Categoria: English

With Pope Francis, the Third World has come to the Vatican

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

There is broad awareness of the many innovations that Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome, as he likes to be called, has introduced in papal behavior and in his style of presiding over the Church, with tenderness, comprehension, dialogue and compassion.  More than a few are perplexed, because they were accustomed to the classic style of the popes, forgetting that it is a style handed down from the pagan Roman emperors, from the name «Pope» to that richly adorned cape on their shoulders, the muceta, the symbol of absolute imperial power, which Francis promptly rejected.

We must remember once again that the present Pope comes from the periphery of the central European Church. He has a different ecclesiastical experience, with new customs and with a different way of experiencing the world and its contradictions. As he consciously expressed it in his lengthy interview with the Jesuit magazine, Civilta Catolica: «The young Churches have developed a synthesis of faith, culture and the life hereafter, which therefore is different from that developed by the older Churches». They are not characterized by change, but by stability and it is hard for them to incorporate new elements coming from the modern secular and democratic culture.

Here Pope Francis emphasizes the difference. He has the consciousness that he comes from a different manner of being Church, which has matured in the Third World. The Third World is characterized by profound social injustices, by the absurd number of favelas, shanty towns, that surround almost every city, by the always despised native cultures, and by the legacy of slavery shadowing the afro-descendants, who are subjected to great discrimination. The Church understands that, besides her specific religious mission, she cannot avoid her urgent social mission: to stand with the weak and oppressed, and to struggle for their liberation. In several gatherings the Bishops of the Latin-American and Caribbean continent, (CELAM), developed the preferential option for the poor in challenging their poverty, and the liberating evangelization.

Pope Francis comes from this ecclesiastical and cultural breeding ground. Here, in the Third World, these options, with their theological reflections, with their form of living the faith in community networks and with celebrations that incorporate the popular style of praying to God, are obvious matters. But they are not so for Christians of the old European Christianity, who are filled with traditions, theologies, cathedrals and a sense of the world impregnated with the Greek-Roman-Germanic culture in the articulation of the Christian message. Because the Pope comes from a Church that gave centrality to the poor, he first visited the refugees in the Isle of Lampedusa, continued with the Jesuit center in Rome, and then the unemployed in Corsica. It is natural for him, but it is almost a «scandal» for the Roman curia, and unprecedented to other European Christians. The option for the poor reaffirmed by the last Popes was purely rhetorical and conceptual. There was no real encounter with the poor and with those who suffer. Francis does exactly the opposite: the good news is affective and effective praxis.

Perhaps these words by Francis clarify his style of living and of seeing the mission of the Church: «I see the Church as a field hospital after a battle. It is useless to ask a gravely wounded soldier if his cholesterol and blood sugar are high. First the wounds must be healed, then we can talk of the rest». «The Church, –Pope Francis continues–, often focuses on small things, on petty precepts. The most important, much better, is to first announce: “Jesus saved you”. For this, the ministers of the Church must in the first place be ministers of mercy.  The structural and organizational reforms are secondary, that is, they come later.  Therefore, the first reform must be the reform of attitude». «The ministers of the Gospel must be capable of warming people’s hearts, of walking with them in the night, knowing how to dialogue, and also being able to enter their night, their obscurity, without getting lost». «The people of God –Pope Francis concludes– want pastors, not functionaries or clerics of the State». In Brazil, talking to the Bishops of Latin America, the Pope tasked them with forging a «revolution of tenderness».

Therefore, centrality is not given to doctrine and discipline, so dominant lately, but to humans, and their searches and inquires, be they believers or not, as Pope Francis showed in his dialogue with Eugenio Scalfari, the former editor of the Roman daily, La Repubblica, who himself is a non-believer. These are new winds that blow from the new peripheral Churches, touching the whole Church. Spring is really coming, filled with promises.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

An Open Letter to Pope Francis: an Assembly for Life on Earth

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

Dearest Pope Francis,

We, the undersigned Christians,  as well as persons of other religions and persons of good will, address this Open Letter to You, with a very special petition. We would like You to call a global event, such as an Assembly, in defense of life on Earth.

Today life is mortally wounded: by hunger (900 million people worldwide), by thirst (1200 million persons do not have clean water to drink every day, and 2400 million lack basic sanitation), by war, by the destruction of the environment (the soil, water, biodiversity, air) and, above all, humanity and all forms of life are threatened by astonishing climate changes. As the Aparecida Document says, we are experiencing not only an epoch of changes, but a change of epoch (DAp 44). A consumerist and predatory society such as at present holds no future for humanity as a whole.

When creating the world, God gave the Earth to men and women for us “to cultivate it and to guard it” (Gen 2,15). After the Flood, when Noah left the Ark with his family and all the animals that were there, God made with them a primordial alliance, saying: “For my part, I will establish a covenant with you, and with your descendents; with every living creature that is with you, with the birds, the domestic and wild animals. In sum, with all the animals of the Earth that leave the ark with you” (Gen 9, 9-10). Apostle Paul himself tells us that “creation itself awaits liberation from the bondage of corruption into the freedom that is the glory of the children of God”  (Rom 8, 21). Thus, God loves all that God has created and has commanded us to care for this divine creation.

