the Pope among so much solidarity and perhaps not very absolute – Corriere.it

“Never think that the struggle you lead down here is completely useless, a seed of the absolute palpitates in us, and above all dream, do not be afraid to dream, dream of a world that is not yet seen, but which will certainly come”. The face of Pope Francis appears in the foreground and then we hear his recurring invocation to dream, to hope. In 2013, as soon as he was elected, Francesco went to Lampedusa. In 2021 he makes an important trip to the Middle East, Iraq and Kurdistan. These are the same places described by Gianfranco Rosi in “Fire at sea» (2016) e “Night” (2020).

The documentary “Travelling” (Rai1) retraces the journeys of Francesco from 2013 to today, largely using archival materials: Italy, Brazil, Cuba, the United States, the Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia: Rosi’s editing starts from an immense amount of material, over 800 hours of footage, including that of the trip to Canada that the director wanted to follow and film personally.

Despite some ailments, in nine years of pontificate, Francis has visited 59 countries, to witness his presence in the most problematic places on the planet, to spread the word of the Gospel but also to address problems that can no longer be derogated from (such as the pedophilia scandal). In the Philippines in 2015 he observes the disasters of typhoon Jolanda. Those who really suffer, out of poverty or denied rights, draw close to him. “How do you choose your destinations?” they ask him. «I listen to the advisers, I pray, I reflect, the decision comes from within, spontaneous, like a ripe fruit. Some are difficult, some easier.” In front of the rubble of Mosul he says: «Just wars? Every war is born from an injustice”.

From an expressive point of view, the work is compelling that Rosi and the editor Fabrizio Federico performed on the repertoire to draw a coherent discourse from the heterogeneity of the materials (in the time of Don Dario Viganò the Vatican Television Center was a master in this type of operation). What speech? From the documentary it would seem that Bergoglio is above all interested in poverty, in nature, in migrations, in the condemnation of all wars, in solidarity, in short, a Bergoglio to “Fire at sea». Perhaps there is little absolute.