The Guatemalan Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri, appointed Cardinal by Pope Francis, is the only Guatemalan religious with power to participate in the choice of a new Pope. It is one of the 24 Latin American cardinals who will be in the conclave.
In addition, it has the possibility of being chosen as the successor of the recently deceased Pope of Argentine origin.
This Monday, April 21, the death of Pope Francis was confirmed, and with it the process for the choice of the new leadership of the Catholic Church begins.
On October 5, 2019, Ramazzini, bishop of the Diocese of Huehuetenango, was invested as a cardinal by Pope Francis.
Free Press contacted Cardinal Ramazzini, by telephone, and he explained that he still does not know when he will travel to the Vatican, but that he prepares to attend, in principle, the funeral of the Supreme Pontiff.
Ramazzini commented, for those who believe that he can be elected as Pope, that there is a saying that says that the conclave “we all enter potato, but when it ends, we all leave cardinals, except one.”
“It means that the possibility of being chosen Pope in the conclave is a real possibility. But knowing the history of the church, knowing myself, I also say no, no, no, no,” said Ramazzini.
“I will not be a candidate, absolutely, because I do not meet the conditions, I do not meet all the necessary qualities,” he said.
Cardinal Guatemalteco explained: “I am Latin American, I am Central American, and my opinion is that a Latin American Pope will spend many years for us to have it again. That is my thought,” he said.
The new Pope challenges
Álvaro Ramazzini explained that the new Holy Father has a “fundamental challenge, which is to follow the line drawn by Pope Francis, adapting it to the new situations that will surely occur in the history of humanity in recent years”.
“There is where I think the great challenge is: not cut, not backing, but to continue in that line open by Pope Francis,” he added.
According to Ramazzini, you must “thank God for everything that Pope Francis meant.”
“At this time we do not yet have the ability to understand everything that meant, but from here about seven years we will realize what Francisco’s papacy was really,” he said.
Feelings for his death
The first feeling that Ramazzini presented to Francisco’s death was that of sadness, because “I want the Pope. That is, I have always appreciated it and I know him. I met him since he was archbishop of Buenos Aires (Argentina),” he emphasized.
Cardinal Guatemalteco also revealed that he feels “joy because he is already receiving the prize of everything he did here on earth, of all the action he did, of all his statements, positions and gestures. I am convinced that he is already in heaven with the Lord Jesus.”
Then, he pointed out: “On the one hand, always the sadness of losing a loved one, but on the other hand, the joy of knowing that from heaven will continue to intercede for that church that we are.”
What does Francisco mean for the Catholic Church?
For Ramazzini, Pope Francis means a man who broke schemes, a man who taught what the Gospel of Jesus Christ means to live.
“A man who, with his teaching – a simple teaching, very direct to the people – helped to understand doctrinal positions of the Church. The Holy Father Francisco not only taught speaking, but showed him with gestures, and very specific gestures,” reflected Cardinal Ramazzini.
The role he had, Ramazzini added, “throughout this issue of child abuse, which Benedict XVI had already developed, has been wonderful.”
“Not only with the constitution of that commission, but also with its same mood to personally receive victims of violence being minor, and violence by clergymen of the Catholic Church,” he recalled.
Ramazzini also highlighted his social teaching: “his encyclicals, with incredible continuity of what the previous popes had said from Paul VI, and then also the proximity to the people.”
“I cannot fail to mention that initiative to have summoned a synod to the entire Church, which we are now in the last phase, already as is, in which Christian communities get involved,” he said.
For the cardinal, more time will be needed to analyze, investigating and reflecting everything this Pope did.
“What I convince me is that every Pope arrives at the moment he has to arrive. And I think that was what happened to Pope Francis,” Ramazzini mentioned.
What changed the Church with Francisco?
For Ramazzini, the Pontiff changed the “image of a Pope away from the reality of the people. Then, he also strengthened two important aspects in the social doctrine of the Church: attention to migrants and, also, care of the environment. And there we have the documents that attest to this. In third place, the idea of a very revered pope also changed, of a Pope who was considered almost – forbid the expression – as a divinity.”
“Pope Francis acted and spoke in a way that broke all that distance that is created between faithful and the Holy Father,” he said.
“Quickly, to tell him that, and above all, the changes he made in the Roman curia: having put a religious as a prefect of a congregation for the first time, and then having commissioned another as responsible for the Roman governor. These are unusual made, but there they are there, and that means that the gap is open,” said the cardinal
“Now let’s hope that the next Pope understands and can understand the scope of these decisions, and that he can move on,” he said.
The gift to your mother
As an anecdote, Ramazzini remembers that, when “I made me a cardinal, my mother was alive and she accompanied me to Rome. She lived in the United States and was already here in Guatemala with me, and accompanied me.”
“When we were in the Basilica, before the celebration of what is called the delivery of the Cardinal Capelo, I approached the Pope who came to greet us to those who were going to be appointed cardinals and said: Holy Father, I want to ask him a great favor. I would like you, please greet my mother. If you can do it now or if you can do it later, but I want to ask you for that favor.”
“The Pope immediately went to one of the Swiss guards who were there and said: They are going to bring the Cardinal’s mother. And they went to bring my mother in a wheelchair, they took her in front of the Pope, he blessed her, gave her a rosary, and that for me is unforgettable,” he recalled.
Ramazzini recalled other meetings with Francisco, such as last year, 2024, to talk about the entire issue of migration.
“Actually, it was not only about migrations, but of the general situation of Latin America, because I am part of the Vatican Latin America Commission,” he said.
What are the steps to follow now
Ramazzini explained that the step is now “preparing the burial of the Pope, his funeral. I don’t know when he will begin, in how many days” – it is believed to be on Wednesday, April 23.
“It also has to prepare for the celebration of the conclave, so that the cardinals under 80 years of age participate in the election of the new Pope,” he said.