A recusa obstinada da penitência pública

1. O Papa João Paulo II fiel à Sagrada Escritura e à Tradição da Igreja realizou há anos uma celebração penitencial pública na qual a Igreja reconhecia os pecados dos seus membros, passados e actuais, implorando perdão ao Deus de todas as Misericórdias, em nome da Verdade e do Amor, de Jesus Cristo, nosso Redentor.

Creio que haveria toda a conveniência em seguir este exemplo pelas Dioceses do mundo inteiro, em particular por aquelas que continuamente acusam, aliás com grandes exageros injustos, o comportamento dos seus antepassados mas que são incapazes de reconhecer os seus gravíssimos pecados actuais. Este cegamento em relação ao presente lembra aquela ensinança de Jesus: “Porque vês a palhinha que está no olho de teu irmão e não vês a tranca que está no teu?”

Esta obstinação em ignorar os crimes e pecados actuais agrava a cegueira de Pastores e demais Fiéis para o estado em que se encontram estorvando-lhes uma conversão verdadeira. Este apagão eclesial mergulha o mundo em trevas profundas, pois a “Luz que vindo ao mundo a todos os homens ilumina” extingue-se nos corações antes ateados que serviam de farol, de lampadários, de archotes iluminando a noite escura, mostrando o Caminho, alegrando as vidas, dando-lhes cor. Na escuridade angustiosa tudo se confunde, tudo é equivalente, nela prosperam os que “odeiam a Luz porque as suas obras são más”, nelas vencem os cantares maviosos das sereias que conduzem ao naufrágio, à perdição.

2. Não há duvidar que, não obstante as múltiplas coisas boas que a Igreja tem feito nestas últimas décadas em Portugal, os seus Pastores e demais Fiéis, geralmente falando, têm perdido em toda a linha os maiores combates pela humanidade do homem, pela sua Salvação integral. Não só foram derrotados como não se prepararam adequadamente para as guerras anunciadas. Não obstante a enorme percentagem de católicos praticantes, décadas atrás, apesar do Santuário de Fátima, da Rádio Renascença, da maior rede de comunicação social regional e local, dos milhares de Paróquias, da quantidade de Religiosos e Sacerdotes a catástrofe foi enorme.

Como encontrar uma explicação para tamanho descalabro? Eu creio que a condescendência com o erro e a falsidade, dentro da Igreja, uma ingenuidade inconcebível, a indiferença e apatia por aquilo que parecia não atingir directamente a Igreja, uma crença supersticiosa num pluralismo sem limites nem fronteiras, conduziram a uma bandalheira total. Isso explicará que as próprias pessoas e meios de que a Igreja dispunha para Evangelizar foram e são em grande parte usados de tal modo que ou confundem os Fiéis ou induzem-nos em, erro. Por outro lado a falta de Clero e de vocações Religiosas, bem como de Catequistas e demais ministérios levaram a uma procura pouco criteriosa, a escolhas sem discernimento, a irresponsabilidades incríveis.

De facto, quando a Igreja é vista e gerida como uma empresa em que o que conta é o preenchimento de lugares, de funções e o número de pessoas, tudo lá cabe, como se fora um albergue espanhol. Então tanto monta que a pessoa acredite ou não na Ressurreição de Jesus, que advogue a reencarnação, que batalhe a favor do aborto, que aconselhe a reprodução artificial, que não lhe repugne nem a clonagem nem a experimentação em embriões, que recomende nos cursos de preparação para o matrimónio a contracepção, que favoreça as práticas homossexuais e o “casamento” dos mesmos com a correspondente adopção, que propugne a bondade da eutanásia e do suicídio assistido. Então o que interessa é manter a paz podre e insalubre, não provocar “divisões” na Igreja, reconhecer e confessar que todos são excelentes católicos, admiti-los à sagrada Comunhão. O único pecado a confessar será então a falta de delicadeza para com alguém. Arrependimento e conversão? Isso que é?! “Cada um sabe de si e Deus sabe de todos”! Pois… Depois é o que se vê.

3. Um sinal eloquente e eficaz para começar a mudar este estado de coisas seria precisamente uma celebração penitencial, um pedido colectivo de perdão, que poderia ser realizado em Fátima por todo o Episcopado com o seu Clero, Religiosos e Fiéis leigos. Ou então em cada Diocese, num mesmo dia a nível nacional.

O dia 11 de Fevereiro, Memória Litúrgica de Nossa Senhora de Lurdes, dia em que o Referendo sobre o homicídio/aborto deu a maioria ao sim à liberalização total do aborto até às dez semanas, parece ser uma data particularmente eloquente para tal celebração. Cerca de cinquenta mil pessoas nascituras foram violenta e cruelmente trucidadas por um Estado tirano e totalitário em nome de uma “lei” injusta e iníqua que contou com a aprovação de muitos católicos e com a abstenção e indiferença de muitos mais. Não é isto uma razão suficiente? Estamos à espera de quê?!

