Among the important events which occurred in 2013, one that surely struck the international media was the first official visit by Pope Francis to the Italian President, Giorgo Napolitano, at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. This significant visit, which took place on 14 November, illustrates a papacy that is appreciative of the state’s “gestures of attention” towards it. In fact, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude for President Napolitano’s appreciation of both his pontificate and that of his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

“Already, in these first eight months of my Petrine service, I have been able to experience from you, Mr President, many gestures of attention. They are added to the many that you have progressively manifested, during your first seven years, towards my predecessor Benedict XVI. To him, I wish to address at this time our thoughts and affection, recalling his visit to the Quirinale which, on that occasion, he described as ‘the symbolic home of all Italians’.”

In the person of Pope Francis, God is acknowledging Caesar’s homage to him. But how is it that Caesar is so respectful of God? Is it simply due to Pope Francis’ personal charisma? Caesar’s address seems far away from such a simplistic claim! Imbued by Paul VI’s insight as manifested in his famous encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi, namely that “modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (§ 41), Caesar is certainly more convinced by the inherent Spirit which is animating the current Pontiff’s moving gestures than the beautiful words which come out of his mouth!

In his address, President Napolitano squarely admits that Caesar has a long way to go in trying to inculcate in his fellow citizens the much-needed impetus for dialogue. “How far we are in our country from that ‘culture of encounter’ that you love to evoke, from your invocation ‘Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue!!’”

Caesar highly esteems God because the latter aims higher than him. God’s plans are trapped within the here and now, but evolve towards eternity. Is not this the real end of a sincere dialogue that essentially aims at that saving and transformative truth?

Thus Caesar humbly admits: “Well, in fact for us who now render homage to you here, as for all the expressions of the ruling class of Italy, it is time to raise one’s gaze higher, to regain far-sightedness and to take ourselves to the level of decisive challenges that from today already project themselves on tomorrow, bringing to birth also from this extraordinary and so lofty occasion of encounter, a commitment comparable to that of which you, Your Holiness Francis, are giving us an example”.

Caesar boldly affirms that true encounter and an honest dialogue can help society to really prosper by gently aiding her to return back to her solid foundations. Hence, President Napolitano said: “To react everywhere to similar phenomena of regression and to have inalienable ideal and moral parameters valued, the role of Europe, I would like to stress, remains essential, inasmuch as it was founded – historically and in its common institutions today – on those values of respect for human dignity, tolerance, justice and solidarity that bear the sign of the Christian heritage”.

Caesar cordially invited God to solidify the spiritual fabric of society, an invitation to which God generously responded through his faithful servant Pope Francis. “The main task of the Church is to bear witness to God’s mercy and to encourage a generous response of solidarity to open up a future of hope, because where hope grows, there is an increase in energy and a commitment to the construction of a more human and just social and civil order, and new potential emerges for healthy and sustainable development.”

Do we seriously believe that, when Caesar and God collaborate for the common good of society, solidarity with the unemployed and the suffering, together with the strengthening of the family, can become achievable goals which can yield abundant good fruit? What should be done so that the church-state rapport might consolidate the cultural, economic and spiritual fabric of our society?

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

SAN GWANN