It was March 3 when I rang the doorbell at the Scorsese home in New York. It was a cold day but bright. It was 1 p.m. I was welcomed into the kitchen, like in a family. I was asked if I wanted a good cup of coffee. "Italiano," is added. I accept. I was cold. I arrived at the Scorsese home a bit early and had preferred to wait circling the block. The idea of a warm cup of...
The sage Qoheleth said: “There is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said ‘See; this is new?’ It has already been; in the ages before us” (Ecc1. 1:9-10). It is inevitable; however; that we all forget the events of the distant past, and then we find ourselves in situations which appear unusual; exceptional; and without parallel; their presumed abnormality becomes a source of anxiety. Among such surprising and unnerving events, we can include...
Inculturation and Reform Our reflection outlines how evanglization connects inculturation to reform of the Church and focuses on the Church in Asia. In the name of aggiornamento, critical areas are identified for inculturation in relation to religious dynamics in Asia. The proclamation of God’s historical revelation in Jesus Christ, its reception in faith and its growth in the ecclesial and personal lives of Christians takes place in a specific context. According to the words of St John Paul II, “evangelization...
One of the best known and most important figures in the Latin American Church of the last century, and in the universal Church as well, is Dom Hélder Câmara (1909-99), known above all for his actions and testimony as the archbishop of Recife. Long ostracized by his country’s military government due to being considered subversive, and recommended multiple times for the Nobel Peace Prize, without success, Dom Hélder was subsequently rehabilitated by the authorities of his country. His testimony became...
Emotions and reason in dialogue A previous article demonstrated how the relationship between reason and emotions (and by this term I refer to a complex world known by different names: passions; sentiments; affections) is not a simple one but, at the same time, cannot be conceived in terms of antithetical opposition.[1] Pleasure and moral good are only contrasting in a dualistic ethic, which comes with a high price.[2] In fact, in the perspective prior to modernity, the relationship passions/reason was...
The quality of mercy in The Merchant of Venice Shortly after proclaiming the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis referred to the famous words of the world’s great dramatist William Shakespeare on “the quality of mercy.” Those are the words Shakespeare puts into the mouth of the lady Portia, heroine of his comedy The Merchant of Venice. She is speaking to the Jewish money-lender Shylock in the climactic trial scene, at which the Jew seeks to take his legal revenge on...
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