the details. I know the bishops have spoken, and the message of the bishops would be better.”
A German journalist noted that during his journey in Asia and Oceania, the pope had spoken forcefully about violence, and asked him why he did not speak about the death penalty in Singapore, where even nonviolent drug offenders face execution. “It didn’t come into my mind,” Francis said. But, he said: “[t]he death penalty does not work. Slowly, we must try to eliminate it. Slowly. There are many countries that have it. In the United States, it’s the same argument. Also in other states. The death penalty must end. It does not work. It does not work.”
An Italian journalist asked several questions regarding China, but Francis only answered one: Whether he is satisfied with the results of the provisional agreement between the Vatican and China, which is up for renewal by the end of this year.
“I am happy with the dialogue with China,” the pope said. “The result is good. On the nomination of bishops, we are working with goodwill. I’ve heard how things are going from the secretariat of state, and I’m happy.”
“China, for me, is a dream, in the sense that I would like to visit China,” Francis said. “It’s a great country. I admire China. I respect China.” Recalling with admiration its ancient culture, he concluded, “China is a promise and a hope for the church.”
An Indonesian journalist asked the pope what he thought about the reality that some countries are starting to move away from their commitments to the Paris climate change agreement for economic reasons after the pandemic, and some other countries are hesitant to transition to clean energy.
Francis replied: “I think that the climate problem is serious, it is very serious. From the meeting of Paris…the climate meetings have been in decline. They speak, but they don’t do anything. This is my impression. On this, I’ve spoken in my two writings, ‘Laudato Si’’ and ‘Laudate Deum.’”
