Few remember that Pope Francis, as a young man, was a professor of literature. The power of books fascinated him since he was a child.
POPE FRANCIS
And I remember at home, my dad read to us some nights when we were kids “Corazon” by Edmundo De Amicis and that was introducing us to literature. Opening up to literature.
And in fact it has not been strange to see the pope reciting a poem or two. By Borges, for example.
POPE FRANCIS
Only one thing there is not. 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.
The pope says that poetry helps to develop thinking and so now comes this book. “Viva la poesía” which collects his reflections on literature.
P. ANTONIO SPADARO
“Viva la poesía”
He always had this interest in poetry, even as a pontiff. In his apostolic exhortations, encyclicals and speeches he has often used poetry. I would say that he has expressed his theological contents through poetic language. When I interviewed Pope Francis in 2013, in the first interview, he said very clearly that the Church needs ingenuity. And so turning to poets today means asking, almost knocking on the door of poets and artists to help the Church be genial in these difficult times.
The Jesuit Antonio Spadaro collaborates very closely with the Pope and has been the one to compile these texts and interventions of the Pontiff on literature. He recalls, for example, the post-synodal exhortation “Dear Amazonia”, where he affirms that the pope built his discourse based on poetry. There he quoted 17 poets. Although Spadaro says there is another speech in particular worth noting.
P. ANTONIO SPADARO
“Viva la poesía”
I think that an important speech is that of Francis to the Popular Movements. Because in that speech he speaks of those who work for the common good as “social poets”; that is, he uses the word “poet” because the poet is creative. Therefore, the creativity of poetry is not limited to literature but is part of the ordinary life of those who serve the community. Creativity is necessary.
The Pope wrote a few lines about the book to Antonio Spadaro. There he reiterated a concept he considers important: that poetry should be promoted to the chairs of Catholic universities and that, above all, society should recover a taste for it. Because at the end of the day, the pontiff pointed out, poetry helps everyone to become more human.
JH
