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Jesus and the Pharisees: Beyond Stereotypes

Governing in a Disordered Age .11

o Chernobyl: The Cost of Lies

The Renewal of the John Paul II Theological Institute

OLUME 3, N 3, OLUME

V A Journey of the People: Francis in Mozambique, Madagascar and 2019 Mauritius

Fears and Shadows in Troubling Times

In Memory of Fr. Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ (1937-2019)

The Agreement between the Holy See and China: Whence and whither?

CONTENTS 1119

BEATUS POPULUS, CUIUS DOMINUS DEUS EIUS

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ISSN: 2207-2446 Emeritus editors Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ ISBN: Giandomenico Mucci, SJ 978-988-79390-2-3 (ebook) GianPaolo Salvini, SJ 978-988-79390-3-0 (kindle)

Published in Hong Kong by Contributors UCAN Services Ltd. George Ruyssen, SJ (Belgium) Fernando de la Iglesia Viguiristi, SJ (Spain) P.O. Box 69626, Kwun Tong, Drew Christiansen, SJ (USA) Hong Kong Andrea Vicini, SJ (USA) Phone: +852 2727 2018 David Neuhaus, SJ (Israel) Fax: +852 2772 7656 www.ucanews.org Camillo Ripamonti, SJ (Italy) Vladimir Pachkow, SJ (Russia) Publishers: Michael Kelly, SJ and Arturo Peraza, SJ (Venezuela) Robert Barber Bert Daelemans, SJ (Belgium) Production Manager: Thomas Reese, SJ (USA) Grithanai Napasrapiwong Paul Soukup, SJ (USA) Friedhelm Mennekes, SJ (Germany) Marcel Uwineza, SJ (Rwanda) Marc Rastoin, SJ (France) Joseph You Guo Jiang, SJ (China) Luke Hansen, SJ (USA) CONTENTS 1119

15 November 2019 Monthly Year 3

1 Jesus and the Pharisees: Beyond Stereotypes Pino Di Luccio, SJ - Massimo Grilli

12 Governing in a Disordered Age Drew Christiansen, SJ – Jeff Steinberg

25 Chernobyl: The Cost of Lies Diego Fares, SJ

39 The Renewal of the John Paul II Theological Institute Carlo Casalone, SJ

49 A Journey of the People Francis in Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius Antonio Spadaro, SJ

66 Fears and Shadows in Troubling Times Giandomenico Mucci, SJ

75 In Memory of Fr. Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ (1937-2019) La Civiltà Cattolica

81 The Agreement between the Holy See and China Whence and whither? Federico Lombardi, SJ LCC 1219: DECEMBER

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Pino Di Luccio, SJ - Massimo Grilli

To mark the 110th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical Biblical Institute (May 7, 1909) the international conference Jesus and the Pharisees: An Interdisciplinary Reappraisal took place in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Gregorian University, May 7-9, 2019. The event was organized 1 in collaboration with the Cardinal Bea Center for Jewish Studies at the Gregorian, and was supported by the American Jewish Committee, the Italian Episcopal Conference, Verbum Catholic Study Software and the Gregorian University Foundation. It featured speakers from all over the world, including Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and other scholars. The primary aim of the symposium was to provide a clearer picture of the actual identity of the Pharisees in antiquity by reviewing the historical and literary sources. In a multidisciplinary approach, the factors responsible for the stereotypes that marked the common perception of the Pharisees and the effects of the opinions expressed about this group were reconsidered. Therefore, not only issues related to biblical studies were dealt with, but also homiletics, school textbooks and popular culture, including films and plays that portray Jesus and the Passion. Finally, some ways to overcome and discard any distorted perceptions were indicated.1 As Pope Francis observed in the speech given to the participants during a Special Audience, this conference, “by bringing

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 1, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1910.1

1.The proceedings of the conference are available on the Pontifical Biblical Institute’s YouTube channel or through the website of the conference www. jesusandthepharisees.org PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

together faiths and disciplines in its intent to arrive at a more mature and accurate understanding of the Pharisees, will allow them to be presented more appropriately in teaching and preaching.” In fact, faced with the Pharisaic question, scholars are in a situation very similar to that which concerns those involved in the search for the historical Jesus. The complex problems in this regard are summarized around three cornerstones: an ontological one (who really were the Pharisees?); an epistemological one (what are the criteria needed to arrive at their true identity?); and a hermeneutic one (how to interpret the texts that concern them?) On the basis of what emerged from the work of the conference, it is possible to formulate five 2 propositions that can constitute the foundations on which to build an ontologically, epistemologically and hermeneutically significant reading for the future understanding of the Pharisees in the Catholic Church and in the context of the other Christian confessions.

The Pharisaic question in the new Jewish-Christian theological context Christianity’s judgment of the Pharisees formulated over the centuries – with the negative connotations that Pharisaism has assumed in theological thought and in ecclesial catechesis – is the child of an anti-Jewish theology. A certain strand of Christian theology, such as that of “substitution” (substitution of the Covenant, of the Law, of the people of God, etc.) and that of fulfilment, understood as “perfection” of what was previously imperfect (perfection of the image of God in the Old Testament, perfection of the precepts of the Torah, etc.) has led to a substantial misunderstanding of the Pharisaic movement and of subsequent rabbinical theology. The Pharisees became the enemies of Jesus, the representatives of the Law that opposes Grace, of the old that opposes the new. Only sincere dialogue on renewed theological bases can lead to a rethinking of this approach. A conference on Pharisaism with Jewish and Christian representation was possible because both Christians and Jews, in the drama of JESUS AND THE PHARISEES: BEYOND STEREOTYPES an intricate and blood-stained common history, are on the road to a profoundly different perception of the relationship between the relevant Sacred Scriptures, of the Covenant never revoked and of the peoples to whom the Scriptures and the Covenant belong. The Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism, in its 2015 document The Gifts and Calling of God are Irrevocable2 (Rom 11:29), wrote: “The Church unequivocally professes, within a new theological framework, the Jewish roots of Christianity ... ; the Church does not question the continued love of God for the chosen people of Israel. A replacement or supersession theology which sets against one another two separate entities, a Church of the Gentiles and the rejected Synagogue whose place it takes, is thus deprived of its foundations” (No. 17). 3 The proceedings of the conference Jesus and the Pharisees should therefore be read in the context of the profound theological change that the Church has undergone in the last half-century. It is our conviction that only in the framework of this new theological context is a different approach possible to the Pharisaic question and to all those other questions that are the subject of debate between Jews and Christians.

Comparison with differentiated hermeneutics In Christian tradition, judgement of the Pharisees over the course of our 2,000 year history was made solely on an uncritical understanding of evangelical sources. What emerged clearly from the conference is that there is more than one interpretation of the Pharisees. This is not only because over the course of time the Pharisees have taken on the descriptors of the various interpreters who have dealt with them but also because – from the very beginning – the Pharisees described in the Gospels are not the same as those mentioned by Paul of Tarsus or Flavius Joseph, let alone those of rabbinic literature, without mentioning the variety of facets and contradictions within the same sources, for which a synthesis is almost impossible.

2.http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20151210_ebraismo-nostra-aetate_ en.html PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

It is worth quoting here again the already-mentioned document of the Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism: “after the catastrophe of the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 … there were two responses to this situation, or more precisely, two new ways of reading Scripture, namely, the Christological exegesis of the Christians and the rabbinical exegesis of that form of Judaism that developed historically. Since each mode involved a new interpretation of Scripture, the crucial new question must be precisely how these two modes are related to each other. But since the Christian Church and post-biblical rabbinical Judaism developed in parallel, but also in opposition and mutual ignorance, this question cannot be answered from the 4 New Testament alone. After centuries of opposing positions it has been the duty of Jewish-Catholic dialogue to bring these two new ways of reading the Biblical writings into dialogue with one another in order to perceive the ‘rich complementarity’ where it exists and ‘to help one another to mine the riches of God’s word’” (Nos. 30-31). Ordinary Christians, as well as scholars of a certain level, have made rash statements on the basis of ingrained stereotypes, without a really critical examination of the different sources in this regard. The famous German scholar Joachim Jeremias, in his book Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, writes that, on the one hand, the Pharisees formed a group that distanced itself from the popular masses – going as far as contempt and exclusion of the general populace – and, on the other, they had a strong influence on the same masses, to the point of playing an important role in the condemnation of Jesus. In fact, he would have put himself in danger by opposing them and calling sinners to conversion: “This act led him to the cross.”3 In Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus, Norman Perrin – a disciple of Jeremias and professor of New Testament from 1964 to 1976 at the University of Chicago Divinity School – writes that what provoked the Pharisees, who relied on merit and wanted punishment for their sins, was the offering

3.J. Jeremias, Gerusalemme al tempo di Gesù, Bologna, EDB, 1989, 409. JESUS AND THE PHARISEES: BEYOND STEREOTYPES of Jesus’ forgiveness to those sinners who “were considered outside the hope of repentance or forgiveness.”4 By offering forgiveness, Jesus would have set Judaism on the road to crisis.5 In a contribution to “The Quest for the Historical Jesus,” Ernst Fuchs argues that Jesus’ death was due to the fact “that he proclaimed, through his own conduct, that the will of God was a merciful will.”6 It is legitimate to wonder whether such opinions have any basis in the critically studied sources and countless instances that permeated the Jewish world in the time of Christian origins. For Christian scholars it is no longer possible to deal with the Pharisaic question on the sole basis of the Gospel and the New Testament. It is necessary to reiterate the need to deal with different sources and hermeneutics, and this sensitivity – already 5 widespread today – will have to be more and more alive and active in the future. Anthony Saldarini, in the summary at the end of his contribution on “The Pharisees” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, offers, for example, an interesting model, even if not entirely shareable.7

The Christian movement within first-century Judaism Another important scenario to explore is the period of Jewish history and culture between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD. Under the influence of Wellhausen, Bousset, Schürer and others, this period was presented as an era of legalistic degeneration compared to the “prophetic” Judaism of previous eras. The Hegelian evolutionary scheme meant that the reading of this epoch – with the Pharisaic movement identified as the symptomatic expression of the time – was entirely negative, a sort of deterioration compared to previous epochs, due to a legalistic and materialistic understanding of the faith, a decadent Judaism to be replaced with the rising star of Christianity.

4.N. Perrin, Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus, New York - Evanston, Harper & Row, 1967, 94. 5.Cf. Ibid., 97. 6.E. Fuchs, Studies of the Historical Jesus, London, SCM, 1964, 21. 7.Cf. A. J. Saldarini, “Pharisees” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, V, 301-303. PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

It is a traditional monolithic schema, which reigned in the age of Christian polemical opposition to Judaism, and which today, obviously, no serious scholar would put in these terms. Jules Isaac wrote: “Christianity was born from a Judaism that had not degenerated but was full of vitality, as proved by the richness of Jewish literature, the indomitable resistance of Judaism to paganism, the spiritualization of worship in synagogues, the spread of proselytism.”8 Ed Parish Sanders, in the context of a treatise on Pharisaism in the time of Jesus and Paul, writes: “The frequent Christian accusation against Judaism ... is not that some individual Jews misunderstood ... and misused their religion, but that Judaism necessarily tends toward a narrow legalism, toward a casuistry that is an 6 end in itself and that deceives itself, and toward a mixture of arrogance and lack of trust in God. But the Jewish literature left to us is exempt from these characteristics ...; the gift and the divine need were kept in a healthy mutual relationship, the minute details of the law were observed on the basis of more general principles of religion and with the aim of surrendering to God, while on the other hand humility was encouraged before the God who had chosen and would eventually redeem Israel.”9 Although the thinking of serious scholars is expressed in similar statements, the Christian tradition understood the clash between different positions within Judaism as a clash between Christians and Jews, without any critical examination of the different interpretations of the Torah within the “Judaisms” in Jesus’ time. The clash was then channeled and misunderstood as if it were about the Jews (on the one hand) and the Christians (on the other). In the future, it will be necessary to follow a different path to understanding the different movements existing at that time. From a historical point of view, it will also be necessary to redefine the Christian movement within the Judaism –or rather, the Judaisms – of the first century. In the period up to

8.J. Isaac, Gesù e Israele, Genoa, Marietti, 2001, 402. 9.E. P. Sanders, Paolo e il giudaismo palestinese, Brescia, Paideia, 1986, 586ff. JESUS AND THE PHARISEES: BEYOND STEREOTYPES the late 2nd century, in fact, the Messianic-Jewish movement was neither something completely different from Judaism, nor a movement originally Jewish then abandoned, but one of the many Judaisms of the 1st century, some of which had a short life, while others a much longer history. Within this plurality, the movement that starts from Jesus and the Pharisee movement are brothers and different. Jewish scholar Alan Segal speaks of Rebecca’s Children.

Avoiding the uncritical appropriation of polemical stereotypes As far as the study of the reading of the Pharisees by the Gospels is concerned, it is to be hoped that future reflection will follow less “dogmatic” criteria and adopt rather ones based on historical-critical truth. We know little about the identity of the 7 Pharisees in the first three decades A.D., and the little we know is complex. The texts in our possession are very fragmented. Flavius Josephus, for example, mentions the Pharisees only 44 times in his works, and only 7 times in his The Jewish War. There they are classified as “schools of thought” along with the Sadducees and Essenes, and yet, although they are described as a reforming movement – but without direct power at the level of government – the Jewish historian never presents a unified account of their thinking and internal organization. Something similar should be said about the image of the Pharisees in rabbinical literature. The stories and sayings of the wise men dating back to the 1st century B.C. are few and far between. On the controversial figure of Hillel, perhaps they are right who say that “the Hillel of these rabbinical sources is not really more historic than the Jesus of the Gospel.”10 So if we know so little about the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, why have they taken on such importance in the Christian tradition? This is undoubtedly due to the New Testament, which mentions the Pharisees 97 times, with the “antipharisaic front,” represented above all by Matthew and John and by some passages that have the imprint of a stereotype that is massive and unjust.

10.A. J. Saldarini, “Pharisees” op. cit., 299. PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

For the facts to be founded on a solid historical-critical basis will then mean not only recognizing the existing diversifications in matters of faith and experience in the time of Jesus, but also distinguishing between the various attitudes within a variegated and complex system such as that which has been handed down to us as a legacy of the Pharisees. With all the caution that must be taken about the dating of the passage and the rather arcane language, the Talmud (b. Sotah 22b) mentions seven types of perushin, from the one who flaunts himself to the one who fears God and loves him in the depths of his heart. Joseph Sievers, Professor of Jewish History and Literature at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, also pointed out that it is difficult to know whether the seven types of perushin 8 mentioned in this passage are to be considered Pharisees or otherwise.11 Rightly, Jules Isaac writes: “Israel certainly did not lack false believers, puritans full of affectation, sententious and pretentious; they are denounced and marked with ignominy in the Jewish Talmud as in the Gospels.” And if “it is true that pharisaic rigorism had its faults” and its excesses, nevertheless, “having said this, the facts, the texts, the common sense, everything shows that the Pharisaism of history cannot be entirely identified either with hypocrisy or with formalism. Herford writes, ‘it is almost impossible to imagine a greater deformation of history.’ The Jewish history, the Talmud and the Gospels themselves bear witness to the fact that Pharisees are sincere and of a high moral standard.”12 To what extent, then, does the contempt witnessed by the Gospels apply to the real Pharisees, those of history? Isaac answers: “Precisely in the same way that the definition of the word ‘Jesuitism’ is applied to Jesuits.”13 In many passages “Matthew is not interested at all

11.Sievers comments that certainly in the following passage about King Yannai and his wife (Alexandra) perushins are to be understood as Pharisees, but on the previous page (b. Sotah 22a) ishah perushah is often translated as an abstinent woman, i.e. one who separates herself from her relationship with her husband. Text and English translation at https://www.sefaria.org/Sotah.22a.8? lang=biith=allang2=en 12.J. Isaac, Gesù e Israele, op. cit., 59ff. Isaac quotes here R. Travers Herford, The Pharisees, London, G. Allen, 1924. 13.J. Isaac, Gesù e Israele, op. cit., 59. JESUS AND THE PHARISEES: BEYOND STEREOTYPES in distinguishing, in their mass, the possible good scribes and Pharisees, to whom the judgment of Jesus does not do justice. He does not even distinguish scribes from Pharisees, but puts them together in one of his typical pairs of adversaries of Jesus.”14 Historically, Matthew’s negative stereotype does not stand up, nor does the attempt to put in Jesus’ mouth the words: “You must therefore do and observe whatever they tell you [the scribes and Pharisees], but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practice what they preach” (Matt 23:3). First, he ordered them to observe in full the teaching of the Pharisees, and then he rejected in full their behavior! It is somewhat like when we say that Jesus healed “all” the sick, or that he went through “all” the towns and villages of Galilee and Judea (cf. Matt 9:35): these are hyperboles, which have a pragmatic intent 9 and which should not be read in their surface meaning, but in their persuasive strength, that is, with the intent of producing some effect on the readers.

To return to consider the points of contact between Jesus and the Pharisees So how to present the Pharisees in theology, in catechesis, in the homiletics of the Church? It will be necessary to start first of all from the fact that the editorial elaboration that the different Gospels have operated on the Pharisees is not uniform, and therefore every single case must be subjected to a critical evaluation. For example, the invectives against the Pharisees found in Luke 11:39-52 and Matt 23:2-36, although belonging to parallel texts, are profoundly different both in structure and in textual content. Already in 1988 Klaus Berger stressed how Luke insisted on the coexistence, in Matthew’s community, of Judeo-Christians coming from Pharisaism and Ethno-Christians.15 But, in the light of what emerged from the work of the conference Jesus and the Pharisees, it must be said that the situation of the community of Matthew was much more complex.

14.U. Luz, Matteo, Brescia, Paideia, 2006-2014, III, 377. 15.Cf. K. Berger, “Jesus als Pharisäer und frühe Christen als Pharisäer” in Novum Testamentum 30 (1988) 231-262. PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

In the future, therefore, it will be necessary to distinguish between what is based on historical records and those expressions which have instead become classic argumentative topoi, pre- established models or literary schemes for the achievement of one’s aims. “Matthew’s perspective in his editorial reworking is not historical, but theological-literary and almost in the form of a manifesto,” observes Hubert Frankemölle.16 And we can add that the intent of Matthew the writer is to convince his listeners and readers that the perspective he proposes is true and fair. Therefore, he uses rhetorical means – including some unfair tactics – to persuade people to follow his own reading of the Torah and the prophets. After centuries of critical examinations that have only 10 insisted on the controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees, it would be good if someone were to return to the historical- critical level to deal with those points of contact between Jesus and the Pharisees so that, on the basis of what is said in the Gospels, clarity can be ascertained. The search for a personal and social transformation, with a strenuous commitment to seek what belongs to the “authentic will of God” (the “justice”) is a legacy of both the Pharisaic movement and the movement of Jesus and his disciples; the completion of the Torah, which belongs to the fundamental structure of the Gospel of Matthew, is not radically far from the search for Pharisaic perfection. Master Hillel – with the due caution advanced by Günter Stemberger – summed up the law in evangelical terms: “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you. Here is all the Law, everything else is commentary” (b. Shabbat 31a). Trust in God, judgment, faith in the resurrection, the expectation of future fulfilment and so on belong both to the foundations of rabbinical Judaism and to those of Christianity. Reading some Gospel pages, one could even assume that Jesus was a Pharisee.

