Full interview of Pope Francis for Christmas: “Corruption rots the soul”

sunday december 18 on Canale 5, from 20:35 it will be broadcast”The Christmas I want🇧🇷 Pope Francis granted a new interview in the vicinity of the Sacred Christmas🇧🇷 The pontiff, interviewed by the Vatican expert Fabio Marquis Ragona, addressed important topics such as the war in Ukraine, poverty, but also aspects related to his pontificate, which will arrive in March 2023 ten years🇧🇷 Belowfull interview to be reviewed also on Mediaset Play.

The full interview with Pope Francis

In Ukraine they are going through a really difficult situation, even torture chambers for children have been discovered in Ukraine. Why can’t the leaders of these two countries sit down around the table and talk?

We are experiencing the Third World War little by little. Ukraine wakes us up a little because it’s close, but Syria has been at war for 13 years, Yemen for how long? The world is at war and it hurts a lot. One year I went to the Anzio cemetery, where American soldiers are buried, I saw the age of the boys and I cried. How are lives destroyed at this age? Sometimes I think of mothers with the postman knocking on the door: ‘Ma’am, a letter to you, we are honored to say that you are the mother of a hero🇧🇷 Yes, all that remains is that letter from that son to his mother. War is madness, it always destroys, because one aggression leads to another, and another, and another. The weapons industry, an industry that instead of moving humanity forward makes things to destroy.

Since the war broke out, you’ve made many appeals to the Angelus, to the general public, you’ve asked Putin to be able to meet you in Moscow to try to stop the war, you’ve spoken to President Zelensky. We saw her tears in the Piazza di Spagna when she brought the suffering children of Ukraine before Our Lady. There is a moment when even the Pope, faced with this situation, after so many months, says ‘What else can I do’?

It is the madness of war. The war started with Cain. The Cainistic Spirit. Whoever kills out of jealousy kills out of self-interest. Its ugly. There will now be social consequences across Europe. Get ready.

Pope Francis on the Spanish Steps to the Immaculate Conception

Even here in Italy there are repercussions. There is talk of expensive energy, because prices are rising. Today, many traders run the risk of closing their trade because they cannot pay their bills. How can these families, the entrepreneurs, continue in peace? Needless to say: which saint should they dedicate themselves to?

These are the effects of war, are they not? Prices soar, objectivity is lost, everything is connected. There are some countries, I am thinking of Yemen, where children are at risk of starvation. Neither you nor I know what it was, what it is to starve. Will we know, perhaps? There are many people who are already starting to know.

This is an example that concerns Italy, but there are those who don’t have the problem of paying the bills because they don’t even have a home. And here are many. I brought two tokens: a blanket and some bread.

There is one thing that worries me a lot: it is indifference. The worst that can happen to us is to look the other way. Measure your Christmas expenses. This is a sad Christmas, a war Christmas. There are people dying of hunger. Please have a big heart and don’t buy like nothing is going to happen. Indifference is one of the things we have to fight a lot. We must become aware of this historic moment, of poverty. There are children playing with a Russian missile, starving to death. At least we celebrate the nativity scene because the nativity scene is a beautiful thing, it’s a beautiful message. We want to party, but we party in moderation.

Those people who live on the street will have a cold and difficult Christmas. And then you ask: what should the ruling class, the institutions do for these people? And let’s talk about the institutions, the ruling class which, at European level this week, is experiencing a corruption scandal. An insult to those who have nothing.

We are all sinners and we must ask the Lord for forgiveness every day for our mistakes. Today we slide from sin to corruption. How is it that, with the need for so many things in Europe, these people who are in the administration fall into corruption? They are weak. Yes, yes weak. I am weak too, we are all weak. Everyone has their point. Sinner yes, but not corrupt. Corruption rots the soul.

Many times during this year, but also in the past, she has made birth calls and has said several times: if you don’t have children, there is no future. There are those who cannot have children because they cannot afford them or for other reasons. There are those who, on the other hand, choose not to have children. But in her opinion, is Italy mature enough to understand that if you don’t have children there will be no future?