The traditional and original peoples and, lately, the scientists, have warned that all forms of life on the face of the Earth are in danger. Yet, there exists no response from the political and economic world that is equal to the challenge of this historical moment.  As You, Yourself, have said, we cannot passively accept the globalization of indifference.

You have the moral and spiritual authority with all of humanity to call it to this urgent debate and even more urgently needed actions. We petition you as a means of contributing to the effectiveness of your gestures, which call us to care for and protect life under threat. You expressed these gestures on the way to Lampedusa, during the World Gathering of Youth in Brazil, in your visit with the immigrants in Italy, and in the fast against war. If You do call an Assembly to defend life in its plenitude, listen not only to the specialists, but also to the original peoples impacted by the destruction  of their environment, to those affected by, and refugees from, climate change, to the victims of hunger and thirst. Certainly, a great part of humanity will promptly heed this call.

This is what we, the undersigned, also wish. With respect and a fraternal embrace, in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi, in communion with all forms of life and all of humanity, we confirm our petition.

Brasilia-DF,  September 16,  2013

Those who want to join in this letter, only need to access this site: http://www.semanasocialbrasileira.com.br,  or robertomalvezzi@oi.com.br

or,  directly in the link of  avaaz http://www.avaaz.org/po/petition/Convocacao_para_a_defesa_da_vida_na_Terra_Carta_Publica_ao_Papa_Francisco/?wjKSWdb

The eclipse of the father figure and violence in society

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

The crisis of the father figure in contemporary society is well known . His parental function makes him the principal creator of limits for his sons and daughters.  Violence, which is precisely the lack of consideration for limits, has increased among youth in schools and society, as a result of this eclipse.

The weakening of the father figure has destabilized the family. Divorce has grown to such an extent that a true society of divorced families has appeared. Not only has the role of the father been eclipsed, but we are also seeing the social death of the father.

The absence of the father is, in any event, unacceptable. It affects the children, changing the direction of their lives, and weakening their will to undertake a project and make an autonomous life.

It is urgent that we reinvent the father figure on another, different, basis. To that end, it is of fundamental importance in the first place to distinguish between the models of father, and the anthropologic principle of father. This distinction, not often considered, even in scientific discussions, helps us to avoid misunderstandings and to rescue the inalienable and permanent value of the father figure.

The psychoanalytic tradition made it clear that the father is responsible for the initial, and necessary, interruption of the intimate mother-son/daughter bond, and for the introduction of the child into the broader world, the transpersonal relations with brothers and sisters, grandparents, families, and other members of society.

In the transpersonal and social world, the prevalence of order, discipline, right, duty, authority and limits between one group and another must be valued. Here people work, enter into conflicts and realize life projects. For this reason, children must show security, courage, and willingness to make sacrifices, either to overcome difficulties or to accomplish certain objectives.

The father is the archetype and the symbolic incarnation of these attitudes. He is the bridge to the social and transpersonal world. The child, on entering this new world, must be guided by somebody. The child who lacks this point of reference, is insecure, lost, without initiative.

It is in this moment that a process is established of fundamental importance for the child’s psyche, which has lifelong consequences: the recognition of authority and the acceptance of limits, that are acquired through the father figure.

The child comes from the experience of the mother, from the lap, from the satisfaction of all needs, from the warmth of intimacy where everything is secure, in a kind of original paradise. Now, the child must learn something new: that this new world does not simply extend the world of the mother; that in this new world there are conflicts and limits.  Is the father who guides the child to recognize this dimension. With his life and his example, the father appears as the carrier of authority. capable of setting limits and establishing responsibilities.

It behooves the father to teach the child the importance of these limits and the value of authority, without which their entry into society would be traumatic. In this period, the child moves away from the mother, and even may want not to obey her anymore, and come closer to the father: s/he seeks to be loved by him, and looks for his guidance. It is the father’s task to help overcome this tension with the mother and re-establish harmony with her.

Handling this true pedagogy is uncomfortable. A father’s failure to assume it can greatly harm his son or daughter, perhaps permanently.

What happens when the father is absent from the family, or a family is a purely maternal one? The children appear crippled, seem insecure and incapable of defining a project of life. They have difficulty accepting the principle of authority and the existence of limits. This anthropologic principle of the father, a permanent structure, is fundamental to the process of individuation of each person. This personalizing function is not condemned to disappear. It will continue to be internalized by the children through the entire cycle of life, as a matrix in the formation of a healthy personality. They demand it.

The social-historical models that embody the anthropological principle of the father are different. These models are always changing, varying with the historical time and in different cultures.  They pass.

For instance, there is the form of the patriarchal father of the rural world, with strong machista traits. The father in the urban and bourgeoisie culture, who behaves more like a friend than as a father, and does not set limits, is different.

