Pope Francis will visit Luxembourg and Brussels from September 26 to 29, 2024. This short stopover in the Grand Duchy — in addition to the visit to Belgium — seems like an encouragement to Cardinal Archbishop of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Hollerich, a Jesuit and close friend of the head of the Catholic Church.
The 66-year-old is a member of the so-called C9, the group of cardinals who advise Francis. He’s also the relator general for the Synod on Synodality, the vast project launched by Pope Francis that will conclude next month.
A few days before the Pope’s visit to his country, Cardinal Hollerich spoke with I.MEDIA. (The interview is edited here for length and readability).
The Pope’s visit
What are the reasons for Pope Francis’ visit to Luxembourg?
Cardinal Hollerich: What I can say is that we are a periphery. Of course, we’re a very rich country. But we’re on the periphery of the Church because we’re a very secularized country. Luxembourg’s parishes are far from vibrant.
However, the communities that speak foreign languages are. The Pope is coming to visit a new reality, as we’re an international country, with half of our inhabitants not being citizens. If I go to one of the Sunday Masses in Portuguese, I usually don’t see enough places to sit in the churches. The same applies to the English Mass. In Luxembourg City, there are also many French people, and the faith is very much alive.
I’ve observed that our Luxembourg customs still connect the different parts of the population. Such is the case with the Cathedral of Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted, patron saint of the city and the country. The Pope has come to open the 400th-anniversary celebrations of the cathedral.
It’s said that you’re very close to Pope François, and that your friendship has led him to make a stopover in Luxembourg …
Cardinal Hollerich: I don’t know, you’d have to ask him! I’m very close to the Pope, which doesn’t mean that the Pope is closer to me than to others. I’m very happy he’s coming. It’s an honor to receive him.
After his 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, Pope Francis is visiting the heart of secularized, post-Christian Europe. What messages might he have for your country?
Cardinal Hollerich: Pope Francis proclaims the pure Gospel. I’m delighted that he has come to speak to us in this way, calling us to conversion. In Luxembourg, we need to look at our reality and not idealize it by looking to the past. We need to live in our present time and see God present in our culture. That’s where we’ll find the signs to renew our Church.
Unfortunately, there are still many things we’re going to have to close, remnants of the past. I come from that Church, so it still hurts. But I have hope that we are on a journey with God and that he will lead us.
There are signs of hope. I mentioned the vitality of the Portuguese community. I could also mention the young people. Admittedly, there aren’t many of them. But we can see a spiritual depth in them that wasn’t there before. I accompanied 200 young people by bus to the WYD in Lisbon. I found in them a sense of prayer and of God. Forty years ago, the emphasis was on Christian action. Today, young people want to know who God is and, touched by grace, to act.
The Church in Europe
In 2022, you explained in the columns of L’Osservatore Romano that the Church in Europe in 20 years’ time would be “smaller but also livelier.” “In some parts of northern Europe, it will be above all a Church of migrants,” since “the rich natives are the first to abandon ship, as the Gospel grates on their interests …”
Cardinal Hollerich: I still think so.
Have money and material comfort turned European Catholics away from the Gospel message?
Cardinal Hollerich: We live in a world of crass materialism. When you talk to many young people, you discover that their dreams for the future are not about what they want to be. Most dream first of a job that will earn them a lot of money. This is very sad.
When I was young, one of my dreams was to be a priest, to be a good priest. But I also dreamed of marriage. I never thought that if I fell in love with a girl I’d have to get married later on, after I’d made a lot of money. Our relationship with God and relationship with others should always come first.
What are the remedies for materialistic temptation?
Cardinal Hollerich: There are rare moments when people realize that they are living a false life; at funerals, for example. We now have a funeral pastoral program developed with priests and supported by lay people who visit grieving families. They are extremely grateful. These are moments when we have time to touch the human condition.
I’m also thinking of the happy events of life — falling in love or having children. These are moments of wonder when life breaks through the wall of materialism and people are able to feel the presence of God. The Church must be present here.
Does your long experience as a missionary in Japan, where Catholicism is not in the majority, help you to deal with this reality today?
Cardinal Hollerich: I’ve often wondered why the Lord took me to Japan before coming back to Luxembourg, two realities that seem totally different. I think the Lord had a plan, because Japan is a very secular society. So I was prepared to discover an equally materialistic Luxembourg, a new missionary land.
You find the solutions through assiduous prayer and through reading the Gospel. People understand the Gospel and are touched by its message. Catholics must undergo a conversion to become men and women of the Gospel.
The pope, the synod, and Luxembourg
How is Pope Francis perceived here in Luxembourg?
Cardinal Hollerich: I think he’s perceived as a pope who knows the world and its problems, and who takes action. Of course, there are people who don’t like the Pope. In our countries, we have the Libre pensée, the association of atheists and humanists, who are certainly not happy about his arrival.
There are also Catholics on the left and the right who are not happy. Some on the left think he’s conservative on the issue of women’s ordination, priestly celibacy, and so on. Some on the right don’t like him for other reasons. They don’t understand that the Pope is radical in mercy. He’s not liberal. He’s radically evangelical.
You are the relator general for the Synod on Synodality, a flagship project of Francis’ pontificate. How might this Synod affect your diocese?
Cardinal Hollerich: We used to have a very clerical Church, with priests and religious as the main players. The rest followed what they were told. When I was a child, I remember the parish priest visiting people’s homes and telling them which magazines they should subscribe to. We did it, without discussion. Today, there aren’t enough parish priests to visit homes.
Above all, we need to understand that Christians are not objects but subjects of the Gospel and evangelization. The grace of baptism must be lived out creatively and actively. People will come back to the Church if, when they meet Christians, they ask themselves: “What’s their secret?”
And today we celebrate...