Pope tells Sicilian theologians their work can’t ignore Mafia, migration

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The best theological study and research are inspired by prayer that is attuned to the realities around the theologian, so in Sicily theology should address issues related to the Mafia and about migrants drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, Pope Francis said.

“The Mediterranean needs a living theology that cultivates in-depth its contextual dimension,” the pope said Oct. 16 in a video message for the opening of the 2024-25 academic year at the Pontifical St. John the Evangelist Theological Faculty of Sicily in Palermo.

Just as God became flesh in Jesus, sharing “our tears and our hopes,” theology must speak to people about God in the situations of their daily lives, the pope said.

“Promote a theology that, from the height of the cross and on its knees before its neighbor, uses humble, sober and radical words to help everyone approach compassion,” he said, “and words that teach us to make nets of salvation and love, to generate a new history, rooted in the history of the people.”

Pope Francis used fishing nets as a recurring image in his message, explaining that just as making and repairing the nets takes patience, so too does developing a theology that “tries to narrate the Lord’s love and is capable of arousing the wonder of encounter and friendship.”

The nets of theologians in Sicily must be “woven with the threads of grace and interlaced with the mercy of God.”

Theology on the island must use the Gospel message for “the cultural redemption of an area still dramatically marked by the scourge of the Mafia,” the pope said. “Let us not forget this. Doing theology in the Mediterranean, therefore, means remembering that the proclamation of the Gospel passes through the commitment to the promotion of justice, the overcoming of inequalities and the defense of innocent victims so that the Gospel of life always shines forth and evil is rejected in all its forms.”

Pope Francis asked the faculty to launch “a process of theological and social research” on the theme of forgiveness, particularly as it relates to priests and judges killed for their opposition to the Mafia and to common citizens who resist organized crime on the island.

With creativity, he said, begin “a real theological and social laboratory of forgiveness for a true revolution of justice.”

Theology, the pope told them, must also be dedicated “to the defense of human dignity in ‘Mare Nostrum’ (literally ‘our sea,’ the ancient Roman name for the Mediterranean), which often is rendered ‘monstrum’ (‘monster’) by the logic of death” of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe.

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