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鈥淚t鈥檚 a duty of conscience for the cardinals, now that we have the responsibility to name a new pope, that we don鈥檛 lose sight that we鈥檝e been coming along a path and this path needs to continue to grow and grow and grow,鈥� Ramazzini told The Associated Press on Saturday, four days before Catholic cardinals gather to elect Francis鈥� . 鈥淚鈥檓 talking about supporting, welcoming, and protecting the rights of migrants.鈥�

Ramazzini said the church has to advocate for migrants forced by dire poverty to migrate along where they鈥檙e often extorted or trafficked, both by helping them with shelters and other humanitarian aid and by lobbying for comprehensive immigration reform.

鈥淏ut this we haven’t achieved,鈥� Ramazzini said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 achieve it with Clinton, we didn鈥檛 achieve with Obama, we didn鈥檛 achieve it with Biden, and far, far less will we succeed with Mr. .鈥�

Still, the church shouldn鈥檛 abandon migrants or the 鈥減astoral line鈥� of advocating for social justice, peace and fairer economic relations between countries that started gaining prominence with the Second Vatican Council and reached new heights under Francis, Ramazzini said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a line of continuity and I am sure that this will be a task for the next pope,鈥� the cardinal said in the hilltop headquarters of the Scalabrinians, a missionary order founded by an Italian bishop in the late 19th century to serve migrants and refugees. 鈥淲e need to be the voice of all these people who don鈥檛 have access oftentimes to lobbies that we can reach.”

For most of the 50-plus years since his ordination, Ramazzini has been bishop in San Marcos and then Huehuetenango, mountainous regions that were particularly hard-hit during Guatemala鈥檚 civil war, which ended in 1996. Today, they continue to struggle with extreme poverty and drug-trafficking, pushing hundreds of thousands of local to the United States.

Cardinals are sworn to secrecy about the ongoing deliberations regarding the direction of the church as they prepare to enter the conclave on Wednesday. But Ramazzini said he鈥檚 heartened by the 鈥済lobal vision鈥� shared by the unusually large number of cardinals electors 鈥� 133, all but a couple of whom are already in Rome.

He added that he trusts the next pope will pick up the pending task of reforming church institutions and its financial structure that Francis began, as well as continue the 鈥済reat sign鈥� of including more women in .

Ramazzini also highlighted that spirituality and social justice action must go hand-in-hand.

鈥淭his is the true spirituality, which is fed by prayer, by reflection on the word of God, but that has to be projected toward the other,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he next pope will have his own spirituality. But the important thing is that nobody forgets that you can鈥檛 have real spirituality without putting the Gospel concretely into practice.鈥�

And his own beliefs are keeping him from being nervous about participating for the first time in the election of the next leader of the world鈥檚 1.4 billion Catholics.

鈥淚鈥檓 not worried because I know that nothing will happen that our Lord Jesus Christ won鈥檛 permit,鈥� Ramazzini said. 鈥淚n the end, he鈥檚 the master of the church, we are his servants. 鈥� So he will help us come out of this well.鈥�

That’s reassuring 鈥� as is the certainty that he won鈥檛 be picked, Ramazzini joked.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.