Guatemala’s cardinal trusts migration will be a priority for next pope as he readies for conclave

By Giovanna Dell Orto Associated Press ROME Cardinal lvaro Ramazzini is taking the same spirit to his first conclave that s guided his decades-long front-line ministry among the transients poor and Indigenous people in Guatemala s highlands ensuring that the Gospel isn t preached in the abstract Advocating for transients was a priority of Pope Francis who made Ramazzini a cardinal in Being elevated to the top hierarchy of the Catholic Church didn t faze the bishop of Huehuetenango whose continued commitment to social justice led to a great number of threats of violence His native Guatemala is struggling through political turmoil and remains a hot spot of migration to the United States It s a duty of conscience for the cardinals now that we have the responsibility to name a new pope that we don t lose sight that we ve been coming along a path and this path necessities to continue to grow and grow and grow Ramazzini informed The Associated Press on Saturday four days before Catholic cardinals gather to elect Francis successor I m talking about supporting welcoming and protecting the rights of expatriates Ramazzini mentioned the church has to advocate for refugees forced by dire poverty to migrate along cartel-controlled routes where they re often extorted or trafficked both by helping them with shelters and other humanitarian aid and by lobbying for comprehensive immigration change But this we haven t achieved Ramazzini declared We didn t achieve it with Clinton we didn t achieve with Obama we didn t achieve it with Biden and far far less will we succeed with Mr Trump Still the church shouldn t abandon refugees or the pastoral line of advocating for social justice peace and fairer economic relations between countries that started gaining prominence with the Second Vatican Council and reached new heights under Francis Ramazzini revealed There s a line of continuity and I am sure that this will be a task for the next pope the cardinal noted in the hilltop headquarters of the Scalabrinians a missionary order founded by an Italian bishop in the late th century to serve newcomers and refugees We need to be the voice of all these people who don t have access oftentimes to lobbies that we can reach For majority of the -plus years since his ordination Ramazzini has been bishop in San Marcos and then Huehuetenango mountainous regions that were particularly hard-hit during Guatemala s civil war which ended in At present they continue to struggle with extreme poverty and drug-trafficking pushing hundreds of thousands of local youths to migrate to the United States Cardinals are sworn to secrecy about the ongoing deliberations regarding the direction of the church as they prepare to enter the conclave on Wednesday But Ramazzini commented he s heartened by the global vision shared by the unusually large number of cardinals electors all but a couple of whom are already in Rome He added that he trusts the next pope will pick up the pending task of reforming church institutions and its financial structure that Francis began as well as continue the great sign of including more women in positions of leadership Ramazzini also highlighted that spirituality and social justice action must go hand-in-hand This is the true spirituality which is fed by prayer by reflection on the word of God but that has to be projected toward the other he reported The next pope will have his own spirituality But the pivotal thing is that nobody forgets that you can t have real spirituality without putting the Gospel concretely into practice And his own beliefs are keeping him from being nervous about participating for the first time in the balloting of the next leader of the world s billion Catholics Related Articles Letters Lee must demand more assessment of Oakland Airport expansion Letters Pope Francis was prescient on context Africans say a Black pope would be nice to have But they are not too hopeful Roberts might hold key Supreme Court vote over st publicly funded religious charter school Abuse survivors demand next pope enact zero-tolerance approach identify cardinals with poor records I m not worried because I know that nothing will happen that our Lord Jesus Christ won t permit Ramazzini announced In the end he s the master of the church we are his servants So he will help us come out of this well That s reassuring as is the certainty that he won t be picked Ramazzini joked Associated Press religion coverage receives encouragement through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content