Pope Francis: The only different voice in the world.
At a time when only one mindset seems to prevail, demolishing every difference and sensitivity with a bulldozer or with cold numbers, there is one man who continues to place the emphasis on people and humanity.
Pope Francis reminds us that we are women and men, that we have rights but also duties towards those who are too young or too old, too sick or too weak to stand on their own two feet.
Today’s dominant mindset accepts a “throwaway culture” which excludes those without a job and those who are not productive. It encourages closed identities and closed horizons. Trying to remind us of our origins, rediscovering the value of “grandparents” as memory bearers is the only way to orient ourselves. Without a memory there is no future and it is only with a generational and social pact that is the exact opposite of the civil wars we see unfolding every day, that we can think about coming out of the current crisis.
But if we want to achieve this, we cannot stand by and passively “wait for a recovery”, waiting on the sidelines (or “becoming pensioners at the age of 20”). We need to invest in young people’s education, in solidarity, in seeing the bigger picture and in courage. “Be daring, be courageous,” because only by thinking in new and different ways can we have any hope of making it.
Mario Calabresi
Editor-in-Chief of Italian newspaper La Stampa
