INTERVIEW – A few minutes before joining the Sistine Chapel to celebrate the closing mass of the Conclave, Cardinal François Bustillo, bishop of Ajaccio, went to Saint-Pierre square to react to the election of the new pope.
How did you experience the election of Pope Leo XIV?
François Bustillo. – It is a great joy for the Church, for the world. When we saw that more than 100,000 people gathered in less than an hour, I think it is the anointing of the people of God, his support for the spiritual authority of this new Pope. For Léon XIV, it is a beautiful encouragement.
What was your reaction when he accepted this new mission in the Sistine Chapel?
I had a lot of admiration and compassion for him. Admiration because he is courageous, he said “yes”. And compassion because we know that from this moment, he will experience something quite extraordinary, quite unique. His personal life, he put it in parentheses, he will live a new stage, a new life by giving himself completely to the Church.
His American nationality has not been a problem?
-We do not choose according to the passport. I said it before the conclave, we often have …
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