austraLasia #3205
ROME: 15 March 2013 -- Will it rank as the very first gesture that the new Pope Francis has given the Salesian Family? Perhaps not consciously, but the first appearance on the balcony and the words that followed, had all the hallmarks of the Good Night as we believe it should be in Salesian tradition.
It went a little beyond three minutes, of course, but then, what Good Night doesn't? And in fact it began with a surprising 'Buona sera!' on a still wintry Roman night (minus the rain at that point, mercifully) but with a smile and a lift in the voice that left the 'audience' in hopeful expectation. Other than the fact that the 'expected' trappings were missing (he wore white, of course, but did you note the cross? The Good Shepherd, on what looked like bronze; certainly not gold), not even a warm ermine-lined covering that might have been understandable on a chilly eve.
No, it was the words and the simple gestures that were the hallmarks of the Good Night as we know it. Did you hear that ''farmi un favore', do me a favour, that Don Bosco so often asked his boys of an evening? And they all knew what ws to come, a request for prayer. And so it was, but this time a 'Bishop' (the word 'pope' never got mentioned once) asking the people to pray for him before extending his own blessing upon them - and that deep bow before God, certainly, but it wasn't lost on those in front that he was also bowing before them.
He used the language of the people - Italian, there and then, but the symbols spoke to everyone, including the simple prayer. His catechesis has begun with a simple Our Father, Hail Mary and a Glory be which, BTW, threw a number of TV commentators into panic as they tried - but failed - to translate them literally. But his Italian was clear enough, despite the Spanish accent.
The contents were 'programmatic', as the Rector Major has already indicated, but they didn't lose the style of the Good Night, either: evangelisation, fellowship (fratellanza), love, but it wasn't all just a flow of words. There was silence too, silence which was not looking for words or even the right word. Silence that spoke.
And then the almost casual (after taking back the microphone, to the consternation of the one who thought it was all finished with) "Thanks a lot for the welcome. Pray for me - we'll see each other soon. Tomorrow I'm going to pray to the Madonna to look after Rome". It was like he will be asking her "to look after our home", and as if to reinforce that, like a paterfamilias: "I must say goodbye now. Good night, and sleep well".
It went down well, including with the also respected and loved President of the Republic, who has already said his own goodbyes to the nation before going into retirement: "I was thrilled and struck by the simplicity of his words spoken in our language and that of his Piedmontese family of origin".
Not a conscious 'Don Bosco' Good Night? No, but as a fellow 'astigiano', close enough!
A Papal Good Night
It went a little beyond three minutes, of course, but then, what Good Night doesn't? And in fact it began with a surprising 'Buona sera!' on a still wintry Roman night (minus the rain at that point, mercifully) but with a smile and a lift in the voice that left the 'audience' in hopeful expectation. Other than the fact that the 'expected' trappings were missing (he wore white, of course, but did you note the cross? The Good Shepherd, on what looked like bronze; certainly not gold), not even a warm ermine-lined covering that might have been understandable on a chilly eve.
No, it was the words and the simple gestures that were the hallmarks of the Good Night as we know it. Did you hear that ''farmi un favore', do me a favour, that Don Bosco so often asked his boys of an evening? And they all knew what ws to come, a request for prayer. And so it was, but this time a 'Bishop' (the word 'pope' never got mentioned once) asking the people to pray for him before extending his own blessing upon them - and that deep bow before God, certainly, but it wasn't lost on those in front that he was also bowing before them.
He used the language of the people - Italian, there and then, but the symbols spoke to everyone, including the simple prayer. His catechesis has begun with a simple Our Father, Hail Mary and a Glory be which, BTW, threw a number of TV commentators into panic as they tried - but failed - to translate them literally. But his Italian was clear enough, despite the Spanish accent.
The contents were 'programmatic', as the Rector Major has already indicated, but they didn't lose the style of the Good Night, either: evangelisation, fellowship (fratellanza), love, but it wasn't all just a flow of words. There was silence too, silence which was not looking for words or even the right word. Silence that spoke.
And then the almost casual (after taking back the microphone, to the consternation of the one who thought it was all finished with) "Thanks a lot for the welcome. Pray for me - we'll see each other soon. Tomorrow I'm going to pray to the Madonna to look after Rome". It was like he will be asking her "to look after our home", and as if to reinforce that, like a paterfamilias: "I must say goodbye now. Good night, and sleep well".
It went down well, including with the also respected and loved President of the Republic, who has already said his own goodbyes to the nation before going into retirement: "I was thrilled and struck by the simplicity of his words spoken in our language and that of his Piedmontese family of origin".
Not a conscious 'Don Bosco' Good Night? No, but as a fellow 'astigiano', close enough!
