Ten Words from Pope Francis's Vocabulary

Ten Words from the Vocabulary of Pope Francis

Foto: Vatican Media

There are many words that have accompanied the magisterium of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Since his simple greeting of  ”Good evening” on the night of his election, the vocabulary of the Argentine Pope has gradually expanded with terms, phrases, expressions, and even new words that have become familiar over time.

Balconear
The greatest danger for the human heart is becoming indifferent to the reality around it—just watching life go by. In one word, this danger is balconear, meaning to remain on the balcony, detached from life.

Noise
There is a word in Francis’s vocabulary that becomes a call to action, especially for young people. During his apostolic journey to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day, Francis urged the younger generations to make their voices heard, to make noise.

Gossip
One of the most frequently used expressions by the Argentine Pope is a warning against a harmful habit that, thru gossip, can turn into a sharp blade—a “bomb” that wounds, even kills. That word is gossip.

Fraternity
Fraternity is a term that became one of the pillars of Francis’s pontificate. This word represents a path to peace among people, a bridge between religions and nations.

Periphery
From Lampedusa to Juba in South Sudan, from Mongolia to the Central African Republic—among the marginalized, the poor, the imprisoned, the most fragile—in both vocabulary and action, Pope Francis lived and cherished the word periphery.

Discard
One of the central categories of Pope Francis’s thought concerns “one of the most dramatic phenomena of our time: a society that tends to throw away whatever doesn’t meet its standards of efficiency and productivity.” In one word, this is the culture of discard.

Orphanhood
This word expresses a sense of being deprived of guidance, the absence of “a clear path to follow, or a trustworthy mentor.” Pope Francis used the precise term orphanhood to describe this condition.

Tenderness
To feel loved and welcomed precisely in our poverty and misery: for Pope Francis, this meant “being transformed by the love of God,” which is to experience tenderness.

Clericalism
Pope Francis’s teaching can also be read as a challenge to a mindset among believers who focus more on outward signs and institutions, and forget Christ. This challenge is directed at what he calls clericalism.

Worldliness
Lastly, there’s a term Pope Francis often used to describe a distortion of spiritual life. It’s a culture of appearances and superficiality that misleads people, and only the crucified and risen Christ is the true remedy. This word is worldliness.

Source: Vatican News