Cardeal Muller: Papa Francisco Conversa com Lula, mas Não com Salvini.

Ontem, o Brasil acordou com a notícia de que o Papa Francisco enviou uma cartinha para o Lula, um condenado pela maior caso de corrupção da história do país.

Muitos católicos tentaram dizer que a carta era formal, que não era apoio, que Francisco responde a todos que lhe escrevem.

O que não é verdade: a carta não é formal, é amigável (fala até dos entes queridos de Lula), pode ser lida como apoio, pois Francisco diz que a "Salvação vencerá a condenação" (não se diz isso por acaso) e pior, não é verdade que Francisco responde a todos que lhe pedem.

Basta ver os 4 cardeais do Dubia que enviaram carta em 2016 e até hoje não receberam respostas, as dezenas de "apelos filiais" de bispos e leigos enviados ao Papa que ele não respondeu nenhum, e também ao pedido de audiência feito pelo vice-ministro da Itália (Matteo Salvini) que o Papa não recebe. Podemos também lembrar das inúmeras vezes que o Papa atacou o presidente Trump, mesmo antes de Trump se eleger.

Sobre esse último caso, leio que o Cardeal Muller comentou a discrepância de o Papa receber com prazer líderes secularistas e até ditadores como representantes de Maduro e não recebe líderes católicos como Salvini. Além de lembrar que Francisco chegou a dizer que Trump não era cristão.

Vejamos o que disse o cardeal Muller, descrito pelo site The Crux (que um site que procura defender o Papa Francisco)

Cardinal Müller: Francis should engage with populists after election landslide

• Claire Giangravè
  May 29, 2019

[A]ccording to German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI, it’s time for the Italian Church - and Francis - to make peace with Salvini.

“In this moment, the Church is engaged too much in politics and too little in faith,” he told local newspaper Il Corriere della Sera in a May 28 interview.

“A Church authority cannot speak in such an amateur way about theological questions and especially it must not intrude in politics, when there is a democratically legitimized parliament and government as there is in Italy,” Müller said.

“It’s better to talk with Salvini, discuss, or correct him when necessary,” he added.

Francis has never officially met with Salvini in person, and even though it’s not required for a pontiff to meet with the Italian leadership, it’s very unusual in a country where the Church and state have usually walked hand-in-hand.

“It’s curious that the pope has received the most secularist people, and not Salvini,” Müller said. “He dialogues with the Venezuelan regime, or with China which places millions of Christians in re-education camps, destroys churches, persecutes Christians.”

“But here in Italy, we’re not in China. You must speak with everyone in a spirit of fraternity,” he said.

Müller criticized what he described as Francis’s “magic circle,” in particular Father Antonio Spadaro, who heads the Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica, and Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, who presides over the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

According to the German prelate, calling a baptized and confirmed person not Christian because of their political leanings is “bestial” and the Church “can only warn but not ostracize” when it comes to immigration.

“There are countries that wish to de-Christianize Italy and Europe, while Salvini referenced the patrons of the European Union, its Christian roots,” Müller said about the politicians’ Bible-brandishing and saint namedropping antics.

“I prefer those who speak of Christian tradition to those who remove it,” he added.

Müller’s view is reflected in many of the hundreds of people who attended the World Congress of Families that took place in Verona in March or the people who “booed” when Salvini mentioned Francis during a speech before the Cathedral in Milan during the buildup to last weekend’s polls.

Salvini’s oath to “defend life” at a European level, his opposition to LGBT rights, and emphasis on traditional Christian values have caught the attention of the more politically active Catholic factions in Italy.

How long the pope and the Italian bishops will be able to continue their “Cold War” against Salvini is unclear, especially as important ethical debates concerning euthanasia loom over the country. For the time being, Francis’s supporters continue to criticize the Northern League.

“It’s not enough to display the Gospel and the rosary to call yourself a Catholic politician,” said Jesuit Father Francesco Ochetta on the Italian Bishops’ channel Tv2000 May 27.

“For us, the strongest political page in the Gospel is that on the Good Samaritan,” he added.