Viganò: the first-hand account of Francis’ breakthrough

“Fedeltà è cambiamento. La svolta di Francesco raccontata da vicino” (“Faithfulness is transformation. The breakthrough of Francis narrated up-close”, trans.’s note.) It’s the title of the new book by Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, prefect of the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See, director of CTV (Vatican Television Centre). The book is a first-hand account of the decisions and events through which Francis – first Jesuit, South-American, Pope – is prompting major transformations inside the Church and throughout society at large.

 

Mons. Viganò, the title of your book – “Faithfulness is transformation” – seems to be an answer to the latest polemics…

“Indeed! And it’s the heart of Francis’ message: to be faithful to prompt transformation. It’s not a question of being faithful to personal projects or ideas. If that were the case we would have a Church formed by consortiums, alliances and power. And that’s the pathology denounced by the Pope: to turn the Church into an NGO or a Parliament. Instead, it consists in being faithful to the love of the Father. This faithfulness is transformation! This experience of mercy dissipates all fears of being in the midst of a crowd, with people, in the streets, to proclaim the Gospel”.

What is changing in the Church, and how? What is the design of the Pope?

“It seems to me that the idea of Pope Francis is not one of ordinary pragmatism, namely, to keep our feet rooted in the ground with our eyes turned to the skies. Instead, it consists in being men and women with our feet rooted in the skies, so our lives may be authentic witnesses to the love of the Father. In other words, it’s a perspective reversal: don’t ask God to bless our projects and our desires, but harmonize your heartbeats with those of God to understand what He asking of his Church today”.

A veritable U-turn, accompanied by powerful gestures and decisions. Can they be summed up in a few key-words?

“There is perhaps one word that encompasses them all, and that word is tenderness.

It’s the first gesture of a mother towards her son and it refers to a mother’s awe for the gift bestowed, protection for those who are weak, consolation for those who are sad and in pain, encouragement for those who are exhausted. It’s the maternal face of the Church”.

What can you tell us about Francis’ relationship with communication and with the media?

“We stand before a Pope who is not afraid of underlining the distance separating the cultural environment in which he grew up, the literary one, that has shaped the linear thought of argumentative and logical processes, and the so-called digital one which, since March 2013, characterises the life of his Papal ministry. Indeed, at the very beginning it was not easy to get accustomed to the constant presence of video-cameras filming and documenting every moment, each one of his gestures and meetings. But even here, little by little, he introduced his own style, that can be hard to interpret at first glance. Those who accuse him of making an instrumental use of communication are making no sense. The novelty introduced by Bergoglio has nothing to do with pragmatic strategies for captivating purposes, nor is it in any way related with strategies linked to actorial performances. In this regard, even an adamant anticlerical like Dario Fo has voiced his view. He said: ‘I have listened to him carefully. There is never a pretense. Everything he says and does flows through purely… and what he says has an extraordinary value in people’s memory and in their attention towards him’”.

Francis’ message is received with the same intensity as his image.

“People immediately realize that they are not standing before a façade. The image of Francis is so deeply infused with his personal history and with his personal relationship with God, that every single word he speaks is of great importance. This is evident in Sunday’s Angelus prayer: thousands of believers and non-believers gather even just for a few minutes, to listen to a word that bears the power of truth. In fact, as the Pope has recently said, you cannot speak of poverty and live like a pharaoh, which means: every spoken word epitomizes personal life. And he exemplifies the total compliance of his life with his words”.

As director of the CTV-network you have the privilege to experience “the live recording” of all the public and private events of the Pope. What are the distinctive traits of his communication?

“Bergoglio is a man who never renounces to bridge the distances in his relations with other people. Moreover, it’s not a question of role: rather than formal respect, which however is always present, it’s the quality of his relationships that is most dear to him. This emerges in every circumstance, public and private alike.

Closeness is the fundamental trait of his communication”

You were present in many Papal visits, how is all of this perceived throughout world countries?

“In each one of his visits I have been deeply touched by the hundreds, thousands of people standing on line, along the way, waiting for the Pope. They stand for hours, sometimes under the sun or under the pouring rain, and when the Holy Father arrives their emotion is overwhelming: couples embrace and are moved to tears, mothers kiss their children as a sign of joy that is renewed… Knowing that his glance has reached us is of great consolation, especially considering that Francis reminds us that we have to see the world through the eyes of the Lord. And that’s how he is.”

One last question on the Secretariat that you serve as a prefect. How is your work proceeding?

“We’re still in the initial stages. This focus of this commitment will sharpen with time, but one thing is clear: it is not a media coordination or makeup. Rather, it’s a global redefinition – as stated in the Motu Proprio establishing the Secretariat – of the information system of the Holy See”.