Farewell Letter
"I began writing for the journal in 1993 – 30 years ago – when St. John Paul II was pope," says Antonio Spadaro
Antonio Spadaro SJ, (Photo: La Civiltà Cattolica)
By Antonio Spadaro SJ, La Civiltà Cattolica
Published: September 14, 2023 12:16 PM GMT
“This is not a pipe (Ceci n’est pas une pipe).” In his famous 1929 painting depicting a pipe, Magritte inscribed these words in a simple, cursive font.
The great Surrealist painter was sending the viewer a message as surprising as it is obvious: representation is not the object that represents.
The same can be said of the journal you are now reading. Civiltà Cattolica is not an object, that is, it is not to be identified with its paper or digital medium. Indeed, Pope Francis has been more radical, calling it, rather than a journal, “a true spiritual, communal and intellectual experience.”
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Civiltà Cattolica embodies, in fact, a vision of the world, of culture, of politics, of the tensions of life.
It is, therefore, an interpretation, a way of seeing things, which is expressed in print and on the web, but also in all the communication and relationships it is able to generate, embracing social debates, journalistic reflections, academic essays, emotional or rational reactions, whether polemical or supportive.
It is generated by a community of Jesuits and, therefore, by a shared spiritual experience.
* * *
Dear Readers,
After 25 years spent in continuous service to this journal, 12 of which as editor, the time has come for me to thank you, and to pass the baton to my successor, Fr. Nuno da Silva Gonçalves, SJ, formerly rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
To him go my best wishes as he takes up the task. I leave with enormous gratitude for this experience during an extremely complex and eventful time for the life of the world and the Catholic Church.
Read the complete article here.
This article is brought to you by UCA News in association with "La Civiltà Cattolica."