From the brother of Assisi to the brother of Rome
I never wanted to be important, just the lesser brother of the smallest ones and of all the forgotten ones. But, due to circumstances of history, the day on which I passed from this mortal life to the full Life became an important date for many sisters and brothers of evangelical dreams.
My passing –which I wanted to consummate “naked in the naked earth”- took place on a day like today, the 3rd of October of 1226, almost 800 years ago, in that small cell made of branches and earth in the Porziuncola of Assisi, the place of my love and my dreams. On the following day I was buried in the church of St. George of Assisi, my earth fused with all the earth, sister and mother. What a relief! What a freedom! What fullness! Being one with the earth, the water and the air, with the skylarks, the birds and all the animals, one with all human beings, particularly with the last ones and all the unknown ones. One with God.
I was a dreamer since I was a child. I dreamed of another world in this world, with no lords and serfs, rich and poor, palaces and hovels, armies and wars and so much misery. Even before truly knowing Jesus and before believing the so-called truths of the Creed, I vaguely dreamed of another Church with no popes with armies and at war, with no powerful clergy, without ambition or wealth or monopoly of the truth.
Then, when I learned to see Jesus in that mysterious, crucified man full of peace and light in the half-light of Saint Damiano’s chapel –those sunsets of Assisi –, then everything clicked in the depths of my soul. I wanted to be like that Jesus. At times, I felt an irresistible rebellion and an invincible peace. I wanted to be a rebel and a pacifist. I wanted to be a brother to every one, even to the great lords, and to radically transform that torn world. And I gradually felt a strong impulse to reform that Church of lords of conscience and truth, allied with the lords of lands and commerce. But I decided not to dedicate myself to proclaim and to directly promote the unrenounceable reform of the Church, but to live the reform I dreamed of. That is why I did not want to be a cleric or a monk, but a pilgrim and fellow life companion of the poorest, like Jesus was. And everything told me that the transformation of the world and of the Church were inseparable.
Centuries have gone by, and I see with surprise that the world is even more torn than ever and threatened by imminent dangers never before suspected. And I see with sadness that the institution that presents itself as the Catholic Church of Jesus, in these very grave times, continues holding on to the past in its beliefs and institutions, dedicating all its energy to internal affairs, and limiting its projects of reformation to trivial superficial and cosmetic questions. That is why I take the liberty to address myself to my brother Francis of Rome, with respect and freedom, as the least of his brothers:
I wish you Peace and Good, brother Francis of Rome and of the Argentinian Pampa. Eight centuries ago, in my medieval Umbria, I addressed “lord the pope”, but the times have changed. Life takes us from transformation to transformation. Life is permanent novelty in its unspeakable Fountain and in all its visible forms. The original vital breath, which is also the universal Spirit of Pentecost, calls us to radically transform the institution of the Church to contribute with Jesus’ inspiration to the urgent transformation of the world.
I acknowledge, brother Francis of Rome, your efforts, your courage and generosity in the midst of so much political and episcopal resistance. Your voice resounds in all countries in favour of justice and peace, in favour of the lives of all impoverished, of the oppressed peoples of the community of the living without respite. And I bow to you. But, let me tell you, from Assisi to Rome, from brother to brother, from heart to heart, humbly and with freedom: I do not perceive the same clarity and determination in your program to reform the Roman-Catholic Church that you preside over. The three general synods that have been held, with all their lavishness and excessive waste, have not brought any substantive novelty, no decisive progress. And nothing indicates that the fourth one, “the synod of synodality” the last phase of which is inaugurated on the day of my passing to full freedom, will break with the main root of the Church’s evils: clericalism. Clericalism that relegates women, that represses the body and sexuality in general and homosexuality and gender differences in particular. Clericalism that translates into domination, abuse and aggression. Clericalism that divides and separates, clericalism that opposes the words of Jesus: “Let there be among you neither fathers nor masters nor lords, for you are all sisters and brothers”.
The Church will not be an inspired, healing and liberating presence in this world in serious danger as long as it does not eradicate from deep inside itself the root of clericalism linked to the ambition of power. And to eradicate that harmful root, it will not suffice to grant voice and vote in the synod to two or three women, nor to ordain as priests married men of proven virtue, nor to ordain deaconesses of second rank. It is necessary to abolish the very idea of “sacred order” with the papacy at its foundation, and the patriarchal ideology and the logic of the sacred power upon which it rests. And the image of God that supports it.
Brother Francis, let’s return to the way and the spirit of Jesus. Let’s return to the Fountain of all brotherhood-sisterhood. May Life bless you and give you peace.
Aizarna, October 3rd, 2023.
Translated by Mertxe de Renobales Scheifler.