FRANCIS AND SPACE
FR. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ, THE HONOURABLE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF ‘NIEDZIELA’
I think everyone sees that pope Francis lives with events which are taking place in the Word. He analyzes them and expresses his valuable comment. We were witnesses of great worldly prayers initiated by Francis, which have been listened to by God. This pope is the author of two encyclicals: ‘Lumen fidei’ still inscribed in the pontificate of Benedict XVI and written, as he used to say himself: ‘with four hands’ and ‘Laudato si’, called ecological or green as the inspiration to write it was ‘A sunny song’ of St. Francis of Assisi. If we add apostolic exhortations to them – about evangelical joy and joy of love and a lot of his messages, letters and speeches – we can see the person of contemporary Francis, worried about God’s world and a man as his good host. We all know that the Holy Father lives with spirituality of the Poor Saint of Assisi. We must note his consistence, when talking about poverty so strongly present in the world. He is also aware that our small Earth in the space has its unusual significance. For the human being, God’s child, lives on it, who is aware of its existence and is gifted with the reason and freedom. It was said so beautifully about the human being by St. Ireneusz: ‘Gloria Dei vivens homo’ – God’s glory is the living human being.
Surely the stimulus for the Pope is the picture of poverty of Latin America, which is strongly in his memory, but he speaks about poverty on the whole Earth which is inhabited by about 7 milliard of people. And as we know, most welfare of the world is in the hands of 1 per cent of its inhabitants. The Holy Father wants everybody to be able to use God’s works and praise Him for His love to the man.
And here the voice of Francis is significant in the space. This pope is not only a great charismatic but also a great visionary. He knows that the omnipresent injustice is a big moral mess which causes a lot of tragedies and is the reason for wars and hatred. So, in some sense, Francis is the one who is at the helm of worldly strivings to normality.
The problem of poverty, insufficiency and social injustice is inscribed by Pope into a different but cosmic space – Divine Mercy. This is love which can save the man on the Earth. God’s and human love, connected with each other, can become the leaven of the new world. The vision of the Holy Father reminds people that they are brothers. Francis, who is our guest on the Polish land, is not only the head of the Church, but also the leader of a big human family which is aiming at renewal of the world. The leader who has a modern vision of life on our planet and who does everything to convince us of it.
AA
„Niedziela” 31/2016