Nuno Serras Pereira

03. 02. 2010

Living in Harmony with One's Biological Design: Interview with an Ex-Gay Man

By Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D.

In News From NARTH - 01. 02. 2010

In this December 2009 transcript, Dr. Nicolosi interviews Gordon Opp.

"There is within me, and I think there is within all of us, what I call the inner person-the real me," Gordon says. Sometimes the "real me" or "inner person” will be in conflict with what he wants to do. But these desires do not change nature's reality: men and women were designed for one another

J.N. Gordon, it's been about eleven years since we did our last interview, which is still available on the NARTH web site. I know that interview has been helpful to many people. Let me begin today with this question: How long has it been since you've been out of homosexuality?

G.O. I've been married 31 years, and about a year before our marriage, I stopped acting out homosexually.

J.N. When you say "acting out," can you explain?

G.O. There was about a four-year period in my twenties when I practiced homosexuality off and on. I experienced quite a few one-time sexual contacts with individual men and I had a few relationships that lasted three or four months each.

J.N. Do you have any regrets now about leaving homosexuality?

G.O. No. Not at all.

J.N. So you've been married now for 31 years, with three grown children, and-- how many grandchildren?

G.O. Five grandkids.

J.N. And so your life story is open, everyone knows--it's not a big secret.

G.O. No, it's not a big secret at all. Our daughters are just barely a year apart, and when they were in junior-high school, people started asking me to give interviews about my ministry, so we decided to tell the girls then, before I became more public about it.

J.N. Any advice for young people who are trying to decide whether or not to pursue a gay lifestyle? I guess for you and your own experience, you'd say that it didn't work.

G.O. No, I wouldn't say it that way-- it just sounds so trite, "Don't pursue homosexuality-- it doesn't work."

J.N. Could you elaborate on that?

G.O. Well, especially for men (and that's been my experience, obviously), we men are attracted primarily through sight. I remember when I was going to gay parties and such in my early 20's, I would see other guys about ten or fifteen years older--in their mid- to late-30's-- and I would think that I wouldn't want those guys around me, because they're already old. So I learned that for me, anyway, and for the circles I ran in, this was going to be a short-lived life-without permanency, without real roots.

J.N. What other advice might help others in the process of discernment?

G.O. I'd say, "Become a critical thinker." You shouldn't trust the sound bites you get in the news, or even the politically correct things you're going to get in the classrooms at the universities and such. This decision concerns your whole life, so be a critical thinker and search out the truth. I did a lot of searching as a young kid, but there wasn't much information out there.

J.N. I agree. Why do you think the gay movement been so successful in taking over our culture?

G.O. I think it's because as a culture, we want to please people. We're in the "microwave age"-- we want everything to be fixed quickly and with little effort, but pursuing heterosexuality is not for the faint-hearted. For a man who's struggled with same-sex attractions, it's hard work.

J.N. Yes. As a therapist, too, I can tell you it's hard work.

G.O. And people don't want to work hard.

J.N. What were the deciding factors in your own decision to leave homosexuality?

G.O. I wanted what most everybody wants-- I wanted family, security. I wanted to grow old together with somebody that I was committed to. I wanted children, a house, a job, and a picket fence, all of those things -- the American dream. And I couldn't have that with homosexuality.

J.N. Gays would argue with you that certainly you can have a family and children and a picket fence, and community. How would you answer that?

G.O. I'll address the family thing first. As far as children, and the issue of adoption for gays, it's not that the gay parent can't love the child, but what is it doing to the child? First and foremost, I'm concerned about the child. He needs a mother and a father.

J.N. What are the consequences to a child to be raised by two lesbians or two gay men?

G.O. We are designed to have a mother and a father. Of course, for all kinds of reasons not every child can have that-- but that is the ideal, and we hurt kids when we deliberately and intentionally deprive them of that experience. I'm a real estate agent now, and the other day, I was working on a listing-it was a home with a single mother who was raising four boys, a couple of adolescents and a couple of young ones--and I don't know what situation occurred that put her into the position of being a single mom, but my heart just went out to her, and my heart also went out to those boys. The absence of the father in that home was just tragic.

J.N. I think you're absolutely right.

What are the factors that made it possible for you to successfully follow through on your decision over so many years?

G.O. I suppose one of the beginning factors was my tenacity, to try to beat it. Going back to what I said in the beginning about being a critical thinker, I'm a Christian and whatever I do, I either want to do it wholeheartedly, or I'm not going to waste my time. So when I became convinced that Christianity was true, there was no way I could embrace homosexual behavior and practice as a good thing in the context of my faith.

You cannot support both gay unions and "true" Christianity. It doesn't work, because they're incompatible.

J.N. I'd like to bring up the recent American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force Report, which says that there is "insufficient evidence" to prove that change is possible. What would you say to those APA Task Force members--all of whom, by the way, are activists in gay causes, and none of whom are reorientation therapists-- if you could speak to them?

