“Msgr. Vigano said the Pope gives ‘no strategic importance”
to communication, but sees it as important in the sense of creating communion
with others through ‘being attentive to the person.’
The
Italian priest recalled how, when getting ready to give a video message, the
Pope greets every person involved in the production. ‘This is a way of being
close to the people, of being in communion with the person. These are
performative acts of communication,’ he said.
The
Pope, he added, ‘continually returns to the essentials, not baroquisms,’ and
‘from this point of view, one is also able to listen.’ By stressing he is a
sinner like everyone else, people can identify with him, sense his solidarity with
them and be bearers of hope and charity like him, Msgr. Vigano said.
Also
important are the Pope’s gestures, he continued, adding that this body ‘speaks
much; it’s a body that writes history; it’s a body like Jeremiah in the Bible.’
The Pope gave ‘many important speeches’ in Kenya, Uganda and Central African
Republic, ‘but the important thing was his presence, ‘ he said, especially in war
torn Central African Republic.
‘A
religious sister from Bangui wrote to me saying: ‘It’s an extraordinary thing:
For the first time, you see Muslims entering places they hadn’t entered before,
without weapons: Muslims who give lifts to Christians in motorcycle taxis;
Christians who give lifts to Muslims, and it is an extraordinary thing! There
is a contagion of the fact that there is a possibility of hope and peace, which
until then had gone.’
– From NCR(egister)
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