Pope Leo XIV meets with writers from around the world to mark the 100th anniversary of the Vatican Publishing House (LEV), reminding authors that writing is an act of humanity, truth, and the search for God.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“We need you. We need your imagination, your narrative creativity, and your lively thinking. We need these to create spaces of freedom and authenticity, within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound.”
This is the encouragement Pope Leo XIV expressed on Wednesday to writers from many parts of the world, who have gathered in Rome to mark the centennial of the founding of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican Publishing House, which was established in 1926.
Writing, he noted, is a form of human expression in which a variety of styles and languages serve as teachers and as role models.
Writing is an act of truth and revelation
First, he said, writing is an act of truth, of revelation, for it reveals who we are, what we believe and hope for, the world we strive toward, and the future of which we dream.
“In this pursuit of truth, we sense that truth is subtle, revealing itself to us in our inner dialogue with God and in our open and respectful dialogue with our neighbors,” he said, warning that “we are never masters of the truth; if anything, it is the truth that ‘conquers’ us.”
The Pope said he hopes writers will inspire others to be drawn to the truth, because they themselves are drawn to it.
Writing is an act of humanity
Second, he stated, writing is an act of humanity, observing that literature encompasses the full spectrum of human experience, gaining a breadth of perspective that broadens our humanity.
“We develop an imaginative empathy that enables us to identify with how others see, experience, and respond to reality,” he said. “Without such empathy, there can be no solidarity, sharing, compassion, or mercy.”
The Pope observed that when they write stories and develop their characters, readers identify with them, grasping their points of view, emotions, feelings, and attitudes.
The Pope called reading “the great training ground of humanity that you allow your readers to experience, because, in a sense, readers ‘live’ many lives in addition to their own.”
It also helps us to discover different perspectives, to avoid treating our own views as absolute, and to piece together, as in a mosaic, the outline of that truth, which always transcends us.
Writing concerns God
Finally, Pope Leo underscored, writing concerns God.
“It may seem a bold claim to make,” he recognized, “but several theologians have reflected on and written about the harmony between the art of writing and the revelation of the biblical God. It is the very structure of Revelation that gives us the authority to do so.”
The Pope quoted Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe who wrote, “For Christians, nothing human is alien to Christ. Every attempt to grapple with the fundamental questions of our lives — how to love, how to be just, how to be free, how to face suffering and death — helps us to understand Christ, the one who is most human of all.”
God reveals Himself in the midst of very human stories
“When we delve into the very depths of our humanity, Pope Leo insisted, “we are not far from God; for there, in the midst of very human stories, God reveals Himself.”
“The God of the Bible,” Pope Leo continued, “manifests Himself in liberation from slavery, in the birth of a son when all hope seemed lost and in merciful and faithful love,” and “speaks through events and encounters, faces and stories.”
“God,” the Pope reminded the writers, “works in our lives through what we do and who we are and through the many people we meet.”
The Holy Father acknowledged that is why he wished to repeat the words that Pope Saint Paul VI addressed to all artists, namely, “We need you.”
Pope Leo concluded by thanking writers for their efforts to sow seeds of reconciliation, encounter, and friendship.
Pope Leo meets with writers from around the world (@Vatican Media)