16.H. Frankemölle, Biblische Handlungsanweisungen: Beispiele pragmatischer Exegese, Mainz, Grünewald, 1983, 155. JESUS AND THE PHARISEES: BEYOND STEREOTYPES

In the face of these observations, in those who are not used to thinking about faith in the proposed categories, an understandable question may arise: what then becomes of Christian identity? Isn’t this a way to “Judaize” Christianity? The answer is contained in an observation by Rolf Rendtorff: “It is not a question of questioning our Christian identity ... On the contrary, it is a matter of formulating it again, and better ... It is not a question of destabilizing ourselves as Christians ... If anything, it is a matter of formulating a Christian identity in the light of the fact that Israel continues to exist.”17

17.R. Rendtorff, Cristiani e Ebrei oggi, Turin, Claudiana, 1999, 126. Governing in a Disordered Age

Drew Christiansen, SJ – Jeff Steinberg

The Liberal World Order (LWO) established after World War II is eroding rapidly. The world, especially the Western world, is experiencing a breakdown of responsible governance. Governments withdraw from treaties and 12 agreements; formerly strong governments like Germany’s Grand Coalition are put in question; alliances fray, and international organizations and programs lack funding and the consensus needed for effective action. Britain’s political institutions are fracturing under the weight of the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union, leading to fears of a hard Brexit. Populist nationalists are building networks to contest the European Union, possibly the LWO’s most important achievement. Under the Trump Administration, the U.S. has withdrawn unilaterally from various negotiations: the trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership; the Paris Agreement; the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, designed to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions; and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement. It has withdrawn from UNESCO, threatened to withdraw from the World Trade Organization, and made known, in keeping with its “America First” policy, its antipathy to international treaties and organizations, including NATO. International collaboration on global issues has become a faint memory, hardly a possibility under current conditions. The decision to abandon the INF Treaty calls into question the renewal or extension next year of New Start, the U.S.-Russian treaty

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 2, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1910.2 GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE limiting strategic weapons. Europeans are actively resistant to the American diktat over the Iran nuclear agreement, as U.S. sanctions have brought Iran to the brink of breaking its commitments under the JCPOA. Even as science releases evidence that the consequences of global warming – in sea-level rise, ice-melt, desertification and erratic weather – grow more severe, chances for concerted international action on climate change grow dimmer as a result of U.S. withdrawal and China’s spread of its carbon-intensive industrialization policies along its new Silk Road, known as the Belt and Road Initiative. With the number of refugees growing and receiving countries like Turkey and Mexico under stress, new non-binding compacts on migrants and refugees signed in Marrakech seem 13 little more than long lists of desiderata.1 Traditional countries of asylum – the U.S., Australia and the EU – have mounted extensive policies to limit the entrance of migrants and even of refugees. The U.S., in particular, has offended against the rights of refugees through policies of family separation and forcing potential asylum seekers to apply for registration in Mexico. With sea levels rising and catastrophic weather events exploding, the number of environmental refugees has been growing.2 At the same time, domestic spending on disaster relief and re-development is on the rise, leaving fewer resources for care of people coming from other lands. Xenophobia is rampant, with ethnic, racial and religious minorities persecuted and meeting discrimination on a wide front: Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar, Shi’ites from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, Muslims and Christians in India, Muslim Uighurs in China. Christians have been forced to flee most of the Middle East, and Jews are persecuted in many lands.

The populist ascendency The growth of populism brings into power more and more “illiberal democracies,” which are led by elected autocrats and leaders who suppress dissent and independent journalism, DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

and dismantle impartial judiciaries.3 The U.K. flails about as it attempts to exit the European Union; Hungary roils with protests over its “slave law” which requires employees to work up to four hundred hours of mandatory overtime, with delayed or reduced compensation. In Italy under Conte’s last government, Deputy- Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took the coalition government into the embrace of the anti-immigrant hard-right, arresting Good- Samaritan migrant-rescuers. In Brazil, a right-wing government has withdrawn environmental protections for the Amazon region and put into question the rights of its indigenous peoples. The rule of law is in retreat. The U.S., the homeland of liberal democracy and until recently the engine of the global Liberal World Order, has withdrawn from military and trade 14 treaties and international organizations and threatened to retreat from others. In Eastern Europe, autocratic rulers have worked against the rule of law, curbing and overturning the judiciary. In the absence of consensus, international law is fitfully and selectively enforced. For example, provisions of the Non- Proliferation Treaty are enforced against Iran but not against Saudi Arabia or India. Although they had signed the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, neither the U.S. nor the U.K. came to the defense of Ukraine after the third principal signatory, Russia, annexed Crimea and supported insurgency in the Donbass. 4

Failures of global institutions Not all the problems come from the populist surge or disruptive, illiberal leaders. Their electoral gains have been built on the failures and shortcomings of the global institutions that built the Liberal World Order. The system that was put in place at the close of World War II has suffered decline. Here are some elements:

3.On the Liberal World Order and Illiberalism, see Drew Christiansen, “Catholicism Faces the Illiberal World Order” in La Civilta Cattolica (English) May, 2019 https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/catholicism-faces-the-illiberal- world-order 4.Cf. G. Sale, “A New Crisis between Russia and Ukraine” in La Civilta Cattolica (English), March 2019, https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/a-new- crisis-between-russia-and-ukraine GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE

● The International Monetary Fund, originally established to secure global financial stability, became a lender-of-last- resort, but its one-size-fits-all approach to emerging market debt crises made matters worse. ● The United Nations Security Council’s informal deliberative process among the “Permanent Five” collapsed after the Libya “humanitarian intervention” of 2011, leading to distrust that entices Russia and China to become a semi- permanent veto bloc. Thomas G. Weiss, a leading historian of international relations, has called for a dramatic overhaul of the UN to catch up with the vast changes in global politics since its founding.5 ● The eastward movement of NATO to the border of Russia in the 1990s violated an agreement to halt further expansion after 15 the reunification of Germany, creating new security problems, especially on Russia’s southern border. ● The United States embraced the idea of a unipolar world order, which drained American resources, led to regime-change wars and prolonged postwar occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and soured the American public on foreign involvement. ● The response by the George W. Bush and Obama Administrations to the 2007-2008 financial crisis tilted the economic balance decisively in favor of Wall Street (finance) over Main Street (real economy). Tens of millions of hardworking American families lost their homes or their jobs through no fault of their own, while the too-big-to-fail banks received trillions in bailouts. ● According to one economist, retirees lost $3.4 billion in wealth as the result of the zero interest policies of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, adopted in 2008. Efforts at reform (Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule) did little to redress those losses.

5.Cf. T. G. Weiss, Would the World Be Better Without the UN? Medford (Ma), Polity Press, 2018. DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

Holding on and pushing back Has the world become ungovernable? Has it, as Robert Kagan argues, returned to the law of the jungle?6 Has a Pandora’s Box of troubles been opened that will not be contained? Can the tide of populism be reversed and the trend towards autocratic government be rolled back? Can a generation of leaders that supports human rights, environmental protections and tolerance be found again? Can the regimes for refugees and migrants be established anew? Can the UN Security Council find consensus or must it be transformed? Political realignment. The populist-autocratic wave may be cresting. Populists increased their numbers in the recent European parliamentary elections, but they fell far short of 16 gaining control of the parliament. The traditional centrist parties lost ground, but the Greens and Liberals gained it with commitments consistent with the environmental, human- rights and inclusive political goals that used to characterize the Liberal World Order. Greens, among whom are many social-justice-minded Catholics from the Rhineland and Bavaria, made strong gains in the German state elections earlier this year. In Slovakia, in the Eastern European populist heartland, Zuzana Caputova was elected president after targeting the populist government’s Achilles’ heel: corruption. Across Scandinavia right-leaning governments have been replaced by weak center-left coalitions. Finally, in an exceptional international collaboration at the political level, Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. came together to help ease a transition of government in Moldova. In the United States the midterm congressional elections in November 2018 saw a marked shift in voting patterns from the 2016 presidential elections. States that gave Donald Trump his Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton swung significantly back to the Democrats. Independent voters who had given President Trump his victory put a Democratic Party majority back in the House of Representatives by a sizeable margin.

6.Cf. R. Kagan, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, New York, Knopf, 2018. GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE

The states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, traditional Democratic Party majority states, all voted for Trump in 2016. They then gave Democrats the biggest electoral victory in 2018 since the immediate post- Watergate elections of 1974. Democratic candidates outpolled Republicans by 8.6 percent – the largest majority turnaround in the House in history. Voter turnout percentage was the highest in more than a century. While the populists’ hope of destabilizing the European Union seems to have been foiled, it is still too early to tell whether a Green-Liberal alliance will be able to provide an effective governing majority for the European Union, replacing the centrist coalitions of recent years. Nonetheless, the growth of the Green-Liberal alliance is worth watching. 17 In the U.S. divided government and the Trump presidency have made checking illiberal tendencies more difficult, and the courts remain the strongest check still against the administration’s illiberal policies. Nonetheless, political realignment toward the center-left may be the surest way to turn back illiberalism. In these days of hacking, fake news, cyberattacks and transnational electoral meddling, however, sustaining parties that favor liberal values will be a grave challenge. It is easier to create chaos than to build a creative, cooperative world order. Civil society and international institutions. Another approach to global change may be found in alliances of lesser powers with civil society in international institutions. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres has proposed increasing the participation of civil society in United Nations deliberations and programming as a way to strengthen needed global initiatives in the face of nationalist opposition.7 For some time now, the UN has been inviting civil society and NGO representatives to participate in UN conferences. A notable step in this direction was the 2017 conference that negotiated the Treaty on the Prohibition of

7.On the increased engagement of civil society organizations with the UN, see https://civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/news/united-nations/2762- strengthening-civil-society-engagement-with-the-united-nations DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

Nuclear Weapons.8 The treaty was an achievement of the Humanitarian Consequences Movement, a combination of civil society and nonnuclear states.9 Work is continuing between the Movement, states belonging to Nuclear Weapons Free Zones and other nonnuclear states to advance the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons in defiance of the nuclear powers. The strength of their collaboration was on display at the 2019 Preparatory Committee meetings for the 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review. The conference ended without consensus. In place of a consensus declaration, the conference chair issued a summary paper of his own which the nuclear powers decried for not representing their views. This shift may point to an extended 18 period of tension, or it could lead to a shift from state-centric/ big-power international governance to new initiatives for governance by a global moral majority. The alliance between governments and civil society is an imperfect remedy, but necessary to address global challenges like climate change, refugee flows and nuclear disarmament.10 Technocratic collaboration. A third option for holding back the onslaught of illiberalism is technocratic collaboration. At a national level, especially in parliamentary regimes, civil servants often carry on the functions of government during times of political contestation or while governing coalitions are being organized. In the current turmoil, transnational technocratic collaboration continues priority operations and tries to avert worsening conditions. Despite the precarious relations between the U.S. and the Russian Federation, the two countries continue to work together on the International Space Station. Likewise, in the last months of the war against ISIS, military on the two sides

8.Cf. D. Christiansen, “The Vatican and the Ban Treaty” in Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 14 (2018/1), 89-108. 9.Ibid., 90-94. 10.Cf. D. Christiansen, “The Church Says ‘No’ to Nuclear Weapons: Pasto- ral and moral implications” in La Civilta Cattolica (English), May 2018, https:// www.laciviltacattolica.com/the-church-says-no-to-nuclear-weapons-pastoral- and-moral-implications GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE developed rules and practices to prevent armed confrontation between their forces and minimize the chance for accidents. While President Trump’s antipathy to multilateral institutions is well-known and he has been publicly critical of NATO allies, NATO collaboration has gone on unhindered. Other examples are the Organization for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, whose scientists had done the preparatory work for the decommissioning of Syrian nuclear weapons in 2011, and the prior intergovernmental negotiations that made possible the Mexican-U.S. agreement on Central American refugees earlier this past summer. Technocratic collaboration also takes place in international organizations and civil society. Despite funding shortfalls, especially in UN operations, and a narrowing of political space in too many countries, the infrastructure of governmental, 19 inter-governmental and civil society institutions are stronger than they were a quarter century ago. The United Nations continues its activities on behalf of refugees and migrants, feeding the hungry in regions of famine, protecting the environment and, generally, promoting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The International Criminal Court and other tribunals continue to prosecute war crimes, and despite the narrowing of public space, Human Rights Watch, Rabbis for Human Rights and other groups continue to monitor and report human rights violations around the world. While the superpowers have reversed the momentum on arms control and disarmament, groups like the Nuclear Threat Initiative continue to explore the possibilities for common ground and future progress. Above all, despite the threat of Brexit and the rise of populist movements, the European Union goes on, and the risk of other countries imitating the British exit from the union has significantly diminished. Business and capital. The fourth forum in which countervailing tendencies to populist nationalism seem to be arising is business and trade. In some respects, the globalization of markets was the phenomenon that brought globalization to public attention. It was also the discontents and ills of global commerce that undermined the Liberal World Order. DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

Nonetheless, some of the strongest developments reasserting the Liberal World Order, in their limited way, come from the economic sphere. But, given the “cultural contradictions of capitalism,” they probably cannot be expected to provide for the sustainable resurrection of other liberal values, like human rights, democracy, the rule of law and religious liberty.11 Business and trade are intrinsically limited in their capacity to serve as the midwives of the new liberal order. The Chinese experiment in state-driven capitalist development has proved wrong the once widely-held assumption that open markets foster democratic values. With the help of the Koch brothers and other conservative philanthropists, the free-market ethos has penetrated education – including Catholic business schools 20 – and democratic politics in ways ambivalent or even inimical to the values of the wider liberal order. In addition, the economic disruption resulting from the loss of low-skilled and even professional jobs to robotics and artificial intelligence is likely to increase social and political turmoil, placing greater strains on those democratic institutions requiring deliberation and collaboration to execute solutions to public problems. Nonetheless, for every oligarch or kleptocrat there is a rich philanthropist ready to support civil-society institutions, fund programs that serve the global common good and promote liberal values. In the years ahead, capitalism will be disruptive in new ways, but it will also be creative in inventing new expressions of the LWO. The renewed strength of global markets, though they will need new regulation to curb their negative impacts, can also create some conditions in which liberal values can flourish again.

A new wave of economic globalization There are recent developments in the globalization of business that resist the pressures of populist nationalism and, bearing in mind the limits we have suggested, could give rise to other reforms.

11.Cf. D. Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, New York, Basic Books, 1996. GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE

In the latest wave of the globalization of markets, nations that lost out under the so-called “Washington consensus” on international finance have forged some new multilateral institutions, to provide alternative sources of development capital. They will promote development in the backward areas of Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and even Latin America. If they do that in sustainable ways, they can contribute to global prosperity and so to international security. Whether aggregate prosperity will result in greater equality and well-being will depend on political reforms rather than mere economic development, which cannot provide them on its own without governmental regulation and social policy. New multilateral finance and development institutions include: 21 ● Deprived of equitable voting rights in the IMF, Brazil, Russia, India and China established a New Development Bank to lend to the developing world. ● Earlier, the countries of Asia had collectively responded to the 1997-1998 Asia economic crisis by creating a pool of dollar reserves to protect against future speculative assaults. The Chang Mai Initiative is now a fully established capital fund to defend all the currencies of Asia against the kind of hedge fund operations that led to the collapse of the Asian Tiger economies in the late 1990s. ● China took the lead in creating the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a specialized investment fund for infrastructure projects across the Southern Hemisphere. Today more than 80 countries are members of the AIIB, including all of the leading nations of Western Europe. ● In response to the NDB, the AIIB and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, the United States has now established an International Development Finance Corporation, with $60 billion in capital to compete with China’s BRI. The United States is already partnered with Japan, the European Union, Australia and Canada in pursuing broader investments through the IDFC. ● Japan, while closely allied with the United States, has agreed to partner with China in BRIC projects in Southeast DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

Asia. Japan is still the largest investor in overseas development projects, with China a close second. These new institutions hold the potential to foster socio- economic development in the world’s poorest areas. Given the growth of quasi-market models, like that in China, which coexist with authoritarian rule, it remains to be seen whether these economic innovations will serve to support other liberal values.

The generational challenge Along with elections for the European Parliament, the participation of young people at the 2018 midterm Congressional elections in the United States offered hope. Fear that the nation was veering in a dangerous direction drove 22 the turnout of younger Americans. Young voters led the surge toward the Democratic candidates. Thirty-six percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 turned out to vote. That was a dramatic increase over 2014 (the last midterm election) when turnout was 20 percent. Turnout among voters between 30 and 44 years of age increased by 13 percent. The level of engagement by younger voters, regardless of formal party affiliation, offers hope that new ideas can be injected into the political dialogue. The younger generation is a work in progress, but certain potentially positive cultural characteristics are already evident: ● They are less prejudiced than their parents and grandparents. ● They are future-oriented. They have a mastery of the new emerging digital economy and have a sense of the endless potential technology offers. ● They are instinctively anti-war, having seen the consequences of the decades-long wars their parents supported. ● They choose to live simpler lifestyles, abandoning private automobiles for public transportation and single-lot family homes for congregate living in revitalized urban neighborhoods. The picture is by no means all rosy. In the United States, a college degree and the consequent debt is a mandatory stepping-stone to a decent paying job. Opioid addiction and other drug-related problems are near epidemic in scale. GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE

Marriage and family are delayed too often until couples are well into their 30s. Demographic consequences could be serious over time. One thing seems likely; the younger generation will bring a new set of values and concerns to political, ethical and economic policy deliberations.

Conclusion The Liberal World Order that was put in place after the Second World War and came to maturity in the quarter-century following the revolutions of 1989 has suffered severe shocks from the rise of populist nationalism and revanchist authoritarianism. Recent electoral victories and the recent fall of populist leaders precipitated by revulsion against their corruption show the populist surge is not a juggernaut that will sweep all before it. 23 Though the unforeseen consequences of the U.K.’s Brexit will surely have broad impacts, the chaos illiberalism has unleashed has reached a limit for now. To a very large extent, however, whether liberal values flourish again may depend on the outcome of the next three American elections between 2020 and 2024. Reform and re-design of global institutions will be needed to address the shortcomings of the past, and, in particular, to prevent resurgent capitalism, whether market-capitalism or modified state-capitalism, from undercutting attempted advances in political processes and social programs. While the reduction of economic inequalities will be essential to alleviate resentment over perceived injustice, limitation of the political influence of money, whether it belongs to oligarchs or corporate titans, will be imperative. The redesign of global institutions will take patient and inventive diplomacy to accommodate the diverse facets of current world politics: the emergence of China, Russia’s big- power ambitions, the growth of civil society, the new activism of the global majority, and unfamiliar political systems like Iran’s theocratic republicanism. In 1975 the Helsinki Accords established a new modus vivendi between the states of Western and Eastern Europe, with mechanisms for reducing international tensions, addressing new DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

concerns and building trust between nations. Perhaps the first major step toward a renewed world order will be a new Helsinki Agreement on a global scale. It would reduce shocks to the international system, increase communication and interchange between contending political-economic systems, and foster collaboration in facing new or unaddressed global challenges. In the meantime, for global governance, in the limited ways it may be possible, we will have to look to political realignments that favor global governance, technocratic collaboration, alliances for the common good between civil society and willing states, and public-spirited initiatives by a reformed business sector.

