Cardinal Cipriani: interior pilgrimage should lead us to Christ

Lima, Peru, Feb 27, 2006 / 22:00 pm

While commenting on Pope Benedict XVI’s Lenten message, the Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, underscored the importance of the “interior pilgrimage” that should lead us to Christ.

During his radio program “Dialogue of Faith,” the cardinal called on Catholics to engage in a healthy “examination of conscience during this season of Lent in order to determine where we should go; because, as the Pope said, it is not possible to respond to our material and social needs if we do not first reform our hearts.”

This includes political reform, he continued, and with elections approaching, it must be made clear that that only leaving behind that which is negative and sinful, and “not structures,” can change hearts.  “When someone does not want to accept that God has a plan, that person makes himself into a god and proposes economic, social and political ideas that are impossible to carry out.  These grandiose dreams we hear about during political campaigns in which everyone assumes a divine role.  When the people demand proposals for solving their problems, what they get is a lot of empty promises,” he warned.

Cardinal Cipriani also thanked listeners for the many letters and cards congratulating him for his fifth anniversary as cardinal, and he asked for prayers to do “what God wills.”