Cardinal Bertone's Impressions from Chile Visit

(RV - 16 Apr 2010) The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is recently returned from a 9-day trip to Chile, where he travelled to mark 200 years of Chilean independence and convey Pope Benedict XVI’s solidarity with the Chilean people as they recover from a massive earthquake.

Cardinal Bertone gave a joint interview to Vatican Radio, Television and print media outlets CTV and L’Osservatore Romano, in which he shared some of his impressions of the visit.


The visit of the Cardinal Secretary of State to the long, mountainous country on the West coast of South America had a twofold purpose: to survey the damage resulting from the powerful earthquake that struck the country this past February 27th, and to deliver a gift from Pope Benedict XVI to the people of Chile: a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in honour of the 200th anniversary of Chile’s independence.


This past Friday, Cardinal Bertone sat down with Journalists from Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Centre and the Vatican daily newspaper, L’Osservatore romano, to share his impressions of the visit.


Prima di tutto…

First of all, I would like to express the great affection, the communion and the closeness of the Chilean people to the Pope. I brought the Holy Father’s dear concern for the people of Chile to all the events over which I presided, while Chileans showed me their great love for Pope Benedict – and asked me to bring to him assurances of their prayerful affection, their gratitude and their full solidarity with him, with his mission, with his humble, courageous and convincing exercise of teaching authority.  
While Cardinal Bertone was on his visit, he also responded to numberous queries from journalists regarding the recent attention to the ongoing crisis of clerical sexual abuse of minors.

The senior editor of Vatican Radio’s Italian language news section, Roberto Piermarini asked Cardinal Bertone to share his thoughts on the Church’s response to the crisis…
It seems to me that the first line [of response], which the Pope himself once again confirmed in [his recent homily during Mass with the members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission] the Pauline Chapel, is that of purification and penance. 

Cardinal Bertone went on to say that a second fundamental element in the Church’s response must be a strong and courageous commitment to education, which, he said, has been a source of legitimate pride for the Church throughout her history.


Finally, Cardinal Bertone discussed the need for renewal of the priesthood…


We are at the end of the Priestly Year, and the renewal of the priestly mission is a third important line of response, [which must ] follow the design of Christ himself, who is the model for every priest, and the great messages that the Holy Father has given in this Priestly year.
 
 
In my meeting with the priests and bishops of Chile, I often heard asked the question: “how ought we to continue to take the best elements of the Priestly Year and carry them into our lives?” This is the commitment we all must make, - [commitment to the recovery of the figure of the priest and his mission] most especially as regards priests themselves and candidates for the priesthood. 
The full Italian text of Cardinal Bertone’s interview appears in the Sunday edition of L’Osservatore romano, which is published Saturday afternoon.