24 Chernobyl: The Cost of Lies

Diego Fares, SJ

Chernobyl is a television mini-series co-produced by HBO and Sky about the very serious nuclear accident at the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, located 18 kilometers northeast of the city of Chernobyl and 16 kilometers from the border between Ukraine and Belarus. 25 The man-made disaster, among the worst in history, rated 1 a level 7 (out of 7) on the International Nuclear Events Scale (INES). It occurred at 01.23:40 on April 26, 1986. Eighteen seconds earlier, a computerized control system called “Skala” had recorded the start of a reactor Scram (emergency stop), which unintentionally triggered the explosion. The Scram started when one of the staff pressed the “AZ-5” button, which was meant to shut down the reactor. Instead, it caused an explosion. The miniseries was written and produced by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck (Breaking Bad). The Chernobyl actors, who have earned nominations for the 2019 Emmy Awards, are: Jared Harris (The Crown, Mad Men), Stellan Skarsgård (Melancholia, Good Will Hunting) and Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie, Breaking the Waves). She has already received an Oscar nomination. The first episode was aired on May 6, followed by the next four. It tells of the dramatic sacrifices made by more than 600,000 people to save Europe from an unimaginable disaster.

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 3, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1910.3

1.https://www.iaea.org/resources/databases/international-nuclear-and- radiological-event-scale DIEGO FARES, SJ

In the opinion of 150,000 viewers, Chernobyl was the best 2 miniseries of 2019. On the Movie Database site (IMDb) it got the best score of all time. It still is rated at 9.7 points, against, for example, the 9.4 reached by Game of Thrones. How did it get so much popular support? Gonzalo Cordero, writing for Esquire, expressed an interesting opinion on the subject: “You only need to see a few minutes to understand it: with its mixture of vintage images and its horror film tricks, a plot wrapped in Soviet politics and conspiracies, Chernobyl draws you in, taking you into the heart of the nuclear disaster (the fear and discomfort that you feel are similar to that experienced in the zombie apocalypse) and then captures you by the documentary truthfulness with which it weaves together 26 the management of the disaster that started on April 26, 1986. And it ends up winning you over by awakening an absorbing interest in nuclear energy, its operation and its dangers. This is surrounded by a network of perfectly woven lies, which finds echoes in the current era of fake news. There is also the dehumanized and ruined background that characterizes at a geopolitical level the historical stage on which heroism and commitment to truth, to the homeland and to humanity take on a new dimension.”3 The following assessment is convincing: “Chernobyl brings us personally to the heart of the nuclear disaster. It does this despite some rather obvious elements that can be criticized. The Russian media, for example, point out that some officials and the Russian system of government of the time were caricatured with a strong ideological connotation. So they are making a kind of ‘counter-series’ with their own version of the facts.”4

2.Cf. E. De Gorgot, “Lo digo ya: ‘Chernobyl’ va a ser la mejor serie del 2019” in Jot down (www.jotdown.es/2019/05/lo-digo-ya-chernobyl-va-a-ser- la-mejor-serie-del-2019), May 2019. 3.G. Cordero, “Series 2019: ranking de las mejores y calendario de estrenos” in Esquire (www.esquire.com/es/actualidad/tv/g25537690/mejores-series-2019- netflix-movistar-hbo-amazon), July 22, 2019. 4.See P. Armelli, “Chernobyl, la Russia vuole girare una contro-serie tv con la sua versione dei fatti” in Wired (www.wired.it/play/televisione/2019/06/07/ chernobyl-serie-tv-sky-hbo-russia/?refresh_ce=), June 7, 2019. CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES

Controversial data Information about what really happened in the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was manipulated from the outset. And although the conflict of opinions about the facts and the ways of assessing and interpreting them is a reality to which, for better or for worse, we are becoming accustomed in this post-truth era, in the case of the Chernobyl disaster manipulation acquires a particular character on which we will focus our reflections. Let us take, for example, the data on the victims. The two workers who died after the explosion of the reactor, to which were added another 29 people – mainly firefighters, who died shortly after because of acute radiation syndrome – are an indisputable statistic. On the other hand, some sources assert an 27 increase in the number of victims from acute radiation to 54. Then there are the many “long-term” victims, those who have suffered and continue to suffer from different types of diseases produced by radiation. Here the disagreement widens. The methods used to quantify victims are based on numerical models, and projections differ. In 2005, the World Health Organization, together with the governments of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, raised the likely number of deaths related to the effects of radiation in the medium and long term to 4,000. Subsequently, victims who were likely exposed to lower radiation levels were included, and thus the figure increased further to 9,000 people. Other numerical models predict that cancer deaths will reach 16,000, possibly more.5 The figures differ, but this is understandable because it is the very nature of radioactivity – its effects expand and last over time. This makes it difficult to quantify the potential damage to life and requires constant improvement in the technology and standards by which its effects are measured. We are faced with a reality that affects our own ability to measure what has gotten out of hand. When we reach these levels, it is not enough to improve

5.Cf. E. Cardis et Al., “Estimates of the cancer burden in Europe from radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident” in International Journal of Cancer (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16628547), September 15, 2006. DIEGO FARES, SJ

the scientific “models” with which the data are interpreted, but a more radical, philosophical reflection is required, not only on the “quantifiable form” of a phenomenon, but on its very existence, on its dynamism, which in this case proves to be “anti-life.”

Real dialogues and dynamics It is the spoken words and the faces of Chernobyl, the firsthand accounts that draw us into the heart of the drama, not the special effects to which we have grown accustomed. The dynamism that moves the dialogues radiates from the nuclear reactor: it is a reality created by human hands – and over which we have lost control – that sets in motion the dialogue between politics and science. And it forces them to face up to each other. 28 A significant example of this dialogue between politics and science is, in our view, the one that takes place between President Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Valery Legasov6 (played by Jared Harris), and Boris Shcherbina,7 the Vice- President of the Council of Ministers of Gorbachev (played by Stellan Skarsgård). When the President of the USSR concludes the meeting, having been informed that the danger of the nuclear power plant is under control, Legasov raises his voice shouting: “No!” Shcherbina intervenes and tries to silence him, despite the fact that it was he who requested the presence of the scientist at the cabinet meeting. But Gorbachev silences him, saying he wants to listen to the scientist. Legasov: “There is graphite on the ground.” Shcherbina, interrupting him: “A tank has exploded, there is debris, how important can that be?”

6.Valery Legasov was a distinguished scientist, a key member of the government commission charged with investigating the causes of the accident. Two years and a day later he hanged himself in his house. He left several records in which he denounced the design shortcomings of the plant and other examplesof incompetence, which the system tried to hide for years. 7.Boris Shcherbina was a member of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party and Vice-President of the Council of Ministers. President Gorbachev entrusted him with the management of the crisis and sent him to the place. The irradiation prematurely ended his life in 1990, as Legasov had predicted. CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES

Legasov, without being intimidated: “There is only one place in the entire plant where graphite can be found. Inside the core. If there is graphite on the ground outside, it means that it was not a tank that exploded, but that the core is uncovered. A Rbmk reactor uses uranium-235 as its fuel. Each atom of U-235 is like a bullet, which travels almost at the speed of light, penetrating everything it encounters: wood, metal, concrete, human organs. Each gram of U-235 contains one billion trillion of these bullets, this in one gram. There are over three million grams in Chernobyl, and now they’re burning. The wind will carry radioactive particles across the entire continent. The rain will spill them on us. There are three million billion trillion bullets in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, in the food we eat. Most of these bullets won’t disappear for at least 100 29 years, some of them for 50,000 years.” Gorbachev: “And this apprehension of yours is entirely based on the description of detritus?” Legasov: “Yes” At this point, Gorbachev decides to send Shcherbina to see with his own eyes what happened and inform him. The scientist will have to accompany him. The Vice-President of the Council reacts to this statement with a grimace, and Gorbachev asks him: “Do you know how a nuclear reactor works?” Shcherbina says no, and the president adds: “[If you don’t have the scientist with you,] then how will you know what you’re looking at?” The dialogue is interesting because it contains the core of the film. It is a dialogue between politics and science, which have to confront each other on the ground of reality, and not only on that of ideas. Scientists are used to dealing with natural reality in their laboratories, in a context where they can experiment with it, creating the right conditions. Politicians are accustomed to influencing social reality, directing it according to general ideas and interests. Chernobyl has as a subject of discussion a reality that resists any kind of experiment and manipulation. And not only does it resist these, but it threatens life and social structures to an extreme degree of danger. To “see” this reality they will have to go there in person. And they will find something that will change their lives and their way of thinking and working. DIEGO FARES, SJ

The soldier, the grandmother and the cow We humans have no senses that can “perceive” ionizing radiation.8 We feel the effects, both short and long term, since they produce chemical changes in our cells and damage our DNA. There are, however, various types of instruments that can capture and measure the amount of radiation absorbed by matter. In this series they use Geiger counters (now obsolete) which emit that frightening sound characteristic of the background music of Chernobyl and that, along with the other protracted sound that mimics the noise produced by a reactor, give the feeling of the almost physical presence of radioactivity. These counters estimate the radiation in Röntgen (R), a unit of measurement that establishes “the radiation dose in the 30 environment to which you are exposed” for the duration of your contact with the radioactive material. Currently, the reference is to Sievert (Sv), which measures the dose of radiation absorbed by 9 living matter, corrected by the possible biological effects produced. But what we want to do here is to confirm that there are “realities” for which we do not have a “sense.” And since the concepts we think of come from the senses, we cannot think of them properly without help. The film dramatizes this problem in a moving way in the scene in which a soldier who is working on evacuating locals and tracing and eliminating contaminated animals of the region (dogs, cats, flocks...) so that they do not reproduce, enters a farm and finds an elderly woman who is milking her only cow. The soldier tells the woman to get out of there. Here it should be pointed out that cesium-137, highly radioactive, deposits itself

8.Radiation can be non-ionizing – that of light, radio waves or what we perceive as heat – or ionizing, when it has enough energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule, and cause its ionization. The harmful effects of ionizing radiation on a living organism are mainly due to the energy absorbed by the cells and tissues that form it. This energy is absorbed by ionization and atomic excitation, and produces the chemical decomposition of the molecules present. The cells can be increased or reduced in volume, they can die, they can undergo genetic mutations leading to cancer, even in the latent state. 9.The difference is that Röntgen units measure radioactivity in the environment, Gray (Gy) as absorbed by any material, while Sievert corrects these data by measuring the damage that occurs in the biological material. CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES in a particularly abundant way in the fodder that the cows eat and contaminates the milk. The old lady says she does not want to be evacuated. Her argument is that she has already gone through various wars and all sorts of dangerous situations and has “seen everything.” So, of course, she will not leave now “for something she doesn’t see,” the radioactivity that she has been told about, and that does not have immediate effects. The soldier, in response, kills her cow.

The need for a new paradigm Confronted with a “natural” reality we make judgements based on what we see. And that is why, following the natural model, we tend to do the same with regard to the reality created by humans. When a nuclear reactor produces electricity, it is 31 a wonderful thing... as long as it works well, as Legasov says at some point in his expert testimony to a court investigating who might be the culprits. But when this reality created by us gets out of hand, when it leaves the laboratory, we must think of it in a more complex way. This means that any assessment must start with an evaluation of the data that only measuring devices provide us with, and of biological effects that are only perceived in the long term, and which therefore also need a translation into something perceivable, mediated by mathematical models. In this way we can establish a particular concept that synthesizes the scientific and existential perspective (the degree of mortality), bypassing the perceptible and formal one: 12,000 R/h kills you in three minutes. It is a difficult fact to accept. People who manipulate facts for economic or political gain try to divert attention, for example by showing that right now planet Earth is not “as threatened as suggested,” or to direct attention to formal data, discussing figures and proposing other alternatives. But the correct way of thinking about these realities is to link numbers and cancer, numbers and death. The death of people close to me and my death, not death in general, if such a concept existed, if it were possible to “quantify” personal deaths. The new paradigm is scientific-existential. This individual way of DIEGO FARES, SJ

thinking comes naturally to us when we read the data of a medical analysis and connect the numbers and abbreviations, for example, with cancer. Chernobyl teaches us how to read the health of the planet Earth in this context.

Absorbed radiation as a metaphor for lies Another aspect, besides the immediate imperceptibility of radioactivity, is the fact that it primarily affects the “softer” tissues, which absorb more of it. The series tells us about it, embodying it in the story of two characters: the fireman Vasily Ignatenko and his wife Lyudmilla. He was one of the “firefighters,” among the first to rush to put out the fire. He died shortly after, afflicted with pains caused by radiation that destroyed all his organs. His 32 wife, who had gone to take care of him even though she was pregnant, “so he doesn’t die alone” (as she says in the series to the doctor who tries to stop her), was saved because the child she was carrying absorbed all the radiation.10 This leads scientist Ulana Khomyuk (played by Emily Watson) – a character invented to represent the large number of scientists who worked to discover the truth – to say at a key moment in the series: “We live in a country where children must die to save their mothers. To hell with his deal and to hell with our lives! Someone must tell the truth so that it doesn’t happen again.” This property of radioactivity to leave non-biological structures intact and to destroy biological ones from the inside, starting from the most permeable and fragile parts, awakens in scientists the compelling urgency to tell the truth, a truth that cannot be immediately verified and that could be associated with causes that remain unnamed and mysterious in some way. Legasov expresses this concept in the sentence with which he closes the recording of his testimony before committing suicide: “If once I feared the price of truth, now I just ask: what is the cost of lies?” It is a price that is paid in the long term and remains separated from its causes, in the same way that Scripture states that the wages of sin is death.

10.Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Prize winner for literature in 2015, reported her moving testimony in the book Prayer for Chernobyl (Rome, Editions e/o, 2002). CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES

The success of Chernobyl rests in creating a metaphor for lies, linking its power to that of radioactive matter. The lie is not only a lie: it is like the hum still active in the basement of the Lenin power station in Chernobyl; it is like the cesium-127 that has settled on the fields of the region and has lasted for 30 years; it is like the plutonium ... that will last 24,000 years. The analogy between radioactivity and lies is proportional: as in the latter, what must be correctly judged is its power. The classic example is the one that says: “Evening is to day as old age is to life.” This metaphor is intended to express the similarity of the power of the day with that of life. In our case, we could say that radioactivity is to biology as the lie is to spirituality. In other words, it is not enough to measure the lie only “in the abstract,” but it must be done as an “absorbed lie,” corrected by 33 the effects it produces, especially in the simplest people. This metaphor has a devastating allegorical potential.11

‘Bio-robot’ or reality can only be manipulated by hand “Bio-robot,” says Legasov, who seems absorbed in his thoughts while listening to the conversation between Boris Shcherbina and the general in charge of overseeing the control of damage caused by the explosion of the nuclear reactor. The conversation takes place after the failure of the bulldozer sent from Germany to remove graphite debris from the most contaminated roof. Actually, the failure was due to the fact that the Russian government had communicated (to minimize the situation) a level of radiation much lower than the actual level, and so the robot simply “fried” within 30 seconds. The general states that there is no way to remove the radioactive graphite scattered by the explosion on the roofs of the power plant. The three different areas needing to be cleaned up were given different names: “Katya” is the roof where radiation reaches 1,000 Röntgen/h (two hours would be fatal); on “Nina” the radiation reaches 2,000 R/h (one hour would be fatal); and

11.When Pope Francis affirms that murmurs and concealment are acts of terrorism, he is “measuring” the damage they produce, taking into account these complex categories of measurement. We can add that these are not limited acts of terrorism, but rather nuclear, radioactive terrorism. DIEGO FARES, SJ

the most dangerous, “Masha,” with 12,000 R/h, is (and remains) “the most dangerous place on earth.” On “Masha,” the electrical equipment used to drive the bulldozers to remove the rubble stops working. This is why Legasov intervenes by saying that the only solution is to remove the graphite by hand, just as had already been done to open the water drainage pumps.12 Here they are, the bio-robots: the volunteers to whom the task will be entrusted. The extent to which they were volunteers and the extent to which they were informed of the danger they were facing by exposing themselves to such levels of radiation are still being discussed today. They only had to do it for 90 seconds each (no more than three minutes, in any case), and then leave it to others. 34 There were 3,828 “bio-robots.”13 And the “cleaners” numbered between 600,000 and 800,000, including those in charge of killing animals and those who had to treat the victims, having to do everything “by hand.” Chernobyl is the myth of the “bio-robot,” the myth that makes us see that reality can be manipulated, yes, but by hand! “Using your hands” means taking responsibility, making a decision and knowing that you are “giving your life.” Chernobyl shows us that the reality created “technically” in the reactor is not “technically” manageable. Technology creates and directs, but, once that reality leaves the laboratory (and we can say that even ideologies are laboratories... in the open air), it destroys those who want to control it. It can only be manipulated, as the word itself says, by hand.

