Pope Francis delivered a memorable homily at the penitential liturgy with young prisoners in Panama and dwelt on this point, brought to the logic of everyday life: "We put labels on people: this one is like this, this one did this. These labels, in the end, the only thing they achieve is to divide: here are the good and there are the bad; here are the righteous and there are the sinners. And Jesus does not accept that, that is the culture of adjectives. We love to adjectivize people, we love it. What is your name? My name is 'good'. No, that is an adjective. What is your name? Go to the person's name: who you are, what you do, what illusions you have, how your heart feels. The gossipers are not interested, they quickly look for the label to get rid of them. The culture of the adjective that disqualifies the person, think about it, so as not to fall into this that is so easily offered to us in society".
Jack Valero, founder of the project Catholic Voiceswas in Uruguay in March, offering seminars, conferences and interviews. In the program This is my mouth explained his proposal to address controversial issues: "Our method is based on speaking from the other person's point of view.". When someone criticizes the Church, "at the heart of that is a good thing: we look for it, we go there and we talk about it." It is proposed to "unite and explain, not battle; not have two sides fighting."
This relational perspective ties in with the Pope's proposal for overcoming labels: "Eating with publicans and sinners, Jesus breaks the logic that separates, excludes, excludes, andand falsely divides between 'good and bad'.How does Jesus do it? He does it by creating links capable of making new processes possible".
The new processes that emerge from the bonds are, among others, new conversations, more open, in which each one can express his or her identity with a willingness to listen: to learn, to understand and also to respond. A conversation can bring distance or rapprochement; that is why, when it comes to dealing with controversial issues, one of those fundamental issues in life, it is important to evaluate whether the relationship with the other person is strong enough to contain tensions and channel them towards fruitful paths of understanding and friendship.
Professor of Sociology of Communication. Austral University (Buenos Aires)