There is a demographic winter in Italy today. There is no culture of procreation, it is better to take a trip, buy a house, I know people who think like that. Some countries, like France, have implemented very good pro-family measures and as a result, the birth rate in France has increased a lot. In Italy, we need to help families right now. Many women are afraid of getting pregnant because they think they will be fired from their jobs, and others don’t find it because employers fear they will get pregnant. A child is a threat now, it should be a blessing. I say, Italians, please have children. Less selfish.

Speaking of children, it takes very little to make them smile: a ball to play in the street, to play in the field.

Sport is noble. Sport brings nobility. Don Bosco used to say “if you want to bring the children together, throw a ball on the road and they will come like flies to a cake”. Children play and there is a very beautiful thing that is the value of play, of sport. It’s a blessing to be able to do this well, we all need the free sport. That’s why I’m happy when I see people get excited about the world of sport and don’t lose that “amateur” dimension. The sport is free, it’s amateur, isn’t it? There are now more commercial aspects but it’s not bad if they are moderated.

The fact that in these moments the world is focused on the World Cup final comes to mind: is there any wish you would like to give to the World Cup winners, to the winners?

All best wishes to the winners. May they live it with humility. And those who don’t win, may they live happily because the greatest value is not winning or not winning, it’s playing fair, playing well. Both who have the courage to shake hands.

Holy Father, in a few months you will complete the tenth anniversary of your pontificate, a pontificate that has brought you many joys, but also much suffering. There is something he would like to achieve and he hasn’t yet.

When I was elected I planned all the things that we established with the cardinals in the pre-conclave meetings for the next Pope, but nobody knew who it was. This has been my way forward. One of the things you see the most, not the most important thing, but the thing you see the most is economic cleanup, avoiding bad things economically. The Council for the Economy has met these days and it is working well. We can have a very organized curia, an organized parish, a very organized diocese, but if there is no spirit of mission, if you don’t pray inside, you won’t go. Prayer is important.

Is there something you’ve had to do that you’d like to avoid?

The economic part. I only gave indications, Cardinal Pell saw all this clearly, then he had to spend almost two years in Australia because of this slander that was made of him – that he was innocent, but they made him ugly, poor thing – and he left this administration.

What was the image that was most imprinted on you, in the meetings you had as pontiff, the image that was imprinted in your heart?

Sick children. When I see a child in a wheelchair, when I see a child who is sick, when they bring him to me because he is going to die, it moves me. That Dostoevsky question “Why do children suffer?” It’s a mystery. But this mystery brings you closer to God. One of the most beautiful joys is caressing children and caressing the elderly. It’s curious. The tenderness of the elderly and the tenderness of children.

Pope Francis at the Vatican with the children of the Santa Marta Institute

We are in the days of his 86th birthday. Some say that the important thing is to feel young at heart, do you feel young?

I can say that I feel happy. The Lord accompanies me, I feel like a shepherd, I am doing my vocation, I am a sinner. Every 15 days the Franciscan saint comes and forgives my sins, but I am happy because I see that the Lord helps me to move forward.

You wrote a letter, Admirabile signum, which talks about the importance of the nativity scene in families. How did you imagine the birth of Jesus as a child, did you make the nativity scene at home?

Yes, it has always been done with plaster figurines. Simple. And so he prepared well, he also laid some grass for the Magi’s camels. The best thing was after Mass, which at that time was at midnight, to go and place the Child because he was born. We were a very family
Simple, we weren’t rich. Christmas for us was the crib, not the tree, it’s curious: it wasn’t here
habit to make the tree at home. We made the crib.

This Child comes from Bethlehem, we can say that he brings together all the hopes of the world. Do you want to leave a message for this Christmas to those who are listening?

Look at the child and the star. Another son is hope, brought hope but was born poor, persecuted had to flee. Both are the Christmas message today. For each of you who are listening to us, I ask the Lady to give you human tenderness and the light of the star, if you look at the star you will know where the path is, like the Magi. If you watch the baby, you’ll know how your heart must feel.