Pope encourages future priests and all believers to read novels and poetry
Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash
Source: Vatican News
Pope Francis has written a letter to candidates for the priesthood, but also to all Christians, stressing the importance of reading novels and poems "as part of one's path to personal maturity."
A good book opens the mind, stimulates the heart, and prepares us for life, the Pope writes.
In his letter published on Sunday, 4 August, Pope Francis aims to encourage "a renewed love for reading." He wishes to "to propose a radical change of course" in the preparation of candidates for the priesthood. Literature can educate "the hearts and minds of pastors" to "the free and humble exercise of our use of reason" and to "a fruitful recognition of the variety of human languages," thus broadening human sensitivity and leading to greater spiritual openness.
The task of believers, and of priests in particular, is to touch the hearts of contemporary people so that they may be moved and open before the proclamation of the Lord Jesus, and in all this "the contribution that literature and poetry can offer is of incomparable value," the Pope writes.
In his letter, which references CS Lewis, TS Eliot, Borges, Proust among others, Pope Francis first emphasises the beneficial effects of a good book that can "provide an oasis that keeps us from other choices that are less wholesome." When "in moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity," a good book can help us get through difficult moments and "find peace of mind."
People used to dedicate themselves to reading more often "before our present unremitting exposure to social media, mobile phones and other devices", observes the Pope, who points out that in an audiovisual product, although more complete, "the time allowed for 'enriching' the narrative or exploring its significance is usually quite restricted", while reading a book the reader is much more active. A literary work is "a living and ever fruitful text."
Pope Francis said it is positive that "some seminaries have reacted to the obsession with 'screens' and with toxic, superficial and violent fake news, by devoting time and attention to literature," to reading and discussing books, but in general those in formation for ordained ministry may not have enough time to dedicate to literature. Sometimes it is considered "a 'minor art' that need not belong to the education of future priests and their preparation for pastoral ministry."
"Such an approach is unhealthy", says the Pope. It can lead to "serious intellectual and spiritual impoverishment of future priests", who thus do not have privileged access which literature grants to the very heart of human culture and, more specifically, to the heart of every individual." Because, in practice, literature has to do with what each of us desires from life, he writes, and it enters into an intimate relationship with our concrete existence and all its tensions, desires and meanings.
In order to "respond adequately to many people's thirst for God, unless they try to satisfy it with alienating solutions or with a disembodied Jesus", believers and priests, in proclaiming the Gospel, must endeavour so that "everyone be able to encounter Jesus Christ made flesh, made man, made history." One must never lose sight of the "flesh" of Jesus Christ, the Pope recommends, "that flesh made of passions, emotions and feelings, words that challenge and console, hands that touch and heal, looks that liberate and encourage, flesh made of hospitality, forgiveness, indignation, courage, fearlessness; in a word, love."
For this reason, Pope Francis says: "familiarity with literature can make future priests and all pastoral workers all the more sensitive to the full humanity of the Lord Jesus, in which his divinity is wholly present."
Read the full text of the Letter of Pope Francis on the role of literature in formation here:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Print
Email
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
LinkedIn
Pinterest