Pope Francis saw priests' embrace of the attributes of power as a “cancer” that the Roman Catholic Church corroded, according to a best-selling Spanish author who traveled to Mongolia with the Pope.
Javier Cercas, a journalist and novelist who grew up in a pious Catholic household, but himself an atheist, was invited to join Francis on the first visit of a Pope to Mongolia in August-September 2023.
The visit gave rise to a book – translated as “God's madman at the end of the world” – that is partly travelogue, partly memoirs, partly historical exploration.
Previously published in Spanish this year and translated into Italian, it has been flying out of the shelves since the death of Francis on April 21 at the age of 88.
In an interview in Bogota on Tuesday, Cercas said that during the trip he discovered that he had several things in common with the Pope.
They both liked to keep naps, enjoyed the works of the Argentinian literary great Jorge Luis Borges and were 'deep anti -paraders'.
Cercas, 63, said that Francis “saw the perverse idea that the priest is above the believers” as “a cancer within the church.”
During his papacy, the so -called “Pope of the poor” had excited the clergy because he had put himself above the herd and was beaten by symbols of power.
In a speech to a church synode in October 2023, he called it a “scandal” to see young priests can see Kant -robes from Rome -Key makers.
Cercas – who became famous in 2001 with 'Soldiers of Salamina', a novel that took place during the Spanish Civil War that was later made in a film – said he agreed to accompany the Pope on one condition to Mongolia.
He wanted Francis to answer a question for his pious mother: would she be reunited with Cercas's father at the end of her days?
The question of whether heaven exists was the subject of much discussion between the writer and the pope – and became a recurring theme in the book.
Cercas sent the pope a signed copy of the work two weeks before his death, but believes that the Pontiff, who was already very unwell, never came close to read it.
– The 'Antichrist' PAUS –
Cercas said he found Francis as a “very ambitious man” with a “very strong” character who defended his right to make jokes, even when he was confronted with adversity or delicate topics.
He described the Argentinian Pontiff as a “revolutionary” who embraced a “primitive Christianity” that was proud of the “Berooide, the poor, the prostitutes.”
But he also acknowledged that Francis had failed to significantly reform the church and to blame “brutal resistance” of the Catholic hierarchy that, he said, treated Francis as the “Antichrist”.
Cercas believes that the cardinals who will meet in Rome next week to choose Francis's successor, opt for “a timid reformer, or someone who appears as a reformer, but behaves like a conservative.”
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