Inflight Presser: President of Very Big Country Had No Interest in Francis
He observed that nonetheless, wars are going on in Ukraine, Syria, the Horn of Africa, Mozambique, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Myanmar and “now Azerbaijan and Armenia which had stopped for a while because Russia acted as a guarantor.”
Francis mentioned the demographic winter in the Western abortion and contraception regimes, pointing to empty Italian villages “with only twenty old ladies there.” His solution is a policy “where immigrants are included" - which is already creating empty villages in the countries were the immigrants come from.
Presupposing that his audience is stupid he alleged that immigration “raises the intellectual and congenial value of the West.” Another joke from the Argentinian immigrant who, after his arrival, raised the Vatican’s intellectual level: “Politics is a noble vocation.”
About the decadence of the German Church, Francis said, that when a Church “thinks more about money, development, pastoral plans and not pastoral care” that doesn't attract people [not that Francis is a crowd puller].
For him the Vatican-Chinese commission chaired by Cardinal Parolin “is going well.” Francis wants a “path of dialogue” even if “there are things that seem undemocratic to us.”
Francis concealed what Reuters.com reported (September 15), namely that he requested to meet Chinese president XI Jinping who was also present in Astana. The Chinese side “appreciated the gesture” but replied that there was no free time on Xi's schedule - who evidently had more important people to talk to than Francis.
Picture: Vatican Media, #newsBjzvjhzguw
