Let us Dream: The path to a brighter future, by Francis, the pope

Author: Pope Francis. Review by Howard W Hilton

New Year encourages us to speculate on our future. In this book, Francis surveys the crises around us: the pandemic, the climate, and also the longstanding problems of inequality, of war and its casualties (think Yemen). Francis sees these in biblical terms, as a ‘sifting’, a time when our usual modes of thinking are given a good shaking, perhaps prior to rearrangement. It is a book for the comfort and discomfort of us all.

The author is eighty-four and has been ‘sifted’ more than once. A serious chest infection brought him close to death, when he realised we own nothing, and everything, including life, is a gift of the spirit. Later as a bishop in Cordoba, ‘sifting’ taught him to lead without harshness. Then, living in Germany and working on the ideas of Romano Guardini, he was ‘sifted’ through the pain of homesickness for his native Argentina.

Francis approaches the subject in Ignatian fashion. Part one looks honestly at the present situation; part two contemplates what is evident; part three suggests the action to be taken. In part one the author applauds the many heroisms of people caring for the afflicted, working sacrificially, even to the cost of their lives. In contrast he sees usurers trapping the poor with a burden of debt. What prevents us from seeing these contradictions? First is narcissism, the hyper inflation of individualism. People are so obsessed with the self that all that matters is how the situation affects them. Second is discouragement, so that people only see what they have lost, until it closes in on them and they can’t see anything beyond themselves. The third is pessimism, like a door you shut on a possible new future. To act against these habits, you have to commit to small, concrete, positive actions.

Part two concentrates on ‘discernment’ in the Quaker sense of the word – that process of waiting and seeking what the spirit is saying. Francis says ‘Ideas are debated, but discernment reveals reality’.

In part three he returns to the people, in all their extraordinary variety and capacity, telling the story of time spent with the cartoneros of Buenos Aires – children who collect cardboard to sell to recyclers. They are organised, and look after their members. There is a lengthy passage recognising the success that female political leaders have had in the Covid crisis, praising their leadership, people skills and practicality.

Francis lives his principles and says we need politicians who are at one with the people – remember this pope does not live in a Vatican palace but in a modest apartment. ‘Now is the time,’ he says, ‘for a new humanism that can harness this eruption of fraternity, to put an end to the globalisation of indifference… We need to feel again that we need each other.’ I commend the book to Friends.

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