{"id":5937,"date":"2014-04-02T06:08:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T06:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/methol-ferr-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/"},"modified":"2014-04-02T06:08:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T06:08:00","slug":"methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- \u201cThe Pope and the Philosopher,\u201d a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferr\u00e9 \u2014 an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio \u2014 has been recently reprinted in Spanish and Italian.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAt the origin of Bergoglio's view of the world today there stands above all a philosopher. His name is Alberto Methol Ferr\u00e9,\u201d Vaticanista Sandro Magister wrote March 31 in L'Espresso. \u201cAn Uruguayan from Montevideo, he often crossed the Rio de la Plata to visit his friend the archbishop in Buenos Aires.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe book was first published in 2007, and explores Methol Ferr\u00e9's thought in an interview with Alver Metalli. Magister wrote that the work is \u201cof capital importance for understanding not only his vision of the world but also that of his friend who went on to become pope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBergoglio presented the book when it was first published, calling it a text of \u201cmetaphysical profundity,\u201d and he was gifted a new copy last year by Jose Mujica, president of Uruguay. Receiving the book and recalling the long friendship they both had with Methol Ferr\u00e9, Pope Francis told Mujica that the philosopher \u201chad taught us how to think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMethol Ferr\u00e9 was born in 1929, and was raised the son of an agnostic. At age 19, he converted to Christianity thanks to the influence of the writings of G.K. Chesterton. He then taught both history and philosophy. He died in 2009 at the age of 80.<\/p>\n

\tAfter Pope Francis' election, Metalli decided to reprint their interview, now with a lengthy preface about the friendship between Methol Ferr\u00e9 and the Pope.<\/p>\n

\tPope Francis and Methol Ferr\u00e9 first met in 1979, during the a conference of Latin American bishops; at the time, Bergoglio was the Jesuit's Argentine provincial.<\/p>\n

\tThe philosopher's thought mixes liberalism and \u201ctheology of the people.\u201d A founder of the magazine \u201cNexo,\u201d in 1967 Methol Ferr\u00e9 was called to be co-editor of the magazine \u201cVispera,\u201d commenting on the Latin American revolutions then ongoing.<\/p>\n

\tIn 1969, Methol Ferr\u00e9 was appointed member of the Latin American bishops' conference department for laymen, and in 1975 became a member of its theological ministry faculty.<\/p>\n

\tIn that capacity, he strongly criticized liberation theology, which he knew well from his time at Vispera \u2013 liberation theology's 'founder,' Gustavo Gutierrez, wrote for the journal. Methol Ferr\u00e9 criticized Marxism for its materialism, and thus also the strains of liberation theology founded upon it.<\/p>\n

\tMetalli writes that Methol Ferr\u00e9 supported instead \u201ca liberation theology rooted in the views of the Argentine pastor Lucio Gera,\u201d with whom \u201cMethol Ferr\u00e9 reciprocates the accentuation of the theme of the religion of the people, of the poor, of Latin American culture and history, developing a more comprehensive approach in understanding the Latin American realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPreparing for the 1979 meeting of Latin American bishops, Methol Ferr\u00e9 advocated for popular religion, a culture centered on the Christian vision of the human person, a re-evaluation of the Church's social teaching, and the perception of \u201clibertine atheism\u201d as a new enemy.<\/p>\n

\tMethol Ferr\u00e9 said in the newly-released book that atheism now \u201cis not revolutionary in a social sense, but complicit with the status quo. It has no interest in justice, but in all that permits the cultivation of radical hedonism. It is not aristocratic, but has transformed itself into a mass phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe proposed that to counter such atheism, one has to find the \u201cbest of its intuitions,\u201d and that \u201cthe deep kernel of libertine atheism is a buried need for beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWhile this atheism separates beauty \u201cfrom truth and from goodness, and therefore from justice,\u201d this can be countered only by practices which promote true beauty, and which make reference to truth, goodness, and justice.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThere is a stunning harmony between this vision of Methol Ferr\u00e9 and the program of his disciple Bergoglio's pontificate,\u201d Magister wrote: \u201cwith his rejection of the disjointed transmission of a multitude of doctrines to be imposed with insistence' and with his insistence on a Church capable of 'making the heart burn,' of healing every kind of illness and injury, of restoring happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré — an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio — has been recently reprinted in Spanish an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nMethol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré -- an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio -- has been recently reprinted in Spanish an...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré -- an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio -- has been recently reprinted in Spanish an...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-02T06:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/\",\"name\":\"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-02T06:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-02T06:08:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré -- an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio -- has been recently reprinted in Spanish an...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis","description":"Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré -- an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio -- has been recently reprinted in Spanish an...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis","og_description":"Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré -- an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio -- has been recently reprinted in Spanish an...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2014-04-02T06:08:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/","name":"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-02T06:08:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-02T06:08:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Apr 2, 2014 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “The Pope and the Philosopher,” a book-interview with Alberto Methol Ferré -- an Uruguayan philosopher who influenced Jorge Bergoglio -- has been recently reprinted in Spanish an...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/methol-ferre-the-philosopher-who-inspired-pope-francis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Methol Ferr\u00e9: the philosopher who inspired Pope Francis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}