Please read below for the unofficial transcript of the pope’s November 26 in-flight press conference, during his flight from Tokyo, Japan to Rome; compiled by the Catholic News Agency
Roland Juchem (CIC, Germany): Holy Father, on the flight from Bangkok to Tokyo, you sent a telegram to Carrie Lam of Hong Kong. What do you think about the situation there, about the manifestations and after the district council elections? And when can we accompany you to Beijing?
The telegrams are sent to every head of state. It is an automatic procedure, it is a matter of greeting and also a kind way to ask permission to fly over their territory. They do not mean either a condemnation or a backing. It is automatic. All the flights do that when they enter and give a warning. We do that with kindness, we greet. This has no meaning, according to the sense of your question. It only means courtesy.
On the other situation you are talking about, I will think about that. It is not only about Hong Kong. Think about Chile, think about France, the democratic France in the year of the yellow vests, think about other Latin American countries, like Brazil, that have similar problems, (think) also about some European country. It is a general issue. And what does the Holy See do? It calls for dialogue, for peace. It is not just Hong Kong. There are many countries with problems, and in this moment I am not able to assess them. I respect the peace and I call for peace in all of these countries with problems. There are also problems with Spain, problems like these… it is convenient to relativize the issues and call for the dialogue and the peace to solve the problems.
Juchem: Beijing…
Pope Francis: I would like to go to Beijing, I love China
Valentina Alazraki (Televisa, Spain): Pope Francis, Latin America is under fire. After Venezuela, we have seen in Chile images that we did not think we were going to see again after Pinochet. We have seen the situation in Bolivia, Nicaragua, other countries. Riots, violence in the streets, dead and injured, Churches looted. What is your assessment on what it is happening in these countries? Can the Church, and you personally as a Latin American pope, do something? Are you doing something?
Pope Francis: Somebody told me: ‘The situation in Latin America nowadays looks like the situation in 1974 – 1980,’ Chile, Argentina, Urguay, Brazil, I think also Bolivia, they had the Operation Condor – this is how it was called – the situation was so in fire. I do not know if one situation looks like the other, I am not able now to make a general evaluation of this. It is true, there are declarations that are not precisely peace declarations. The Chilean issue, since Chile comes out of an abuse crisis that made us suffer a lot, and now comes back with this kind of issue that we do not understand well.
But Chile is under fire, as you say. We must look for the dialogue and also for the analysis. I have not yet found a well done analysis on the situation in Latin American. And also there are weak, very weak governments, that were not able to bring order and peace: this is also a reason why there is this situation.
Alazraki: Evo Morales asked for your mediation, for example. Concrete things…
Pope Francis: Yes, the concrete things. Venezuela asked for the mediation and the Holy See has always been available, there is a good relation. We are there to help when it is needed. Bolivia asked for something similar, I still do not know how, but also forward a request to the United Nations that sent delegates and also some countries of the United Nations. I do not know about Chile. Brazil certainly did not, but there are problems also there. It is a strange thing, I would not want to say more, because I sincerely have not studied the issue in depth.
I take advantage of your question. You did not speak a lot about Thailand and Thailand is different from Japan, it is another culture– of transcendence and of beauty, different for the beauty of Japan. So much poverty and so many spiritual richness. But there is also a problem that is heart-breaking and that make us think to Grecia and the others. She is a mater on this issue of the exploitation. She studied well and her book did a lot of good. Some places of Thailand are difficult for this reason.
There is also north Thailand, where I could not go. The tribal Thailand, as there is the tribal northeastern India, with a totally different culture. I received some twenty people from that area, they are the first baptized people who came to Rome.
Bangkok, we saw that, is a very modern city. It is a strong, big city, with problems and wealth other than Japan.
I wanted to underscore the issue of exploitation. And I thank you and your book. And I would like to thank the green book by Franca. Where is Giansoldati? She is there. Two women, who are in the flight, wrote a book each on the issues of today. The ecological issue, the issue of the destruction of the mother earth, of the environment. And the issue of the human exploitation. We can see that women work more than men and are skilled. Thanks. I thank you both for this contribution. And still I have in my heart the shirt of Rocio. I will not forget.
I thank you all. Thanks for your straightforward questions, thanks. This is good, it is always good. Pray for me. Have a good meal!
