FLASH
Shkruar nga Fitim Zekthi
Pope Francis was a great defender of migrants, of those who cross great dangers, mountains, rivers or seas.
The entire Christian world, but also much more than that, accompanied Pope Francis to the other world. He became a very beloved figure for different people from all over the world and from all faiths for all that he brought to the head of the Catholic Church and for all that he himself was. The time in which he stood at the head of the Catholic Church was one of the most challenging times for Christianity but also for other faiths in general. The time was also challenging for reasons related to political, geopolitical, economic and especially cultural crises.
Pope Francis, who returned to the Lord last Monday, tried in many ways to find the best for the church and people, and in many ways he succeeded in making important changes. Above all, since he led at a terribly challenging time, he set a very high standard in terms of compassion and love for the weak, for those who suffer or languish from misery and violence, who are massacred by bombing, who are maimed by explosions or missiles, or drowned at sea.
Evil has always been present in the world, to a large extent. These days it seems more widespread with very high intensity and in the most diverse forms. The barbaric war in Syria, even to the use of chemical gas, the millions of refugees crossing the Mediterranean from Africa or Turkey, the mass killings of children, women and the elderly, the war in Ukraine and the crimes there, the devastating war in Gaza with apocalyptic bombings against a people deprived of bread and water, the great political instability and the rise of populist parties with radical or extremist colors, etc., were some of the things that were at the heart of the concerns of Francis' papacy.
He gave a great lesson to the world, but especially to politicians who behave like right-wingers and devout believers and who want to link being right-wing and probably a devout believer with sovereignty, with nationalism and in some way produce xenophobia or other political behaviors guided by phobias and other problematic emotions. Pope Francis was a great defender of immigrants, of those who cross great dangers, mountains, rivers or seas. A hybrid and dangerous vein that comes from the right or says it is right-wing using the Christian faith says that we must be compassionate and loving first with ourselves and our family, with our country and only in the end can we have love for others.
Earlier this year, US Vice President JD Vance said that the Christian concept of love begins with the family, expands to neighbors and the nation, and only in the end does it reach other human beings. JD Vance referred to what is known as the “ordo amoris” and even spoke as a theologian when he said that this is also said in John 15: 12-13. Orban, Salvini or Wilders have the same position. The Pope reacted to this. He asked for a correct understanding of the ordo amoris formulated by St. Augustine. The Pope, in a remarkable gesture, sent a letter to the Catholic bishops in the US asking them to see Christian love, to see the ordo amoris, not as “a concentric expansion of interests that little by little expands to other people or groups. The true ordo amoris is understood by seeing and understanding, by discovering and meditating on the Good Samaritan.”
The Pope himself, but also Cardinal Parolin, whom the Pope sent shortly before he left this world to meet with Vance precisely to explain this, had the opinion that "the human person is not simply an individual, relatively open to others, who has some feelings of charity. It is much more. The Pope said that the human individual, in the Christian concept, must be a good Samaritan."
In The Good Samaritan, an expert in the law asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked him what the law says. The expert told him that the law says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “Do this and you will be saved.” The expert asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going up to Jerusalem. Some robbers beat him badly, robbed him, and left him on the side of the road, almost dead. A priest passed by, saw the wounded man, passed by, and ran away. A Levite (a temple worker) passed by, saw the wounded man, passed by, and ran away. A Samaritan (a common resident of Samaria, the West Bank) passes by, lifts him up, treats him with what he can, comforts him and sends him home in his arms… Who do you think is the neighbor of the wounded man?” The Samaritan, he is the neighbor, said Jesus. He is neither the priest nor the Levite.
This is what Pope Francis said in his letter to the bishops in response to the positions of these kinds of politicians. With this message, he told nationalists and sovereignists, this strange political category that mixes incompatible things, who want to base their ideas on the teachings of Christianity, who want to legitimize the killings or expulsions of immigrants with the "ordo amoris", who want to justify the bombings of children and innocents with teachings from Christianity, that they are completely wrong. Pope Francis, because he had this understanding of the "Christian concept of love, because he had the understanding that comes from the Good Samaritan, was a very high point of the world. May God protect him and God will come a pope with this love for the weak, the abused, the bombed, the starving, the poor, etc.
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