Dom Alves Aguiar of Lisbon, Portugal, and a future cardinal, gave an interview to RTP (Portuguese Radio and Television) a few days ago. Some of his statements sparked controversy.
Newsroom (13/07/2023 09:00, Gaudium Press ) Among the various comments about the new cardinals for the next consistory on 30 September, there are some that refer to the recent statements of Bishop Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon.
In fact, in recent days Bishop Alves Aguiar gave an interview to RTP in Portugal about the 320,000 young people already registered for the next World Youth Day, which will be held in Lisbon from 2 to 6 August. The auxiliary bishop is the president of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation, which coordinates all the activities related to this great event, which has certainly required a great deal of commitment from the Church in Portugal.
In the report, which lasted about half an hour, Bishop Alves recalled some points of the current Pope’s Magisterium on young people, such as his commitment that they should be protagonists of their history, that they should not see life passing by as one sees it from a balcony, but that they should be dreamers and even poets with what they want from their lives.
Bishop Alves also faced questions on the subject of abuse, a topic that is always very sensitive and, unfortunately, current.
However, the Bishop seems to have stated that Christian evangelisation, or the strengthening of faith in Christ as conceived by the Church, is not one of the priorities of the next WYD:
The journalist asks if WYD will be an opportunity to “encounter the other, to encounter Christ in the other”.
The Bishop replied that “World Youth Day is also precisely a cry of this universal fraternity. And further on, he emphasised that this “has to be a pedagogical school for the taste and joy of getting to know what is different. What is different must be understood as a richness. […] Catholics, non-Catholics, with religion, without religion, with faith, without faith, but first [the young participants] understand that this diversity is a richness, whatever it is, it is a richness.”
He continues: “We don’t want to convert young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that. What we want is for it to be normal for the young Catholic Christian to say and testify that he is; for the young Muslim, Jew or other religion to have no problem saying that he is; (we want) that young person who does not confess any religion to feel comfortable and not feel strange because he is like this or is another way, and that we all understand that difference is a wealth; and the world will be objectively better if we are able to place in the hearts of all young people this certainty of the fraternity of all brothers and sisters that the Pope has made an enormous effort to echo in everyone’s heart; in ours and in everyone’s”.
These statements by the Bishop are already provoking reactions in cyberspace: what about the Christian mandate to “Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). Other internet users excuse the prelate’s statements, saying that what he wanted to emphasise was the Catholic’s welcome to those who do not profess their faith, especially at an event where there will be frequent Eucharists, as well as confession and teaching.
However, others point out that it cannot be said that, at a Catholic event, one does not want to convert to Christ, because this is the raison d’être not only of WYD, but of the Catholic Church itself, and should be the priority of every Christian, who values this gift as such.
Some have even said that such statements are an expression of the profound crisis of faith that the Church is going through.
Dom Alves Aguiar is for many – with great probability – the next Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon. (SCM)
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
