The face is serene. The great renunciation is still far away when the Pope of «ice» bursts onto the altar of Bonaria, the Mother of Sardinians. The sun is already shining on the stairway which stands out like a sacred peak over the Golfo degli Angeli. When the Vicar of Christ, who came mild-mannered and white-haired from Bavaria, appears in the land of Sardinia it is a fluttering riot of emotions. Joseph Ratzinger, the "German", the "bureaucrat of the Vatican rooms in Rome", the conservative theologian, does not speak, he dictates. On that day of September 8th fourteen years ago in a square that once belonged to the One Hundred Thousand, everyone is there. There is the State, the Italian one, at the highest levels, there are the cardinals and the powerful, all of whom pay their respects to the successor of Peter who has come to the island to honor the centenary of the Basilica dedicated to Bonaria. He, a philosopher like few others, knows well, however, that he is not there for them.
Ears to hear
The pastoral mission in Sardinia is both a symbol and the backbone of a spiritual architecture that is as modern as it is restless for a Supreme Pontiff as strong as he is weak. Anyone who knows this man's subtle gait among the Holy Scriptures knows well that he doesn't profess with a chisel, rather he engraves his thought with the skill of one who handles history and philosophy as daily bread. Whoever in Sardinia expects a "cold" and detached homily from Pope Benedict XVI must come to terms with an unpredictable man, capable of grasping principles and values, of aiming at pillars and bridges, with the transposition of historical and symbolic allusions that make his spiritual exercise an all-Sardinian testament of the deepest Christianity. The reverberation of those words pronounced in the presence of Bonaria shakes souls and consciences, despite his style that communicates with the touch of a feather and sculpts with the steady hand of a surgeon. The heavy burden of leading the House of Christ precedes that candid man with time-worn hair like a flashing light. His speech in the land of martyrs is subtle, almost as if to exhort his movement of "ears to hear".
Forbidden or vacant
It is he who will preserve the mystery of his legacy with his remains, crushed by the weight of an "impaired seat" rather than a "vacant one". Perhaps we will never know if Benedetto will have abdicated or if the weight of his ideas will have forced him to surrender. Certainly in Cagliari, on that day kissed by the reflection of the Golfo degli Angeli on the threshold of Bonaria, Ratzinger delivered a homily destined to climb the highest steps in history. His gesture of abandonment of the highest throne certainly cannot overwhelm the impressive cultural, spiritual and theological legacy of a "Shepherd who has come to cultivate the Lord's vineyard". Ratzinger's all-Sardinian testament is a high lesson in life and values, a strong miscellany of Christianity and a profound Sardinian identity. And it is here, in this unexplored bedrock of ancient histories and profound identities, that Benedict XVI dictates his Sardinian Encyclical, one which only posthumously can be re-read as an explosive exhortation to the profound integration of the identity of the Sardinian people and universal values of Christianity. What circumscribes in his thought is past and modern history, of profiteers and conquerors, invaders and barbarians, but it is also the lesson of martyrs, confined in the bowels of the Sardinian land to atone for the guilt of their Christianity. Ratzinger's lesson is an illustrious doctrine, but Sardinia and the Sardinians stand as impressive testimony to his teaching. A strong and clear message, that of Cagliari, pronounced when the decline of values and thoughts already dominates in daily life. It is Ratzinger's human and intellectual story that allows him to place man at the center of life with an innate sense of rationality and spirituality, with culture becoming the maximum expression of man. A masterful lesson that, through the examples of history, transforms two negativities, the invasions of the Sardinian land and the harassment against the Christians, into a profound identity of values capable of indelibly marking the people of Sardinia, "genetically" forged from the sufferings of so many external aggressions and from the martyrdom to which the prophets of Christ have been subjected throughout history. He affirms it with the certainty of the historian, he underlines it with the wisdom of the Holy Father.
