EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON WHAT THE CHURCH WILL KNOW TO SAY

Franco Pisano

Head of ANSA news service in the Vatican

The Jubilee without a doubt provides an occasion to speak of religion, and therefore also of the destiny of man. That means not only taking up theological, pastoral and liturgical themes, but also the roots of arguments, like peace, gratuitousness, the relationship between earthly goods, justice, equity, and charity. They are all integral parts of the Jubilee theme, and evidently give the possibility of a "high" reflection. This possibility actually already exists in this triennial of preparation, but an examination, even rapid, of that which is happening in 1997 induces one to look with a certain pessimism on the concrete probability of a leap in the quality of information.

Up till now the Jubilee has been spoken of in terms prevalently regarding works to be accomplished, of the millions of pilgrims to be hosted, and therefore of business, of the greater or lesser inconvenience it will mean for Rome. The continuous search for the sensational or the curious, not to mention the scandalous, which characterize the information of this period make one fear a vision of the Jubilee event played mostly in these chords.

In a consumeristic culture which is stimulated by the "how much" (how much St. Peter's Basilica weighs, or how many millions of people will participate in the Jubilee, or how many bricks were needed to build the Colosseum) it is and it will be very difficult to propose a reflection on the "why".

But this is a worry, not a prophecy. The failure of this fear to be realized depends in good part on what (and on how) the Church will know to say about an event which doubtless has in itself the risks of triumphalism. It might help underlining, also considering the millennarianistic component with every probability present in reality and therefore in information in the months which divide us from the event, the personal meaning, beyond that of the community and therefore social meaning of the Jubilee; a theological debate on salvation, even a didactic explanation of the apocalypse could be helpful...

These are the things which made up the climate of the Council: people took up discussions with passion, but which touched them personally: how would the Mass be changed; what could one expect from priests or religious; what could be asked of the means of social communication.

Certainly the times were different. There were fewer banalities and one did not seek to resolve the deep questions by asking the opinions of singers and television stars. In that sense that climate is unrepeatable. But the passion for certain themes is proper to human nature, and therefore the possibility to recreate interest in them, at least in part, still exists. And this is the true challenge which awaits us.