Do Not Be Afraid

Simone Riva - It is October 22, 1978. Out of St. Peter's Basilica, during the opening chant of the Mass, comes the procession with all the cardinals who had just participated in the conclave to elect the new Pope. At the end of the procession is he himself, the Successor of Peter “from a distant country.” His manner of gait is not the task of one more familiar with the sacristy than with life.

He does not have the contrived gestures of one who is concerned to be measured at all times. He does not hold the crosier as if it were an ornament, but a banner, an anchor, by which to be carried. The gestures are the genuine ones of one who knows well how much it matters to have only one face. The kisses on the head and hands given to his friend the primate of Poland Card. Stefan Wyszyski, the vigorous embrace in which he found himself held by Card. Joseph Ratzinger, the sudden descent into the midst of the people at the end of the celebration... Everything says that a man has arrived, one who is not afraid to present himself with the full force of his humanity.

Striking are the eyes, which seem to seek out all, one by one, those who have come to welcome the new Pope at the great Mass of the beginning of the pontificate. He scrutinizes, he searches, he smiles, he breaks the mold, until those words that will remain an indelible mark in history: “Do not be afraid! Open, indeed, open wide the doors to Christ! To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic systems as well as political ones, the vast fields of culture, civilization, development. Do not be afraid! Christ knows 'what is within man'. He alone knows! Today so often man does not know what he carries inside, deep in his soul, in his heart. So often he is uncertain of the meaning of his life on this earth. He is invaded by doubt that turns into despair.

Allow, then -- I beg you, I implore you with humility and with confidence -- allow Christ to speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes! Of eternal life.” On Oct. 22 of that year, man, and his heart, again became protagonists in the life of the Church.

They always have been, but on that day there is a different, happy, free air, and everyone is struck by that invitation. In the heart man carries something that only Christ knows. The first years are devoted to deepening all the consequences of that statement.

Catecheses on the theology of the body are born, for the first time in the history of the Church. John Paul II does not speak about man, but lives the human, and this allows him to use words and make gestures that touch on points never touched upon.

Words and gestures that, over the years, must give way to suffering and fatigue, but the impetus of the first day has always been in place more alive than ever. Those words of October 22, 1978, become ever more urgent.

In a time like ours, when it seems that even some in the Church are concentrating on figuring out who gets to decide what by doing the theory of procedures, the heart of man, laden with his needs, risks being the least of our problems.

Yet that is precisely where the decisive game is played, there where no logic of power holds, no ropes are effective, no slogan is able to break through.

Perhaps it is necessary, once again, “not to be afraid” because, what does not change in the heart, simply does not change.

The author has not revised the translations of his article.
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