Bringing fresh air into one of the world's oldest institutions is not an easy task. In Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis soon discovered a transforming will. In fact, some say that his choice was one of the most controversial. American, Spanish-speaking ...
The roots of the Church in customs as a foundation and at the same time as a defense of status is what it has ... old vices turned into excuses for not updating or giving in. That the popes were traditionally European (especially Italians) marked a lot in the decision, but it is what it has to spread the faith throughout the world, decisions must be combined with unforeseeable consequences.
So here we have the Pope Francisco, critical at times with immobility and clearly positioned towards an openness that is more in tune with today's Christianity, especially with young people.
And this book, published in 2018 on the occasion of the Vatican Year of Youth, speaks of that transforming will of Pope Francis. It is not that we have an iconoclastic or insurgent pope, it would be a barbarity that would implode the Church, but at least it shows certain steps towards a greater proximity with the social realities of young people in the globalized world.
In these 160 pages we hear the Pope in that personal tone of slow conversation. Thomas Leoncini becomes the interlocutor of any reader who dares to review the ideals of the Pope in the face of the always disjunctivist perspective of youth at all times in history and especially in the current frenzy.
There is no doubt that the closeness that Pope Francis offers in his public appearances enables a greater and better approach with those young people whom he addresses in this book. Because, beyond the Christian religion itself, in clear practical recession in the Western world.
Young people will always listen better to someone who is more like Jorge Mario capable of publishing a book with his thoughts and plans in tune with his role than to the moral ruler who launches epistles to a people in need of guidelines and authority.
You can buy the book God is young, an interview with Pope Francis, here: