Cardinal’s funeral sermon echoes pope’s plea for Trump to ‘build bridges, not walls’
Speaking before hundreds of world leaders at Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday (April 26), Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re urged compassion for migrants, an end to wars, and action on climate change — key political issues that were central to Francis's legacy.
Re repeated one of the pope's strongest criticisms of US President Donald Trump, with Trump himself present in the crowd, by calling to "build bridges, not walls", News.Az reports cting foreign media.
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."
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