Cardinal Walter Kasper by Centro Televisivo Vaticano / Wikimedia Commons (Left), Marco Iacobucci Epp / Shutterstock (Right)
VATICAN CITY // According to German Cardinal Walter Kasper — a leading progressive voice and close ally of Pope Francis — ”everyone” in the Church wants a new Francis.
In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa, Cardinal Kasper, who is not a cardinal-elector but participates at the general congregations, emphasized what he believes is the “enduring influence of Pope Francis” and the overwhelming desire among the faithful for a pontiff who will carry forward his legacy.
“Look carefully around St. Peter’s and St. Mary Major — where Pope Francis tomb is located — and ask the crowd: Everyone will answer that they are waiting for a new Francis. Without looking for a photocopy, I am convinced that we will continue along Bergoglio’s line. I have spoken about it with many cardinals.”
Asked about the qualities Catholics seek in the next pope, Cardinal Kasper said, “I believe that there is a very clear expectation: people want a pope in the wake of Francis. A pastor who knows the language of the heart, who does not close himself in palaces, who does not speak only to theologians but to the concrete life of people.”
According to the German theologian, who was always a critic of the theology of his conational Pope Benedict XVI, “Bergoglio [Pope Francis] took the Church out of the temple, he pushed it to be in the suburbs, in the streets, among the wounded.”
“The next pope will have to have the ability to continue along this line: to be close, to listen, to understand, to speak with mercy,” he added. “This is what people want today. Not a distant pope, who speaks an abstract language, but a guide capable of entering into the dramas and hopes of our time.”
“Of course,” he admitted, “there are also cardinals who hope for a change of direction with respect to Francis. But my impression, participating in the General Congregations, is that the majority of cardinals are on the line of continuity. The opponents seem to me to be a small group. Francis has been greatly appreciated, even by those who in the past had reservations.”