G.O. Well the first thing I would ask the APA is, "What is your definition of change?" Because I believe the APA is asking, when it defines change, "Do you ever have any more homosexual thoughts? Then you haven't changed." But "complete change" wouldn't be realistic-for a man with a homosexual background, or a man struggling with any other issue. I'm an honest person and I would say, "Yes, those thoughts are there occasionally, and they give me a little grief." But do those thoughts and feelings control my life? No way.

I've been married now for 31 years -- very happily married. No marriage is without its problems, but, do I have any regrets? No. I have no regrets. I have lived a heterosexual life and been faithful to my wife, and I've had my family and enjoyed everything that goes along with family life.

I would like to compare change of sexual orientation to alcoholism. In medical terms, an alcoholic would seem to have what we call a disease (that can be debatable, too), but let's just say it is a disease. So let's say I've been sober for 31 years. But then, I lose my job, my wife's mad at me, and I drive home, and I drive past the bar. Man, I want to turn in and get drunk! But I don't. Would it be fair for the APA to say, "See-- you haven't changed after all! You're still an alcoholic!"

J.N. Sure.

G.O. That is how offended I am by the APA's saying I haven't changed-- just because I, like a former alcoholic, can have the temptation. Still, pride comes before a fall, and I would be the last one to say that I couldn't ever possibly fall; but even if I did, it doesn't change my fundamental commitment to my identity-- not as a gay man, but as a heterosexual man who has struggled with a homosexual problem.

J.N.: What would you say to encourage people considering coming out of a lifestyle?

G.O. Each person must ask-- who am I? What do I want to be? There is within me, and I think there is within all of us, what I call the inner person-the real me. Sometimes that real person in me is in conflict with what I want to do, and sometimes there are those homosexual urges. But I'm going to say no to those same-sex desires, because that's not the real me. I refuse to be identified by my occasional homosexual feelings. My body is designed to be intimate with a female, and so that is the real me. This true heterosexual man is not going to be sexually intimate with another male.

J.N. Let me give you a little metaphor to see if this makes sense to you, because the APA Task Force says you can change your identity, you can say, "I am not a homosexual...I am not identifying with homosexuality," but that doesn't change your sexual orientation. Their implication is that homosexuality is "who you are" whether you acknowledge it or not. But I believe that if you change your identity, it will change not only the quantity of your homosexual behaviors, but also the quality. Let me give you an example of this qualitative change. You're sitting in front of the television and it's 8:00 at night, and suddenly you feel hungry and you remember there's that one slice of chocolate pie still in the refrigerator. You're eating it and while you're eating it, you're saying to yourself, "I really am hungry!" But then, rewind the tape: You're sitting in front of the television, you feel hungry, but you realize you're really not hungry-actually, you're bored. You eat the pie anyway to relieve the boredom, and while you're eating the pie you know you're just eating it because you were bored. When will you enjoy the pie more, when you believe you're truly hungry, or when you believe you're bored?

G.O. Of course, when you believe you're hungry.

J.N. Yes, and I think that a gay-identified person is going to interpret his sexual experiences differently-as a form of genuine "hunger." But men like yourself will reflect and then say to themselves, "This attraction I'm feeling right now is notpart of who I am. It's about my frustrations, or my disconnectedness, or it's about the way I handle shame."

G.O. Yes, that makes a lot of sense. It describes me.

J.N. You had the feelings, but they were not "you"; you didn't accept the identity.

G.O. Exactly. In the beginning, though, I questioned it. I thought, "Maybe it's not a lie, maybe there's just something wrong with me and eventually, I'll fit into this 'gay' thing and it will feel right and feel true." But the real me was resisting this.

J.N. You thought, "If I just keep trying a little longer, I'll overcome my internalized homophobia." But even though you engaged in the behavior, it wasn't satisfying. Clients will tell me, the more I understand the origins of my same-sex attraction, the more it changes the quality of the homosexual experience because I know this attraction is not happening to me just because this guy with me is "hot."

G.O. Yes. Recognizing this has helped me to understand where some of these longings were coming from. I found myself attracted to "ever-straight" guys, and I think that's because I wasn't really looking for sex, I was looking for something much deeper than that.

J.N.: Yes. For a deeper same-sex bonding.

G.O.: But the problem is how compelling the act is. I remember how one of your articles on the NARTH website was saying that gay sex is a whole lot more intense for same-sex attracted guys than heterosexual sex is--there's more of a "zing" to it-- because gay sex is trying to meet needs that were never intended to be met in the sexual act. And I remember in the last interview you and I did, I talked about how whenever you add sex to a deeper need-when you try to gratify that deeper, unmet need in a sexual way-- it really ramps the experience up, and so there's this zing.

J.N.: Yes.

G.O.: But when you're trying to get your emotional needs with men met in a non-sexual way, there's inevitably this disappointment, and it's like, "OK, I've got this great male friend and he's really attentive to me and he wants to be with me and we do good things-but why is this experience not doing for me what the sexual experience did?"