12.Alexei Ananenko, Valery Bezpalov and Boris Baranov were the three volunteers who entered the contaminated water, accumulated to extinguish the fire, and opened the pumps that allowed it to evacuate. If they had not done so, there would most likely have been a new explosion, the harmful consequences of which for the region and for Europe would have been much greater, especially if radioactive water had been filtered together with corium, contaminating the groundwater of Kiev, which flows into the Black Sea. Some say that these three heroes prevented the deaths of millions of people; others, on the other hand, since that possibility did not come true, treat the issue as one of many. 13.See the documentary entitled Chernobyl 3.828 (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=FfDa8tR25dk). CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES

What can change the dialogue between politics and science The dialogue on “bio-robots” had in fact already been implicitly started before, in the third episode of the series, during a telephone conference between Shcherbina and Gorbachev, in the presence of Legasov. When the scientist spoke, insisting that a much larger area should have been evacuated, Gorbachev silenced him and said: “You are there for one reason only, do you understand? To make this stop. I don’t want questions, I want to know when this will be over.” Legasov replied: “If you mean when Chernobyl will be completely safe, the half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,000 years, so perhaps we should just say not within our lifetimes.” At this point, the President of the USSR hangs up the phone. Left alone, Shcherbina asks Legasov to take a walk, in 35 which, alone and away from prying ears, they continue the conversation. Shcherbina: “What will happen to our boys?” Legasov: “Which boys? The three divers?” Shcherbina: “The divers, the fire-fighters, the men in the control room. What will the radiation do to them, precisely?” Legasov: “At the levels some of them were exposed to, ionizing radiation tears the cellular structure apart. Skin blisters, it turns red, then black. This is followed by a latency period. The immediate effects subside, the patient appears to be recovering, healthy even, but they aren’t. This usually lasts only for a day or two.” Shcherbina: “Continue” Legasov: “Then cellular damage begins to manifest itself. The bone marrow dies. The immune system fails. The organs and soft tissues begin to decompose. The arteries and veins split open like sieves, to the point where you can’t even administer morphine for the pain, which is unimaginable. And then three days to three weeks, you’re dead. That is what will happen to those boys.” Shcherbina: “What about us?” Legasov: “Well, we got a steady dose, but not as much, not strong enough to kill the cells, but consistent enough to damage our DNA. So, in time, cancer. Or aplastic anemia, either way, fatal.” DIEGO FARES, SJ

Having learned that he will surely die within five years, Shcherbina realizes what is happening and changes his political vision. The scientific data and what he had to do to be able to measure them became real to him. This happens when he touches that “something” of Chernobyl that cannot be manipulated either from a technical or a political point of view, but only by paying the price of your own life. In the process, it will be his moral and political authority that will allow Legasov to declare all the truth that weighs on the Government. That is to say that the employees of the nuclear power plant were guilty because they had brought the reactor to an irreversible situation, but they were not entirely to blame. It had been hidden from them that the AZ-5 button, believed to be able to shut 36 down the reactor at any time, in the situation to which they had brought it, instead of shutting it down, would make it explode. The Government had concealed this information for the simple reason that otherwise materials other than graphite, which was “cheaper,” would have to be used. Politicians knew the scientific data, but with an abstract knowledge, which made them choose the cheapest solutions, at least until the problems came about.

‘They work in the dark, and they see everything. Tell the truth’ The last dialogue we take into consideration is the one between Legasov and Shcherbina a moment before the head of the miners enters the vehicle that serves as headquarters. They called on them urgently to dig a tunnel under the reactor, so as to make room for a heat exchanger and thus prevent the molten core from sinking into the groundwater, endangering millions of lives. That work would have proved useless: in six weeks the melted core cooled down on its own and there was never any need to pump the liquid nitrogen into the heat exchanger. But the work exposed the workers to an overload of radiation. Legasov, who has to talk to their boss, tells Shcherbina: “I’m not good at this, Boris, the lying.” Shcherbina asked him, “Have you ever spent time with miners?” “No.” “Do you want my advice? Tell the truth. These men work in the dark. They see everything.” CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES

When they are told the truth, the miners go and do their work and give everything. They work tirelessly, knowing that this task will affect their lives. They prove, along with many others, that it is not necessary to manipulate people when a cause really concerns the common good. In this scene we see how things are reversed: the chain of lies that had led to people evading their responsibilities and delegating them to others, is now transformed into a chain of truths, starting with those who take on the most dangerous tasks and reaches into the courts and corridors of power where political decisions are taken.

The postmodern myth There are many good stories based on real facts like those depicted in Chernobyl or even on a mere fiction. The credibility 37 of the characters adds to their appeal, and some of them owe it to Chernobyl for rescuing them from the anonymity to which the regime had tried to relegate them. Others are created, but in such a way that in them the voices and souls of many real people who were involved in the tragedy resound. As Jorge Luis Borges says, speaking of the characters Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, the greatest success of a literary work lies in the fact that the reader can make friends with the characters, and this does 14 not happen “with all fictitious characters.” With Chernobyl it happens. Just as the multitude of radioactive materials that remain active in the basement of the plant is a reality so special that it has been given the name of “chernobylite,” so also the characters of the series, with their reflections and their dialogues around the dynamism of this reality that did not exist beforehand on the planet but was created by humans and that you cannot “shut down,” bring to the screen and make us relive what we can call “the myth of Chernobyl.” Let us say that it is a postmodern myth, because it reveals to us the mystery of current reality, the mystery that seemed to be lost in the hands of the sciences that hypothesize everything and manipulate everything. Chernobyl takes us back to that level of

14.J. L. Borges, “Mi entrañable señor Cervantes” in Revista de Artes y Humanidades UNICA, Vol. 6, No. 12, January-April 2005, 221-230. DIEGO FARES, SJ

reality to which the mind must adapt, willingly or unwillingly, and cannot manipulate or conceptualize it enough, but must resort to narrative and metaphor to understand it. Chernobyl has been called a docudrama, but this term risks making you think of a hybrid, something halfway between documentary and drama. For us, we think that the significance of the series and its impact come from the force of reality itself and from the artistic method adopted to narrate this reality. The metaphor used to combine lies and radioactivity has an extraordinary power. Chernobyl does not fight the lie by isolating it on a purely ethical level, but by showing the inseparable union of ethical decisions when it comes to the creation of realities such as those produced in a nuclear reactor. The debt left by 38 the lie in this technical manufacture is always paid, more sooner than later, and the payment must be executed “by hand,” with the risk of losing one’s own life. Chernobyl’s message is that we can “create” without limits, but not “control” without limits. Therefore, it is necessary to have someone who takes responsibility and personally guarantees – without diluting responsibility in the anonymity of technical issues – the debts constituted by human or natural failures, which always occur and will always occur (a point that can be statistically proven). The challenge, then, is to find ways to exercise power over power itself, as Romano Guardini well said. Being irresponsible in the use of natural things is criminal, but being irresponsible in the use of the things we have created is doubly criminal. The Renewal of the John Paul II Theological Institute

Carlo Casalone, SJ

The impulse toward renewal that Pope Francis is impressing on the life of believers concerns all the dimensions of the ecclesial community and reaches the various areas of the life of the Church. While the importance that the pope attaches to theology is often underestimated, in reality he cares very much 39 about a serious and rigorous understanding of the experience of faith. Francis has repeatedly stressed the need for theological reflection that develops organically, including on the academic level and in institutionally structured forms.

Indications of Francis regarding theological reflection The pope has revealed on many occasions the aspects he considers most relevant in elaborating thought that can give explanations in matters of faith. Already in the programmatic document of his pontificate, the post-synodal apostolic 1 exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG), he noted that the service of theologians is “part of the Church’s saving mission. In doing so, however, they must always remember that the Church and theology exist to evangelize, and not be content with a desk- bound theology” (EG 133). For this reason, the notion of mercy is central, since it is at the heart of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The pope wrote to the professors of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina: “I encourage you to study how in

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 4, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1910.4

1.Cf. EG 25. CARLO CASALONE, SJ

the various disciplines – dogma, morals, spirituality, law and so on – the centrality of mercy can be reflected.”2 Theology, wrote Francis, must be “the expression of a Church that is a ‘field hospital,’ which lives its mission of salvation and healing in the world. Mercy is not only a pastoral attitude, it is the very substance of the Gospel of Jesus ... Without mercy, our theology, our law, our pastoral work run the risk of collapsing into bureaucratic pettiness or ideology, which by its very nature wants to tame the mystery. To understand theology is to understand God, who is Love.”3 In the Gospels we see Jesus always attentive to fulfilling the meaning of the precepts of the divine law in a way that promotes the human, avoiding whatever wounds the dignity of the person: the controversies 40 over the Sabbath and the priority of mercy over sacrifice are 4 eloquent examples of this (cf. Matt 12:7). Mercy understood in this way is not “a substitute for truth and justice, but is a condition for being able to find them.”5 Moreover, in order to be part of the evangelizing mission of the Church, theology must not separate itself from pastoral work

2.Francis, Letter to the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Universidad Católica Argentina on the 100th anniversary of the Faculty of Theology, March 3, 2015, in w2.vatican.va (where you can also find the other interventions of the pope mentioned below). This line has already been taken by previous popes, as can be seen from a quick glance at the titles of their magisterial interventions, starting with Pius XI, who issued Miserentissimus Redemptor (1928), and especially John XXIII, who urged the Church to give priority to “the medicine of mercy rather than severity” (Address at the solemn opening of the Council, October 11, 1962), to the encyclical Dives in misericordia by Saint John Paul II, up to those of Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est and Caritas in veritate. 3.“First of all, it is necessary to start from the Gospel of mercy, from the proclamation made by Jesus himself and from the original contexts of evangelization. Theology is born in the midst of specific human beings, who are met with the gaze and heart of God who seeks them with merciful love. Doing theology is also an act of mercy” (Francis, Address to the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, June 21, 2019). 4.Cf. G. Ferretti, Il criterio misericordia. Sfide per la teologia e la prassi della Chiesa, Brescia, Queriniana, 2017. 5.R. Cantalamessa, “Il valore politico della misericordia” in Oss. Rom. March 30, 2008, quoted in P. Coda, “La Chiesa è il Vangelo». Alle sorgenti della teologia di papa Francesco, Vatican City, Libr. Ed. Vaticana, 2017, 111. THE RENEWAL OF THE JOHN PAUL II THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE or, even worse, oppose it.6 To move in this direction, contact with the experiences in which the faithful are immersed in their daily existence is of fundamental importance. This brings with it two requirements: on the one hand, there is a need to know the concrete situations in which people spend their lives, especially those who are in various forms of the peripheries of life, and therefore in a situation of greater vulnerability; on the other hand, to acquire the ability to communicate in an understandable way with interlocutors of different cultures and in a variety of places and times. These two requirements are characterized by several common features: going beyond the confines of the “study-desk” to reach out to the borders7; making use not only of indispensable personal experience, but also of the results of the sciences that 41 systematically explore the social and economic dynamics in which our contemporaries are involved; forging new modes of expression that allow us to interact with different cultures.

Dimensions and meanings of dialogue It is in this perspective that Francis’ insistence on dialogue is placed. To be possible, it requires above all the exercise of “a thought that is not grasping, but hospitable,” which does not yield “to the illusion of definitiveness and perfection, but recognizes itself as open, incomplete, restless.”8 Therefore, a mental and relational attitude is required for which learning and formation are necessary: “While dialogue is not a magic formula, theology is certainly helped in its renewal when it takes dialogue seriously ... Students of theology should be educated in dialogue.”9

6.Cf. Francis, Message to the International Congress of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, September 1, 2015. 7.“Your place of reflection should be the frontiers. And don’t fall into the temptation to paint over them, perfume them, fix them a bit and domesticate them. Even good theologians, like good shepherds, smell of people and of the street and, with their reflection, pour oil and wine on the wounds of the people” (Francis, Letter to the Grand Chancellor..., op. cit.). 8.P. Coda, “The Church is the Gospel”..., op. cit., 75ff. 9.Francis, Address to the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, op. cit. CARLO CASALONE, SJ

This is a very demanding objective. It involves a review of ecclesiastical studies and the experiences of a “cultural laboratory”10 to connect the different disciplines, encouraging mutual enrichment of both content and method. We can indicate three areas in which this dialogue is taking place. The first concerns the knowledge that comes from the natural sciences and the human and social sciences. It is necessary to listen with courageous openness to the contributions that these sciences provide and to make a wise discernment so as to be able to make use of the resources that contemporary thought makes available to us. The Church has always proceeded in this way. There have been tensions and conflicts, which must be faced in an evangelical spirit, but it has always tried to avoid becoming 42 fixated on “an anachronistic conceptual apparatus, incapable of adequately interacting with the transformations.”11 Today we particularly need to ask ourselves critically about the concepts of “nature and artifice, of conditioning and freedom, of means and ends, introduced by the new culture of acting, typical of the technological era. We are called to set ourselves firmly on the path taken by the Second Vatican Council, which calls for the renewal of theological disciplines and a critical reflection on the relationship between the Christian faith and 12 moral action (cf. Optatam Totius, 16).” For the dialogue to be effectively trans-disciplinary, it is necessary to go beyond the simple juxtaposition of the cognitive contents of the individual disciplines, or the naive importation into theological discourse of terms that come from other branches of knowledge.13 The meanings of the concepts used, in fact, depend on the conceptual equipment and the processes used for their elaboration. We need research that critically examines the relevant categories needed to address questions that require contributions from different theoretical horizons.

10.Id., Veritatis Gaudium, No. 3. 11.Id., Address to the XXV General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, February 25, 2019. 12.Ibid. 13.Cf. Id., Veritatis Gaudium, No. 4c. THE RENEWAL OF THE JOHN PAUL II THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

The other two aspects of the dialogue concern the encounter between cultures and religions. They are closely linked. It is only in the framework of an authentic “culture of encounter” (EG 220) that one can understand the choice to adopt “a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard.”14 Dialogue is presented here not as an optional element, but as constitutive of every religious faith, in a framework of brotherhood. It requires that the content of knowledge and the way in which it is related be considered equally important. This applies not only to those to whom the mission of the Church is addressed, but also to its internal life, as emerges from the concept of “missionary synodality.”15 There is continuity between the Church’s way of proceeding in the quality of 43 the relationships she promotes – even by structuring them institutionally – and the message she is called to proclaim. It is a call to continuous conversion so that the Church may become ever more welcoming and participatory in all her dimensions. Moreover, we could say that Sacred Scripture itself was constituted according to a dialogical procedure. It is the result of a mutual exchange between different traditions that the Chosen People encountered not only in the surrounding cultures, but also within their own ranks, as the biblical texts clearly state.16 The understanding of the experience develops in an incessant dynamic of recognition and critical reappraisal of the indications of good that is present in concrete historical situations, in which the encounter and the knowledge of God, who operates in the events, is also mediated. This movement is never one-way, but multidirectional and truly trans-cultural.

14.Document on human brotherhood for world peace and common living together (Abu Dhabi, February 4, 2019), signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb. 15.Francis, Christus Vivit, Nos. 206-207; cf. Synod of Bishops, Young people, faith and vocational discernment. Final document, Vatican City, Libr. Ed. Vaticana 2018, Nos. 119-127. 16.Cf. Pontifical Biblical Commission. Radici bibliche dell’agire cristiano, Vatican City, Libr. Ed. Vaticana, 2008, in particular No. 4. On the ethical dimension of dialogue, cf. D. Abignente - S. Bastianel, Le vie del bene. Oggettività, storicità, intersoggettività, Trapani, Il Pozzo di Giacobbe, 2009, 51-95. CARLO CASALONE, SJ

This involves a dynamic not unlike today’s: the interaction with contemporary thought – including its scientific- technological expressions – and with different cultures and religious traditions allows unexpected insights and new terms in theological language. It is an operation of the utmost importance to be able to deepen not only the understanding of faith, but also the interpretation of the world, of life and of the action of which faith itself is the leaven, encouraging communication with the men and women of our time. Quoting Michel de Certeau, an author who is very dear to him, the pope reminds us that questions about faith must be answered taking into account the terms in which they are formulated, since they are those with which the men and 44 women of that given society live and interpret the world.17 We must not remain fixated on statements that are no longer able to correctly express the truth of God who reveals himself in the Gospel in Jesus Christ.18 And, given the diversity of ways of being Christian in time and in geographical-cultural contexts, theology has the task of discerning carefully and reflecting on the meaning of believing in any particular situation, giving an account of the form of being Christian.19 This perspective is possible only if we admit that every single theological formulation is not able to exhaust the richness of the reality of the faith that it intends to enunciate and that the opening of every statement to possible enrichment

17.Cf. Francis, Message to the International Congress of Theology..., op. cit. 18.“Sometimes, listening to a completely orthodox language, what the faithful receive, because of the language they use and understand, is something that does not correspond to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. With the holy intention of communicating to them the truth about God and human beings, [...] we give them a false god or a human ideal that is not truly Christian” (EG 41). 19.“One is not a Christian in the same way in today’s Argentina and in the Argentina of a hundred years ago. In India and Canada one is not a Christian in the same way as in Rome. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the theologian is to discern, to reflect: what does it mean to be Christians today? “In the here and now”; how does that river of origins manage to irrigate these lands today and to make itself visible and livable?” (Francis, Message to the International Congress of Theology..., op. cit.) THE RENEWAL OF THE JOHN PAUL II THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE and subsequent updates does not affect its validity.20 Different formulations may indicate the same inexhaustible reality of faith in a plurality of versions. But it is necessary that each, in its diversity, be in dialogue with the others, avoiding monolithic fundamentalism, and being articulated as the different faces of a single polyhedron, which is the background of the well-known principle: “reality is superior to the idea.”21

The creation of the new John Paul II Theological Institute It is precisely in this perspective that the path taken by the John Paul II Theological Institute is to be found. It has recently been at the center of lively discussions, which were not always supported by an adequate information base as to the actual state of affairs. First of all, let us remember that with the Motu“ proprio” 45 Summa familiae cura (September 8, 2017) – which followed the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which reaped the fruits of two previous synodal assemblies (extraordinary in 2014 and ordinary in 2015) – Pope Francis created a new Institute, called the “Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and the Family.” Therefore the previous Institute, established by the apostolic constitution Magnum matrimonii sacramentum (October 7, 1982), was suppressed. The objective of this decision was to give a new impetus to the path taken so far. It was initiated almost 40 years ago on the basis of the valid intuition of Saint John Paul II: the centrality of the family in the construction of the social fabric and in formation for a human coexistence that is effectively respectful of the life and dignity of persons, in an evangelical perspective. The depth of the changes that have taken place in recent decades has highlighted the need for a new beginning, broadening “the field of interest, both in terms of the new

20.Cf. G. Lafont, Piccolo saggio sul tempo di papa Francesco, Bologna, EDB, 2017. 21.Cf. EG 231, where the pope also stresses the need to “avoid different forms of concealment of reality: false sense of angelic purity, totalitarianisms of the relative, declarationist nominalisms, projects more formal than real, anti- historical fundamentalisms, ethical systems without goodness, intellectual systems without wisdom.” CARLO CASALONE, SJ

dimensions of the pastoral task and the ecclesial mission, and in reference to the developments of the human sciences and anthropological culture in a field so fundamental for the culture of life.”22 The “Motu proprio” also provided for the definition of new Statutes (art. 5). Approved by the Holy See with its corresponding Order of Studies, these came into force on July 18, 2019. The work of elaboration lasted for two years and involved the academic leadership – Grand Chancellor Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia and the Dean Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri – and the teaching staff, with the involvement also of the numerous international branches connected to the Central Institute. The preparation of the 46 texts was carried out in collaboration with the competent bodies of the Holy See. In particular, the advice of the Congregation for Catholic Education was valuable for its specific competence in the academic field. But important synergies have also developed with the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life and with the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Division of studies: a ‘cultural laboratory’ The new order of studies is divided into two main areas: theological-pastoral and anthropological-cultural. The first includes “the deepening of the theology of the Christian form of faith, of the ecclesiology of the community and of the evangelical mission, of the anthropology of human and theological love, of the global theological ethics of life, of spirituality and of the transmission of faith in the secular city.”23 The second area responds more directly to the need for updating (aggiornamento) and dialogue with contemporary thought, and consistently introduces the perspective of the human sciences. Among these we find disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics and comparative law. They can provide cognitive tools to analyze the political and

