Archbishop Parolin has pastoral approach, says cardinal
(Vatican Radio) French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said he thinks the new Secretary
of State is an excellent choice and will do “very, very well” in his new job as the
Holy See’s second in command.
Archbishop Pietro Parolin was to take office
as the new Secretary of State Tuesday. However, Pope Francis announced, he will begin
his duties officially in a few weeks, following surgery.
Cardinal Tauran,
currently president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, worked
with Archbishop Parolin in the Secretariat of State several years ago. The archbishop
was then the cardinal’s Undersecretary for Relations with States for about four years.
In an interview with Vatican Radio’s Hélène Destombes, the cardinal said:
“He’s an excellent priest and I think he has great international experience. And he
is young, so he could accompany the Pope in the reform of the Curia.”
Cardinal
Tauran described the new secretary of state as “very efficient”, “a good negotiator”
,“very balanced” and “very realistic”.
When asked if the archbishop’s appointment
could be seen as a break with the “era of Cardinal Bertone”, the cardinal said the
new 58-year-old Secretary of State represents “a different style, another generation
and different experience”.
The cardinal also commented on Archbishop Parolin’s
pastoral approach: “Diplomacy is at the service of pastoral work, and I think that
this is something that Archbishop Parolin understood well and which he lives.”
Cardinal
Tauran said he “always appreciated (the archbishop’s) discretion, his great capacity
for work.”
The cardinal said he believes the new Secretary of State and the
Pope have complementary personalities and will work well together.
“I think
so because they are two men who are very calm, who have an interior life, who do not
allow themselves to be impressed by events,” he said. “Their temperaments go very
well together, and I wish Archbishop Parolin much success in his new functions.”
DIPLOMATIC
SERVICE Archbishop Parolin was born in Vicenza, Italy, and was ordained a
priest in 1980. He has served in the diplomatic corps for the past 20 years, serving
in the nunciatures of Nigeria and Mexico.
In his diplomatic career, he was
also involved in some delicate files, including reopening the dialogue between Israel
and the Palestinians, relations between the Vatican and Vietnam, and Benedict XVI’s
letter to Chinese Catholics.
He was the apostolic nuncio in Venezuela, when
Pope Francis announced his appointment as Secretary of State on August 31.