ROME – During the celebration of Dante Aligheri’s 750th birthday in 2015, Pope Francis invited Catholics from around the world to read The divine Comedy, one of the most important works of Western and Christian civilization.
For those who find the task of reading this medieval poem frightening, the Argentine pontiff is launching an apostolic letter called Candor Lucis Aeternae, to score the 700º anniversary of the death of the Italian poet.
Although the press office of the Holy See has not confirmed it, Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has been hinting for more than a month that he will leave on Thursday, March 25, the day Dante supposedly started writing The divine Comedy.
On October 10, Francis had said that he was preparing “a broader reflection” on Dante when addressing a delegation from the Italian archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia, where Dante died in 1321.
“It may seem, at times, that these seven centuries have opened an insurmountable distance between us, men and women of the postmodern and secularized era, and he, the extraordinary exponent of a golden age of European civilization,” said Francisco in A Hora . “And yet, something tells us that it is not the case.”
“Teenagers, for example – even those of today – if they have the opportunity to find Dante’s poetry in a way that is accessible to them, they find, on the one hand, inevitably a great distance from the author and his world, and yet, on the other hand, they perceive a surprising resonance. “
The divine Comedy
The Italian poet Alessandro Rivali, editor of the Italian publisher Ares, said that Dante’s masterpiece was a work “that wants to lead man to God. The divine Comedy it’s a great travel project. “
Divided into three parts – Hell (Hell), Purgatory (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Heaven) – Rivali argued that Dante had many reasons to write The divine Comedy, but the main thing was “to return man to the original design of God, that is, away from sin and towards happiness.”
“The divine Comedy it is a kind of great encyclopedia in which he put everything that was known about man until then ”, said Rivali. Crucial point. “He was a remarkable man, an outstanding player not only from a poetic point of view, but also from a philosophical and theological point of view. In Florence he studied with the Franciscans and the Dominicans, so he was completely out of the ordinary. ”
Dante influenced much of the poetry produced for centuries after him, and he himself was inspired by those who preceded him, in particular Virgílio, which Rivali defines as “his master and a very current figure”.
At the The divine Comedy, Virgílio holds Dante’s hand in both Hell and Purgatory: “It is a very interesting metaphor for our time that does not recognize teachers, presents this war between generations and hatred for the past.”
“In today’s life, what is missing are teachers, people with patience and generosity to give themselves to the youngest, at a time marked by individualism”, Rivali, who recently published his latest poetry book, The Land of Cain.
In addition to being a book that also speaks this time, the 300-page book Divine Comedy also resonates with the present pontificate: The second part, Purgatoryit has everything to do with mercy, something that Pope Francis particularly emphasizes.
Dante and the Popes
Although often labeled a “pope of the first”, Francis Candor Lucis Aeternae it is not the first reflection of a pontiff on the poet: Benedict XV published the encyclical entitled In Praeclara Sumorum (“Among the many celebrated geniuses”) in 1921, which was dedicated to the memory of Dante and written on the occasion of the sixth centenary of his death. Pope São Paulo VI also wrote an apostolic letter in 1965, Altissimi Cantus, to mark the seventh centenary of his birth.
“One might ask why the Catholic Church, by the will and work of its visible leader, takes it seriously to celebrate the Florentine poet’s memory and to honor him,” wrote Paul VI. “The answer is easy and immediate: Dante Alighieri is ours for a special right: Ours, that is, of the Catholic religion, because everything breathes love for Christ; ours, because he loved the Church so much, of which he sang honors; ours, because he recognized and venerated the Vicar of Christ on earth in the Roman Pontiff ”.
In 2015, before the inauguration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, Francis said that Dante “is a prophet of hope, herald of the possibility of redemption, liberation and profound transformation of every man and woman, of all humanity”.
Both of Francisco’s more recent predecessors also praised the poet.
In a reading of The divine Comedy in 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II observed that “almost seven centuries later, Dante’s art evokes high emotions and the greatest convictions, and still shows itself capable of instilling courage and hope, guiding contemporary man’s difficult existential search for Truth who knows no scenery. “
Benedict XVI also expressed great admiration for the poet, and when he was still a priest and wrote his famous book Introduction to Christianity in 1968, he uses The divine Comedy to explain the “Christianity scandal”.
Follow Inés San Martín on Twitter: @inesanma
