Cardinal to be who has problems with conversion to Christ

Aguiar and the problem of 'proselytism'.

Americo Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon

Following the chorus of indignant responses in the specialised press and on social networks, the neo-cardinal and Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Americo Aguiar, organiser of the imminent World Youth Day, for having said in a television interview that "we do not want to convert young people to Christ", the prelate immediately came to the fore to defend himself with the most pedestrian and commonplace of explanations: his detractors have "taken his words out of context".

One is not exactly fluent in Portuguese, but I took the trouble to listen to at least the entire alluded block of the interview and, in any case, it is difficult to imagine a "context" in which a prelate could say "we do not want to convert young people to Christ" without encountering justified criticism. The phrase, logically, is not isolated, as we have already recounted here, and follows on from the idea that the aim of WYD is, rather, the "experience of fraternity" regardless of one's religious confession. But Aguiar is trying.

In a telephone conversation with The Pillar website, the bishop maintains that "since the first edition of WYD, the popes have been inviting all young people to meet each other, to meet the Pope and experience the living Christ. That's what we want to happen, and that's what I was trying to convey".

"And the aim is that each person, after returning home, feels called to conversion, to be better, to make decisions for their life in terms of vocation, family, work and different projects, but marked by the experience of having met these young people who want to bear witness to the living Christ."

"But I don't see WYD as an opportunity for active proselytising, as an event to try to convert all those who come," adds the Cardinal-elect. "I understand that, in isolation, that phrase might have caused some perplexity and could be read in the wrong way."

There it is: "proselytising". When, in one of his uncredited interviews with the late atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari early in his pontificate, the Pope called proselytising "solemn nonsense", his words caused a considerable stir, with many well-meaning commentators claiming that the Pontiff's words had been misunderstood. Since then, the Pope has repeated it many times, even in crescendo, consigning evil 'proselytising' to the last circles of hell.

And even today, when the media priest Santiago Martin, founder of the Franciscans of Mary, quotes him again to explain Aguiar's words. Martín says in his weekly editorial on Magnificat TV that "proselytising is trying to make a person follow what you are - a religion, a political party or even a football club - by scaring them or buying them off". With this definition, of course, only proselytism can be condemned.

The problem is that this can be done with any word and, in fact, it is commonplace in our time. Because the Royal Academy Dictionary does not define proselytism in this way, which would actually be "zeal to win proselytes", and a proselyte would be, according to the DRAE, a "person incorporated into a religion".

In fact, Francis himself, always insistent on the evils of proselytism, has done little to distinguish it from apostleship. From what can be inferred from his words, the latter would be more linked to a testimony of life that would attract others. Which is all very well, it is certainly the important thing, but it remains unclear why he necessarily avoids the "compelle intrare".

World Youth Day, as an institution sponsored by John Paul II, has no other interest, despite the words of its current organiser, than to bring young people closer to Christ, following the words of a pontiff as little suspected of rigidity as St Paul VI: "Evangelising is indeed the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists to evangelise, that is, to preach and teach, to be a channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners to God and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of his death and glorious resurrection".

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