Cardinal Ramazzini Brings Migrant Mission to Conclave \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini enters his first papal conclave bringing the same grassroots advocacy he’s championed for decades among Guatemala’s poor and migrant communities. Known for defending human rights and facing threats for his activism, he urges the Church to uphold its commitment to social justice and migrants. Ramazzini believes the next pope must build on Pope Francis’ inclusive legacy.
Quick Looks
- Ramazzini will help elect the next pope this Wednesday.
- He emphasizes continuity with Pope Francis’ migrant advocacy.
- Advocates for combining spirituality with concrete social action.
- Urges Church to push for fairer immigration policies and reform.
- Has ministered for 50+ years in Guatemala’s poorest regions.
- Faced threats for challenging injustice and cartel violence.
- Wants Church to be a voice for the voiceless.
- Supports institutional reform and women in leadership roles.
- Convinced true Gospel requires action, not abstract theology.
- Jokes he’s not worried about being chosen as pope.
Deep Look
As Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini prepares to enter the Sistine Chapel for the solemn task of helping select the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, he carries with him not only decades of theological formation and pastoral experience but the lived cries of the marginalized communities of Guatemala’s highlands. In many ways, his presence in this conclave symbolizes the growing global voice of the Global South, and his insistence on a Church rooted in concrete action reflects a broader shift under Pope Francis toward a more socially conscious and inclusive Catholicism.
Born in 1947 and ordained in 1971, Ramazzini has served for over five decades in some of Guatemala’s most impoverished and volatile regions—first in San Marcos, then in Huehuetenango. These are not symbolic postings. They are frontline ministries, in areas afflicted by post-civil war trauma, extreme poverty, Indigenous marginalization, and the brutality of drug cartels. His daily encounters have not been with cardinals or diplomats, but with families fleeing hunger, with widows of disappeared husbands, and with teenagers who see no option but to migrate.
For Ramazzini, the Gospel is not a philosophical abstraction. It is something to be embodied in acts of courage, compassion, and concrete service. He has spent years battling not only poverty but also the systemic forces that create and sustain it: exploitative labor systems, illegal land grabs, environmental destruction by foreign mining interests, and the constant threat of organized crime. His advocacy has come at a high personal cost — death threats, surveillance, and public vilification from Guatemalan elites and corrupt political factions.
Yet, it was this very commitment that caught the attention of Pope Francis, who made him a cardinal in 2019. The pope, himself a son of Latin America, has made the preferential option for the poor a central theme of his papacy, and Ramazzini has become one of its most authentic voices. His appointment was not just symbolic—it was strategic. It recognized the urgent need for the voices of the Global South to shape the future of a Church whose demographic center of gravity has already shifted away from Europe.
Conclave as Crossroads
Now, as Ramazzini joins 132 other cardinal-electors to select the next pope, he views the moment not as a departure from Francis’ legacy but as a continuation and deepening of it. The conclave, he believes, is not only a spiritual discernment but a pastoral responsibility to the world’s most vulnerable.
“We need to support, welcome, and protect the rights of migrants,” Ramazzini said, warning against treating migration solely as a political issue. He emphasized that migrants today are fleeing economic desperation, climate collapse, and systemic violence, and often travel routes controlled by human traffickers and drug cartels. These are not theoretical concerns—they are daily realities for many of his parishioners.
Ramazzini is acutely aware that despite the Church’s moral stance, it has yet to effect meaningful policy change. “We didn’t achieve it with Clinton, we didn’t achieve it with Obama, we didn’t achieve it with Biden, and far, far less will we succeed with Mr. Trump,” he said, underscoring the failures of both U.S. political parties to deliver on humane immigration reform.
And yet, he is not cynical. He remains committed to the “pastoral line” that began with the Second Vatican Council, advanced under John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and was made a global priority under Pope Francis—a line emphasizing peace, justice, solidarity, and the Church as a field hospital for a wounded world.
Institutional Reform and Inclusion
Ramazzini also advocates for deep structural reform within the Church itself. He supports Francis’ unfinished efforts to overhaul the Vatican’s financial systems, expand accountability among bishops, and increase the leadership roles of women. “It’s a great sign that must continue,” he said.
But for Ramazzini, reform must be more than administrative. It must be spiritual. “You can’t have real spirituality without putting the Gospel into action,” he insists. His theology aligns closely with liberation theology, a tradition born in Latin America that emphasizes salvation as not only personal but also social and collective. Though once controversial, its core message—that the Church must be on the side of the poor—has gained renewed legitimacy under Francis.
Ramazzini’s own pastoral model is heavily informed by his relationships with Indigenous peoples in Guatemala, many of whom remain disconnected from state support and face entrenched discrimination. His episcopacy has involved amplifying their struggles, supporting land rights claims, and fighting environmental degradation caused by multinational mining companies.
A Voice from the Margins
Despite the grandeur of the Vatican, Ramazzini remains grounded. He resides at the hilltop headquarters of the Scalabrinians, a missionary order devoted to migrant care. His presence is a reminder that the conclave isn’t just a ceremony of cardinals in red robes—it’s a spiritual reckoning that must answer to a world facing unprecedented moral and humanitarian crises.
He holds no illusions about being elected himself. “I’m not worried,” he smiled. “Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who guides the Church.” And then, with his characteristic humility and humor, he added: “I’m certain I won’t be picked.”
But Ramazzini’s influence in this conclave transcends votes. It lies in the witness he brings: that the Church must remain on the margins, where Jesus walked, and where the people who most need the Gospel still wait to hear it — not in theory, but in action, advocacy, and love.
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