Pope Francis in Conversation with the Editors of European Jesuit Journals

Pope Francis in Conversation with the Editors of European Jesuit Journals Antonio Spadaro (bio) May 19, 2022. ‘Welcome! You see? I am in my new gestatorial chair,’ the pope joked, alluding to his being in a wheelchair owing to knee pain. Francis greeted, one-by-one, the editors of the cultural journals of the Society of Jesus in Europe gathered in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace. The group was composed of Fr Stefan Kiechle of Stimmen der Zeit (Germany), Lucienne Bittar of Choisir (Switzerland), Fr Ulf Jonsson of Signum (Sweden), Fr Jaime Tatay of Razón y fe (Spain), Fr José Frazão Correia di Brotéria (Portugal), Fr Paweł Kosiński of Deon (Poland), Fr Arpad Hovarth of A Szív (Hungary), Robert Mesaros of Viera a život (Slovakia), Frances Murphy of Thinking Faith (Great Britain) and Fr Antonio Spadaro of La Civiltà Cattolica (Italy). Three editors were lay people, two of whom were women (of the Swiss and British magazines). The others were Jesuits. The meeting with the pontiff was the start of their annual three-day meeting.1 The superior general of the Society of Jesus, Father Arturo Sosa, was also present. ‘I have not prepared a speech,’ the pope began, ‘so, if you want, ask questions. If we have a dialogue, our meeting will be richer’. Holy Father, thank you for this meeting. What is the meaning and mission of the journals of the Society of Jesus? Do you have a mission for us? It is not easy to give a clear and precise answer. In general, of course, I believe that the mission of a cultural journal is to communicate. I would add, however, to communicate in the most embodied way possible, in a personal way, with the authenticity of a face-to-face engagement. By this I mean that it is not enough to communicate ideas. You have to communicate ideas that come from experience. This for me is very important. Ideas must come from experience. Take the example of heresies, whether they are theological or human, End Page 301 for there are also human heresies. In my view, a heresy arises when the idea is disconnected from human reality. Hence the phrase someone said – Chesterton, if I remember correctly – that ‘heresy is an idea gone mad’. It has gone mad because it has lost its human roots. The Society of Jesus should not be interested in communicating abstract ideas. It is interested, instead, in communicating human experience through ideas and reasoning, through experience. Ideas are to be discussed. Discussion is a good thing, but for me it is not enough. It is human reality that is to be discerned. Discernment is what really counts. The mission of a Jesuit publication cannot be only to discuss, but it must be above all able to help discernment that leads to action. Sometimes, in order to discern, you have to throw a stone! If you throw a stone, the waters are stirred up; everything moves and you can discern. But if instead of throwing a stone, you throw... a mathematical equation, a theorem, then there will be no movement, and therefore no discernment. Notice that this phenomenon of abstract ideas about the human condition is ancient. It characterised, for example, decadent scholasticism, a theology of pure ideas, totally distant from the reality of salvation, which is the encounter with Jesus Christ. That is why a cultural magazine must work on reality, which is always superior to the idea. And if the reality is scandalous, even better. For example, I recently met with the ‘Santa Marta Group’, which works on the scandalous reality of human trafficking. This is something that moves us, touches us and pushes us forward. On the other hand, abstract ideas about the enslavement of people do not move anyone. We have to start from experience and its narration. This is the principle that I wanted to tell you about and that I recommend to you: reality is superior to the idea, and therefore you must deal with ideas and reflections that arise from reality. When you enter the world of ideas alone and move away from reality you end up with...