Swords and spears
Addressing that square that belonged to the previous Popes, Benedict XVI draws a synthesis and teaching from it: «Christianity arrived in Sardinia not with the swords of the conquerors or by foreign imposition, but it sprouted from the blood of the martyrs who gave their lives here as an act of love towards God and towards men". Ratzinger's reference to history is seraphic: «It was in your mines that the Good News brought by Pope Pontianus and the presbyter Ippolito and by many brothers condemned "ad metalla" for their faith in Christ resounded for the first time. So also Saturnino, Gavino, Proto and Gianuario, Simplicio, Lussorio, Efisio, Antioco were witnesses of the total dedication to Christ as true God and Lord. The testimony of martyrdom conquered a proud soul like that of the Sardinians, instinctively refractory to everything that came from the sea". However, in the exhortation of the philosopher Pope, that repelling overseas enemies who had come to eradicate identities and lands becomes an opportunity for redemption for profound values: «Sardinia has never been a land of heresies; his people have always shown filial fidelity to Christ and to the See of Peter. Yes, dear friends, in the succession of invasions and dominations, faith in Christ has remained in the soul of your populations as a constitutive element of your own Sardinian identity".
Altruism and generosity
A persistent reminder of that supreme and fundamental protection of the identity of the people entrusted to high values, the highest of human dignity, taking root in women and men who have become a shining example of altruism and generosity. Pope Joseph recalls them one by one, elevating them to the highest rank: «Thus the faith has taken root more and more in the hearts of the faithful to the point of becoming culture and producing fruits of holiness. Ignazio da Laconi, Nicola da Gesturi are the saints in which Sardinia recognizes itself. The martyr Antonia Mesina, the contemplative Gabriella Sagheddu and the nun of charity Giuseppina Nicoli are the expression of a youth capable of pursuing great ideals». The Sardinian one, according to Ratzinger, is the main way to face the long bumpy paths of life, drawing lessons and treasuring the sacrifice of the island's martyrs.
Simple and brave
A similarity that becomes a union, a synthesis of the enlightened thought of Benedict XVI, all aimed at the nature of the Sardinian people: "This simple and courageous faith continues to live in your communities, in your families, where one breathes the evangelical scent of the of your land: fidelity, dignity, confidentiality, sobriety, a sense of duty". The recognition of the Holy Father is not flattery. In fact, his homily consecrates Sardinian identity as never before as an intrinsic value of a community with profound principles and a language of its own. Concepts that he expresses using, for the first time for a successor of Peter, the highest symbology of Sardinian-Christian culture.
Mama, Fiza, Isposa
Words marked out in Sardinian for profound references: «Your Island, dear friends of Sardinia, could have no other protector than the Madonna. She is the Mother, Daughter and Bride par excellence: “Sa Mama, Fiza, Isposa de su Signorere” , as you love to sing. The Mother who loves, protects, advises, consoles, gives life, for life to be born and last. The Daughter who honors her family, always attentive to the needs of her brothers and sisters, is eager to make her home beautiful and welcoming. The Bride capable of faithful and patient love, of sacrifice and of hope». Never had a Pope dared to recognize the Sardinian language to exalt profound and indelible values, almost genetically incardinated in the very essence of the Sardinian people. The identity encyclical becomes for Ratzinger the enlightened way to give courageous answers to those young Sardinians whom Benedict defines as "thirsty for truth and ideals precisely when they seem to deny them".
The Sardinian Way
The main road, exhorts the Pontiff, is the commitment to "seek solutions for sustainable development with competence and moral rigour". The Pope of Rome makes the testimony of the Madonna of Bonaria his own, in that common thread that links the identity of the Sardinians and the values of Christianity: «Mary is the port, refuge and protection for the Sardinian people, who have within her the strength of the oak . Storms pass and this oak resists; the fires rage and it sprouts again; drought comes and it wins again. Adíos, adióssu, adiósu, Papa Joseph, the successor of Peter who spoke in Sardinian to the conscience and identity of an entire people.
