By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – In front of hundreds of world leaders attending the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re called for care for migrants, an end to wars, and action on global climate change – Francis’ favourite political themes.
Re repeated one of the pope’s strongest criticisms of U.S. President Donald Trump, with Trump himself present in the crowd, by calling to “build bridges, not walls”.
Trump and the pope exchanged criticisms over a decade, mostly related to the pope’s plea for compassion for migrants, a group Trump has repeatedly sought to deport.
Re’s sermon, heard by a global audience of millions, contained a strong political message for the national leaders and a strong internal message to the world’s Catholic cardinals.
To the about 135 Catholic cardinals who will soon be tasked with entering a secret conclave to choose the next pope, it was also a possible roadmap for how they should start their deliberations.
In spiritual language, the 91-year-old prelate gave a simple message: there is no going back.
Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America and one who garnered global attention during his 12-year papacy, had been “attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.”
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” said Re.
He touched people’s hearts, said the cardinal, “in a direct and immediate way.”
Francis, pope since 2013, died on Monday at age 88.
His funeral on Saturday, which also included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and some 50 other world leaders, was a carefully choreographed affair, with Latin chants, strictly organised seating, and use of ancient Catholic rites.
Re invoked a criticism Francis levied against Trump in 2016, when the real estate mogul was making his first run for president. Trump, the pope said, was “not Christian” because of his views on immigration.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” said Francis at the time. “This is not in the gospel.”
Trump responded then, “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.”
More recently, the pope had called Trump’s immigration crackdown in his second term a “disgrace”.
‘PROFOUND’ PONTIFICATE
Re also cited a major document written by Francis in 2015 on climate change, which was intended to influence discussions at the 2016 Paris climate conference, and visits by the pope to the Mediterranean islands of Lampedusa and Lesbos, where he met migrants in detention camps.
There is no clear frontrunner to succeed Francis as pope, but there is a history of sermons at papal funerals influencing conclaves.
At the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, the sermon was delivered by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who, eleven days later, was elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
Re is 91 years old, cannot enter the conclave and is not a papal contender.
But he suggested the cardinals might take a lesson from the some 250,000 people who paid their final respects to Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica in the three days before the funeral.
“The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” said the cardinal.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; additional reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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