Which God for a world in crisis? The choice of the next Pope

In the Church it is time for decisions. In the world we have returned to use and abuse the name of God. Religion is everywhere And, as was clear to the biblical prophets, power considers it indispensable to subjugate consciences. World leaders – Almost all – have returned to present themselves as new messiahs: they are looking for state clerics, national sanctuaries, collective rites. Today more than ever, The cardinals gathered in Conclave will find themselves in front of this dilemma: which God will he have to announce the new Pope? A powerful slice of humanity and a good part of the clergy – not only Catholic – likes the so -called “return of God”. But, in fact, which God? Like the great prophets, Francesco has dedicated all their energies, until the last day, to testify Divine disgust for hypocrisy and injustice. And announce that another world is possible. On the contrary: it has already started. Not the one dominated by corruption and avidity, but that of those who, even between great contrasts, choose the good instead of evil. Or, at least, continue to distinguish them. «The authentic humanity, which invites a new synthesis, seems to live in the midst of technological civilization, almost imperceptibly, like the fog that filters under a closed door. Will it be a permanent promise, despite everything, that blossoms like an obstinate resistance of what is authentic? ” (Laudato yes112). You have to look outside the buildings, away from the centers of power“Go out” to notice it. The direction, indeed the acceleration towards the disaster is not obliged. It is necessary to pay attention to what is born and resists, even where violence seems unleashed. The existential suburbs, the margins, are workshops of the new.

The biblical God does not fall asleep, but awakens consciousness. Here is the point. A hyper competitive world that puts us all against everyone should generate a great need for peace. The market has its anesthetics ready: religions that decorate the cry and calm down the soul, indicating it a distant paradise. It is the strategy with which the great robbers of the planet aim to keep their hands on the world. There is no shortage of religious ready to see their business in this. Died at Easter, Pope Francis whispers that already in the Gospels there are those who tried to defuse the resurrection. The Church has returned to being significantin recent years, because he has rediscovered the Gospel as a counter -anti, as another story, compared to what we listen and see every day. It is a non -violent revolutionwhich still overturns the powerful from the thrones, raises the humble, disarmed minds and hearts, generates fraternity: it exists, has already started, makes free instead of slaves. The new pope will find himself from the beginning struggling with the dilemma of the great inquisitor: Are humans really up to freedom? And he will have to choose between the sacred that he assumes and what he frees.

*Sergio Massironitheologian, director of international research to make theology from existential suburbs