Scholars of the medieval calendar say that what adorns the months are birthdays and that March has the most. Two are celebrated today: the tenth of the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope and the third of the announcement of the state of alarm. It was said that we would come out of covid more supportive, but it does not seem so. While it is true that he united to get a vaccine in record time, it is also true that we have forgotten the promises to our health workers and that trends that already existed have deepened: the increase in inequalities, the struggle between the United States and China, in addition to the war in Ukraine or the creation of new borders.
The loss of power of the West was already seen by the cardinals when they elected the archbishop of Buenos Aires as the first Pope of Latin America. “They went to look for me at the end of the world”, said Francesc. As if from another end of the world, because this world of ours has many, citizens arrive on our shores in search of refuge to try to start a new life. “They are not invaders, they enrich humanity. Their exclusion is repugnant, sinful and criminal”, denounces Francesc.
September 2015. The corpse of the Syrian boy Ailan Kurdi shook consciences after appearing returned from the sea on a Turkish beach. The Syrian vesper expelled 1.3 million people from the country that summer who were fleeing the horror and seeking refuge in Europe. Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany’s doors to them, but received harsh criticism. “These issues – he said – will trouble us much more in the future than the problem of Greece or the stability of the euro”. The problem continues, whether with shepherds like the one that sank three weeks ago on the coast of Calabria or with laws like the one the United Kingdom wants to approve, which it classifies as illegal, and not as irregular, as the ‘UN, those who arrive in the pastera, so they will be deported. “My God, this is beyond scary,” wrote Gary Lineker, ex-Barça player and today a star on the BBC. You have been warned. Let’s rethink the world without being afraid of the other: we need it.
