With a degree in Medicine and Canon Law, Cardinal Julián Herranz of Spain began working for the Vatican in 1960, during the time of Pope John XXIII. He has since served the Church in difficult cases, such as the investigation of the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. Now, at the age of 93, he has written a book that highlights the continuity of the last two papacies.
CARD. JULIÁN HERRANZ
President Emeritus, Dicastery for Legislative Texts
There is an insinuation in the Church of a contrast between these great popes, which is absurd. Pope Benedict appears as the conservative, the man of the right, Pope Francis as the progressive, left-wing man.
It is a narrative that Cardinal Herranz blames on power groups outside the Church.
CARD. JULIÁN HERRANZ
President Emeritus, Dicastery for Legislative Texts
How can the two gifts of these two men—whom God has chosen as part of the manifestation to the world of the richness of the Gospel message—be opposed to each other? Faith and charity are not opposed to each other, rather, they complete each other. One can adore God and at the same time love one's neighbor. One thing and the other are not opposed. That is to say, they must be integrated. What these two popes teach together is that we must be integrated, united.
The Spanish cardinal assures that the teachings of both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis create an extraordinary richness.
CARD. JULIÁN HERRANZ
President Emeritus, Dicastery for Legislative Texts
One is the great father of the Church, who moves Christians and the whole of humanity, because he went to all the Areopagus of the world, to seek, to try, to know and love Christ. And the second is the personification of the Good Samaritan, who goes in search of this humanity wounded by so many miseries and tries to cure them.
Cardinal Herranz also says that solely considering these popes in a political view has impacted the Synod.
CARD. JULIÁN HERRANZ
President Emeritus, Dicastery for Legislative Texts
It is from the outside that they want to project this opposition in the Synod.
I believe that this is partly due to a lack of understanding of the meaning of the word Synod, which is equivalent to co-responsibility, one of the fundamental teachings—I would say the most important in Vatican II's conception of the Church as the People of God.
Cardinal Herranz's book, “Two Popes,” has already been published in both Spanish and Italian.
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