by Don Roberto Ponti
provincial superior of the San Paolo company
With profound gratitude and emotion, we join the universal Church in making thanks for the gift that was Pope Francis: the first pontiff who came “from the end of the world”, the first to bring the name of the poor man of Assisi, the first Jesuit pope. A man who gave all himself to the Church, walking with the people, bringing their smell, listening to the wounds, and communicating the joy of the Gospel until the last breath.
Yesterday’s crowd in Square San Pietro, immediately after the last blessing Urbi et orbihas delivered to the world a powerful image: that of a shepherd who wanted to remain in the middle of his people until the end, consuming the latest energies in the most eloquent gesture of communion. A greeting that was together will testament and blessing.
Pope Francis marked the history of our time with the strength of the simplicity and the radicality of the Gospel. He brought novelty, yes, but also great continuity: in the line of the Second Vatican Council and his predecessors, he was able to conduct the boat of the Church in often agitated waters, keeping his gaze on Christ and hope fixed.
To us Paolini, on several occasions, he turned bright and penetrating words, which have touched the heart of our charisma deep. In particular, the appointment a Missionary of Mercy During the Jubilee 2015-2016 it was a personal gift for me and a call to understand and testify to a truth of the Gospel still too little accepted: God welcomes everyone, forgives everyone. A mercy without condition, which dismantles the barriers of exclusion and reconstructs the wounded heart of humanity.
On May 21, 2022, receiving the readers of Christian familyFrancesco had affected the charism of Blessed Giacomo Treirione and had urged us to keep the roots of the Gospel not to go back, but to grow, to communicate faith in today’s culture. He had spoken of communication as a profound exercise of listening, of exit from himself, of creating relationships and communities. He had warned us by self -referentiality, exhorting us to be “craftsmen of communion” in the culture of communication, at the service of the existential suburbs of our time.
He left us a lively legacy: that of a “outgoing” church, capable of generating fraternity and inhabiting the full ecology of creation and relationships. His word – with that of Don Treerione – will continue to resonate in the hearts of those who want a communication that does not limit himself to informing, but who knows how to form and transform.
His pontificate was a long, profound, joyful testimony of the “grace in Jesus Christ” that Mary continues to offer the world through the apostolate. And we, with renewed loyalty, in the spirit of the fourth vote that Paolini make in obedience to the Bishop of Rome, we will continue to collect his invitation: “Let’s go on with the strength of the Gospel, with the communicative force that creates community.”
Thanks, Holy Father Francesco. You talked to us with life. And we will continue to walk in your footsteps, communicators of the Gospel in joy and hope.