J.N. Right.

G.O. Then, when you're looking at being properly attracted to your wife, you can't take all those deficit needs that you were trying to get fulfilled through sex with a man and transfer that same feeling to your experience with wife. They're totally different things.

J.N. Yes...they originate from totally different needs.

G.O. Uh huh. . And so you have a couple of things to work on-first, getting your needs met properly with men without sex, without undue emotional dependency; and second, developing your true heterosexuality with your wife and letting that relationship become the complementary one that it has been naturally designed to be.

Fortunately, my wife long ago caught on to the fact that when I was having good, healthy relationships with men, I was more attentive to her.

J.N. Yes, that's what all my clients tell me....that healthy, ongoing male relationships are essential. Now, I'd like to go back to something you said before-- "I was attracted to ever-straight men"....

G.O. Yes, when I was acting out, I would be in a homosexual relationship two- to three-months or so, and I would get tired of my partner because he didn't have what I was looking for. Before too long, I could see that the other man had the same void that I had.

J.N. A void in masculine identity.

G.O. Exactly.

J.N. Let me ask this....has anything changed for you since our last interview, which was eleven years ago?

G.O. Well, a lot has changed. I've gotten older! By this time in my life, I'm pretty much at ease now with all men. Once in a while I am still intimidated, but that was a big part of the origins of my homosexuality-that, and everyday envy.

J.N. With just about every client I deal with, those same issues are there-- intimidation and envy.

G.O. So the older I get, the more I can just enjoy other men. Men used to seem more "mysterious" to me, and sometimes they still do, but whenever I get to know them a little bit better and get under their skin, I find out that we're not so different after all.

J.N. Of course! They're not so mysterious after all; they're "who you are." Now, can you explain a little further why you believe that heterosexuality is the norm?

G.O. I believe that we were designed and created for our bodies to go together, and for our emotions go together. I believe this is pretty self-evident.

J.N. So you see the evidence of our biological design-our male-female complementarity.

G.O. Yes. I mean, two tomcats really aren't friends with each other -- there's always some form of rivalry. Of course, men can in fact be buddies and very close friends, but they can't really be committed partners who meet each other's sexual needs in a deep and ongoing way. They're just not made for that. That's where the promiscuity eventually comes in.

J.N. And without the stabilizing and the grounding effect of a woman in the relationship, what two men have together, just can't be marriage-like. It inevitably turns into an open relationship, as research on gay men shows. With lesbians, it's the other way around; there's the natural female tendency -doubled up when two women are together-- for the relationship to become excessively dependent.

G.O. Right. And speaking of marriage, that's one of the wonderful things, the blessings I've had-- I've got a wonderful wife. We are blessed to have a lot of the same interests and same values. And of course, as members of the opposite sex, we complement each other in terms of gender. In our relationship, I take a leadership role; she is very perceptive and a wise woman that does not "lord it over" me in any way. We're made for each other, as a man and a woman. A man and a man simply aren't capable of that type of a relationship.

J.N. Looking back, what do you think were the things that happened to you in your childhood that could have laid the foundation for your homosexuality?

G.O. Well, I have an older brother, and then there was me, but my dad just took a shine to my older brother. By the time I came along, they had been hoping for a girl, so when I was born, my mom, on the other hand, took a shine to me. I related more to her in the things we did, and it was understood that I was hers, and my brother was my dad's.

J.N. You know, a lot of the men I work with will say to me, "I was my mother's son and my brother was my father's son." There's often that same unspoken division.

G.O. Uh huh. So that was the beginning of my feeling different from other men. Looking back in my own life and especially when I see other children, I believe some kids are saved from homosexuality by the intervention of a same-sex family member-for boys, sometimes an uncle or a grandpa. When I see this intervention in other families, I say, I'm so thankful that that little boy has this adult male is his life.

J.N. All they need is one man who is involved in their life.

G.O. I was so deficient in male relatives. No one around me.

J.N. Did your father ever reach out to you; did he ever try to pull you into this circle of himself and his other son?

G.O. You know, there was a time when I was really hard on both my parents. I blamed them for everything. My mom would often say, "You were always so special... we just had this bond." Yeah, Mom, and that "special bond" really messed me up. My dad wasn't all that bad of a guy. I was just one of those kids that especially needed a dad. He didn't know how to be super-sensitive to what was going on with me. He was kind of into himself and the things he did.

J.N. So you're saying that he didn't reach out to you and try to work with you?

G.O. I can't say that he did. But I don't want to really degrade my dad; he had his faults, definitely, but later in life (he died when I was 34), and the last several years of his life especially, let's just say that he was open to having a relationship with me. He didn't pursue it and I was pretty defensive about a relationship myself, because when you grew up with a dad not wanting to hold you...there's a certain block that stays there.

J.N.: That detachment.

