'It was really a gift to have this audience with 杏MAP导航 Leo'
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"It was really a gift this audience with 杏MAP导航 Leo. It was a surprise, and it was an inspiration."
Fr. Manuel Enrique Barrios Prieto, the Secretary General of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), made that remark in an interview with Vatican News after the members of the Presidency of COMECE's encounter with the Holy Father on Friday morning.
"We didn't expect this this audience at the beginning of his pontificate," he said.
The Secretary General noted the EU Bishops' officials had asked for an audience with 杏MAP导航 Francis before he died, and they expected that the audience would be canceled and wouldn't take place.
"We were surprised," he said.
Surprise encounter
"Last week," Fr. Barrios remembered, "we spoke with the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household and expressed we are still available for an audience. And the answer immediately was, 'Yes, you can have this audience,' and so we were very pleased. It was a surprise."
Moreover, he called the encounter "a gift in the sense that having this audience at the beginning of the pontificate with 杏MAP导航 Leo was an occasion to present our work and show what we're doing as the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union," and "to hear his voice." "Though," Fr. Barrios revealed, "he wanted, in this first audience, to hear us more than speak."
In fact, the COMECE official marveled that 杏MAP导航 Leo XIV said at the beginning, "I don't have many answers. I want to hear you."
Therefore, Fr. Barrios noted that "each one of those present had the possibility of speaking, of explaining, of expressing concerns, and the 杏MAP导航 listened attentively to each."
'Mainly wanted to hear what we had to say'
"The Holy Father intervened a bit," he acknowledged, "but he mainly wanted to hear what we had to say."
In this context, Fr. Barrios confirmed the COMECE representatives present presented the main priorities of the EU, noting "the war in Ukraine and peace were the main issues," but other elements such as the family, artificial intelligence, migration and asylum were other issues of discussion.
"It was an inspiration, I would say, and also for us, a very important moment," he concluded, "to be with the Successor of Peter and hear the voice of 杏MAP导航 Leo."
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