Leonardo Sandri

Leonardo Sandri (2014)

Leonardo Sandri (18 November 1943) is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who serves as the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

Quotes

• We have no words. We don't have missiles, we don't have guns, we don't have tanks, we don't have the force of violence that wants to impose itself at any price. We have the strength of humility of those who receive the contempt of the world and of the powerful of the earth. Our only weapon - in the face of so much shame for humanity and so much suffering is what we have done today: to pray.
  • Cardinal Sandri to Ukrainians in Rome: “Be strong” (3 March 2022)

• Cardinal Sandri: At one point, John Paul II was unable to speak because he had undergone a tracheotomy. A speech therapist was called in to help the Pontiff practise, as he had to learn how to use his voice and articulate words again. Journalist: The image of John Paul II trying to speak at the Angelus on 30 March 2005 and not being able to do so remains etched in the collective memory... Cardinal Sandri: He had done his exercises, rehearsed the text, and when he appeared at the window, perhaps due to emotion, his voice failed him, and this caused him great suffering. But all this was ultimately the result of Parkinson's, a degenerative disease that had made it increasingly difficult for him to speak and could only get worse.
  • Cardinale Sandri: A un certo punto Giovanni Paolo II non riusciva più a parlare perché aveva dovuto subire una tracheotomia. Avevano chiamato un fonologo perché il Pontefice si esercitasse, come dovesse imparare di nuovo ad usare la voce e articolare le parole. Giornalista: È rimasta nella memoria collettiva l’immagine di Giovanni Paolo II che cercava di parlare all’Angelus, il 30 marzo 2005, e non ci riusciva... Cardinale Sandri: Aveva fatto gli esercizi, provato il testo, e quando si è affacciato alla finestra, forse anche per l’emozione, la voce non gli usciva, e questo lo faceva soffrire. Ma tutto questo era in fin dei conti la conseguenza del Parkinson, una malattia degenerativa che aveva finito col rendergli sempre più difficile parlare e non poteva che peggiorare.
    • From an interview of Gian Guido Vecchi, Il cardinale Leonardo Sandri: «Papa Francesco guiderà ancora la Chiesa. È un gesuita e recupererà grazie alla sua volontà», Il Corriere della Sera (March 22, 2025)

• We all remember the journey towards the Great Jubilee of 2000, dedicated to the fundamental stages of the history of salvation and the Trinitarian mystery, with the Year of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then that pilgrimage to Iraq in the footsteps of Abraham, which was the first of all those that would follow later. We recall that among the pilgrimages linked to the Jubilee event there were also those linked to the figure of the Apostle Paul, which took John Paul II to Syria and also to Greece and Malta. However, his having to give up the journey to Iraq was certainly something that caused him great suffering. However, deep down we can say that his acceptance of that cancellation was already an interior pilgrimage. At Ur, in Iraq, Abraham was called to leave his land and his certainties, and was even asked to be willing to sacrifice his son for the covenant with the Lord. Saint John Paul II, who so wanted to visit that land, lived deep down Abraham’s same feelings in giving up this pilgrimage and in the sacrifice of having to accept that situation.
  • From an interview of Deborah Castellano Lubov, Cardinal Sandri: Pope in Iraq, 'Hope for Martyred Church' (photo) (March 11, 2021)