G.O.: My parents had a difficult marriage and my mother looked to me for emotional support when my dad wasn't available. Then, they would come back together, and things would be good again. During those good times, she didn't need me, and I resented that.

J.N.: You resented being made to feel special, and then being dropped.

G.O.: Yes, but in the marriage, I saw her as the victim, and so I had to protect her. Of course, neither of my parents hurt me intentionally.

J.N. Of course. There was no awareness of how this was affecting you.

G.O. My mother is still alive, and I have a good relationship with her. I think she understands all this as best as she can, and she feels bad. I don't know if she sees it as clearly as I might like her to, but she sees it enough, and that's OK with me.

J.N.: Yes. So, over time, you have made peace about this.

G.O.: Yes.

J.N.: How did your brother fit into this?

G.O. I actually had two brothers; one older and one younger. I also have a younger sister. Neither of my brothers struggled with this issue. I know that my older brother always cared about me, and I appreciated that. I told him about my homosexuality during the years I was acting out-roughly when I was age 20 to 24. He was three years older and married to a great lady, and had a couple of kids and lived in another state, and at the time, he and his wife were home with our extended family for the holidays and they came to my apartment to say goodbye. I was in a bad way-- depressed and stuff-- and as I said goodbye standing outside the window of their car, I said, "Oh by the way, I struggle with homosexuality..." He and his wife had eight hours driving home to think about what I had said, and when he got home he called me and said he loved me and cared about me and was sorry about my struggle.

J.N. So you felt this loving from him many years later....What about when you were younger?

G.O. He was older and more athletic and there was this rivalry thing at school. When your brother goes to junior high and is great in sports and you come along three years later, they expect all that from you, too, and then you fall on your face...Because I couldn't do that, not surprisingly, at that time, there was this feeling from him of rejection.

J.N. Was there any sexual stuff that set you up for homosexuality anywhere in childhood?

G.O. There was one thing when I was eleven. At summer camp there was a counselor...he was probably 21 or 22. I just needed male acceptance, and here was this counselor that dotes over us-- you know, boy, was he important to us kids.... The third night we were there, my bed was next to his, and he had his hand on my penis. But you know what? I never told anybody about that. At the time I didn't think of it as bad.

J.N. That's very often the psychology of the abused child; they don't think of what happened to them as significant. But here you were, a boy who craved male attention and esteem, and unfortunately, when the attention came to you, it had sex attached to it.

G.O. Yes. But I never thought he was a bad guy for it. I just always thought of him fondly.

J.N. Do you think this experience did you any harm?

G.O. Looking back now, I think it did. It really fixated the object of my same-sex attraction. The guys that I'm most attracted to, are like he was -- they are built like he was.

J.N. If the sexual contact did not happen then, you would not have been fixated

so much on that image?

G.O. No, I think I probably would not have been fixated on that. I think I still would have had a lot of problems, though....Yeah...now that you mention it, it is funny I never thought that event was significant.

J.N. I don't know if you remember, but a number of years ago a prestigious journal of the American Psychological Association reported a study, and the conclusion was that boys are not necessarily harmed by sexual contact with an older man, and in fact in many cases, the boys remembered the experience positively, and considered it beneficial. So the authors of the article said we should stop using judgmental terms like "sexual abuse" to describe "positive" childhood experiences like these.

We protested this conclusion. As psychologists, shouldn't we know that what feels, to the child, beneficial, can in fact be very harmful? Dr. Laura Schlesinger got involved in condemning the study-even Congress got involved. The APA had to issue a clarification and a partial disclaimer. That was the biggest public-relations crisis of the American Psychological Association, and it was NARTH that brought it to public attention. Before we got involved, no one in our profession had noticed the harmfulness and simplistic conclusions of the study...there seemed to be the typical prevailing attitude, "Who's to say...???" Not surprisingly, that study had already begun to be used in legal cases as justification for excusing some same-sex child abusers from responsibility.

G.O. Good for you. You know, I've thought about that childhood incident often...wondering , why is it that the "look" of that counselor remained so powerful in my memory for so long, and is still sometimes what I respond to...?

J.N. Yes. You can see how that experience first put into motion the sexualization of your same-sex emotional needs.

Well, it's about time for us to end this interview. Any last thing that you would like to add?

G.O. Yes. I guess sometimes people have said of me, because I reject homosexuality, "You're just not being true to yourself." You know, I just don't feel that way. I have indeed been true to myself -- and I have so many blessings because of it. My family is just unbelievably important to me, and I can't imagine life without them. I never would have had that if I had been true to what I once thought was myself - if I had been "true to" homosexuality and let it define me.

J.N.: Yes. That certainly summarizes it.

G.O.: Sex is so over-rated -- heterosexual or homosexual. It's a wonderful thing and it's to be enjoyed and taken care of, but in the end, what's really important is relationships, healthy relationships. That--to me-- is being true to myself... being able to live out whatever days or years I have left in this lifetime, and to enjoy the healthy and full relationships that I never really experienced in my childhood.

