Poverty is to recognize and keep what was received: THE SMALL STEPS OF LEO XIV FOR A CHRISTIAN THOUGHT ON POVERTY

We would like to see other concrete steps on the path to an interesting theological and pastoral poverty, eg, the dignity of worship and churches, something that the Seraphic Father Saint Francis cared a lot about and did not disdain to take something away from his own table to honor the house and the altar of the Lord by giving the right dignity.

- Church news -

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Cap.

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Indro Montanelli joked: «The Left loves the poor so much that every time it comes to power it increases their number», thus he wrote, referring to an ideological concept of poverty belonging to some political currents.

(The aphorisms of Indro Montanelli)

This great master of Italian journalism he knew people's lives and the history of Italy well and had noticed how some social champions do not protect and accompany poverty and the poor but use them, often creating protected reserves in which the terms "poor" and "poverty" are raised like a screen to cover one's own distortions of thought or illicit acts.

This danger of misrepresentation it does not belong only to the world of politics and society but is also present within faith, in which a condition such as that of poverty lends itself well to transmuting into something alienating from God and man. The history of Franciscanism, eg, he knows well the risk of an ideological use of poverty, in the name of which reforms were called for, revisions of lifestyles were called for, new foundations were dreamed of until the imposition of that violent and aggressive poverty which resulted in heresy. Alas, none of this brought the hoped-for results, if not those of dispersion and further division. The beauty of the purest Franciscanism - close not so much to the idea of ​​the founder but to that which Christ gave us - lies in freely choosing with joy the poverty of the Son of God without imposing it. Without dreaming of an ideological "poor Church for the poor" but enriching the Church and men with that essentiality of the only necessary that, despite being rich, he became poor for us to enrich us, precisely by virtue of his being the Eternal Present.

Then regarding the tendency to transmute the meaning of a value and its corresponding word in order to strike one's enemies, today this use is quite frequent. We can do the same thing with other words like love, rights, inclusion and synodality. It is not just a semantic or demagogic question but first of all that entirely human and pagan sin of pride of those who have the certain claim and certainty of being able to eliminate an objective evil regardless of God's intervention using the will united with agreements and compromises.. How not to remember, about that, that alleged Italian political movement that came from below which claimed to have finally abolished poverty by positioning itself as the paradigm of novelty in the political sphere. well, we all know the epilogue well, the movement was recycled and the poverty that was said to have been abolished magically reappeared.

We must have no illusions about poverty, we know this well from Jesus (cf.. MC 14,7), this is one of the many endemic stains of our sinful creatureliness that will accompany us on the earthly pilgrimage until the recapitulation of this world of ours, until He who is to come appears glorious and has put all enemies under his feet (cf.. Mt 11,2; 1 Color 15,21). The rest, Jesus himself during his public ministry did not eliminate material poverty and misery but taught how to help it and intervene in the face of the countless types of human poverty: of food, of health, of sense, of relationships, good, of God. His disciples, over the following centuries, despite sanctifying themselves within the different contexts of poverty, they have never managed to abolish it completely. And this must mean something, so that it does not appear as a victory of man but of God who subjugates everything in the Son. Jesus didn't just tell us that the poor are there and will always be there, he told us primarily that He exists and that we must necessarily start from this concrete presence of the Risen One in order to be able to carry forward a theological and pastoral thought that can also be opposed to poverty and that realizes today that already and not yet eschatological in which poverty, the suffering, sin and death will be definitively defeated.

Small steps that start from the Risen One and lead to meeting the Risen One, not ideological and revolutionary movements of human pride but strategies of hope. I believe we can all agree in this sense by seeing how Pope Leo.

The decision to return to live at the Apostolic Palace (you see WHO, WHO). This decision follows a concrete path of poverty and valorization of that residence which has traditionally been reserved for the Pontiff since 1870 until the 2013. It is certainly not only a concrete location within the Vatican City State but a continuing story and the certainty of a presence that faithful from all over the world have learned to know and love by observing that window open on Sunday morning and illuminated in the evening.: polar star that gives security and hope to the many sailors in the sea of ​​faith. A consoling presence that of the papal apartment, that back in 2005 caused all the Christian faithful to have their hearts sink on that evening 2 April when the light in the Pope's room went out, a sign of the completed East of Pope John Paul II.

The choice of Leo XIV to resume appearing on the balcony of the Apostolic Palace redesigns the life of the new Pontiff and ensures greater protection and intimacy, in accordance with its role as leader political and spiritual but above all because that habit of residing in Domus Sanctae Martha it was now becoming too cumbersome also in terms of costs. Inside a recently concluded pontificate which has based a good part of its media visibility on poverty and the "other" use of money, how to reconcile i 200 thousand euros per month necessary for the security of the Pontiff? As the Vatican correspondent de points out Time in one of his contributions on Sunday 25 May, the famous fifty square meters have expanded to occupy the entire second floor of the Domus (you see WHO). This with a huge structural adjustment that required costs in monetary terms that were perhaps not essential if the historic papal apartment had been maintained which will now necessarily have to be renovated after twelve years of non-use and with consequent additional expenses. To be respectful of the late Pontiff and his entourage management we cannot fail to notice a clear short circuit in all this or rather a regurgitation of that old Promethean temptation of those who want to abolish poverty only to end up falling into the opposite excess. Unfortunately, these things come at a double cost: first of all in a monetary sense and then as accusations ready to be hurled at the Church and its Vicar.

In addition to the large monthly sum of money to guarantee the necessary security for the person of the Pope, if you think about it carefully, there is more. The Domus overlooks Via Gregorio VII, in front of several buildings in Italian territory which could be potential locations from which to launch a terrorist offensive against the Holy Father. It is not specious to think that the Italian Government has long ago hurried - from 2013 to date — to thwart this not remote possibility, thinking about a well-structured security plan, perhaps by evacuating the affected buildings and placing specialized departments around the most sensitive areas with further waste of money? And all this in the name of what, perhaps poverty? As a Franciscan and as a parish priest who had to administer and continues to administer assets that were not his, I am sure that true poverty lies in the intelligent management of the things and structures that we already have. Knowing how to safeguard and keep things efficient, do not add unnecessary expenses but strengthen and improve existing ones: in short, start from the minimum necessary rather than the maximum allowed.

Another small step towards a path of poverty concrete was what we can define as the Conclave Bonus, that is, the sum of 500 euro given to Vatican employees which was suspended in 2013 on the occasion of Benedict XVI's act of renunciation and the election of Francis. An award that rewards the work of all employees of the Vatican City State for their further efforts in view of the Conclave and the election of the new Roman Pontiff. Five hundred euros isn't much, but they can make the difference within a family that can afford to face the following month with more serenity; but more than anything, what matters and is appreciated, it is the sensitive gesture in itself towards employees. Also in this case the poverty exercised consists in recognizing and rewarding those who work for the Pope and for the Church and who deserve to have a fair and dignified salary, because the food, medicines and various household utilities cannot be paid with i Our father.

In conclusion, we would like to see other concrete steps on the path to interesting theological and pastoral poverty, eg, the dignity of worship and churches, something that the Seraphic Father Saint Francis cared a lot about and did not disdain to take something away from his own table to honor the house and the altar of the Lord by giving the right dignity. We would like to witness an authentic caress of poverty towards the underprivileged who live around the colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica which, their goodness, they are still not able to use the toilets made available to them and make Via della Conciliazione with the immediate vicinity of real open-air Vespasians. Many things could actually be done, but we have the secret hope that the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIV already knows them, because the problem of ideological and shouted poverty consists in realizing the inevitable disasters that someone else will have to repair.

Sanluri, 7 June 2025

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