A simple priest of the Church: The papal preacher prepares to be appointed cardinal

For over 60 years, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa preached God's Word as a priest - and he plans to continue to do so, even as he prepares to receive the cardinal's red hat next week.

"My only service to the Church has been to proclaim the Word of God, so I believe that my appointment as cardinal is a recognition of the vital importance of the Word for the Church, rather than a recognition of my person", the Capuchin friar he told CNA on November 19.

The 86-year-old Capuchin friar will be one of 13 new cardinals created by Pope Francis in a consistory on November 28. And although it is customary for a priest to be ordained bishop before receiving the red hat, Cantalamessa has asked Pope Francis for permission to remain "just a priest".

Since he is over 80, Cantalamessa, who issued exhortations to the College of Cardinals before the 2005 and 2013 conclaves, will not vote himself in a future conclave.

Being chosen to join the college is considered an honor and recognition for his faithful service in 41 years as a Preacher of the Papal Household.

After delivering meditations and homilies to three popes, Queen Elizabeth II, many bishops and cardinals, and countless lay people and religious, Cantalamessa said he will continue as long as the Lord permits.

Christian proclamation always requires one thing: the Holy Spirit, he said in an email interview to CNA from the Hermitage of Merciful Love in Cittaducale, Italy, his home when not in Rome or giving speeches or sermons.

“Hence the need for every messenger to cultivate a great openness to the Spirit”, explained the friar. "Only in this way can we escape human logic, which always seeks to exploit the Word of God for contingent purposes, personal or collective".

His advice for preaching well is to start on your knees "and ask God what word he wants to resonate for his people."

You can read the entire CNA interview on p. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM. Cap., Below:

Is it true that you asked not to be ordained a bishop before being appointed cardinal in the next consistory? Why did you ask the Holy Father for this dispensation? Is there a precedent?

Yes, I asked the Holy Father for a dispensation from episcopal ordination provided for by canon law for those who are elected cardinals. The reason is twofold. The episcopate, as the name itself suggests, designates the office of the person charged with supervising and feeding a portion of Christ's flock. Now, in my case, there is no pastoral responsibility, so the title of bishop would have been a title without the corresponding service it implies. Secondly, I wish to remain a Capuchin friar, in habit and in others, and the episcopal consecration would have legally placed me out of order.

Yes, there was a precedent for my decision. Several religious over the age of 80, created cardinals with the same honorary title as me, have requested and obtained dispensation from episcopal consecration, I believe for the same reasons as me. (Henri De Lubac, Paolo Dezza, Roberto Tucci, Tomáš Špidlík, Albert Vanhoye, Urbano Navarrete Cortés, Karl Josef Becker.)

In your opinion, will becoming a cardinal change anything in your life? How do you intend to live after receiving this position of honor?

I believe it is the Holy Father's desire - as it is mine too - to continue my lifestyle as a Franciscan religious and preacher. My only service to the Church has been to proclaim the Word of God, so I believe that my appointment as cardinal is a recognition of the vital importance of the Word for the Church, rather than an acknowledgment of my person. As long as the Lord gives me the opportunity, I will continue to be the Preacher of the Papal Household, because this is the only thing that is required of me, even as a cardinal.

In your many years as a pontifical preacher, have you changed your approach or the style of your preaching?

I was appointed to that office by John Paul II in 1980, and for 25 years I have had the privilege of having him as a listener [to my sermons] every Friday morning during Advent and Lent. Benedict XVI (who even as a cardinal was always in the front row for sermons) confirmed me in the role in 2005 and Pope Francis did the same in 2013. I believe that in this case the roles have been reversed: it is the pope who, frankly , he preaches to me and to the whole Church, finding the time, despite his immense pile of commitments, to go and listen to a simple priest of the Church.

The office I held made me understand firsthand a characteristic of the Word of God often emphasized by the Fathers of the Church: its inexhaustible (inexhaustible, inexhaustible, was the adjective they used), that is, its ability to always give new answers according to the questions that are asked, in the historical and social context in which it is read.

For 41 years I had to give the Good Friday sermon during the liturgy of the Passion of Christ in St. Peter's Basilica. The biblical readings are always the same, yet I must say that I never struggled to find in them a particular message that would respond to the historical moment that the Church and the world were going through; this year the health emergency for the coronavirus.

You ask me if my style and my approach to the Word of God has changed over the years. Of course! St. Gregory the Great said that "Scripture grows with the one who reads it", in the sense that it grows as it is read. As you progress through the years, you also advance in understanding the Word. In general, the trend is to grow towards greater essentiality, that is, the need to get closer and closer to the truths that really matter and that change your life.

In addition to preaching at the Papal Household, in all these years I have had the opportunity to speak to all types of public: from a Sunday homily delivered in front of about twenty people in the hermitage where I live to Westminster Abbey, where in 2015 I spoke before the general synod of the Anglican Church in the presence of Queen Elizabeth and the primate Justin Welby. This taught me to adapt to all types of audiences.

One thing remains identical and necessary in every form of Christian proclamation, even in those made through the means of social communication: the Holy Spirit! Without it, everything remains a "wisdom of words" (1 Corinthians 2: 1). Hence the need for every messenger to cultivate a great openness to the Spirit. Only in this way can we escape human rationales, which always seek to exploit the Word of God for contingent purposes, personal or collective. This would mean "watering down" or, according to another translation, "exchanging" the Word of God (2 Corinthians 2:17).

What advice would you give to priests, religious and other Catholic preachers? What are the main values, the elements necessary to preach well?

There are advice that I often give to those who have to announce the Word of God, even if I am not always good at observing it myself. I say there are two ways to prepare a homily or any kind of announcement. You can sit down, choosing the theme based on your experiences and knowledge; then, once the text is prepared, get on your knees and ask God to infuse his grace into your words. It is a good thing, but it is not a prophetic method. To be prophetic you have to do the opposite: first get on your knees and ask God what is the word he wants to make resound for his people. In fact, God has his word for every occasion and does not fail to reveal it to his minister who humbly and insistently asks him for it.

At the beginning it will be just a small movement of the heart, a light that comes on in the mind, a word of Scripture that attracts attention and sheds light on a lived situation or an event taking place in society. It looks like just a little seed, but it contains what people need to feel at that moment; sometimes it contains thunder that shakes even the cedars of Lebanon. Then you can sit at the table, open your books, consult your notes, collect and organize your thoughts, consult the Fathers of the Church, the teachers, sometimes the poets; but now it is no longer the Word of God that is at the service of your culture, but your culture that is at the service of the Word of God. Only in this way does the Word manifest its intrinsic power and become that "double-edged sword" of which Scripture speaks (Hebrews 4:12).