Analysis with Argentine journalist Pablo Malizzia on the election and appointment of the new Pope of the Catholic Church, the 267th. teleSUR
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00:00At this moment, joined by Pablo Malizia, journalist from Argentina.
00:05Thank you so much, Pablo, for joining us once again in Tell Us Your English.
00:09We are looking at a very significant moment as the St. Peter's Basilica is filled with people.
00:16We're awaiting to know the identity of the newly elected Pope.
00:21Pablo, what is your view on this? What is at stake here?
00:26Well, I think that there are two important things we are about to know.
00:33Not only the identity of the Pope, but also it is very important that we pay attention on the name that he picks.
00:44Because we saw it with Pope Francis.
00:47It was a real statement, the thing he made when he chose precisely that name in memory of St. Francis of Aces.
01:06So, I think both details are going to be very important.
01:14Number one, if the most progressive wing of the church is going to keep control of the Catholic church,
01:25or if the more conservative part of the church office day and others are going to beat in this political struggle
01:37to name the next leader of the Catholic faith.
01:42We remember that during the funerals, a number of presidents from around the world went to the last goodbye to Pope Francis.
02:00And a lot of them were not precisely the ones that loved him the best during his time.
02:11We saw not just Donald Trump and Meloni, all the right-wing presidents of the Western countries attended to that funeral.
02:30And it was not just by chance, it was not all even because they loved him.
02:36They went there because they wanted to put extra pressure to the cardinals in this votation
02:45in order to pull the election to the right part of the people, of the candidates, let's say.
02:59So, we are in this, this is a very, very important moment in history.
03:10We will see if the church is going to continue the legacy that Pope Francis started with all his reformations,
03:22all his, all the changes, all the openness that he gave to the Catholic church,
03:29if this is going to be deeper.
03:32And as you were saying before, very cleverly,
03:36if the church is going to stay side by side with the poor people of the world,
03:45if the church is going to be the voice of the excluded of migrants or if the church from now and on is going to be once again,
03:58the, let's say, the way that the main powers of the planet will keep easy and calm to all,
04:10though that army of starving people around the planet in order to prevent revolution, let's say, to say, to put it short.
04:24So, these are very, very, we are in a point of history in which this is going to be very, very important for the future of the Catholic church itself,
04:36because we have seen, especially in Latin America, we have seen the growth that other churches had,
04:46Protestant churches and evangelistic churches that have grown, mathematically increased their power or their number of followers in Latin America.
05:02And at the same time, the Catholic church lost a lot of their people.
05:09So, if church turns to the right with the new pope...
05:17And you were saying this marks not only the identity of the pope, but what role will the church take?
05:25And we have a U.S. pope. What do you think of this?
05:29Yes. I think that this choice was, in a way, the one that was easier to take for them,
05:46because this cardinal from the United States, even if he was, let's say, one of the cardinals that Pope Francis has named to that rank,
06:00he was not pointed as one of the most progressists among the possibilities, and he's not otherwise, on the other side either.
06:16I mean, he's not conservative. He's not very in the papers.
06:21He's not so, let's say, so left-winged as Pope Francis used to be.
06:29He's more in the middle, but at the same time, it is very interesting because he's an Augustinian.
06:36The congregation he's from is also very important.
06:40And that tells us that he's a priest that went on missionary missions, if I may say.
06:54He has been all his life side by side with the poor people, the excluded people.
07:02I think that in that way he will honor the Pope Francis' legacy.
07:11He has a lot of bondings with Latin America as well, his presence in Peru for such a long time.
07:18He even met Pope Francis here in Buenos Aires when Jorge Bergoglio was the cardinal of the city.
07:26So they have met before Francis, before Bergoglio was named Pope.
07:33So I think that this is, let's say, it's a, let's say, a Salomonic decision.
07:41They picked a person from the United States, but at the same time with deep roots in Latin America,
07:50with a past that is closer to Francis' teachings and legacy.
08:00And I think that now what we have to see is, well, how the things develop as he starts his punk, his pop, his realm,
08:17his, his, I don't know how to say it.
08:20Right, his leadership at church.
08:22His work.
08:23His work.
08:24Pablo, it's so interesting what you were mentioning, this thing of thinking about the duality of being from the United States,
08:35but with close ties with Latin America.
08:37We were also mentioning before, for example, that he, well, he made a gesture by speaking in Spanish to his Peruvian congregation at that initial speech.
08:50We've spoken so much about the legacy and the importance of Pope Francis being from Latin America,
08:56that definitely that was a calculated gesture of, like, symbolizing something.
09:03What I was thinking is, what can we expect from a Pope that comes from the United States in terms of a head of state?
09:12He will have to hold bilateral meetings with Trump.
09:16We were saying the last meeting of Pope Francis was with J.D. Vance about migration,
09:20and he was very harsh on these topics.
09:24What do you think this means?
09:26Can a U.S. cardinal take such strong positions?
09:29I think that, of course, we cannot predict the future, but I think that a Pope from the United States
09:42can be the, let's say, the best dream that Trump could have had, or perhaps his worst nightmare.
09:54Pay attention, because the coin has two sides.
10:01Because if we have, if Pope Leo continues with Pope Francis' legacy and tries to,
10:10and continues rising the voice for the migrants, for the excluded, etc.,
10:16well, being American, being from the United States, perhaps it will be more than a stone in the shoe for President Trump.
10:31Because if it's good for one thing, it can be, let's say, a more powerful message
10:40if it turns out to be like Pope Francis.
10:44So, being a U.S. citizen and Peruvian citizen as well, because he got his Peruvian citizenship as well,
10:55well, I think that we might be in front of, let's say, a clever decision by the Vatican,
11:05because he has all the tools ready in the table.
11:12Pope Francis left everything prepared for the next Pope to have all the options opened,
11:20and now what we have to see is what is the path that the new Pope is going to take.
11:27The path is open for him to choose.
11:34Now, it depends on his political decisions, and it also depends on the,
11:42let's not forget that the Vatican itself is going through economical crisis as well,
11:49and the U.S. church is one of the wealthiest in the planet,
11:53and one of the ones that sends the more, the higher amount of donatives to the Vatican as well.
12:02So, their money is always involved in politics, and this is also politics.
12:08So, we can hope for, we can wait, perhaps we will see a Pope trying to keep everybody happy at the first time,
12:21but if I pay attention to his own story, and what I mentioned before,
12:29the fact that he's Augustinian, the congregation that he belongs to, is a missionary congregation.
12:40They have been in all Latin America, most especially in Mexico and Peru,
12:46let's say the Pacific part of Latin America, but always close to the poor people and the excluded.
12:55So, I think that, of course, a good bet of hope, let's say, if that is allowed in this subject,
13:11we can have a little hope that things may continue with the path that Francis shown during his time.
13:25Excellent, Pablo, really interesting to think, what a complex decision, and what a complex moment,
13:32and, of course, we will have hours and days to continue to analyze this election of a new Pope.
13:39So, thank you so much for joining us here in Tell Us for English.
13:43My pleasure.
13:45It's been a pleasure to have Pablo Malizia, Argentinian journalist,
13:50is covering this breaking news of the new election.
13:54Pope Leo XIV is the new Pope, new leader of the Catholic Church.
14:00We will continue bringing you all the information and all the analysis of what this means.
14:06Stay tuned with Tell Us for English.