‘I try to be an honest person, I confess often, I love the Church and its doctrine, most of my writings are about spirituality and prayer.’
From Crux:
Pope Francis’s new top theological advisor has attempted to reassure voices in the United States and elsewhere who’ve questioned his adherence to Catholic teaching and tradition, vowing that he’s not a “Soros spy infiltrated in the Church.”
“I am not a Freemason, nor an ally of the New World Order, nor a Soros spy infiltrated in the Church. Those are pure fantasies,” said Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, an Argentine theologian tapped by the pontiff July 1 as the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, traditionally the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog agency.
“I try to be an honest person, I confess often, I love the Church and its doctrine, most of my writings are about spirituality and prayer. I cannot conceive my life without God,” Fernández said.
“So [they may] have confidence, and it is better [for them] to look for enemies of the faith elsewhere,” said Fernández, who will turn 61 on July 18, in reference to his critics.
The comments came in an interview with Crux on July 5, conducted via email and in Spanish. It marked Fernández’s first conversation with an English-language news outlet since his appointment to his new role, which he will assume formally in mid-September.
A key papal ally and ghostwriter of several major papal documents, Fernández has used social media since his appointment to hit back against critics in the United States who, he’s said, have selectively mistranslated certain phrases from his writings, but he told Crux he has no generalized bias about Americans.
“In the United States, the population is very well educated, and the enormous development that the United States had in just a few decades speaks of the great capacity of that people. It would never occur to me to disparage such a noble and capable people,” he said.
“But there are also minorities that can be inclined to fanaticism, to hatred, and this leads to a partial gaze that only seeks the dark side of enemies,” Fernández said, asserting that “some assessments of the Holy Father and even of my person are unfair and not very objective.”