The process is not lineal. It is tense and objectively difficult, but indispensable. Parents must be coordinated, each with his/her unique mission, to act correctly. They must know that there can be advances and setbacks, these are part of the human condition and are normal.

It is also important to recognize that everywhere there appear concrete figures of fathers who successfully confront these crises, live with dignity, work, fulfill their duties and show responsibility and determination; thus they fulfill the archetypical and symbolic function for their sons and daughters. It is an indispensable function, if the children are to mature and enter life without trauma, until they themselves become fathers and mothers.  That is maturity.

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

A challenge to Pope Francis: to embrace all of humanity

Leonardo Boff4 Comentários

Commenting on the August 9, 2013, interview of me by the newspaper, La Libre Belgique, a reader, Marc Den Doncker, wrote these words, that I consider worthy of reflection.

Den Doncker says:

«Good Pope Francis frankly announces a revolution in humanity, towards one that is more plainly human. The Pope says: “if a homosexual seeks God and is of good will, who am I to judge him?”  How good it would be if, some day, the Pope expressed love for a homosexual who did not seek God, but who was still a person of good will. In that the influence of the Holy Ghost would be seen».

The commentary continues:

«How good it would be if, over time, good Pope Francis were to reflect deep in his heart about a poor woman who pierces herself with a needle to free herself from a fetus, the result of a violent rape, because she cannot take it anymore and is desperate.  And that a benevolent God, in infinity divine mercy, allows good Pope Francis to understand the desperate situation of this woman, who is filled of a profound consternation and wants to die. How fine it would be if that good God, in infinite divine goodness, understood that a couple who had decided not to have more children, simply used the pill. And how good it would be if that good God, in infinite kindness, elicited the consciousness that a woman and a man enjoy the same equality and dignity».

«I cry inside –the commentator continues– at the huge number of tragic events that life gives us day after day. Facing this reality, would the Church be willing to proceed along a slippery path, but one leading towards a humanity totally embraced, animated by the Holy Spirit, that has no relation to the principles and moral philosophies that end up killing the love for the other? It is important to wait».  Yes, filled with confidence, let us wait.

In fact, not a few ecclesiastic authorities, popes, cardinals, bishops and curates, with dignified exceptions, have lost, in great part, the good meaning of things; they forgot the image of the God of Jesus Christ, to whom He sweetly calls, Abba, my beloved Father. That God of His showed maternal dimensions when he waited for the son, led astray by vice, when he looked for the coin lost in the house, when he gathered us under his wings, as the hen gathers her chicks. His main characteristic is unconditional love and limitless mercy, because “He loves the ungrateful and the bad and lets the sun shine and the rain fall on the good and the bad”, as the Gospels tell us.

To Jesus, it is not enough to be good, as the faithful son who stayed in his father’s house and followed all his commands. We must be compassionate and merciful with those who fall, and are lost on the way. Jesus criticized only the good son, who lacked compassion, and did not know how to welcome his brother who had been lost and was now returning home.

Pope Francis, talking to the bishops in Rio de Janeiro, urged them to embrace the «revolution of tenderness» and an unlimited capacity for understanding and mercy.

Surely many bishops and curates must be in crisis, when urged to confront the challenge of the «revolution of tenderness». They must radically change the style of relating to the people: not bureaucratic and cold, but warm, simple and filled with affection.

This was the style of good Pope John XXIII. A curious occurrence reveals how he understood doctrine, and the importance of cordial encounters with people. What is more important: love or the law?  The dogmas or the cordial encounters?

Giuseppe Alberigo, a layman from Bologna, extremely erudite and committed to the renewal of the Church, was one of the primary historians of Vatican Council II (1962-1965). His great merit is having published a critical edition of all the official doctrinal texts of the popes and the councils from the beginning of Christianity: the Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta. He himself relates in Il Corriere di Bologna that, he proudly went to Rome to solemnly present to Pope John XXIII this voluminous book. John XXIII gently took it in his hands, sat in the pontifical chair, carefully placed the volume on the floor, and put both feet on top of the famous book.

It was a symbolic act. It is good that there are doctrines and dogmas, but they exist to sustain the faith. Doctrines and dogmas exist neither to inhibit faith, nor to serve as an instrument of limitation or of condemnation.

How fine it would be if good Pope Francis did something like that, especially with reference to Canon Law and other official texts of the Magisterium that are of little help to the faithful. In first place is found faith, love, spiritual encounter and the creation of hope for a humanity stunned by so many deceptions and crises. Then come doctrines. Let’s hope the good God, in infinite kindness, leads Pope Francis in this direction with courage and simplicity.

(For those who want to verify the foregoing, the reference source is: Alberto Melloni, introduction to the book, Ángelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Giovanni XXIII. Agende del Pontefice 1958-1963, Instituto per le Scienze Religiose, Bologna 1978, p. VII).

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.