On July 13, 1965 the Pope Paul VI received in private audience Graham Greene, an author who hated the label of "Catholic novelist" because he simply considered himself a Catholic who wrote. Greene revealed that, during that conversation, the Pontiff expressed his appreciation to him for Power and glorya novel that is now celebrating the 80th anniversary of its publication.
They must not have mentioned, however, that in 1953 Monsignor Montini had interceded so that the work would not be included by the Holy Office in the Index of Prohibited Books. However, a Mexican friend, generally well-informed, told me that Greene was aware of the fact and, in a touch of humor, lamented the fact that Montini's action had been successful, since it prevented an increase in the sales of his book.
It is a novel with a variety of theatrical, television and film adaptations, including one by John Ford in 1947.
It is the story of a priestThe story of the victim of the persecution unleashed against Catholics in Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. Its protagonist, who ends up before a firing squad, is not a heroic martyr serenely facing his executioners.
Rather, it is a priest who gradually abandons the obligations of his ministry, beginning with the celebration of the Mass and the reading of the breviary. In his constant flight through a state, which turns out to be Tabasco, fear and desperation lead him to fall into alcoholism, and he will even have a daughter as a result of a sporadic relationship.
In spite of everything, he continues to exercise his ministry, aware of his priestly obligations, with clandestine Masses, Baptisms, Confessions and care for the dying. His great drama is that he will not find any priest who will want to confess to him to it. It is the last one in the whole territory. If it had gone to another State, where the ChurchHe would be safe and would have found a confessor. However, he felt within himself the obligation of the shepherd who does not want to abandon his sheep, and he was arrested when he went care for a dying person.
An acquaintance priest Italian anti-mafia expert, has prefaced a recent edition of the book and considers it highly topical in this age of persecutions against Christians worldwide.
It has also been said of this novel that it should be required reading for many people. seminarists. It is not difficult to perceive in it a new version of the Passion of Christ, since the unnamed priest despite his sins, he has not lost his dignity. He ends up in prison, where he is counted among the evildoers, and paradoxically he does not feel fear, because he feels close to those truncated lives, in which he discovers the manifestation of other Christs.
He will also have his own Judas in the half-breed who betrays him to collect a reward, and, like Jesus, forgives betrayal. Nor does he feel hatred for the Army lieutenant who has arrested him and made his capture a personal matter. In a memorable conversation, he tells him that he considers him a good man.
Different editions of the work.
The lieutenant represents the usual discourse of so many persecutors who have nothing against the particular man, although they feel compelled to destroy him because they consider him, as a Christian, a danger.
This persecutor fights against a lie, a fiction that has deceived many people, because the Church would have done nothing for the poor and would be allied with the ruling classes. In the world that the lieutenant aspires to create, there is no need for the prayerThe new rulers will be in charge of feeding and teaching the masses to read.
The priest recognizes the sincerity of his opponent's ideals, but reminds him of the fragility of ideologies. The moment the members of his party do not act in accordance with his beliefs, the previous unfair situation will return.
The power and glory is the demonstration that the scandal of the Christianity is not morality but faith. In fact, the lieutenant possesses high morals. It is a puritanism by which he considers himself superior to the priest, and believes that his heart has enough love to build a better world. The bad thing is that this love is based on the tip of a gun. In contrast, the priest, in a demonstration of biblical wisdom, reminds him that "the heart is a beast, untrustworthy".
This great novel can well make its own the Pauline expression "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom 5:20). Grace is capable of acting in the clay of which the human condition is made. In the struggle between sin and grace, the latter is destined to win. Grace, as the Catechism (n. 2022), "prevents, prepares and arouses man's free response".
Antonio R. Rubio Plo
Degree in History and Law
International writer and analyst
@blogculturayfe / @arubioplo
