Communicating with Silence: Pope Francis's Lesson to the Wordspeople of Nothing

COMMUNICATE WITH SILENCE –

Pope Francis 's trip to Poland, and in particular to Auschwitz-Birkenau for the opening of the XXXI World Youth Day, is still fresh in the news, but it has already gone down in history . For the intensity, the uniqueness, and the grandeur of a Pontiff who manages to surprise with every detail of his pastoral mission.

In Krakow, before a huge crowd of young people, in both public speeches and Masses, Pope Francis spoke, and not a little, with his own tone, almost a constant challenge to his interlocutor. He addressed young people with strong words, urging them not to waste their lives, but rather to strive to "change the world ," where the virus of injustice is growing visibly across the planet.

With scathing, yet sincere and authentic, words, Pope Francis urged young people to "play as starters, not as reserves," to not imagine that "happiness is on a sofa," to never give up, even in the face of the mystery of God, whom we do not know, with the elements of rationality, where one truly faces evil. The Evil of yesterday, the absolute and unrepeatable Evil of the extermination of the Jews, like the Evil of today, an Evil still mysterious in its scope, fueled by Islamist terrorism (a war, not a religion, but a war nonetheless).

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WHAT SILENCE COMMUNICATES –

After the words, Pope Francis's pastoral visit was marked by a moment of silence . Or rather, a silence that, in its mysticism, its essential spirituality, is worth more, much more, than any verbal message . I saw images of the Pontiff during his visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, thanks to the excellent footage broadcast by TV2000, the television station of the Italian Bishops' Conference. I confess that I was moved, and even more so, troubled. One cannot remain indifferent to a Pope who advances into the epicenter of horror, almost dragging his body, with a lost gaze, a sign of desolation and horror, staggering under the blows of something that, after so much time, still retains its dimension of pain and inexplicable tragedy . A Pope who chooses silence, only silence and nothing but silence, to communicate his message to all of us, especially young people, the depth of which in this case lies entirely in the gesture, and in the absolute absence of any noise.

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SILENCE AS A FORM OF COMMUNICATION –

Looking at him, I was reminded of the words of a Benedictine monk , one of the most spiritually and humanly intense figures I've ever met, Don Bernardino Cozzarini, when I asked him to explain, for my book Non sprecare (Do Not Waste ), the value of silence, as opposed to the abuse of words (pure waste) and windbags . Listen to part of this explanation: "We all need silence to discover the other, whether human or divine. It's a necessary language. When two people truly love each other, they can convey their love even just by looking into each other's eyes, bringing their faces close. They don't speak. But that mysterious communication, made precisely of glances, generates life, a desire to be together, to share a part of the journey. With the divine, it's the same thing." Pope Francis, with his silence in the face of the most inhuman horror, has done nothing other than seek and pursue authentic love, made of forgiveness, mercy, sharing, respect, and above all the ability to recognize others . And never, for any reason, harm them.

( Cover image source: Ansa )

TO KNOW MORE: The monk who teaches the value of silence in the book Don't waste