the new encyclical from Pope Francis that speaks to the heart
Between 1673 and 1675, Marguerite-Marie Alacocque, a nun of the order of the Visitation, experienced several apparitions in Paray-le-Monial which would revive devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout the world. On the occasion of this 350 anniversary, Pope Francis announced that he would publish this Thursday, October 24, a new encyclical, the fourth of his pontificate, to evoke the pastoral and spiritual issue of this attention to the heart of Christ. An important text, especially as it comes at a time when the second session of the Synod on synodality is coming to an end. While the Catholic Church questions the processes to be put in place to move away from forms of clericalism and misplaced authority to further deploy active communion by honoring the place of each person, such meditation will undoubtedly invite go deeper than the somewhat dry debates on structures, ministries and operations.
The reception of this text in France will undoubtedly reveal both the long, complex history of this devotion whose roots go back to the evangelical texts, and the tensions still to be eased between forms of intellectualizing theologies and sensitive devotions. to the point of excess.