Hope: the last Francis Testament
From that Monday, we have been reading records in the domestic and world media that illuminate his role in the world. It’s hard to write something we have not read yet unless we try to speak with his words. (I think writer Roman Kukovic wrote on social networks that it would be quite different if the media and leading politicians were so devoted to the Pope and his messages during his life, not now that he left us.)
In a good month, his book will be published here as well Hope (Beletrina), who wrote it with Italian journalist and writer Carl Muss. At first, it was intended that it would be posthumously published, but Francis decided to start the 2025 jubilee year, a year of hope. The book has been published in at least 80 countries and was translated into Slovenian by a translator, publicist and longtime correspondent RTV Slovenia from Rome Janko Petrovec.
“Long enough, my soul resided among people who hate peace.” Thus, Pope Francis begins the second chapter of the book, in which with sensitivity and compassion he speaks of migrants of the whole world. It’s kind of strange shocking to read these words now that he has left. It is as if the last influential messenger of peace left, the protector of all refugees, oppressed, poor, sick, wounded in soul and body. The one who constantly pointed to the word ‘never again’. On Easter Sunday, he called for peace for the last time.
« Emigration and war are two sides of the same medal, » he says in the book. « War is the largest migrants factory. »
« What else have we learned from the treasure trove of my grandfather Giovanni and many other grandfathers and fathers? » He wonders. “We never leave war behind. The war is close to us, more: it is in each of us. Every war is lean in the heart. ”Therefore, God does not exist, he says. “God is peace.”
– It is known that he was a big football fan, though he says he was not a player. “They call like me in Buenos Aires Pata Dura. Which means I have two left legs. Still, I played. ”They often put him in a goal, which is an interesting role, he says: you learn to see reality in the face and face problems. It may not be quite clear to you where the ball will come from, but you still have to intercept.
