The interview was held on November 22 at his Vatican residence at Santa Marta and was conducted in Spanish by five represen-tatives of the American Jesuit magazine including its outgoing editor in chief, Fr. Matt Malone, S.J., and Fr. Sam Sawyer, S.J., the incoming editor in chief. Questions ranged from polarization in the U.S. Church, racism, Church teaching on the ordination of women, the Pope’s stance on social issues, the war in Ukraine, the Vatican’s relations with China and his pontificate.
“I am happy because I feel God at my side.”
Fr. Malone introduced the interview by asking Pope Francis what makes him so peaceful and happy in his ministry. The Pope answered that being with people has always given him great joy, and that what makes him feel happy is having the assurance that “God is at his side.” “Throughout my life – he said – He has always guided me on His path, sometimes in difficult moments, but there is always the assurance that one does not walk alone.”
The Holy Father warned against the dangers of ideological partisanship in society, but especially within the Church, noting that U.S. society too has some “ideological Catho-lic groups.” “Polarization is not Catholic,” he stressed. “A Catholic cannot think either-or (aut-aut) and reduce everything to polari-zation. The essence of what is Catholic is both-and (et-et).” He recalled that Jesus went beyond the divisions among the Jews of the time between the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes and the Zealots. proposing the Beatitudes, “which are also something di-fferent.”
“The more polarization there is, the more one loses the Catholic spirit and falls into a sectarian spirit.”