J.N.: I certainly respect that decision and that understanding of your identity. And I am sure that your experience will give inspiration to others.

Thank you very much, Gordon.

S. Francisco de Assis: um ícone vivo de Jesus e um gigante da Santidade

Papa Bento XVI

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Hoje, eu gostaria de apresentar-vos a figura de Francisco, um autêntico “gigante” da santidade, que continua fascinando muitíssimas pessoas de todas as idades e religiões.

“Nasceu para o mundo um sol”: com estas palavras, na “Divina Comédia” (Paraíso, Canto XI), o máximo poeta italiano Dante Alighieri alude ao nascimento de Francisco, no final de 1181 ou início de 1182, em Assis. Pertencente a uma família rica – seu pai era comerciante de tecidos –, Francisco transcorreu uma adolescência e uma juventude despreocupadas, cultivando os ideais de cavalaria da época. Aos 20 anos, fez parte de uma campanha militar e foi preso. Ficou doente e foi libertado. Após sua volta a Assis, começou nele um lento processo de conversão espiritual, que o levou a abandonar gradualmente o estilo de vida mundano que havia levado até então. A este período correspondem os célebres episódios do encontro com o leproso, a quem Francisco, descendo do cavalo, deu o beijo da paz, e da mensagem do Crucificado na pequena igreja de São Damião. Em três ocasiões, o Cristo na cruz adquiriu vida e lhe disse: “Vai, Francisco, e repara minha Igreja, que está em ruínas”. Este simples acontecimento da palavra do Senhor ouvida na igreja de São Damião esconde um simbolismo profundo. Imediatamente, São Francisco foi chamado a reparar esta pequena igreja, mas o estado ruinoso deste edifício era o símbolo da situação dramática e inquietante da própria Igreja nessa época, com uma fé superficial que não forma e não transforma a vida, com um clero pouco zeloso, com o esfriamento do amor; uma destruição interior da Igreja que comportou também uma decomposição da unidade, com o nascimento de movimentos hereges. Contudo, nessa Igreja em ruínas, o Crucifixo está no centro e fala: convida à renovação, chama Francisco a um trabalho manual para reparar concretamente a pequena igreja de São Damião, símbolo do chamado mais profundo a renovar a própria Igreja de Cristo, com sua radicalidade de fé e com seu entusiasmo de amor por Cristo.

Este acontecimento, ocorrido provavelmente em 1205, faz pensar em outro acontecimento similar, ocorrido em 1207: o sonho do Papa Inocêncio III. Este viu em sonhos que a Basílica de São João de Latrão, a igreja mãe de todas as igrejas, estava desmoronando e que um religioso pequeno e insignificante a escorava com os ombros, para que não caísse. É interessante notar, por um lado, que não é o Papa quem ajuda para que a Igreja não caia, mas um religioso pequeno e insignificante, que o Papa reconhece em Francisco quando este o visita. Inocêncio III era um papa poderoso, de grande cultura teológica, como também de grande poder político e, no entanto, não é ele quem renova a Igreja, e sim um pequeno e insignificante religioso: é São Francisco, chamado por Deus. Por outro lado, no entanto, é importante observar que São Francisco não renova a Igreja sem ou contra o Papa, mas em comunhão com ele. As duas realidades estão juntas: o Sucessor de Pedro, os bispos, a Igreja fundada sobre a sucessão dos apóstolos e o carisma novo que o Espírito Santo cria nesse momento para renovar a Igreja. Na comunhão se dá a verdadeira renovação.

Voltemos à vida de São Francisco. Dado que seu pai, Bernardone, reprovava sua grande generosidade com os pobres, Francisco, na frente do bispo de Assis, com um gesto simbólico, despojou-se de todas as suas roupas, pretendendo, assim, renunciar à herança paterna: como no momento da criação, Francisco não tinha nada, a não ser a vida dada por Deus, em cujas mãos se entregou. Depois, viveu como um eremita, até que, em 1208, houve outro acontecimento fundamental no itinerário da sua conversão. Escutando uma passagem do Evangelho de Mateus – o discurso de Jesus aos apóstolos enviados à missão –, Francisco se sentiu chamado a viver na pobreza e a dedicar-se à pregação. Outros companheiros se uniram a ele e, em 1209, ele se dirigiu a Roma, para submeter ao Papa Inocêncio III o projeto de uma nova forma de vida cristã. Recebeu um acolhimento paternal por parte daquele grande pontífice que, iluminado pelo Senhor, intuiu a origem divina do movimento suscitado por Francisco. O Pobrezinho de Assis havia compreendido que todo carisma dado pelo Espírito Santo deve ser colocado ao serviço do Corpo de Cristo, que é a Igreja; portanto, agiu sempre em comunhão plena com a autoridade eclesiástica. Na vida dos santos não há contraposição entre carisma profético e carisma de governo e, se houver alguma tensão, estes sabem esperar com paciência os tempos do Espírito Santo.

