The Pope offers hope in surprise video stream
Pope Francis, a surprise speaker at the TED Talks, delivered a videotaped message of hope Tuesday to those gathered at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
In a session entitled The Future You, Francis touched upon the “culture of waste” after technological change and economic inequality, “our obsession” with materialism and, alluding to politics descending into sectarianism and hate, the “evil we breathe every day.
“Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naive and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing,” said the Pope, speaking in Italian (with English subtitles). “Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow.
“And it can do so much, because a tiny flicker of light that feeds on hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness.”
His Holiness was one of several addressing the 1,800 TED attendees and thousands more watching in theatres around the world.
Serena Williams talked about her whirlwind past six months (fell in love, got pregnant, won the Australian Open). Her message: She’s not done yet.
Atul Gawanda, a surgeon and writer for the New Yorker who has researched public health around the world, said it’s not how good we are, but how good we’re going to be that matters. (How do we get better in any field? Coaching.)
Anna Rosling Ronnlund, a sociologist and photographer, demonstrated how mass media, by stereotyping, inaccurately portrays the world.
It took more than a year to iron out the details of the Pope’s 18-minute video appearance. The video was recorded by a Vatican Television Centre camera crew at the Domus Sanctae Marthae (the guest house in which Francis lives in Vatican City) and marked the first time he has addressed an international conference.
His life’s experience has taught him, he said, that each and every individual’s existence is tied deeply to the lives of others, that life isn’t about time passing, but about interpersonal interactions.
“I would love it if this meeting could help to remind us that we all need each other.”
Pessimism pervades, a happy future seems impossible, but the gloom can be vanquished, Francis said, if we unlock the door and let the outside world in — what he called the gift of harmony between the whole and each single component.
Which brought Francis to science and technology.
“How wonderful would it be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation would come along with more equality and social inclusion? How wonderful would it be, while we discover faraway planets, to rediscover the needs of the brothers and sisters orbiting around us?”
That sought-for solidarity, he said, can “overcome the culture of waste, which doesn’t concern only food and goods, but, first and foremost, the people who are cast aside by our techno-economic systems, which without even realizing it are now putting products at their core instead of people.”
He urged people to not feel helpless given “all the evil we breathe every day.” Each of us is precious, he said, each of us irreplaceable in the eyes of God.
“Through the darkness of today’s conflicts, each and every one of us can become a bright candle, a reminder that light will overcome darkness and never the other way around.”