The Catholic Church publication Vatican News reported Sunday, Oct. 26, on Pope Leo XIV’s discussion, during his Saturday, Oct. 25 Jubilee Speech, of the importance of the still largely unknown, but central figure of the Italian Renaissance, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1463). The Pope spoke about Cusa, not to a group of theologians, or the College of Cardinals, but to the entire Catholic Church, represented by the tens of thousands of enthusiastic faithful assembled in St. Peter’s Square for his Jubilee Year Address. Pope Leo concentrated on the “theology of Hope” that Cusa and his work so embodied.
“Using the example of Nicholas of Cusa, Pope Leo explained that hope remains even when we do not know all the answers. He explained that, in the troubled times of the fifteenth century, Nicholas could not see the unity of the Church, nor the prospect of peace in an age where Christianity was threatened by external forces, “ the publication said.
“Nonetheless, the Pope said, Nicholas continued to hope, retaining his belief in humanity, understanding that ‘there are opposites that must be held together, that God is a mystery in which what is in tension finds unity.’ Nicholas, he said, ‘knew that he did not know, and thus came to understand reality ever more deeply.’ ‘What a great gift for the Church!’ the Pope said. ‘What a call to the renewal of the heart!’ From Nicholas, he continued, the Church can learn to make space, to hold opposites together, to hope for what is not yet seen.”