22.Francis, Apostolic Letter Summa familiae cura, September 8, 2017. 23.P. Sequeri, “Tra fede e realtà” in Oss. Rom., July 19, 2019, 7. THE RENEWAL OF THE JOHN PAUL II THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE technological transformations of the community and the role of familiar institutions in the formation of the person, taking into account the important function of intermediate social bodies in the equilibriums of human coexistence, on both affective and ethical levels. The structure of the courses makes it possible to obtain the degrees of second cycle (license) and third cycle (doctorate). The training offered does not therefore include those lessons that were already carried out in the first cycle and that are presumed to already have been obtained. The fundamental subjects that were considered appropriate to maintain are ordered according to the thematic and academic specificity of the Institute. Limiting ourselves to a few examples, we can cite Christian Ecclesiology and Family Community, Moral Theology of Love and Family, 47 Theology of the Sacrament of Marriage. Several complementary courses will be offered by invited specialists at the accredited universities, in particular the Pontifical Lateran University, with which there is a privileged link. The curricula have been reconfigured in order to obtain canonical recognition of the titles and to fully enter the Bologna Process, thus giving the Institute a more solid positioning on the international level. The extension of the teaching staff will allow coverage of the main areas and also promote a more organic dialogue between the different disciplines and theological perspectives. The intention is to encourage the presence of voices that offer an overall reading of the Magisterium, including recent teaching.24 We know, in fact, that debates have been sparked on issues concerning the family and life, which have sometimes not helped believers to develop a balanced opinion on the magisterial positions, nor to grow in an experience of communion, not

24.Cf. Francis, Address to the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, op. cit., where the pope states: “The renewal of schools of theology comes about through the practice of discernment and through a dialogical way of proceeding capable of creating a corresponding spiritual environment and intellectual practice … A dialogue capable of integrating the living criterion of Jesus’ Paschal Mystery with that of analogy, which discovers connections, signs and theological references in reality, in creation and in history.” CARLO CASALONE, SJ

least because of the frequent and undue pressure of the media. In particular, it is a question of developing interpretations that show the synergy and complementarity of documents that are too frequently read as conflicting or even contradictory, without examining the premises that would make it possible to recognize their connections, convergences and mutual enrichment.25 Therefore, according to the logic of the already mentioned “cultural laboratory,” the integration of the teaching staff has been foreseen. This body, however, keeps most of its components unchanged. The new arrangements have led to positions that were previously present not being reassigned in a few cases. The criteria according to which this decision was taken are those mentioned above. But the canonical norms have always been 48 fully respected. These norms correspond to the nature of the “ecclesiastical” academy of the new Institute, and the General Regulations of the Roman Curia to which it is subject, which already applied to the previous Institute. The entire journey of the John Paul II Theological Institute therefore expresses the commitment to respond in the best possible way to the insistent request of Pope Francis “to have light and flexible structures that express the priority given to welcoming and dialogue, to inter- and trans-disciplinary work and networking. The statutes, the internal organization, the method of teaching, the program of studies should reflect the physiognomy of the Church which goes forth.”26

25.Cf. C. Schönborn, “Préface” in A. Thomasset - J.-M. Garrigues, Une morale souple, mais non sans boussole. Répondre aux doutes des quatre cardinaux à propos d’Amoris laetitia, Paris, Cerf, 2017, 12. For a further look at some of the more controversial points, see ibid., 66-100. 26.Francis, Address to the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, op. cit. A Journey of the People Francis in Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius

Antonio Spadaro, SJ Pope Francis’ flight landed at the airport in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, at 6:20 p.m. on September 4, 2019. So began a journey that would take the pontiff to Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. The pope was welcomed by the president of the republic with his wife at the foot of the gangway from the 49 plane. Two children in traditional dress offered him flowers. After receiving festive greetings from traditional musicians and dancers, he went directly to the apostolic nunciature.

Mozambique: ‘protagonists of the destiny of their own nation’ The pope’s first commitment took place the following day at 9:40 a.m. with a courtesy visit to President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi at the presidential residence, the Palacio de Ponta Vermelha, which is an old colonial-style building. There, he also met the authorities, representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps. After President Nyusi’s greeting, the pope gave a speech in which his first words were of closeness to and solidarity with “ all those who were recently hit by cyclones Idai and Kenneth,” on March 13 and April 25, causing more than 600 victims, the destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of arable land and a major health emergency, leaving more than 73,000 displaced people. This is always an important key to Francis’ journeys: touching the open wounds of the people. The pope then expressed his appreciation “for the efforts that, for decades, have been made so that peace may once again be the norm, and reconciliation the best way to face the difficulties and

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 5, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1910.5 ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

challenges” of the nation. Mozambique was for several centuries a Portuguese colony, gaining independence on June 25, 1975, after more than 10 years of armed struggle involving Frelimo (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique), a Marxist-Leninist movement. Since then, there have been fratricidal struggles between Frelimo and the armed anti-communist movement Renamo (Mozambican National Resistance), in a civil war that lasted more than 15 years. Francis referred to the signing of the agreement for the definitive cessation of military hostilities between “Mozambican brothers,” which took place last August, in the Serra della Gorongosa, a milestone set by courageous people on the road to peace, which started with a General Agreement signed in 50 Rome in 1992, after 27 months of negotiations with the mediation of the Community of Sant’Egidio, the local Church, and the contribution of the Italian Government.1 The August Agreement provides for the disarmament of more than 5,000 fighters and parliamentary elections on October 15. We know well how important the theme of peace is in the formal teaching of Francis. But above all, we know his approach is not just vaguely pacifist and seeking merely the absence of war. On the contrary, he is aware that sometimes peace is used as a calming agent against justified protests. In Mozambique, the pope reaffirmed that peace implies the need “to recognize, protect and concretely restore the dignity, so often overlooked or ignored, of our brothers and sisters, so that they can see themselves as 2 the principal protagonists of the destiny of their nation.” Different forms of aggression and war will find fertile ground wherever the peripheries are neglected and wherever there is a lack of equal opportunities. This is the central point: the people must feel that they are the protagonists of the construction of the nation and of civil society. And certainly a fundamental way for every Mozambican to feel that this country is his is through “productive, sustainable and inclusive development” and fairness. In this sense, the custody of “our common home” is fundamental: “The protection of the land is also the protection of life, which demands particular attention whenever we see a tendency toward pillage and plunder.” FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS

Francis gave a sign of the need to be united when, at the end of the meeting, he greeted the leaders of the two opposition parties: Renamo’s Ossufo Momade, and the head of the Movement Democrático de Moçambique, Daviz Simango. This greeting was, of course, very important, and certainly not merely an opportunistic gesture. Then the pope went to the Pavillon Maxaquene, a multifunctional stadium in Maputo, for an interreligious meeting with about 6,000 young people, which involved groups of Catholics, Christians of other faiths, Muslims and Hindus talking, singing and dancing. Around 11 a.m. the pope was received with the cry “Reconciliation!” Francis gave a speech in which he strongly reiterated what he had said to the authorities and civic leaders, but now 51 involving the different religions of the Nation, for which “we are all necessary. Our differences are necessary. Together, you are the beating heart of this people and all of you have a fundamental role to play in one great creative project: to write a new page of history, a page full of hope, peace and reconciliation.” One of the things Francis often does when he speaks to young people is to elaborate his own experience, getting them to listen to and value those who have gone before them. He used the image of the local music: “In the marrabenta, the traditional music of Mozambique, you incorporated other modern rhythms, and so the pandza was born. What you listened to, what you saw your parents and grandparents singing and dancing to, you took and made your own.” The pope also indicated two models of courage and hope, two famous Mozambican athletes: the Benfica footballer, Eusébio da Silva, and the Olympic athletics champion, Maria Mutola, who, despite the difficulties in life, have never abandoned their dreams.3

3.The first was known as “the Black Panther”: with his 41 goals for Portugal in 64 games. He is in the top ten of the best players of the 20th century. Maria de Lurdes Mutola was the first Mozambican athlete to have won an Olympic gold medal. ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

‘Participants in the historical processes with a radical return to Nazareth’ In the afternoon, around 3 o’clock, the pope had a private meeting in the apostolic nunciature with the community of Xai-Xai, a port city overlooking the Indian Ocean, 224 km north of Maputo, with which he had started a twinning between dioceses at the time he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.4 At 4 p.m. Francis went to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which was consecrated in 1944. The art deco style building is inspired in its forms by the church of Nossa Senhora de Fátima in Lisbon. Here the pope had a meeting with the bishops, priests, religious, seminarians and animators. After presentations of testimonies, he gave a speech.5 52 The starting point was the encounter of the Church’s mission with reality. Francis said: “Whether we like it or not, we are called to face reality as it is. Times change and we need to realize that often we do not know how to find our place in new situations and scenarios” We must abandon the attitudes that lead us to look only to the past: “We keep dreaming about the ‘leeks of Egypt’ (Num 11:5), forgetting that the promised land is before us, not behind us, and in our lament for times past, we are turning to stone, becoming ‘mummified’ … Instead of proclaiming Good News, we announce a dreary message that attracts no one and sets no one’s heart afire.” We must be “participants in the historical processes with our cooperation,” and not “spectators of a sterile stagnation of the Church.” A criterion for mission was found by the pope in the two different Annunciations that preceded the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. In both of them there is an angel; however, the first one takes place in the most important city, Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies. The angel addresses a man, and not just a man

4. In February 2000, the flood that hit Mozambique caused the Limpopo river to overflow and left the city of Xai-Xai submerged by about 3 meters of water and mud. Today it is a tourist destination. 5.The Confêrencia Episcopal de Moçambique brings together the bishops of the three metropolitan archdioceses and nine suffragan dioceses, in which the Church in the country is divided. FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS but a priest. Instead, “the announcement of the Incarnation takes place in Galilee, the most remote and conflicted of the regions, in a small village – Nazareth – in a house and not in the synagogue or in a sacred place; it is addressed to a mere person, and, moreover, to a woman.” The pope asks himself, “What has changed?” The answer is, “Everything. And, in this change, we find our deepest identity.” Then he said: “We have to get out of the important and solemn places; we have to go back to the places where we were called, where it was clear that the initiative and the power belonged to God.” How? The pope highlighted a strong contrast between a formalistic and rigidly ritualistic approach and “the immeasurable greatness of the gift that has been given to us through ministry,” which places the priest “among the smallest 53 of men.” Hence the appeal: “Returning to Nazareth can be the way to face the identity crisis, to renew ourselves as pastors- disciples-missionaries.” The contrast is established the icon of Mary, “a simple girl in her house,” as opposed to “the whole structure of the temple and Jerusalem.” This contrast has deep Ignatian roots. It was Saint Ignatius himself in his Spiritual Exercises (No. 103) who illustrated it in his meditation on the Incarnation, contrasting “the great curved extension of the world, where so many and so different peoples live” with “the house and rooms of our Lady in Nazareth, in the province of Galilee.” The key word – which the pope repeated almost like a mantra, beyond the prepared text – is “compassion.” The capacity for compassion is the characteristic of the shepherd. Without compassion there is only a useless ritualistic formalism. At 5:15 p.m. Francis went for a private visit to “Casa Matteo 25,” an initiative of the apostolic nunciature in Mozambique, in collaboration with the local Church and about 20 religious congregations, to assist young people and street children with meals and health services. Back in the nunciature, he met privately with a group of 24 Jesuits, 20 from Mozambique, 3 from Zimbabwe and one from Portugal.6

6.https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/the-sovereignty-of-the-people-of- god-the-pontiff-meets-the-jesuits-of-mozambique-and-madagascar/ ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

‘All part of one trunk’ On Friday the 6th, after leaving the nunciature, Francis went to the Zimpeto Hospital, located on the outskirts of the capital. Opened in June, 2018, it covers an area of over 1,300 square meters. It assists over 2,000 patients and hosts, among other things, the Dream (Disease Relief through Excellent and Advanced Means) Center for people with HIV/AIDS. The pioneering programme – now widespread in various countries – was launched in 2002 by the Community of Sant’Egidio. At the entrance to the Dream Center, the pope unveiled a commemorative plaque and delivered a greeting. Here he was given a crozier made of wood recovered from the devastation 54 caused by Cyclone Idai in Beira. Francis took inspiration from local art to launch a message of unity and mutual care: “As the sculptures of makonde art teach – the so-called ujamaa (“extended family,” in Swahili, or “tree of life”) with various figures clinging to each other in which unity and solidarity prevail over the individual – we must realize that we are, all, part of the same trunk.” The pope then went to the Zimpeto National Stadium. Built for the 10th Pan-African Games in September 2011, it has a capacity of 42,000 spectators. Here at 10 a.m. the pope celebrated Mass “for the Progress of Peoples.” There were about 60,000 faithful present. Francis gave his homily recalling the fundamental relationship with reality that overcomes all abstract idealism: “Jesus is not an idealist who ignores reality,” he said. The history of Mozambique also speaks of struggles between brothers: “Many of you can still tell first-hand stories of violence, hatred and discord. It is difficult to speak of reconciliation when the wounds caused by so many years of discord are still open.” But it is certain that “no family, no group of neighbors, no ethnic group and much less a country has a future, if the engine that unites them, gathers them and covers the differences is revenge and hatred.” So, the pope said, “if Jesus becomes the arbiter between the conflicting emotions of our hearts, between the complex decisions of our country, then Mozambique has a future of hope ensured.” FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS

Madagascar: the traits of the ‘soul of the people’ At the end of the Mass Francis went to Maputo airport, from where – after greetings and an official farewell – he took off for Madagascar. The papal plane, after a two hour flight, landed around 4 p.m. in Antananarivo, the capital of the country. The pope was welcomed by the president of the republic and his wife at the foot of the front gangway of the plane. Two children in traditional dress offered him flowers. There were about 300 faithful present. From here the pontiff went to the apostolic nunciature. His first engagement in Madagascar, the following day, was a courtesy visit to President Andry Rajoelina, at the Iavoloha Presidential Palace built in 1975. At the end of the visit, the president and his wife accompanied the pope to the nearby Ceremony Building for a meeting with the authorities, 55 representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps. After the president’s greeting, Francis gave a speech recalling the preamble of the Constitution of the Republic, in which one of the fundamental values of Malagasy culture is set out: “the Fihavanana, evokes the spirit of sharing, mutual aid and solidarity, and also includes the importance of family ties, friendship and goodwill between people and toward nature. In this way,” continued the pope, “the ‘soul’ of your people is revealed and those particular traits that distinguish it, constitute it and allow it to withstand with courage and self-sacrifice the many adversities and difficulties that it has to face daily.” Politics, in fact, “is a way to build citizenship.” Francis then recalled that the country is rich in “plant and animal biodiversity, and this wealth is particularly threatened by excessive deforestation, to the benefit of a few; its degradation compromises the future of the country and our common home.” He cited the threat of “fires, poaching, uncontrolled logging,” as well as smuggling and illegal exports. The drama is that “for the populations affected, many of these activities that damage the environment are those that ensure their survival for the time being.” To solve the problem it is therefore important to create activities that generate income and help people out of poverty, and that are at the same time respectful of the environment: “There can be no real ecological ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

approach or concrete action to protect the environment without social justice, which guarantees the right to the common use of the goods of the earth to current generations, and also to future generations.” The pontiff’s approach is aimed at the roots of the problem, given that the environmental and social crises are not separate, but two sides of the same coin. The link between ecology and justice is a cornerstone of Francis’ social teaching. The third key point is the consideration that opening up to the international community must never mean a loss of the cultural heritage of the people. The pope said: “Economic globalization, whose limits are increasingly evident, should not lead to cultural homogenization.” These statements show what is the true “sovereignty” of a nation. The help provided by the international 56 community to the various countries is a duty, but – added the pope – it must not be the only guarantee of development: “it will be the people themselves who will progressively take charge themselves, becoming the creators of their own destiny. That is why we must pay particular attention and respect to local civil society, to the local people.” At the end of the meeting, together with the Malagasy president, Pope Francis symbolically planted a baobab tree at the entrance to the Ceremony Building.

‘Unleash the ferment of the gospel’ At 10:45 a.m. the pope went to the monastery of the discalced Carmelites, who arrived in Antananarivo in 1927. There he met about 100 contemplative nuns from different monasteries in the country, while outside there were about 70 novices. With them he celebrated the Divine Office and gave a spontaneous homily, delivering the text prepared for private reading. Addressing the nuns, Francis wanted to offer his reflection “from the heart,” inviting them to courage, but also to a deep spiritual discernment, what St. Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises requires of people who are already progressing in the spiritual life, knowing that the temptations in this condition are more subtle and the devil creeps in with seemingly good thoughts. In this speech, which says a great deal about his spirituality, the pontiff spoke of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, telling of FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS her experience in a lively way, and commenting “I know that all of you, cloistered nuns, have come to be close to the Lord, to seek the way of perfection; but the way of perfection is found in these small steps on the road of obedience. Little steps of charity and love. Small steps that seem nothing, but are small steps that attract, that ‘enslave’ God, small threads that ‘imprison’ God. This was what the young woman thought of: the threads with which she imprisoned God,the chords, chords of love, which are the little acts of charity, small, very small, because our little soul cannot do great things.” In the end, the pope said, pointing to himself: “Therese now accompanies an old man. And I want to bear witness to this, I want to bear witness because she accompanies me, in every step she accompanies me. She taught me how to walk. Sometimes 57 I’m a little neurotic and send her away ... Sometimes I listen to her; sometimes the pains don’t make me listen to her well... But she’s a loyal friend. That’s why I didn’t want to talk to you about theories, I wanted to talk to you about my experience with a saint, and tell you what a saint can do and what is the way to become a saint. Come on! Be brave!” Before leaving the discalced Carmelite monastery, the pope blessed the altar of the cathedral of Morondava, which was placed in the adjacent choir. Then he met the surviving members of a family who had been the victims of the measles epidemic, which has hit Madagascar hard in recent months. In the afternoon Francis went to the cathedral of Andohalo, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. Work on the Gothic building commenced in 1873 and it was consecrated on December 17, 1890. The stone facade dominates the city and, surmounted by the statue of the Virgin, it is characterized by a central rose window, two side bell-towers and, inside, by the bright colors of the windows and mosaics. Here the meeting with the bishops of Madagascar took place.7 “The sower knows his land,” said the pope, “he touches it, feels it and prepares it so that it can give the best of itself. We

7.The Episcopal Conference of Madagascar brings together the bishops of the 5 metropolitan archdioceses and the 17 suffragan dioceses of the country. ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

bishops, in the image of the Sower, are called to sow the seeds of faith and hope on this land. To this end, we must develop that ‘nose’ which allows us to know it better and also to discover what compromises, hampers or damages the seed.” The pontiff therefore stated that religion cannot be relegated “to the secret intimacy of people, without any influence on social and national life, without worrying about the health of the institutions of civil society.” The “prophetic dimension linked to the mission of the Church requires, everywhere and always, a discernment that is generally not easy,” but that must “release the ferment of the Gospel in view of a fruitful collaboration with civil society in the search for the common good.” Here emerges another key point of the 58 pontiff’s teaching, which he has often repeated in his travels: the Gospel is a seed for the good of society and invites (and never excludes) the contribution of all. But there is a distinctive sign of this discernment, which has nothing to do with complacency, collateralism or mere display of religious symbols. It is the “concern for all forms of poverty.” Finally, the pope called on the pastors never to seek uniformity, which “is not life; life is varied, everyone has his or her own way of being, their own way of growing up, their own way of being a person. Uniformity is not a Christian way.” Before leaving the cathedral, the archbishop of Antananarivo introduced Pope Francis to three local Christian religious leaders: an Anglican, a Lutheran and the leader of the “Reformed Protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar,” and they exchanged gifts. After meeting the bishops, the pope went to the chapel in front of the cathedral to visit the tomb of the blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo, where he stopped in silent prayer.8 At 5:15 p.m. Francis went to the diocesan grounds of Soamandrakizay, where he met with about 100,000 young people, a meeting which alternated between dances, songs and testimony. Despite the strong cold wind the atmosphere was

8.The Blessed was born in Antananarivo in 1848, in one of the most powerful families in the country. When French Jesuit missionaries arrived in Madagascar in 1861, the young woman enrolled in the missionary school and was baptized in 1863. She is known for her commitment to the needy and lepers. FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS very warm and enthusiastic. Here the pope gave a speech to the young people, presenting them as always seeking: “That is why I like to see each young person as one who seeks. Everyone expresses it in different ways, but after all you are always looking for that happiness that no one can take away from us.” It is this positive tension that brings hope to society: “Through you, the future enters Madagascar and the Church. It is the Lord who invites you to be the builders of the future.” And he concluded: “I have always been struck by the strength of Mary’s ‘yes’ as a young woman. The determination of those words she spoke to the angel: ‘let it be done to me according to your word.’ It was not a ‘yes’ just to say, ‘Well, let’s see what happens.’ Mary did not know the expression: ‘Let’s see what happens.’ She said ‘yes,’ no messing with words at all.” In the 59 end, after they sang Our Father and a spoken prayer to the Virgin, the pope came down among the young people, who surrounded him, making a great celebration.

