WorldcrunchVito Mancuso, lay theologian and philosopher, has taught at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, the University of Padua, and is currently a professor of the Master in Meditation and Neuroscience at the University of Udine. He founded and directs the «Laboratorio di Etica» at the MAst in Bologna. He is the author of numerous essays that have attracted considerable public attention on topics such as the philosophy of Kant (Destination Hope) and Hegel (Hegel the Theologian), illness and pain (Innocent Pain), faith (Refoundation of Faith), the nature of God (God and His Destiny). He is an editorialist for the daily newspaper “La Stampa”.
Prophecy necessarily destabilizes, disturbs, disrupts, subverts. And precisely because he was a prophet, Pope Francis at times appeared to clearly be unsuitable for the role of Supreme Pontiff, which requires prudence, diplomacy, patience, moderation. Yet nobody can doubt his faith, or his commitment to speak before God on behalf of the world.
By most accounts, Pope Francis was close to death in his recent illness, before recovering. He said the experience was “brutto” bad. Just what did he mean by that? Should death be faced with obedience or resistance? Should we cling to life or welcome what comes next? Reflections from an Italian theologian.