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Theology e-weekly

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Pope speaks through

metaphors...
Dear Fathers & Brothers,

Metaphors
communication

and
tools

analogies
because

they

are
create

excellent
mental

pictures. These rhetorical devices help make abstract ideas easier

to grasp and relate to.
Pope Francis is in the third year of his pontificate. His ability
to embody the ideals he upholds through his many symbolic
actions continues to endear him to millions. He has brought to
the papacy another revolutionary element: his masterful use of
metaphor.

Francis has the gift of imaginative rationality. It

helps the ordinary people understand abstract &
theological realities in the language of their own life
context.

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One of the more remarkable aspects of

Francis pontificate has been his rhetorical
style.

Metaphors Pope Francis Live by

Pope Francis knows it will take time for people to discover
and read the document, but as a skilled communicator who has

All of
Francis'
metaphors
are
immediatel
y sensory.

They are
universal,
visual,
auditory,

studied the art of persuasion as a Jesuit scholar, he knows how

to make complex subjects simple to understand. Pope Francis
is a master of metaphor and analogy.
Francis analogy on earth (The earth, our home, is
beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth)
was re-tweeted 30,000 times, repeated in more than 430,000
articles.
Recent

Popes

seldom
spontaneously

spoke
in

public. But Francis is

different.

These

spontaneous speeches

olfactory,

are the most important

gustatory,

reasons for the richly

and
emotional.

communicative aspect
of his pontificate.
Archbishop Celli, head of the Vaticans Social
Communication says that Francis uses images to communicate
concepts that people can perceive immediately. Francis
is helping us to rediscover that communication is not
only an intellectual problem.

Pope has always been extremely attentive to the

content and manner of their verbal delivery.

A metaphor, from Greek metaphora is a

Page - 03

transfer of the sense of one word to a

different word.

His thinking
through
metaphors
has added
great
visual and

Analyzing Metaphors
The mind is inherently embodied and metaphors
are but articulations of embodied thoughts. If we have to
be meaningful and relevant in our communication, our thinking
process has to move from our embodied experiences to abstract
concepts and back. This is called metaphorical reasoning
or imaginative rationality.

earthly
appeal to

Conventional Metaphors and New Metaphors

church

Conventional are those we know well and new metaphors

are outside our conventional conceptual system and are
imaginative and creative. They are to provoke us to think,
think differently which can often lead to personal and
social change.

teaching.
One does
have to be
a catholic
to
understand

his words.

Metaphors for change

Pope Francis exhibits a remarkable capacity for
breathing new life into old metaphors and a
fresh perspective that challenges people to think and
behave in harmony with the radical message of the
gospel.
When one analyses Francis use of key-metaphors, one
observes how he pursues their meaning to bring about
transformation of the mind-sets.

A journey through Francis ...

Page - 04

1. Charitable NGO
We can walk as much as we want, we can
build many things, but if we do not profess
Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We may become
a charitable NGO, but not the Church.

2. Odor of sheep
This I ask you: Be shepherds, with
the odor of the sheep, make it real, as
shepherds among your flock, fishers of
men.

3. Rosewater faith
Unfortunately, efforts have often
been

made

to

blur

faith

in

the

Resurrection of Jesus and doubts have

crept in, even among believers. It is a
little like that rosewater faith, as we
say; it is not a strong faith.

4. Middle class of holiness

In Gods plan, every detail is
important, even yours, even my humble
little witness, who live their faith with
simplicity in family , in work places. They
are the saints of every day, the hidden
saints, a sort of middle class of holiness
to which we can all belong.

Page - 05
5. Babysitter Church

When

we

announce

Jesus,

the

Church

becomes a mother that bears children . . . But

when we dont do it, the Church becomes not a
mother but a babysitter church, which takes
care of the child to put him to sleep.

6. Satellite Christians
[Some Christians] are not rooted in the
Church, do not walk in Gods presence, they do not
have the comfort of the Holy Spirit, do not build up
the Church. They are, so to speak-satellites, who
have a small tailor-made church, in their own
measure.

7. Identity card Christianity

Christian identity is not an identity card.
Christian identity means being a member of
the Church, since all these people belonged to
the Church, to Mother Church, for apart from
the Church it is not possible to find Jesus.

8. Teenagers for life

Dears , how hard it is, in our time, to
make

the

ultimate

decisions!

The

temporary seduces us. We are victims of a

trend that pushes us to the temporary . . .
as if we wanted to stay teenagers for life!

Page - 06

The metaphor was once dead and now Pope

springs to life and makes us think again.

The Verbal Revolution

His most striking metaphor is: Church as a field hospital after battle. It
is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about
the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal the wounds.

It is also a metaphor that is particularly attractive to non church going Catholics.

This Church is the home for all, not a small chapel, must not reduce the
bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity. Church is
the mother she is fruitful.

The Church is a home for everyone, contrasts with the conventional metaphor,
the Church is a building.

About Potential bishops: They should not have psychology of princes.

The time for airport bishops seems to have ended.

Block those metaphors,

says critics
Criticized his use of metaphors for
inadvertently reinforcing stereotypes
that offend the society.
1) to women;
Europe which is now a grandmother, is no longer fertile and vibrant.
2) to women religious; their vow of chastity had to be fertile because the
consecrated are mothers; they must be mothers not spinsters.
3) to married couples; we all know the perfect family does nor exist , perfect
husband & perfect wives does not exist . Lets us not even talk about perfect
mothers in law.

Page - 07

Metaphor is imaginative rationality and

there is no doubt that.

Interpreting Parables
People who
take them
literally tend
to lose sight
of their
symbolic
value. Literal

When Jesus created this metaphor people were

accustomed to pasturing flock or witnessing sheep grazing,
but now people are deprived of the experiential
richness of the rural metaphor. We have become
accustomed without experiencing. The once vibrantly alive
metaphor was reduced to, what may be called, a dead
metaphor.
The metaphor was once dead and now Pope
springs to life and makes us think again.

interpretation

ignore the
proper
understanding

of the
structure of
a metaphor.
His metaphors are a wakeup call to get more pastoral;
to listen to people. To open doors, to touch peripheries, to
go extra miles, to work for peace and justice with poor and
outcaste. Let us reinvent the metaphors...

We have one sheep. We have lost the other

99! We must go out and find the other 99? It is
easier to stay at home with one sheep combing
its fleece. We are not a hairdresser for sheep.