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Pope Francis\u2019s bookish side emerged Sunday, after the Vatican published a letter in which the pontiff encouraged young priests to read \u2014 while revealing that he himself likes the great tragedies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we speak to the hearts of men and women if we ignore, set aside or fail to appreciate the \u2018stories\u2019 by which they sought to express and lay bare the drama of their lived experience in novels and poems,\u201d asked the pontiff in his July 17 letter to priests-to-be, published by the Vatican on Sunday in eight languages.<\/p>\n
In the lengthy text \u2014 peppered with references to literary greats like C.S. Lewis, Marcel Proust, T. S. Eliot and fellow Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges \u00a0\u2014 Francis argued that reading was \u201cpart of one\u2019s path to personal maturity\u201d and therefore crucial not just for those joining the priesthood but all Christians in general.<\/p>\n
Noting that Paul the Apostle was a reader, Francis plugged for time spent reading, noting that a good book can \u201c(keep) us from other choices that are less wholesome\u201d and open up minds \u201ctrapped by a few obsessive thoughts\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind,\u201d wrote the 87-year-old Argentine Jesuit.<\/p>\n
The pope \u2014 whose tastes also run to jazz and soccer \u2014 has sometimes dropped clues as to his preferred reading lists.<\/p>\n
He has mentioned Dostoevsky as a favourite author and confessed to having read Italy\u2019s seminal 1827 novel \u201cThe Betrothed\u201d, three times, calling author Alessandro Manzoni the champion of \u201cvictims and those who come in last\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a speech about artificial intelligence to the G7 in June, Francis cited Robert Hugh Benson\u2019s 1907 dystopian novel \u201cLord of the World\u201d: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to read it, it\u2019s interesting,\u201d he told the Group of Seven leaders.<\/p>\n
In his letter to young priests, Francis pointed out that reading \u2014 which he noted requires greater personal engagement than watching films or television \u2014 improves one\u2019s vocabulary, develops intellectual capacity and reduces stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n
He said he regretted that literature was considered non-essential in the training of priests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe desperately need to counterbalance this inevitable temptation to a frenetic and uncritical lifestyle by stepping back, slowing down, taking time to look and listen. This can happen when a person simply stops to read a book,\u201d wrote the pope.<\/p>\n
In a personal aside, Francis recalled teaching high school literature at a Jesuit school at the age of 28, encountering resistance from students who did not want to read certain selections.<\/p>\n
Arguing that even difficult or boring texts had value, the pope said people should approach reading with \u201can open mind\u201d and \u201ca willingness to be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI, for my part, love the tragedians, because we can all embrace their works as our own, as expressions of our own personal drama,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn weeping for the fate of their characters, we are essentially weeping for ourselves, for our own emptiness, shortcomings and loneliness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeing life through the eyes of others through literature leads to greater perspective and greater humanity as readers step out of their own lives to enter that of others, Francis wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are caught up in the lives of the fruit seller, the prostitute, the orphaned child, the bricklayer\u2019s wife, the old crone who still believes she will someday find her prince charming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Immersing oneself in the thoughts and fears of characters facing daunting challenges has hidden benefits, wrote Francis.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps too, in following a story to the end, we gain insights that will later prove helpful in our own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n