Cardinal Tagle says Pope Francis is a pastor close to people

March 18, 2013 - In the person of Pope Francis, the Holy Spirit has gifted the Catholic Church with a pastor after the heart of the people of God who is down to earth and is close to them, according to Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines. In an interview to Vatican Radio on Monday, the prelate said he personally knew the Argentine Pope as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, in international Church events such as the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist in the Vatican and the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, Canada. But he noted that after becoming Pope, he still continues to be the Pope of the people like a parish priest, such as at Sunday’s Mass in the Vatican’s parish Church of St. Anne. Cardinal Tagle, the Archbishiop of Manila, was made cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI only last Nov. 24 and is the second-youngest among the 115 cardinal electors who participated in the Conclave, that chose the new Pope on March 13. He said that in the four days since his election, Pope Francis remains basically the same person that he has seen and known these past years. While the Petrine ministry gives a Pope a new identity, Card. Tagle said he is not surprised that Pope Francis has been his usual self projecting this image of simplicity, of being down to earth, of meeting people. He described the pre-conclave General Congregations as well as the conclave itself imbued with a spirit of honesty, frankness and openness to the Holy Spirit.