Some months ago, Fr Juan Masiá SJ interviewed his Jesuit brother and former Jesuit Superior General Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ on Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Japan. Fr Nicolás told Fr Masiá: “Francis will certainly come in the footsteps of Xavier, but he will not see the other religions as if they were the enemy or the competition, but as traveling companions to give each other life with the joy of the Gospel and the joy of love”.
Below is an unofficial translation of the interview, originally done in Spanish.
Conversations in Japan by Juan Masiá with Adolfo Nicolás
At Loyola House, the residence for elderly Jesuits who pray for the world, the Church and the Society, Fr Adolfo Nicolás, former Superior General of the Jesuits, received with satisfaction the good news of Pope Francis’ trip to Thailand and Japan. The news came precisely when he reviewed the text of a colloquium-epilogue on the posthumous work of K Kadowaki (Jesuit pioneer of inculturation and integrator of Zen spirituality with Christian prayer, well known for his book Zen and the Bible). It was the right time to pray with Francis for Japan and from Japan, to pray for Francis. In this context, these conversations about evangelisation arose; but they were interrupted when his health was affected by an illness in mid-September. We publish in the blog, with your permission, the first entries of the series, hoping to complete them, God willing, after the messages of Francis in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Adolfo Nicolás (AN): We are used to hearing from Francis his favorite refrain: “Pray for me.” May this go both ways: to pray with Francis for Japan and from Japan, to pray for Francis, supporting his evangelical spring.
Juan Masiá (JM): Too much for a post and too little for a complete article.
AN: Also, this fragment might help you think.
JM: Let’s start with the trip, a dream of the young Bergoglio is realised, a dream he had on the day he was missioned, but not granted because of health problems. Now he comes to evangelise in the footsteps of Xavier.
AN: To evangelise, yes, and also to let the West be evangelised. “The sower went out to sow and … it was found that the wheat was already sprouting.” It is the Spirit that had sown before. Our Asian colleagues said it and our companion, Fr Codina, says it about the Amazon…
JM: Xavier came in the footsteps of the Spirit.
AN: Francis will come after Xavier’s same footsteps, but with a different background and style from Xavier’s time. I took part in the Synod on the New Evangelisation, but I did not see the errors of the old evangelisation come to the fore. Xavier brought the theology of his time, he thought that “outside the church there is no salvation” and that the so-called “pagans were rushing en masse into hell.” Today, after Vatican II, the mission as colonisation and proselytism is no longer happening, nor are conversions captured with threats of eternal punishment. Francis will certainly come in the footsteps of Xavier, but he will not see the other religions as if they were the enemy or the competition, but as traveling companions to give each other life with the joy of the Gospel and the joy of love: Evangelii Gaudium, Amoris Laetitia , and to protect all life: Laudato si’.
JM: “Protecting all life” is the official motto of Francis’ visit to Japan, which includes central themes of those exhortations well received by the Japanese bishops that, when they appeal for peace, life and justice, or for the abolition of the death penalty, or for the suppression of nuclear weapons, or against the destruction of the environment and the “throw-away” economy, they do so by joining similar movements from within other religions and in union with them.
AN: That is especially true for cooperation with Buddhism, with which we agree and share four great themes that are very endearing to Francis: contemplation, mercy, discernment and the just protection of all life.
JM: This gives us a lot of stuff for the following posts. We will continue preparing for Francis’ coming with these conversations while we pray with him for Japan and from Japan, pray for him. [Religión Digital]