‘A God who lives among his people’ On Sunday, September 8, Francis went to the diocesan grounds of Soamandrakizay, where he celebrated Mass at 10 a.m. On the altar were the relics of Blessed Rafael Luis Rafiringa (1856-1919), a Lasallian, educator, catechist and peacemaker, who guided the fate of the local Church in the difficult period of the late 19th century. He was beatified on June 7, 2009, in Antananarivo. Here the pope gave a speech. He used harsh words about those who want to “identify the Kingdom of Heaven with their own personal interests or with the attachment to some ideology that ends up exploiting the name of God or religion to justify acts of violence, segregation and even murder, exile, terrorism and marginalization.” At the end of the Mass, the pope prayed the Angelus. At 3:10 p.m. he visited Akamasoa (“Good Friends”) City, founded in 1989 by Pedro Opeka, an Argentinean priest from the Congregation for the Mission, who arrived in Madagascar in 1970. He has known the pope for a long time, having been his student in Argentina. Near the rubbish dump of the capital city, Antananarivo, Opeka opened a project to bring ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

dignity, offering a small salary to anyone who wanted to work in the granite quarry next to the landfill, the Mahatazana. Currently, about 25,000 people benefit from this project and live in the surrounding villages; 30,000 poor people arrive in Akamasoa each year to receive specific aid, and 14,000 children access an education. The pope was welcomed at the main entrance by Fr. Opeka, who accompanied him to the Manantenasoa auditorium, where about 8,000 young people were gathered, who expressed their joy in a truly thunderous way with songs and applause. The pope, visibly moved and enthusiastic about the warmth of the welcome, replied: “Seeing your radiant faces, I give thanks to the Lord who has listened to the cry of the poor.” 60 The pontiff continued “Akamasoa is the expression of the presence of God in the midst of his poor people; not a sporadic, occasional presence: it is the presence of a God who has decided to live and remain always in the midst of his people.” To the denunciation made with force: “poverty is not a fatality,” followed the affirmation that “God’s dream is not only personal progress, but above all community progress; that there is no worse slavery – as Fr. Pedro reminded us – to live each one only for himself.” Immediately after the meeting with the youth, at 3:50 p.m. Francis went to the Mahatazana site, where about 700 people work. Near the construction site there is a monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, inaugurated on May 1, 2008. The pope said a prayer for the workers, repeating several times the word “dignity”: “Let our families know,” he prayed “that the joy of earning bread is perfect when this bread is shared. May our children not be forced to work, may they go to school and continue their studies, and may their teachers devote time to this task, without needing other activities for daily subsistence.” Then Francis went to the Collège de Saint Michel, founded in 1888 by French Jesuit missionaries. It is called Saint-Michel in tribute to Fr. Michel Lanusse, who had the idea of the school. Today it is an institution known for the high quality of FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS its teaching to its 3,700 students. On the sports field of the institute there was a meeting with priests, religious and seminarians. The pope gave a speech in which he spoke of the 72 disciples who were returning from the mission. Even the “problems,” he said, are signs of a “living” Church, because it is close to the people. How can it be? Defeating evil and winning means feeding a child in the name of Jesus, or providing work for a family man, or saving a mother from despair. And alongside this, the identity that Francis attributes to consecrated persons is that of being “able to recognize and indicate the presence of God wherever they may be.” For this reason, the invitation is not to “fall into the temptation to spend hours talking about the ‘successes’ or ‘failures,’ the ‘usefulness’ of our actions or 61 the ‘influence’ we can have, discussions that end up occupying the first place and the center of all our attention. And this leads us – not infrequently – to dream of apostolic programs that are ever larger, meticulous and well-designed... but typical of defeated generals and that in the end deny our history – like that of your people – which is glorious as a history of sacrifices, of hope, of daily struggle, of life consumed in service and in the perseverance of hard work.” In the chapel of the Collège de Saint Michel the pope met in private with a large group of Jesuits.

Mauritius: a dialogue that has marked the history of the people On Monday 9, at 7.30 a.m., Francis flew to Port Louis, capital of Mauritius. He was welcomed by the prime minister with his wife and Card. Maurice Piat at the foot of the front gangway of the plane. Two children in traditional dress offered him flowers. About 270 guests were present. From here the pope went to the monument of Mary, Queen of Peace, inaugurated on August 15, 1940, in thanksgiving for the fact that the country had been preserved from bombing during the First World War. Built in the form of ascending green terraces, interspersed with flowers of many colors, it dominates the city. On the top there is an altar with a statue of the Madonna in Carrara marble, three meters high. The Virgin holds the globe in her hands. The monument is a destination ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

for diocesan pilgrimages. The park area is particularly large and can accommodate about 100,000 people. Here the pope celebrated Mass on the day when Blessed Jacques-Désiré Laval9 is remembered. His relics were displayed on the altar. It should be noted that Mauritius is a complex entity. The country was colonized in turn by the Dutch, French and then, in 1810, during the Napoleonic wars, by the English, who favored the immigration of labor from Africa, but especially from India, from which comes the composite structure of the Mauritian population. In the 20th century it was the descendants of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent who led the struggle for independence, which was achieved in 1968. The people speak English, French, Creole and Hindi. The main ethnic 62 groups are Indo-Pakistani (68 percent), Creole (27 percent), Chinese (3 percent) and French. In the country, Christians (28 percent), Hindus (48.5 percent), Muslims (17.5 percent) and Buddhists coexist harmoniously. The president, addressing the pope, defined Mauritius as “a meeting place of civilizations, but also of spiritualities.” It is therefore understandable why Francis gave a homily presenting Laval as the “apostle of Mauritian unity,” as the Blessed is seen. The pope recalled that he learned the language of the newly freed slaves and proclaimed the Gospel to them in a simple way, creating small Christian communities in many neighborhoods, towns and villages, and trusting the poorest and most discarded. Once again Francis insisted on evangelical witness rather than on the sociology of numbers. The beginnings of the Church in Mauritius and the nature of its origin are an example for the universal Church. Although with considerable differences, his approach is reminiscent of what Francis shared with the Christian community in the United Arab Emirates, where, because of migration, there is a Church that unites very different ethnic groups and languages.

9.Jacques-Désiré Laval was born in France in 1803. Having arrived as a missionary on the island of Mauritius in 1841, he enthusiastically dedicated himself to the evangelization of people freed from slavery. He founded numerous hospitals, schools and chapels for spiritual formation and promoted the social integration of the population. FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS

After the Mass, Francis had lunch in the bishop’s residence with the five bishops of the Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean (Cedoi).10 Before leaving, the pope greeted the Anglican Bishop Ian Ernest, who was recently appointed representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome. At 4 p.m. the pontiff went to the recently built sanctuary of Père Laval, which dates back to 2014, the year in which the Mauritian Church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the death of the Blessed. The building can accommodate 250 people. The tomb of Laval is surmounted by a glass case, which houses a wax representation and is placed below a large crucifix. On his way out, the pope greeted 12 sick people and 20 family members of drug addicts who were welcomed into a reception center run by a permanent deacon and his wife. 63 At 4.40 p.m. Francis headed for Réduit, the Presidential Palace, also known as State House. It is also the residence of the current interim president of the country, Barlen Vyapoory. Here Francis made a courtesy visit to the president. He then met Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth in the Blue Hall of the Palace. At the end, interim President Vyapoory joined Pope Francis and Prime Minister Jugnauth, and together they went to the Grand Hall to meet with authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps. Here the pope gave his speech. “I am pleased,” he said, “to be able to meet your people, characterized not only by a multifaceted cultural, ethnic and religious face, but above all by the beauty that comes from your ability to recognize, respect and harmonize differences in the light of a common project. This is the whole history of your people, who were born with the arrival of migrants from different horizons and continents, bringing their traditions, their culture and their religion, and who have learned, little by little, to enrich themselves with the differences of others and to find a way of living together, trying to build a fraternity attentive to the common good.”

10.The Episcopal Conférence de l’Océan Indien brings together the bishops of the diocese of Port Saint-Louis and the apostolic vicariate of Rodrigues (Mauritius), the diocese of Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion, the diocese of Port- Victoria (Seychelles Islands) and the apostolic vicariate of the Comoros Islands (with jurisdiction over Mayotte). ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

The people of Mauritius in their genetic code “preserve the memory of those migratory movements that brought your ancestors to this island and that also led them to open themselves to differences to integrate and promote them for the benefit of all.” Francis therefore encouraged the people to “be faithful to your roots, to accept the challenge of welcoming and protecting the migrants who come here today to find work and, for many of them, better living conditions for their families.” The encouragement is also aimed at “not yielding to the temptation of an idolatrous economic model that needs to sacrifice human lives on the altar of speculation and mere profitability, which takes into account only the immediate benefit at the expense of the protection of the poorest, the environment and 64 its resources. In particular, integral ecological conversion aims not only to avoid natural disasters, but also to promote a change in the way we live, so that economic growth can truly benefit everyone.” In this sense, the pontiff concluded his speech by reaffirming “the willingness of the Catholics of Mauritius to continue to participate in this fruitful dialogue that has so strongly marked the history of your people.”

* * *

From Réduit Palace, the pontiff transferred to the airport of Port Louis. Then, after the farewell ceremony, he left for Antananarivo. The following day, September 10, Francis went back to the airport, to leave again, after his official farewell, for Rome, where he landed around 6 p.m. Thus ended the 31st international apostolic journey of Francis. As he pointed out in the press conference on the plane during the return flight, the real protagonist of this visit was the people. In part, it is a people with deep roots in time and space and ancient traditions, although, as in the case of Mozambique, divided by struggles between brothers; and in part, as in Mauritius, it is a people that was formed recently by people of different ethnic groups, languages and religions, but that has been able to build a solid unity and that is accustomed to the dialogue of differences. FRANCIS IN MOZAMBIQUE, MADAGASCAR AND MAURITIUS

For the people of the three countries Francis was able to deploy a vision of the Church, a vision of civil society and its challenges – in particular what binds the maintenance of the common home and social justice – and a commitment to dialogue between religions to reaffirm and promote universal brotherhood.

65 Fears and Shadows in Troubling Times

Giandomenico Mucci, SJ

When solid foundations and ideal ends are lacking, when religious values are confused with the tranquillizers of life and the sublimation of desires, when the fragmentation of knowledge without a higher Bildung leads to disorientation 66 in people and society that jeopardizes the very possibility of establishing the most basic criteria of the good and the just, humanity feels “lost” and prey to “an indefinite anxiety over the immediate tomorrow.”1 The widespread uncertainty over social and political, domestic and international alternatives contributes to the experience of precariousness and impotence. Roughly speaking, this is the ground on which so- called “apocalyptic culture” flourishes: the Antichrist, the end of civilization, a future era of barbarity, the end of the world. There was a taste of this when the new millennium approached, and the easy prophets of doom recklessly forgot what had happened a thousand years earlier to the apocalyptic predictions of their predecessors. Among these ghosts, the most significant is the Antichrist, or Lord of the World, to use the title of the novel by Robert Hugh Benson, which dates back to the early 20th century. The Antichrist, enemy of Christ, is the incarnation of Evil, a sinister, fascinating figure who manages to infect the thought and curiosity

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1.J. Huizinga, The Course of Civilization, Cluny Media, 2018. The original Dutch edition was published in 1935. Fr. Mucci’s work is based on the Italian translation, La crise della civiltà, Turin, Einaudi, 1978, 135. FEARS AND SHADOWS IN TROUBLING TIMES of those who are not at all sensitive to the sacred and the supernatural. In our time, cinema, literature, music and some youth groups show the attraction that the Antichrist knows how to exercise. On this note, reference is often made to the well-known 1970s hit by The Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK. The publication of two different volumes in 2015 rekindled discussion ofthe subject.2 After years of silence, the subject has become fashionable once again.3 It seems the intuition of Johan Huizinga remains valid: “The danger of the irrationalization of culture lies above all in this, that it goes hand in hand and is connected with the maximum development of the technical ability to dominate nature and with the maximum increase in the desire for well-being and earthly satisfaction.”4 67 I have limited myself to mentioning here the renewed interest in the Antichrist as the most conspicuous and popular element of the apocalyptic culture, directly related to Satanism. Actually, I want to focus our attention on another element of the same culture: the end of civilization. It is a subject on which believers and non-believers have written and continue to write. Usually, the formulas “end of civilization” or “end of time” do not allude to the “last times” of biblical thought, but only to the end of a past world or an era: an end expressed with all the characteristics of the so- called “apocalypse” culture. According to Jean Guitton, “we are in an apocalyptic era” and “we are approaching what can be called the end of a time, or a parenthesis that we call time.”5 These are more feelings and sensations than arguments, like those of Stefan Zweig in the beautiful pages of Die Welt von gestern. Without referring to apocalyptic conceptions, some illustrious historians and

2.Cf. M. Rizzi, Anticristo. L’inizio della fine del mondo, Bologna, il Mulino, 2015; M. Vannini, L’ Anticristo. Mito e storia, Milan, Mondadori, 2015. 3.Cf. L. Scaraffia, “Il ritorno dell’Anticristo” in Oss. Rom., July 31, 2015, 4; G. Santambrogio, “E dal buio appare l’Anticristo” in Il Sole 24 Ore, August 2, 2015, 28. 4.J. Huizinga, La crisi della civiltà, op. cit., 135. 5.J. Guitton, Il secolo che verrà, Milan, Bompiani, 1999, 197ff. GIANDOMENICO MUCCI, SJ

thinkers have dealt specifically with the true or presumed end of Western civilization. Let us look, in broad terms, at the thought of three of them.

Oswald Spengler Mention must be made of Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) and 6 his work, The Decline of the West, published in 1918. The writer predicted the end of Western civilization as imminent in the crisis of its own fundamental values: the crisis of reason, the advent of democracy and socialism, the political power of capitalism and the victory of money over spirit, the “overthrow of all values” prophesied by Nietzsche. This essentially pessimistic conception was rejected by the two great philosophies that then held sway, 68 both of which believed in progress as the fundamental law of history. Idealism affirmed that progress is guaranteed by the absolute force of the Spirit which acts in history. Positivism saw the guarantee of progress in the law of evolution that dominates Nature and promotes life. However, Spengler did not see in human history either Spirit or Nature, but only civilizations and cultures that are born, decay and die. He considered each civilization an unrepeatable, distinct historical event, which does not tolerate modifications or additions when it is exhausted inwardly, that is, when the factors that supported it decay: then the diagnosis of its decline is certain. Spengler replaced Spirit and Nature with the need for an unnamed and fatal destiny. Commenting on the Spenglerian historical conception, Nicola Abbagnano emphasized the fact that it developed during a time that witnessed the first post world-war period, the Bolshevik revolution, the rising American hegemony, the revolutions of the colonies of European countries. The Italian philosopher noted how, given this context, Spengler had had good reasons for his theory. However, that context has changed in more recent decades, yet Spengler’s hypothesis on the dubious stability of Western civilization has remained valid in the face of the crisis of classical

6.On this work see G. Mucci, “A 100 anni da ‘Il tramonto dell’Occidente’” in Civ. Catt. 2018 II 77-82. FEARS AND SHADOWS IN TROUBLING TIMES rationality and historicism and in the light of the consequences of the technological revolution: a radical crisis, based on the inability of the West to respond to the exhaustion of secularized ideologies and of politics as a project for a new civilization. Abbagnano’s conclusion was, however, positive with respect to Spengler’s ideas: “Today we become increasingly aware that the subject of civilization is the human person. While we are not the creators of our own destiny, we are its main factor, giving it the same watchful indeterminacy, which is active and responsible for our freedom. The sunset can always appear on the horizon of human life; it is up to us to foresee it and to provide for its overcoming.”7

Benedetto Croce 69 The figure of Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) is still identified by many with the thesis he expressed in Philosophy of the Practical, published in 1908, according to which human history is a continuous “cosmic progress,” a continuous growth in itself, a dialectical and ascending evolution. In the 1940s, when the tragedy of the Second World War ended with the threat of Soviet totalitarianism looming over Europe, Croce was still aware of a sense of mystery, reduced to “a moment that recurs incessantly and perpetually in the process of spirit and thought,”8 a “dark and luminous ghost at the same time,” the “poor party of mental weakness that does not free itself from traditional and vulgar methods,” “laziness and mental lightness and thirst for the impossible,”9 a pure remnant of the “trajectories of romanticism and its decadent perversions.”10 What is right permeates histor. In 1946, Benedetto Croce wrote two essays that showed a weakening in his historicist faith in progress guaranteed by the Spirit and in history as rationality, according to the grandiose

