In a few days, the phrase “Habemus Pope” will be heard from the balcony of the Plaza de San Pedro in the Vatican. Perhaps at that time we will be able to see where the nascent legacy of Francisco I will travel. This is: if his successor will be dedicated to eraseing one and each of the motions that the Latin American Pontiff put into play in favor of peace, respect for the vulnerable; immigrants; the poor; sexual diversity; Ecology and commitment to neighbor or, if the signs that the Argentine fan of San Lorenzo drew with sharp strokes will be of.
Among the phrases that impressed me most about Francisco is that according to which: “It is better to be an atheist than someone who goes to church and then hates everyone.” Bergoglio was a Jesuit. The Jesuits are scholars, and in their best version, they articulate intelligence with sensitivity. I think something similar happens in this phrase, to my huge liking, and whose reach transcends religions, races, creeds and nationalities. He puts love. Love about any other issue, even faith itself. It is a lot. But a lot. He is saying a cumin if you meet the protocol (so similar to crazy proto, right?) To go to Mass, confess, persecute you and blah. What matters is what your heart moves. What feeds your soul. Thanks dear. I had never heard it. Yes, yes. San Agustín had said about a thousand five hundred years ago: “Love and do what you want.” But from a Pope in full rise of wild capitalism and annoying presidents because people do not hate enough (Javi Dixit), this takes on an eminent value. Unpublished. Like water in the desert.
The founder of the Jesuit order was San Ignacio de Loyola. Man for whom the truth is only effective if it is said between lines. Francisco could not have been a better student of his legendary predecessor. The value of the gestures of this Pope who leaves-but remains-makes unquestionable what the properly symbolic goes far beyond words. Go as an example to kneel to kiss the feet of a ruler with the sole objective of imploring that a war ends, or the absence of smiles before a president whose government led to the current misery we suffer. From this point of view I would like to point out that Francisco’s papacy rescues as few other characters in recent history the place of authority, today so degraded throughout this planet. And I emphasize the political nature of this authority. Bergoglio was an immense politician. With capital letters. Because he based his investiture on a message of love. And this is not an ideological issue. It is structural. The limit that is not transmitted from love does not work. Returns in the worst way.
-It is not about making a cult of love, but about a pragmatic, forceful issue. We verify it every hour in the office. The neighbor is news in his own body, Freud said. And it is from that brand that a subject is oriented in the world. The paternal function then-is exercised by whoever, man, woman, uncle, judge, tutor, etc.-is only effective if someone compromises their affection in the transmission. That is why we could agree that Francisco was not a good father but a good father. The Catholic Church is an institution. Heavy, conservative, reactionary. As the poet and priest Hugo Mujica knew how to say: “The Church took Jesus Christ hostage.” This is: an armed organization (armed) to neutralize the message of a guy-even matters here whether Christ existed or not and Bla-that privileged the poor, made humility his journey on this earth and put love on any other issue. (Ah, and they killed him for that, that is).
At this point, I would like to think that Francisco was the best of atheists. An atheist that made us believe that life is something better than hating the neighbor, locking oneself in oneself and paying attention to the lies of the fantoches on duty.
Sergio Zabalza is a psychoanalyst. Doctor in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires.
