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"Like few people of his time, Paul VI was
able to awaken in man the shiver of the mystery and the sense of
transcendence".
There is
no need of further attestations, once Cardinal Maria Martini, emeritus
archbishop of Milan, who governed the Chair of Ambrose after archbishop
Giovanni Colombo, has paid in writing this homage to the Brescian Pope
who guided the post-council Church during the turbulent years of the
youth protests. Paul VI has been the steersman of the Church, the one
who opened the way to international journeys, thus opening the Church to
the world.
The book
"Paolo VI, Maestro spirituale" (Paul VI, a spiritual Master),
written by don Patrice Mahieu and published by the Libreria Editrice
Vaticana, is dedicated to this Master of faith. We are now going to
reflect on this book together with don Giorgio Basadonna, a Milanese
priest who has known him well, and who is the author of numerous more
writings on the Pope of the artists. We have asked him to speak to us
about the aspect of Paul VI 's personality, which he loves to remember.
"Just his
capacity of being master. Not because he wants to be master, but
because, actually, his way of speaking, of presenting the mystery of
Jesus, of the Church and of the human life is truly masterly. One
listens to him willingly. We have a lot to learn from him. Pope Montini
is a true spiritual master because he introduces us to the mystery of
the Holy Spirit who acts within us. He is a master and a testimony,
besides being a Saint. He loved to say that people like and listen to
such masters as are credible witnesses of the Word that saves. Yes, from
this point of view, he has been and is a marvellous witness.
His encyclical, Ecclesiam suam, a
programmatic bill, the one that marks a change in the relation
Church-word, is now fifty years old. Yet, it is as actual as ever …
"Yes, he
wrote the mentioned document at the very start of his pontificate,
during the second phase of Vatican II, in which the Church acknowledged
herself as light of the nations. It is as Church that he opened himself
to the contemporary society in a concentric circles dialogue, in which
we are supposed to read the Christian world, the non-Christian and
non-believing world. The richness of the Church is offered to all men
indistinctly.
I would
say that we need to underline an aspect which is not secondary at all:
the encyclical was written wholly by the Pope, with his own hands. In
fact, we have a Photostat edition, where it is possible to see page by
page each of his meticulous corrections and additions. This also makes
it possible for us to understand the deep spirituality of this great
Brescian Pope who went on improving himself. Reading those lines is
truly moving".
Do you feel that Paul VI is really a
"forgotten Pope", according to the title of a documentary recently
dedicated to him by Rai Three, after twenty-six years from the
conclusion of Pope Montini' s earthly parable?
"I
would say that he is neglected, more than forgotten. It has happened
what happens to our human journey. When a man disappears, his memory
becomes dimmer and dimmer until it fades away. Then, gradually it
emerges again. This is exactly what has happened to the Pope. I think
that his memory is going through a new season of light. I hope he will
be beatified soon.
Apart
from this, I have noticed, both in the Christian and non-Christian
world, a general interest for the words of Paul VI, so very full of
humanity and rich in wisdom. His figure stands out after years. I have
had the chance of speaking with many persons who have followed the
transmission of Rai Three and, among them, people whom I would never
have imagined to be so attentive and curious in watching the TV
programme on the Pontiff. This I have liked very much because it has led
many persons to appreciate a Pastor like Paul VI. Especially now. He
was very much different from the actual Pope also because of the
different historical context. He worked courageously in his time. We
understand this today because of the troubled times we are living in.
The more time passes by, the more the true persons emerge and become
light for all of us".
You have mentioned Pope Vojtyla who was
made Cardinal by Pope Montini. We know that there wouldn't have been a
Polish Pope without the one come from Concesio …
"He
himself says that Giovanni Battista Montini has been his master. In the
cover of the book published by Lev, we read this sentence, "This man
understands man because he looks at him with the eyes of Christ". We see
suffering, expectation and joy in his eyes. They are two very different
Popes, but the present one knows how much he owes to his predecessor.
Often he says to be inspired by Montini in his action, even if he is
different because of his charism and of the Church's historical moment.
He knows very well that the door of his very many journeys was opened
by Paul VI. He started them with the pilgrimage to the Holy Land".
We read in the book that "Paul VI has been
the man of nights, the sentinel who announces the dawn". Do you share
this statement?
"Certainly, I do. Even today the world is wrapped in the darkness of
night, though the present nights are different from those of Paul VI.
He was the sentinel who kept vigil and scrutinised the panorama in
search of a sign of hope, always ready to encourage the confused and
dubious humanity. We can't forget that Paul VI was challenged by a
period of protests, with the '68 and its boom of newness. He faced it
with the deepest caution, together with suffering and hope. How often he
invited us to read the signs of the times. He saw in them
something good for which it was worthwhile to go ahead. His faith made
it possible for him to infuse in us a sense of trust and of hope. It
was a step made by him in a time historically difficult and full of
great suffering, even within the Church, because of particularly painful
situations. Yet his hope and his certainty in steering the Boat of Peter
never wavered. He went on serenely and trustfully, though with fatigue.
Paul VI, the Pope of the
Holy Spirit: nobody has ever spoken of Him as much as he did …
It's
true. This often recurs in his prayers and in his homilies. The
Morcelliana has published a collection of prayers dedicated to the Holy
Spirit, in which he often invokes the Holy Spirit and invites the
believer to do the same, to open himself to the Spirit of Christ, the
only one capable of granting the strength to intuit Christ".
His was, above all, a Christ-centred
papacy.
"Yes,
listening to him when he spoke of Jesus was an ineffable emotion. His
voice was moving and exalting. His sermons, like the one he made in
Manila on the occasion of a journey, are the concrete expression of a
man full of enthusiasm, in love with Christ, capable of attracting all
men to the love of Christ".
The way he spoke to everyone and his contagious joy are
two little explored characteristics
of this Pope who is described as a tormented
man. His apostolic exhortation to joy is an unforgettable luminous
example of them ...
" In a
historical uneasy moment, like the 1975, it was not possible for a
Christian not to suffer: it is the cross of the resurrection. It is
right to say that Pope Paul VI has suffered, mainly before the world.
His greatness is to be found also in this. At the conclusion of the Holy
Year he invited us to build the civilisation of love : this is a
sign of hope and trust in the future. It is our duty and the duty of
every Christian to commit ourselves to the building of a better world.
This is an expression very much used by the actual Pope".
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