Pope
Francis: I have felt used by the 'friends' I make in this job
In
a radio interview the pope says his fame means he has never had as
many ‘friends’ as he does now – although he has met many of
them only once
Agence France-Presse
Tuesday 15 September
2015 05.20 BST /
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/pope-francis-i-have-felt-used-by-fake-friends
Pope Francis says he
has felt “used” by people claiming to be his friend since he
became pontiff in a radio interview touching on the personal side of
his papacy.
“I never had so
many quote-unquote ‘friends’ as now. Everyone is the pope’s
friend,” Francis said in a telephone interview with radio station
Milenium in his native Argentina.
“I have felt used
by people who presented themselves as my friends and whom I hadn’t
seen more than once or twice in my life. They have used that to their
own benefit. But it’s an experience we all go through,” he told
Argentine journalist Marcelo Gallardo, a real-life friend since the
days when the pope was bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires.
“Friendship in the
utilitarian sense – let’s see what advantage I can gain by
getting close to this person and becoming friends – that pains me,”
he told Gallardo in the interview which was broadcast on Sunday.
“Friendship is
something sacred. The Bible says to have one or two friends.”
Francis, whose
papacy began in March 2013, also touched on environmental destruction
and religious fundamentalism in the wide-ranging conversation, a rare
interview with a non-religious broadcaster.
Echoing the bold
appeal to care for the planet he issued in a sweeping encyclical in
June, the pope condemned humankind’s “abuse of creation”.
“We’re not
friends of creation. Sometimes we treat it like our worst enemy.
Think of deforestation, misuse of water, methods of extracting
minerals with elements like arsenic and cyanide that end up making
people sick,” he said.
Of fundamentalists,
he said: “Their mission is to destroy in the name of an idea, not a
reality ... They kill, attack, destroy, malign in the name of an
ideological god.”
The interview came
as the pope prepares to visit Cuba and the US from 19 to 28
September.
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