During the 24-minute interview in Spanish, the cardinal described Pope Francis as “a simple man without protocol” who takes great care to be close to the people.
“His desire is to make the Church more credible in proclaiming the Gospel,” the cardinal said.
Parolin, 66, has served as Vatican Secretary of State for the last eight years. He said that he viewed ecclesiastical diplomacy as a way of living out his priesthood.
“We are at the service of communion and also of the defense of the freedom of the Church and religious freedom. That is my way of looking at diplomacy,” he said.
When asked about the Vatican’s relations with the Chinese government, Parolin said that he had “a positive outlook.”
“The steps that have been taken, even though they have not resolved all the problems that are still there and will probably take a long time, are on the right course towards a conciliation within the Church due to this problem of differences, there is too much … separation,” Parolin said.
“So we look at the Church in China with great respect, also for its history, the future is based on history, a history of much suffering,” he said. “I think this has to be the point of view, the great respect that we have.”
The cardinal said that “everything is being done to ensure a normal life of the Church in China,” with “spaces of religious freedom” and communion with the pope.
Parolin also commented on Pope Francis’ March 5-8 trip to Iraq, which he described as “very emotional.”
“The Church has suffered because Christians, unfortunately, have been persecuted by all the conflicts and by all the forces that want to uproot the Christian faith in that country … But what they have taught us is the testimony of faith that goes as far as martyrdom. From there we can draw a great lesson from Iraqi Christians,” said Parolin, who accompanied the pope on the visit.
“Sometimes it seems to me that as Christians in Europe, in the West, we are too cold towards our brothers. I wish there was more solidarity, more closeness, more ways to express our support and help to move forward. They teach us this ability to be faithful despite all difficulties, but at the same time they ask us for greater solidarity,” the cardinal said.
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