During a meeting with the young people who participate in the Scholas initiative that Pope Francis founded, he answered some questions from the students. Some were about his childhood—the Pope recalled when he used to spend his afternoons at his grandparents' house so that his mother could take care of his newborn baby brother....
POPE FRANCIS
And the oldest memory is when my grandmother would come and take me to their house and I would spend the day with my grandparents until after lunch. Of course, they spoke Piedmontese there, so my first language was Piedmontese. And then I learned Spanish.
He also talked about how his love for literature was born. He even recited part of a poem by Borges from memory.
POPE FRANCIS
There is only one thing. It is oblivion.
God, who saves metal, saves history,
and hides in his prophetic memory
the moons that will be and those that have been.
And I remember at home, my father used to read “Corazón” by Edmundo De Amicis to us some nights when we were kids, and that introduced us to literature. An opening to literature.
The young people also asked the Pope for his life advice.
POPE FRANCIS
The worst thing that can happen in life is that pain closes you down. It's a little bit the gesture...of the teeth. Pain makes you stiff. Leave room for affection. Pain asks to be cared for. Pain asks for that. Leave room for hope. When pain closes in on itself, it is always poisonous.
This was the first international meeting organized by the University of Meaning, a Scholas initiative that promotes connections between students from different cultures and countries to promote fraternity.
JRB
TR: AT