7.N. Abbagnano, “Situazione Seria, ma non disperata” in il Giornale, June 3, 1990, 5. 8.B. Croce, “L’ombra del mistero” in Id., Il carattere della filosofia moderna, Bari, Laterza, 19633, 25. The first edition dates back to 1941. 9.Ibid., 27ff. 10.Ibid., 36. GIANDOMENICO MUCCI, SJ

Hegelian schema. Toward the end of his life, Croce seems to admit that the civilization of peoples can become unstable and problematic, exposed to degeneration, decadence and sunset. This includes European civilization, too. A telling example of this was the Nazi barbarity in Europe.11 According to Croce, if the apocalypse is a concept that should be counted “among the mythological-metaphysical constructions,”12 and should be treated as such, the Antichrist is a reality, but not in the biblical-theological meaning: it is “a tendency of our soul that, even when it does not make itself felt as active, it is there as if in ambush.”13 “The true Antichrist is found in the disregard for values themselves, or an approach marked by denial, outrage and derision. Values are declared 70 to be empty words, nonsense or, even worse, hypocritical deceptions to trap fools into thinking there is only one reality: lust and personal greed for comfort and pleasure.”14 Opposed to Spengler’s determinism, Croce posited “the conscience, which does not die” and “continues to admonish [humanity] to abandon idolized and impulsively adopted and artificially cultivated bestial appearances, and to restore in itself the simple faith in civilization and humanity.”15

Johan Huizinga The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) has left his mark on the history of European culture, not only as the author of historical works that have often been republished, but also, in a sense, as a philosopher of history. He lived through the turbulent period between the two world wars and he himself, a mild university professor, was a victim of the Nazi persecution. Studies and experience had led him

11.Cf. Id., “La fine della civiltà” in Id., Filosofia e storiografia. Saggi, Bari, Laterza, 19692, 304-306. 12.Id., “Previsioni e apocalissi” in Id., Il carattere della filosofia moderna, op. cit., 204. 13.Id., “L’Anticristo che è in noi” in Id., Filosofia e storiografia. Saggi, op. cit., 313. 14.Ibid., 315. 15.Id., “L’ombra del mistero” op. cit., 37. See G. Bedeschi, “Croce europeista liberale” in Il Sole 24 Ore, August 23, 2015, 26. FEARS AND SHADOWS IN TROUBLING TIMES to formulate a clear and precise diagnosis of the state of European civilization and its need for protection.16 His was a diagnosis made by someone “ready for dialogue and almost open to prophecy.”17 Huizinga was not mourning the “losses of civilization,” from the weakening of morals to the desecration of the landscape, as judged by the followers of Croce (Delio Cantinori and Carlo Antoni, but not Federico Chabod).18 He was certainly fully aware of the breakdown of the civilization that had nourished him: “If we want this civilization to be saved, not to decay into centuries of barbarism, but rather, saving the supreme values that are its legacy, to find the way to reach new steadfastness, it is necessary that the people of today realize exactly how much progress has already been made in the dissolution that threatens them.”19 71 Critical of Spengler,20 opponent of the amoral state, “a festering ulcer in the body of our civilization, a poison that erodes all the fibers of human coexistence,”21 Huizinga was and always professed himself to be optimistic, in the sense that he always opposed any sort of blind determinism and always trusted in the people who, in an evangelical expression, he called homines bonae voluntatis, those historically small people who have “a living need for justice, a sense of order, honesty and freedom, a sense of reasonableness and fidelity and trust.”22 The followers of Croce saw well that the catharsis desired by the Dutch historian opened up to a perspective in a religious key. And, in fact, he placed the possible healing of the West in the 23 love of one’s neighbor: The only progress is a progress in charity.

16.Cf. R. Vacca, “Attualità de ‘La crisi della civiltà’” in Studium 107 (2011) 293-299. 17.L. Villari, “Lo storico Huizinga e l’Europa che muore” in la Repubblica, March 5, 2004, 34. 18.Cf. P. Vian, “Araldo della speranza nella notte della storia” in Oss. Rom. January 30-31, 1995, 3. 19.J. Huizinga, La crisi della civiltà, op. cit., 4. 20.Cf. ibid., 141-145. 21.Id., Lo scempio del mondo, Milan - Rome, Rizzoli, 1948, 123; cf. M. Scaduto, “Lo scempio del mondo” in Civ. Catt. 1949 II 544-550. 22.J. Huizinga, Lo scempio del mondo, op. cit., 131ff. 23.Cf. ibid., 95. GIANDOMENICO MUCCI, SJ

Like Aldous Huxley, who penned this expression, Huizinga had a religious soul, although he did not put his trust in the work of the churches. We need a new spirit. “Will the churches provide this? It is likely that from the persecutions that they suffer today, they will come out strengthened and purified. One can imagine that in a future era the various religious traditions – Latin, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Slav – will meet and interpenetrate on the granitic basis of Christianity, in a religious world that will also embrace Islamic frankness and Eastern depth. But as organizations, churches can only triumph because they have purified the hearts of their followers. It is not by means of precepts and imposition of wills that evil will be defeated.”24 72 An explicit message of hope comes from Romano Guardini (1885-1968). While it does not seem that this German theologian posed the problems surrounding the decline or survival of Western civilization, he did raise the problem of the contemporary person and pessimism resulting from the exhaustion of modernity, offering believers Christian historicism as a defense against the hinted devastations and alienations of history, as well as offering the protection of the “tremendous solitude of faith.”25 Postmodernism, eclectic and uncertain as it is, urges Christians to energetically affirm the hope of a renewed Christian vision of life. An echo of such hope resonates in an exclamation of Pope Francis: “How wonderful is the certainty that each human life is not adrift in the midst of hopeless chaos, in a world ruled by pure chance or endlessly recurring cycles without meaning!”26

24.Id., La crise della civiltà, op. cit., 151. Cf. G. Mucci, “Huizinga and Vatican II” in Id., I cattolici nella temperie del relativismo, Milan, Jaca Book, 2005, 15-32. A singular consonance with Huizinga is to be foundin Italy, in the same years, an author worthy of study: Salvatore Satta (1902-75). The title of his book is: De profundis, Padova, Cedam, 1948. Cf. S. Lener, “Il ‘De profundis’ di Salvatore Satta” in Civ. Catt. 1950 I 69-84. 8 25.Cf. R. Guardini, La fine dell’epoca moderna, Brescia, Morcelliana, 1993 , 108. The original German edition is from 1950. Cf. P. Siena, “Guardini, la filosofia oltre la modernità” in Secolo d’Italia, February 17, 2000, 18. 26.Francis, Encyclical Laudato Si’, No. 65. FEARS AND SHADOWS IN TROUBLING TIMES

What is alive and what is dead Spengler, Croce, Huizinga. Pessimism, optimism, hope. . Closest to our feelings and experience more than half a century later, is the analysis of Huizinga, which was endowed with an extraordinary penetration of modernity and a profound knowledge of its values and weaknesses. So it seems more balanced to talk about a crisis than about the decline of Western civilization. The thinking of the three authors shows two obvious limits. They are Eurocentric thinkers and writers, trained in that narrow Eurocentrism bordered by the Atlantic, the Baltic and the Mediterranean, aficionados of exclusively European philosophy. Huizinga himself did not look, like René Grousset, to the spiritual domain that was once composed of the Byzantine 73 world and the cultural achievements of the Asian East. And, secondly, the Eurocentrism of these people formed in the ancient humanistic and liberal civilization was wounded and corrupted by dictatorships, militarism and wars. The modern world is akin to Babel, as Paul VI said, and it forces people to alternate between despair and hope. In it there are technological and technocratic pride, Promethean, scientific presumption that works to overturn the laws of genetics, , the possibility of demographic cataclysm, the exaltation of productivity as an end in itself and more. But there are also, as Huizinga wrote, many people who are willing to recognize what is good, when it is good, and not at all willing to throw away everything that has proved to be a value.27 “Western civilization is as guilty as any human civilization. It has violated continents and religions. But it possesses a gift that no other civilization knows: that of welcoming, for at least 2,500 years, since the Greek goldsmiths worked for the Scythians, all traditions, all myths, all religions, all or almost all human beings. It understands them or tries to understand them, learns from them, teaches them, and then, very slowly, it shapes a new creation, which is both western and eastern.

27.Cf. G. De Rosa, “Notes” in Ricerche di storia sociale e religiosa 29 (1986) 205-208. GIANDOMENICO MUCCI, SJ

How many words have we absorbed! How many images we have admired! How many people have become ‘Roman!’ This gift is so great and incalculable that it is perhaps worth making sacrifices, pro aris et focis, for the right to walk and dream in front of the cathedral of Chartres, on the great law of the University of Cambridge, by the columns of the Palace in Granada.”28 The civilization that we have known is fading and, through its crises, it transforms, but without being able to die. As the pope says, in the light of the Christian faith, there is no pure chance, there will be no chaos.29

28.P. Citati, “I terroristi e la fine dell’Europa” in la Repubblica, March 31, 2004, 1 and 40ff. 29.Cf. footnote 26. In Memory of Fr. Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ (1937-2019)

La Civiltà Cattolica

Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ died September 24, 2019, around dawn, in the infirmary of the International Jesuit Houses in Rome, which is located at the “San Pietro Canisio” Residence. His last few weeks had been painful, but lived with a sincere willingness to accept God’s will. 75 Fantuzzi was born on February 15, 1937, in Mantua. Aged 17, he entered the novitiate of the Roman Province of the Society of Jesus, in Fiesole. During his formation, he spent some time teaching – doing the so-called “magisterium” – at the College of Livorno and at the Massimo Institute in Rome, demonstrating his interest and talents in the humanities, particularly in art history and modern cinematography. After resuming his theological studies, he was ordained priest in 1969, in Cassone, the small town he so loved, where his mother lived, on the Verona shore of Lake Garda, on the slopes of Mount Baldo. After a brief period of parish ministry in Galloro, near Ariccia, in 1972 he completed the last stage of Jesuit formation, the so-called “Third Year of Probation” in Paris. While there he had the opportunity to follow a course at the Sorbonne of the famous film semiologist Christian Metz. The intelligence of the young priest and the clear style of his writing attracted the attention of Fr. Roberto Tucci, who was about to finish his service as director of La Civiltà Cattolica and favored his inclusion in the group of Jesuits dedicated to the journal.

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He arrived in Rome in 1973. Virgilio was admitted to his final vows in the Society of Jesus in 1975, and pronounced them in the chapel of the Civiltà Cattolica, in the presence of the Superior General, Fr. Pedro Arrupe. Since then Fr. Fantuzzi has always remained in the community of Civiltà Cattolica, until a year ago when ill-health forced him to move to the infirmary; but even there he continued to work and write faithfully for the journal as long as he had the ability to do so. His last important article, published in February of this year, written with much commitment and participation, was dedicated to the memory of Bernardo Bertolucci, whom he personally knew.1 Forty-six years of uninterrupted work! Those who consult the indexes of La Civiltà Cattolica will find over 76 650 pieces penned by him, including articles, notes, reviews, especially on cinema, but also on other topics dear to him, such as the different arts, painting, music and theater. In Virgilio’s youth, many authoritative Jesuits were involved in cinema in Italy (for example, Taddei, Arpa, Baragli, Bini, Bruno, Covi, Casolaro, Guidubaldi, Cappelletto, etc.). Nonetheless, he was able to find his own way, which, beyond his methodologically attentive reading of the works, was to enter into dialogue with the authors to discover with them the hidden dimensions of reality and life, to bring out the deepest questions and answers. When it was possible, in fact, Virgilio sought a personal encounter with the great directors, who appreciated the sharpness and sincerity of his approach and honored him with their confidences, and sometimes with true friendship. This is what happened with Rossellini, Fellini, Pasolini, Olmi, Bertolucci and others, such as Paolo Benvenuti, Bellocchio, the Taviani brothers. Not by chance are these the authors to whom he has devoted most attention, time and many of his most in- depth articles, which were collected in volumes such as Cinema sacro e profano, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Il vero Fellini, Paolo Benvenuti etc. The presentation of the last of these – Luce in sala – on

1.Cf. V. Fantuzzi, “Bernardo Bertolucci: un ricordo” in Civ. Catt. 2019 I 277-291. IN MEMORY OF FR. VIRGILIO FANTUZZI, SJ (1937-2019)

March 10, 2018, in the headquarters of La Civiltà Cattolica was a beautiful opportunity for his admirers and friends to display their homage and affection for Fr. Fantuzzi.2 As a good Jesuit, Virgilio aimed to “seek and find God in all things,” including through cinema. This had become his lifelong mission. For this reason his attention was not so much directed to the cinema of religious subjects, but rather to the cinema that consciously or subconsciously tried to discover the signs of the presence of the divine in the “dust” of material poverty and in the “mud” of moral and spiritual poverty. He therefore felt very much in tune with Pope Francis’ attention to the poor and the peripheries, and the difficulties with censorship, which at times his early writings had encountered when dealing with films on delicate or 77 controversial subjects, had disappeared altogether in recent years. To those who asked him if over the decades his human and spiritual research in the world of cinema had changed, he replied: “I did not move by a single millimeter. It is the situation that has changed.” The meaning of his journey had been understood and its full legitimacy, not only cultural but also evangelical, had been recognized. And he was genuinely happy about it. His service to La Civiltà Cattolica was for many years accompanied by teaching at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social Communications of the Pontifical Gregorian University, where his courses on the language of cinema have left a deep mark on his most receptive students. But if the activity of writer and lecturer on cinema remains central in the life of Fr. Fantuzzi, we would also like to recall some other important aspects of his life as a priest and Jesuit. Virgilio had a beautiful, warm voice and a well-cultivated memory. On festive occasions he did not refuse our request to recite by heart and with great expressiveness long passages by Dante or verses by other great poets, including Latin ones. His humanistic culture was not at all ostentatious, but solid and deeply assimilated. The value of his voice was soon

2.Cf. D. Fares, “La ricerca del divino nel cinema” ibid., 2018 IV 83-91. LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA

noticed by the famous Fr. Francesco Pellegrino, of Vatican Radio, who invited him to become a radio commentator on papal celebrations. Virgilio was very honored to be asked, taking this task very seriously and exercising it capably and intelligently, always taking care that his comments were not only relevant in context, but also discreet and measured, so as not to obtrude over the voice of the pope or the other sound elements of the rite, to give them due prominence. Uncommon attention and ability! This introduces us to the broader theme of the papal liturgies and their broadcasts, not only by radio, but also television, which he followed with great attention and participation (in recent days he commented on the broadcasts 78 of the celebrations during the pope’s trip to Mozambique and Madagascar). When Piero Marini was Master of the Pontifical Ceremonies, he consulted Virgilio several times for his expertise in communications. Among his articles there are many that, with competence and clear pastoral wisdom, comment the great television broadcasts, such as the opening and closing of the Holy Door of the Great Jubilee, directed by Olmi, or those concerned with the changing of pontificates. In one of these Virgilio observed: “The papal liturgy has evolved ... to become more accessible to the mentality of the modern person. The role of the radio reporter, the television commentator and the television director cannot fail to take into account the teamwork by the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff to elaborate a proper liturgical ‘control room’ for each individual event, in the spirit of adaptation desired by the Second Vatican Council.”3 Nor can we forget the more directly pastoral dimensions of his life. First of all, we remember his bond with that small town that has always occupied a great place in his life and heart: Cassone, on the bank of Lake Garda, where his beloved mother lived and where he returned faithfully every year for long periods and for the main liturgical feasts, especially since

3.Cf. V. Fantuzzi, “Liturgia papale, radio e televisione” ibid., 2003 III 155- 166. IN MEMORY OF FR. VIRGILIO FANTUZZI, SJ (1937-2019) there was no longer a parish priest permanently resident. At Cassone Virgilio really felt at home, ministering to the simple pastoral life of the village with a deep priestly desire, . For him that was not a place of vacation, but a true place of heart and spirit. And then, although Virgil was not exactly a sportsman, for many years he was a dedicated servant to the world of scouting. For the cubs he was a wise and affectionate “Baloo” (spiritual assistant to the Pack), who knew how to tell the Gospel episodes with great vivacity, and invent creative and active catechesis to make children discover with joy the meaning of the liturgical signs and the sacraments... But even for the older scouts and adults he was the appreciated author of unforgettable scripts of biblical vigils and sacred representations, which went far 79 beyond facile, run-of-the-mill sketches and involved to the full those who organized or participated with him. Many still recall vividly an extraordinary and moving vigil that took place in front of the Basilica of Loreto: it retraced the sacred story from Abraham, and culminated in the raising of a very high cross, from which was actually hung a young “Christ” in flesh and blood ... Virgilio had challenged the scouts to commit the best of their “technical” skills in the service of a high spiritual experience. Fr. Fantuzzi was an exemplary Jesuit: he sincerely loved the spirituality and history of the Society of Jesus. During his last illness it took him several months, with a friend who is a film director, to reread with extreme attention A Pilgrim’s Journey, that is, the autobiography in which Saint Ignatius of Loyola, toward the end of his life, retraces the entire path of his conversion and his spiritual life, guided by the Lord until the founding of the Society of Jesus. The purpose was to prepare the script for a film about Saint Ignatius. Virgilio had to deal for at least 50 years with ideas, proposals and projects for films about Saint Ignatius, which he heard about or which were presented to him, but he had never found anything that seemed convincing to him. Now, during his last year of life, he had taken up the idea again himself with an interlocutor he held in high esteem, one of the directors with whom he had engaged in dialogue for LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA

many years and with whom he had the confidence of being able to achieve the necessary harmony for this arduous project. He dedicated himself to it with passionate commitment and profound spiritual attention. In July, the work was complete. We do not know if this film will ever see the light of day. We sincerely hope so. Anyhow, it is significant that Virgilio was able to retrace the entire road of life together with that Pilgrim – Ignatius of Loyola – in whose footsteps he had learned to follow the Lord Jesus so long ago a Lord who carries the cross and invites us to participate in his mission to reach the goal with him.

80 The Agreement between the Holy See and China: Whence and whither?

Federico Lombardi, SJ

Just over a year ago, on September 22, 2018, an Agreement was signed between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Despite its temporary nature, its importance is such that it has attracted much comment, and it has already become the focus of in-depth study. One recent publication 81 edited by two sinologists at the Catholic University of Milan, Agostino Giovagnoli and Elisa Giunipero, offers useful guidance to understand not only the history and nature of the agreement, but also the conditions for it to produce its fruits for the life for the Catholic Church in the PRC.1 The volume opens with an illuminating preface by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on the new “Roman Approach” to the Chinese question. There is also a contribution from Andrea Riccardi who insists on the decisive role of Pope Francis in the resumption of relations between the Holy See and China after several turbulent decades, to the point of his leading them firmly to this first historic result.