Na realidade, alguns historiadores do século XIX e também do século passado tentaram criar atrás do Francisco da tradição um “Francisco histórico”, assim como se tenta criar atrás do Jesus dos evangelhos um “Jesus histórico”. Este Francisco histórico não teria sido um homem de Igreja, mas um homem unido imediatamente só a Cristo, um homem que pretendia criar uma renovação do povo de Deus, sem formas canônicas e sem hierarquia. A verdade é que São Francisco teve realmente uma relação imediatíssima com Jesus e com a Palavra de Deus, à qual queria seguir sine glossa, assim como ela é, em toda a sua radicalidade e verdade. É verdade também que, inicialmente, ele não tinha a intenção de criar uma ordem com as formas canônicas necessárias, mas simplesmente, com a Palavra de Deus e com a presença do Senhor, queria renovar o povo de Deus, convocá-lo novamente à escuta da Palavra e à obediência a Cristo. Além disso, sabia que Cristo nunca é “meu”, e sim sempre “nosso”, que não posso ter Cristo sozinho e construir “eu”, contra a Igreja, contra sua vontade e seu ensinamento, mas somente na comunhão da Igreja constituída sobre a sucessão dos apóstolos se renova também a obediência à Palavra de Deus.

Também é verdade que ele não tinha a intenção de criar uma nova ordem, mas somente renovar o povo de Deus para o Senhor que vem. Porém, compreendeu, com sofrimento e com dor, que tudo deve ter sua ordem, que também o direito da Igreja é necessário para dar forma à renovação e, assim, realmente se inseriu de forma total, com o coração, na comunhão da Igreja, com o Papa e com os bispos. Ele sempre soube que o centro da Igreja é a Eucaristia, na qual o Corpo de Cristo e seu Sangue estão presentes. Através do sacerdócio, a Eucaristia é a Igreja. Onde o sacerdócio, Cristo e a comunhão da Igreja caminham juntos, somente aí habita também a Palavra de Deus. O verdadeiro Francisco histórico é o Francisco da Igreja e, precisamente dessa maneira, ele fala também a nós, os crentes, e aos crentes de outras confissões e religiões.

Francisco e seus frades, cada vez mais numerosos, estabeleceram-se na Porciúncula – ou igreja de Santa Maria dos Anjos –, lugar sagrado por excelência da espiritualidade franciscana. Também Clara, uma jovem mulher de Assis, de família nobre, entrou na escola de Francisco. Teve origem, assim, a Segunda Ordem Franciscana, a das Clarissas, outra experiência destinada a produzir frutos insignes de santidade na Igreja.

Também o sucessor de Inocêncio III, o Papa Honório III, com sua bula Cum dilecti, de 1218, apoiou o singular desenvolvimento dos primeiros Frades Menores, que iam abrindo suas missões em diversos países da Europa, inclusive em Marrocos. Em 1219, Francisco obteve autorização para dirigir-se ao Egito e falar com o sultão muçulmano Melek-el-Kâmel, para pregar também lá o Evangelho de Jesus. Eu gostaria de sublinhar este episódio da vida de São Francisco, que tem uma grande atualidade. Em uma época em que estava em curso um enfrentamento entre o cristianismo e o islã, Francisco, armado voluntariamente só com sua fé e sua mansidão pessoais, percorreu com eficácia o caminho do diálogo. As crônicas nos falam de um acolhimento benevolente e de uma cordial recepção do sultão. Este é um modelo que deve inspirar, ainda hoje, as relações entre cristãos e muçulmanos, para promover um diálogo na verdade, no respeito e na compreensão mútuos (cf. Nostra Aetate, 3). Parece então que Francisco esteve na Terra Santa em 1220, lançando assim uma semente, que deu muitos frutos: seus filhos espirituais, de fato, fizeram dos Lugares Santos onde Jesus viveu um âmbito privilegiado de sua missão. Penso, com gratidão, nos grandes méritos da Custódia Franciscana da Terra Santa.

Ao voltar à Itália, Francisco entregou o governo da Ordem ao seu vigário, Frei Pedro Cattani, enquanto o Papa confiou à proteção do cardeal Ugolino, o futuro Sumo Pontífice Gregório IX, a Ordem, que reunia cada vez mais adesões. Por sua vez, o fundador, dedicado completamente à pregação – que levava a cabo com grande êxito –, redigiu uma Regra, depois aprovada pelo Papa.

Em 1224, no eremitério de Verna, Francisco viu o Crucifixo em forma de um serafim e, do encontro com o serafim crucificado, recebeu os estigmas; converteu-se, assim, em um com Cristo: um dom, portanto, que exprime sua identificação com o Senhor.

