Pope Francis: Avoid the temptation of seeking ‘utopia’ in this world

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2020 / 07:00 am

In a video message to a Catholic social doctrine conference on Thursday, Pope Francis said that remembering our baptism and the promise of eternal life can help us avoid the temptation to seek "utopia" in this world.

In the message released Nov. 26, he described a positive attitude in which believers are immersed in society yet live their baptism in the light of a future life with God.

"This attitude helps us to overcome the temptation of utopia, to reduce the proclamation of the Gospel to a simple sociological horizon or to get involved in the 'marketing' of various economic theories or political factions," the pope said.

His video message was sent to participants in a Nov. 26-29 online "Festival of Social Doctrine." The Italian event is in its 10th edition, with this year's theme being "Memory of the Future."

The goal of the festival is to be a "leaven in society" and "to create a place of discussion among Catholics engaged in work, in society and in public responsibility" who want to promote the common good.

Referring to the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Lumen gentium," Pope Francis said that "living the memory of the future means making a commitment to ensure that the Church, the great people of God, can constitute on earth the beginning and the seed of the kingdom of God."

Christians have received "Life in Baptism," he said, explaining that it is a gift which calls us to communion with God, with others, and with creation.

Communion with God and others requires charity and "the intimacy of prayer in the presence of the Lord," he explained.

"And," he continued, "the Life received as a gift is the same life as Christ, and we cannot live as believers in the world except by manifesting his very life in us."

He warned listeners about a kind of nostalgia "which blocks creativity and makes us rigid and ideological people even in the social, political and ecclesial sphere."

Memory instead links us to love and experience and is one of the deepest dimensions of the human person, Pope Francis said. 

"This is why the dynamic of Christians is not that of nostalgically holding onto the past, but rather of accessing the eternal memory of the Father; and this is possible by living a life of charity," he commented.

Living "in the world with the strength and creativity of the life of God in us" is the way "we will be able to fascinate the hearts and the gaze of people to the Gospel of Jesus, we will help make projects of a new inclusive economy, and politics capable of fruitful love," the pope said.