Francis: do not insult, not even from the car, because it “kills the future”

Francis: do not insult, not even from the car, because it “kills the future”

The Pope in Santa Marta: when we attack someone through words, we take away their right to dignity. Jesus asks us to always reconcile

Pope Francis

Pubblicato il 14/06/2018

domenico agasso jr

vatican city

It happens so often, when we are at the traffic lights, we start shouting at someone because they fail to move it after the green”. Or, again from the car, we curse against some other driver who made a wrong maneuver or perhaps is driving too slowly. Pope Francis recalls the gravity of these actions, and - not only from the car. For the Pontiff insulting someone in any situation means “killing the future”. Instead, we must always strive to achieve “friendship” in every context. To reconcile, as Jesus wishes. This is the appeal made during this morning’s Mass at Casa Santa Marta, as reported by Vatican News.  

For the Bishop of Rome, when we insult people, we “open up a path that ends in murder”. By insulting, we deprive a person “of their right to be respectable. Their future is falling, says Jorge Mario Bergoglio commenting on Matthew’s Gospel of today on Jesus’ discourse on justice, insult and reconciliation.  

The Son of God exhorts the disciples in this way: “You must soon get along with your adversary so that you are not handed over to the judge and from the judge to the guard until you are thrown into prison”. For Francis, that of Christ is “human wisdom: that, a bad agreement is better than a good judgment”.  

To make his teaching on the relationship of love and charity well understood, God uses “an every-day example: the problem of insults”.  

Pope Bergoglio jokes: these are outdated insults, those quoted by Jesus, “we do have a list of far more flowery, more folkloric, more colorful insults”. The Pontiff emphasizes the harshness of Christ, because to the “do not kill” Commandment, he adds: “Anyone who gets angry with their brother will have to go to court”. To call your brother “stupid” or “made” is condemnable.  

The Pope points out: “The Lord says: “The insult does not end in itself, it “opens up a path that ends in murder”.  

Because insulting “is the beginning of killing, it is disqualifying the other, and takes away their right to be respectable, it is putting them aside, it is killing them from society”.  

Francis observes that one is now “accustomed to breathing the air of insults”: just “drive the car during rush hour. It is a carnival of insults. And people are creative when it comes to insult. And the small verbal attacks, “which are casually said in rush hour while driving the car, become, afterwards, big insults”. As by insulting people, we silence them, we take away their voice.  

Insulting is dangerous “because it is often born out of envy”: the pontiff notes that if a person is disabled, it is not a threat, and therefore is not insulted. But when “a person does something that I do not like, then I insult them, make them look as they were “disabled”: mentally disabled, socially disabled, family disabled, without capacity for integration ... And for this, insults kill: It kills the future of a person, kills the path of a person. It is envy “that opens that door”, because “when another person does something I don’t like … or when someone threatens me, envy pushes me to insult them”.  

The Book of Wisdom “tells us that it is through envy that the devil death has entered the world. It is envy that brings death”. If you think and say, “I have no envy of anyone”, you must be careful, for “envy is hidden and when it is not hidden, it is strong, it is able to make you become yellow, green, as the biliary liquid does when you are sick”.  

“This is how the green soul of envy - that leads to the destruction of the other - emerges”., the Pope warns. 

Jesus stops the drift: “No, you can’t do this”. Christ shows total reconciliation always. The Son of God is “that radical. Reconciliation is not the same as good manners. No, it’s a radical attitude, one that tries to respect the dignity of others as well as my own. From insult to reconciliation, from envy to friendship—this is the example that Jesus gives us today”.  

The Pontiff therefore advises us to ask ourselves, “Have I insulted anyone today? When do I use insults? When do I close my heart to another with an insult? Can I see the bitter root of envy there that pushes me to desire the destruction of another in order to avoid competition, rivalry, that type of thing”. The Pope recognizes that “this is not easy. But let’s think how beautiful it would be if we never insulted others. It’s beautiful, because we let others grow”.