The history of Sino-Vatican relations The longest paper is “The Holy See and China from 1978 to 2018” by Giovagnoli, who analyzes relations from the beginning of the pontificate of Saint John Paul II to the present day. This is a highly detailed study on the subject and on this period.

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 8, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1910.8

1.A. Giovagnoli - E. Giunipero (eds), L’Accordo tra Santa Sede e Cina. I cattolici cinesi tra passato e futuro, Vatican City, Urbaniana University Press, 2019. FEDERICO LOMBARDI, SJ

The author recalls the different phases of the dialogue and its crises (the interruptions in 1981, 2000 and 2010) for which he seeks to identify causes and responsibilities on both sides. Giovagnoli gives an interesting reading of China-related events during the pontificate of Benedict XVI: the institution of the “Commission for the Catholic Church in China”; Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong’s nomination as cardinal, and the role he assumed in the Commission and in the stiffening of its stance; Pope Benedict’s “Letter to the Catholics of China”2 plus a discussion of its interpretation. Unfortunately, the author concludes, “the break that occurred between 2009 and 2010 took a heavier toll than the previous breaks.” 82 Turning to Pope Francis, Giovagnoli points out the novelty of his approach compared to those in earlier negotiations. Previously the approach had been characterized by a quest for an “exchange of advantage” between the two sides. Now, Giovagnoli sees the main content to be in the “commitment to collaboration.” This “means that both sides have renounced proceeding independently: they have not reduced their respective ‘sovereignties’: ‘spiritual’ in the case of the Holy See and ‘temporal’ in the case of the Chinese government. But they have renounced the exercise of them separately” (p. 69). Giovagnoli concludes with this overall evaluation: “The act signed together opened the way to the full manifestation of the universality of the Catholic Church that is inclusive also of Chinese Catholicism and to the definitive insertion of the Chinese Church into Catholic universality ... Other indirect effects of the agreement are the objective reshaping of the role of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the need to reinterpret the affirmation of the ‘independence’ of the Chinese Catholic Church after the role of the pope in the nomination of future bishops has been officially recognized” (pp. 69 ff).

2.http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2007/documents/ hf_ben-xvi_let_20070527_china.html THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND CHINA

The canonical point of view Canon lawyer Bruno Fabio Pighin considers the character of the agreement as a “bilateral” treaty between two subjects of international law: the People’s Republic of China and the Holy See, which is the international legal subject for the entire Catholic Church. They are in an “equal” position, respecting their independent and sovereign laws. However, the agreement has a “special nature, because it concerns persons dependent on both signatories,” in as much as people are at the same time Chinese citizens and among the faithful of the Catholic Church. Specifying its nature, Pighin points out that it is not an “asymmetrical” agreement between a state and a religious confession present within it, but neither is it a concordat, “which 83 would have provided for the complete and definitive treatment of entire matters of national interest and, above all, of the maximum solemnity” (p. 73). Instead, it is a partial agreement (limited to the appointment of bishops) and a temporary agreement, the temporariness of which can be well understood as a point of departure rather than arrival, keeping in mind that other important matters remain open, such as the administrative reorganization of the dioceses and the establishment of a legitimate Episcopal Conference. Finally, Pighin does not fail to outline the open issue of the “clandestine” bishops who were legitimately ordained as Catholic bishops but not recognized by civil authority, proposing some possible solutions through, for example, the reorganization of dioceses. Another canonist, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, discusses three concrete questions: the autonomy of the local episcopate, the territorial organization of the Church in the diocese, the appointment of bishops. In particular, we note his considerations on the reasons why today the ecclesiastical jurisdictions recognized by civil authority do not correspond to those recognized by the Church (p. 138). The reasons that led Chinese authorities to modify the existing jurisdictions in 1946 are different. The first is the FEDERICO LOMBARDI, SJ

reordering of the administrative and civil organization of the country. The author observes: “Irrespective of the fact that these changes were made without the intervention of the Holy See, from a substantive point of view there would be no major objections raised by the Church in such a situation. In fact, the criterion of accommodating as much as possible the territorial limits of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions to those of the civil administration of the country is one of the parameters provided by the Second Vatican Council for the reorganization of dioceses throughout the world. This allows effective contact with the civil authorities while removing the complications for the local Church of having to submit to different norms, procedures and criteria” (pp. 182 ff). 84 Another reason was of an “ecclesiastical nature,” that is, the unification of jurisdictions in which the number of priests has reduced. In any case, in proceeding to the reorganization by common agreement with the civil authorities and to facilitate a “passage” without trauma to new diocesan communities, Bishop Arrieta also suggests the temporary use of “personal jurisdictions.”

‘Sinicization’ and the Chinese point of view In her contribution dedicated to “Sinicization and Religious Politics in Xi Jinping’s China,” Elisa Giunipero addresses the apparent contradiction between the signing of the new agreement and the current strengthening of governmental control over religions in China. Today, from a clearly “political” perspective, the Chinese leadership asks religious communities in China to “adapt to the political situation led by the CCP, respect the laws, become part of the socialist society, participate in the realization of the Chinese dream” (p. 90). It is also clear that there is a willingness to regulate all religious activities in great detail. Why then an agreement with the Holy See now? The author observes that “today the Catholic Church in China, unlike other religious communities, does not present problems linked to ethnic claims or appear to be at risk of terrorist infiltration” (p. 96), and the Catholic communities, THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND CHINA composed and led by Chinese citizens, pursue, even with various activities, the commitment to build a more just and supportive society. In this context, the signing of the agreement is not in conflict with “political sinicization” because it contributes to the same goal of social stability. “The aim is to prevent the nomination of new clandestine bishops, with all its consequences: divisions within Chinese society and potential opposition to the regime… The agreement also aims to overcome the tensions linked to the ordination of illegitimate bishops, that is those recognized only by Beijing, because they create dissent in Catholic communities. While addressing, moreover, the growing problem of the presence in China of new Christian Churches and new religions that more successfully elude 85 government control, the authorities consider particularly opportune the ‘pacification’ of the Catholic communities scattered throughout the country” (p. 97). At the same time, obviously, we should not overlook that Pope Francis was able to welcome the strong desire for the projection of China internationally with a more cordial attitude, less marked by distrust and fear than that of most Western leaders. Another comment on the agreement comes from the Chinese voice of Ren Yanli. A member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, this recognized Chinese scholar of the Second Vatican Council and Sino- Vatican relations joins in with his testimony. Qualifying the agreement as being one of “historic importance,” he notes that “for the first time the Beijing government has recognized the pope’s authority over Catholics in China ... This is a very important novelty, because for many years the independence of the Chinese Catholic Church and the difference between the political and religious implications of that ‘independence’ have been discussed” (p. 153). It is worth noting the author’s appreciation of the last phase of the negotiations: “The negotiations that began in 2014 were characterized by novelties unknown in all of the previous history: they are official negotiations, they took FEDERICO LOMBARDI, SJ

place continuously, through frequent meetings and quite regular reciprocal visits, carried out alternately in Beijing or Rome with fairly fixed members. These negotiations were serious, significant, surprising and have been appreciated and encouraged by all those who have tried to make their own contribution to improving relations between China and the Holy See” (ibid.) Ren Yanli knows the history well and makes observations that lead to reflection. For example, he points out that when there was a wave of “returns” to the ecclesial communion of the “official” Chinese bishops, “the Chinese authorities did nothing to counter it. They assisted, in short, without intervening. In turn, the Holy See has so far never recognized either the 86 Episcopal Conference of the “official Church,” founded in 1980, nor that of the “underground Church,” founded in 1989. In short, the Holy See has also shown great prudence so as not to aggravate existing tensions and to leave the way open for new developments” (p. 155). Chinese and Roman wisdom!

Patriotic Association and the Path of Reconciliation Two studies are dedicated to the Patriotic Catholic Association and its role in the affairs of Sino-Vatican relations. In her study “The Founding of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics in 1957” Wang Meixiu reports extensively the most important official intervention of the Founding Assembly, that is the speech of the then Secretary General of the Council of State, Xi Zhongxun (father of the current President Xi Jinping), which lays the foundations of Chinese communist policy toward the Catholic Church. The scholar also reports significant interventions by Catholic representatives on the relations between the Chinese Church and the Holy See. Rachel Zhu Xiaohong looks at “Bishop Jin Luxian and the Patriotic Catholic Association of Shanghai.” The author was a collaborator of the Jesuit bishop (1916-2013), one of the most important figures of the contemporary Chinese Church. After many years of imprisonment, Jin Luxian became the “official” bishop of Shanghai in 1988, and in 2004 he was recognized by the Holy See. THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND CHINA

The development of the Church of Shanghai under his leadership was remarkable, but the most interesting point of the article is in highlighting his line on the Patriotic Association in the diocese: “Since he had understood that there was no way of eradicating this political organization from the Catholic Church, Bishop Jin encouraged the faithful of the diocese of Shanghai to join it and no longer consider it as a body foreign to the Church” (pp. 131 ff). His 1990 speech to the members of the Association was famous: “You must serve both the Church and your country! If you want to serve only your country and not the Church, you better leave it and join a non-ecclesial patriotic organization” (p. 125). Certainly, not all Chinese bishops had the authority and 87 experience that allowed Bishop Jin that wise pragmatism with which he brought the local Patriotic Association to the service of the diocese. But reconsidering the value of that experience can also help to find ways forward, combining loyalty to the nation and fidelity to the Church. A primary ecclesial purpose of the agreement is union in the Chinese Catholic community. It is interesting that the contribution most directly on this topic – “The Solution to the Conflict between the ‘Open’ and ‘Underground’ Catholic Communities in China” – was written not by a Catholic, but by a pastor from Hong Kong, the Rev. Chan Kim-kwong, the animator of a committee that since 2010 has organized conferences on Christianity and China with the participation of academics, clergymen and government officials. He considers the agreement “one of the most important events of the beginning of the century, at both ecclesiastical and geopolitical levels” (p. 212). But for it to bear the hoped-for fruit, it is necessary that the conflict existing in the Chinese Catholic Church be overcome. To this end, he proposes the adoption of a “dispute settlement method,” which he considers suitable for the tensions between the “underground” and the “open” communities. This author’s analysis helps us to understand the importance not only of the objective data of the problems but also of the FEDERICO LOMBARDI, SJ

attitudes of the parties involved, of the dynamics of conflicts and difficulties in dialogue, and of the weight of negative and hostile reciprocal representations that can lead to rigid opposition. Chan Kim-kwong wonders what a “mediator” or “mediation group” might be, one that is “impartial, trusted by both parties and having no personal conflicts of interest in the process” (p. 224). The Conferences promoted by Chan can also make a contribution in this direction. It is appreciated that people outside the Catholic Church want to collaborate in the solution of a serious problem within the Church, and that they also consider the agreement “a first milestone” for this commitment, seen as a duty for the common good. Finally, those who experience great difficulty in conceiving 88 or accepting an agreement on episcopal appointments in which procedures agreed with the civil authorities for the choice of candidates precede the final choice by the pope will profitably read the article by the historian Roberto Regoli, “Papacy, State, National Churches and Episcopal Appointments in Modern Europe.” “In the long term,” this author concludes, “we must recognize a plurality of possible forms not only of territorial Churches, but also of modalities of the procedures of the episcopal nominations, which are a crucial point for the constitution of the national Churches” (p. 175). It is true that the general tendency of recent centuries goes in the direction of a reduction in the weight of the intervention of the civil authorities, for which the Chinese case appears to be an exception. Yet the overall lesson of history is that even in the field of episcopal appointments “to contingent situations only contingent responses can be given” (ibid.), responding in the most appropriate way to historical circumstances.

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At the end of this roundup of in-depth studies on the agreement, allow me to offer a brief concluding reflection. The perspective of the curators is obviously positive or favorable to the agreement. At the same time it is objective because it is aware of the limits and questions left open. We fully agree. THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND CHINA

The volume does not give wide exposure to opposing points of view, which are not lacking. However, given that they already have space elsewhere to express themselves, it is right to present this series of solid and well-founded arguments to illuminate the path undertaken by the Holy See. The attitude is of a trusting dialogue both in the external context and in that within the Chinese Catholic Church, always keeping clear the concern for the common good and for the specific nature and mission of the Church in the proclamation of the Gospel.3

3.The volume contains additional articles. G. Valente looks at Chinese episcopal ordinations from the 1980s to the present day. Other contributions concern the most pressing problems of the Chinese Catholic communities today. These include J.B. Zhang Shijiang, “From Dialogue to Reconciliation”; Liu Guopeng, “Indigenization of the Catholic Church in China”; V. Martano, “Catholics in China and Their Future.” G. La Bella writes about “Inculturation: the Latin American Experience and Pope Francis.”

CONTENTS 1119

BEATUS POPULUS, CUIUS DOMINUS DEUS EIUS

ISSN: 2207-2446 Emeritus editors Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ ISBN: Giandomenico Mucci, SJ 978-988-79390-2-3 (ebook) GianPaolo Salvini, SJ 978-988-79390-3-0 (kindle)

15 November 2019 Monthly Year 3

1 Jesus and the Pharisees: Beyond Stereotypes Pino Di Luccio, SJ - Massimo Grilli

12 Governing in a Disordered Age Drew Christiansen, SJ – Jeff Steinberg

25 Chernobyl: The Cost of Lies Diego Fares, SJ

39 The Renewal of the John Paul II Theological Institute Carlo Casalone, SJ

49 A Journey of the People Francis in Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius Antonio Spadaro, SJ

66 Fears and Shadows in Troubling Times Giandomenico Mucci, SJ

75 In Memory of Fr. Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ (1937-2019) La Civiltà Cattolica

81 The Agreement between the Holy See and China Whence and whither? Federico Lombardi, SJ LCC 1219: DECEMBER

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For educational and bulk rates, please email [email protected] SUBSCRIBE TODAY AT laciviltacattolica.com Jesus and the Pharisees: Beyond Stereotypes

Pino Di Luccio, SJ - Massimo Grilli

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 1, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.1

1.The proceedings of the conference are available on the Pontifical Biblical Institute’s YouTube channel or through the website of the conference www.jesusandthepharisees.org PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

2.http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20151210_ebraismo-nostra-aetate_ en.html PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

10.A. J. Saldarini, “Pharisees” op. cit., 299. PINO DI LUCCIO, SJ - MASSIMO GRILLI

16.H. Frankemölle, Biblische Handlungsanweisungen: Beispiele pragmatischer Exegese, Mainz, Grünewald, 1983, 155. JESUS AND THE PHARISEES: BEYOND STEREOTYPES

17.R. Rendtorff, Cristiani e Ebrei oggi, Turin, Claudiana, 1999, 126. Governing in a Disordered Age

Drew Christiansen, SJ – Jeff Steinberg

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 2, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.2 GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE limiting strategic weapons. Europeans are actively resistant to the American diktat over the Iran nuclear agreement, as U.S. sanctions have brought Iran to the brink of breaking its commitments under the JCPOA. Even as science releases evidence that the consequences of global warming – in sea-level rise, ice-melt, desertification and erratic weather – grow more severe, chances for concerted international action on climate change grow dimmer as a result of U.S. withdrawal and China’s spread of its carbon-intensive industrialization policies along its new Silk Road, known as the Belt and Road Initiative. With the number of refugees growing and receiving countries like Turkey and Mexico under stress, new non-binding compacts on migrants and refugees signed in Marrakech seem 13 little more than long lists of desiderata.1 Traditional countries of asylum – the U.S., Australia and the EU – have mounted extensive policies to limit the entrance of migrants and even of refugees. The U.S., in particular, has offended against the rights of refugees through policies of family separation and forcing potential asylum seekers to apply for registration in Mexico. With sea levels rising and catastrophic weather events exploding, the number of environmental refugees has been growing.2 At the same time, domestic spending on disaster relief and re-development is on the rise, leaving fewer resources for care of people coming from other lands. Xenophobia is rampant, with ethnic, racial and religious minorities persecuted and meeting discrimination on a wide front: Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar, Shi’ites from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, Muslims and Christians in India, Muslim Uighurs in China. Christians have been forced to flee most of the Middle East, and Jews are persecuted in many lands.

5.Cf. T. G. Weiss, Would the World Be Better Without the UN? Medford (Ma), Polity Press, 2018. DREW CHRISTIANSEN, SJ – JEFF STEINBERG

6.Cf. R. Kagan, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, New York, Knopf, 2018. GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE

11.Cf. D. Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, New York, Basic Books, 1996. GOVERNING IN A DISORDERED AGE

24 Chernobyl: The Cost of Lies

Diego Fares, SJ

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 3, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.3

1.https://www.iaea.org/resources/databases/international-nuclear-and- radiological-event-scale DIEGO FARES, SJ

10.Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Prize winner for literature in 2015, reported her moving testimony in the book Prayer for Chernobyl (Rome, Editions e/o, 2002). CHERNOBYL: THE COST OF LIES

14.J. L. Borges, “Mi entrañable señor Cervantes” in Revista de Artes y Humanidades UNICA, Vol. 6, No. 12, January-April 2005, 221-230. DIEGO FARES, SJ

Carlo Casalone, SJ

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 4, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.4

1.Cf. EG 25. CARLO CASALONE, SJ

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 5, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.5 ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

6.https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/the-sovereignty-of-the-people-of- god-the-pontiff-meets-the-jesuits-of-mozambique-and-madagascar/ ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

7.The Episcopal Conference of Madagascar brings together the bishops of the 5 metropolitan archdioceses and the 17 suffragan dioceses of the country. ANTONIO SPADARO, SJ

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65 Fears and Shadows in Troubling Times

Giandomenico Mucci, SJ

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thinkers have dealt specifically with the true or presumed end of Western civilization. Let us look, in broad terms, at the thought of three of them.

27.Cf. G. De Rosa, “Notes” in Ricerche di storia sociale e religiosa 29 (1986) 205-208. GIANDOMENICO MUCCI, SJ

28.P. Citati, “I terroristi e la fine dell’Europa” in la Repubblica, March 31, 2004, 1 and 40ff. 29.Cf. footnote 26. In Memory of Fr. Virgilio Fantuzzi, SJ (1937-2019)

La Civiltà Cattolica

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 7, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.7 LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA

1.Cf. V. Fantuzzi, “Bernardo Bertolucci: un ricordo” in Civ. Catt. 2019 I 277-291. IN MEMORY OF FR. VIRGILIO FANTUZZI, SJ (1937-2019)

2.Cf. D. Fares, “La ricerca del divino nel cinema” ibid., 2018 IV 83-91. LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA

80 The Agreement between the Holy See and China: Whence and whither?

Federico Lombardi, SJ

La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 11, art. 8, 2019: 10.32009/22072446.1911.8

1.A. Giovagnoli - E. Giunipero (eds), L’Accordo tra Santa Sede e Cina. I cattolici cinesi tra passato e futuro, Vatican City, Urbaniana University Press, 2019. FEDERICO LOMBARDI, SJ

2.http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2007/documents/ hf_ben-xvi_let_20070527_china.html THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND CHINA

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