• Journalist: Christians in the Holy Land are committed to justice and peace through evangelical non-violence. What are the main obstacles they encounter in this process? Cardinal Sandri: Perhaps they are tempted to lose the virtue of patience. The certainties of faith are severely tested by the time it takes for divine promises to be fulfilled. Then there is the temptation to forget what the Lord clearly said: ‘My ways are not your ways!’. Our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land are waiting to be comforted by God's fatherly hand in their trials, and perhaps the wait may seem fruitless. Good Friday is their day because on that day Christ's patience reaches its peak and merges with the infinite love that washes away sins and gathers all innocent tears in the redemption of the Cross. Perhaps they find it hard to believe that God's way is victorious, the way of meek steadfastness, which never, ever claims the right to shed blood, not even that of the enemy. The Cross we adore on Good Friday assures us that the Gospel is the most fruitful path to life and justice. Even from a human point of view, we must recognise that only by breaking the cycle of violence can we finally usher in lasting peace.
  • Giornalista: I cristiani in Terra Santa si impegnano per la giustizia e la pace con i mezzi della non violenza evangelica. Quali sono gli ostacoli principali che incontrano in questo processo? Cardinale Sandri: Forse sono tentati di perdere la virtù della pazienza. Le certezze della fede, infatti, sono messe a dura prova dai tempi di adempimento delle divine promesse. C’è poi la tentazione di dimenticare quanto il Signore chiaramente ha detto: «Le mie vie non sono le vostre vie!». I fratelli e le sorelle di Terra Santa attendono di essere confortati dalla mano paterna di Dio nelle loro prove e forse l’attesa può sembrare infruttuosa. Il Venerdì santo è il loro giorno perché in esso la pazienza di Cristo tocca il suo culmine e si fonde con l’infinito amore che lava le colpe e raccoglie tutte le lacrime innocenti nel riscatto della Croce. Forse essi faticano a credere che sia vincente la via di Dio, quella della mite fermezza, che mai e poi mai si arroga il diritto di versare il sangue, nemmeno quello del nemico. La Croce che adoriamo il Venerdì santo ci assicura che il Vangelo è la via più feconda alla vita e alla giustizia. Anche sotto il profilo umano dobbiamo, peraltro, riconoscere che solo infrangendo il vortice della violenza si inaugura finalmente la pace sicura.
    • From an interview of Nicola Gori, Su sentieri di pace in Terra Santa, L'Osservatore Romano (April 8, 2012)

• Journalist: First of all, Your Eminence, which Saints do you have a devotion to? Cardinal Sandri: Obviously, my first devotion after Jesus Christ is His Mother, the Virgin Mary but I would like to answer this question because I was born in Argentina, and in Argentina we celebrate the birthday more than the name day, and my name of baptism is Leonardo.

He is a saint but I never had a special devotion for him until when I arrived to Rome and was entered in the Pontifical Academy for formation in the Diplomatic Corps of the Holy See. The President asked "What is your name day?" and I said, "I don’t have one." "You don’t have one? You are Saint Leonardo the Eremite!" And from this day I had a new devotion to him. There are many Churches in Europe dedicated to St Leonardo.

In Italy, we also have Leonardo da Vinci. But I have a devotion to the Apostles and especially to St Thomas because I needed also "put my finger in" to believe, to say "My Lord and my God!"

There are many others: St augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. I remember the visit to his Church in Naples where there is the crucifix, which said: Bene scripsisti a me Toma (You wrote very well about me, Thomas).

• • From an interview of Jordan Grantham, First Australian interview with Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (May 11, 2017)

• Interviewer: What is involved in assisting the local realities of the Churches outside of the places in which they originated? Cardinal Sandri: It is a feature of the care for the Oriental Churches expressed by the Popes who, however, no longer exercized the role as Prefect of the Congregation, continue to exercise their special care for the Eastern faithful through the Dicastery. The very fact that in predominantly Latin territories - as for example in Europe and the United States - Popes have chosen to institute eparchies or exarchates for the care of the Eastern Catholic faithful speaks of the importance and profound respect for their identity and tradition. Where they go in the world creating structured communities of a certain size, the Apostolic See recognizes the possibility of continuing to govern themselves according to their own tradition, their liturgical, disciplinary, spiritual distinctiveness, providing for the appointment of Bishops and the foundation of eparchies and provinces so that they can continue to live their belonging to the Lord in the Catholic Church through that unique expression of their Church of origin.
  • From an interview of Alessandro De Carolis, The Oriental Churches: Communities with more to offer than incense, Vatican News (February 15, 2021)