A morte de Francisco – seu transitus – ocorreu na noite de 3 de outubro de 1226, na Porciúncula. Após ter abençoado seus filhos espirituais, morreu, deitado sobre a terra nua. Dois anos mais tarde, o Papa Gregório IX o inscreveu no elenco dos santos. Pouco tempo depois, erigiu-se em Assis uma grande basílica em sua honra, meta, ainda hoje, de muitíssimos peregrinos, que podem venerar o túmulo do santo e desfrutar da visão dos afrescos de Giotto, pintor que ilustrou de forma magnífica a vida de Francisco.

Já foi dito que Francisco representa um alter Christus; era verdadeiramente um ícone vivo de Cristo. Ele também foi chamado de “irmão de Jesus”. De fato, este era o seu ideal: ser como Jesus, contemplar o Cristo do Evangelho, amá-lo intensamente, imitar suas virtudes. Em particular, ele quis dar um valor fundamental à pobreza interior e exterior, ensinando-a também aos seus filhos espirituais. A primeira bem-aventurança do Sermão da Montanha – “Felizes os pobres, porque deles é o reino dos céus” (Mt 5, 3) – encontrou uma luminosa realização na vida e nas palavras de São Francisco. Verdadeiramente, queridos amigos, os santos são os melhores intérpretes da Bíblia; estes, encarnando em sua vida a Palavra de Deus, tornam-na mais atraente que nunca, de forma que ela fala realmente conosco. O testemunho de Francisco, que amou a pobreza para seguir Cristo com dedicação e liberdade totais, continua sendo, também para nós, um convite a cultivar a pobreza interior para crescer na confiança em Deus, unindo também um estilo de vida sóbrio e um desapego dos bens materiais.

Em Francisco, o amor a Cristo se expressou de maneira especial na adoração ao Santíssimo Sacramento da Eucaristia. Nas Fontes Franciscanas, lemos expressões comoventes, como esta: “Pasme o homem todo, estremeça a terra inteira, rejubile o céu em altas vozes quando, sobre o altar, estiver nas mãos do sacerdote o Cristo, Filho de Deus vivo! Ó grandeza maravilhosa, ó admirável condescendência! Ó humildade sublime, ó humilde sublimidade! O Senhor do universo, Deus e Filho de Deus, se humilha a ponto de se esconder, para nosso bem, na modesta aparência do pão” (Francisco de Assis, Escritos).

Neste Ano Sacerdotal, quero também recordar a recomendação dirigida por Francisco aos sacerdotes: “Ao celebrar a Missa, ofereçam o verdadeiro sacrifico do Santíssimo Corpo e Sangue de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, pessoalmente puros, com disposição sincera, com reverência e com santa e pura intenção” (Francisco de Assis, Escritos). Francisco mostrava sempre um grande respeito pelos sacerdotes e recomendava respeitá-los sempre, inclusive no caso de que pessoalmente fossem pouco dignos. A motivação do seu profundo respeito era o fato de que eles receberam o dom de consagrar a Eucaristia. Queridos irmãos no sacerdócio, não nos esqueçamos jamais deste ensinamento: a santidade da Eucaristia nos pede que sejamos puros, que vivamos de maneira coerente com o Mistério que celebramos.

Do amor a Cristo nasce o amor às pessoas e também a todas as criaturas de Deus. Este é outro traço característico da espiritualidade de Francisco: o senso de fraternidade universal e de amor pela criação, que lhe inspirou o célebre “Cântico das criaturas”. É uma mensagem muito atual. Como recordei em minha recente encíclica, Caritas in veritate, só é sustentável um desenvolvimento que respeite a criação e que não danifique o meio ambiente (cf. N. 48-52), e na Mensagem para o Dia Mundial da Paz deste ano, sublinhei que também a constituição de uma paz sólida está unida ao respeito pela criação. Francisco nos recorda que na criação se manifesta a sabedoria e a benevolência do Criador. A natureza é entendida por ele precisamente como uma linguagem com a qual Deus fala conosco, através da qual a realidade divina se torna transparente e podemos falar de Deus e com Deus.

Queridos amigos: Francisco foi um grande santo e um homem alegre. Sua simplicidade, sua humildade, sua fé, seu amor a Cristo, sua bondade com cada homem e cada mulher o tornaram alegre em toda situação. De fato, entre a santidade e a alegria subsiste uma relação íntima e indissolúvel. Um escritor francês disse que no mundo só existe uma tristeza: a de não ser santos, isto é, a de não estar perto de Deus. Vendo o testemunho de Francisco, compreendemos que este é o segredo da verdadeira felicidade: ser santos, estar perto de Deus!

Que Nossa Senhora, ternamente amada por Francisco, obtenha esse dom para nós. Confiamo-nos a Ela com as palavras do próprio Pobrezinho de Assis: “Ó Maria, Virgem Santíssima, não há outra semelhante, nascida neste mundo, entre as mulheres; filha e serva do Rei altíssimo, o Pai celeste. Mãe de Jesus Cristo, nosso Senhor; esposa do Espírito Santo, rogai por nós (...) junto ao vosso santíssimo e dilecto Filho, nosso Senhor e Mestre” (Francisco de Assis, Escritos).