Capito ?

On my way to the French west coast with my children this past July, we chose to stay overnight in Euskadi.  There's something fascinating about having driven quite a few kilometres through relatively plain and summer dry Castilla y León and approach the green hills and mountains which kind of hide the Basque Country, a region which kept Spain in the global top 5 of countries exposed to terrorism but that ended (only ... already ...) 10 years ago.

Our motives to seek overnight harbour in Euskadi go back 500 years however and were purely driven by peace of mind and knowledge.

After 5 years of attending a Jesuit College I guess it was time for my kids to vividly see, smell and feel the environment wherein a young Inigo Lopez grew up to become a knight to then seek a life dedicated to the work of Christianity which eventually made him San Ignacio de Loyola.

I certainly not expect my children to pursue a life of either armed knighthood nor incardination but will require a sense of origin and principle and a continuous search for knowledge at the service of a common good, something which will probably be of more relevance in their lifetimes than that of their father.

Like the most famous living Jesuit said not so long ago (and not for the first time) ... "the world is at war".   I must admit that my admiration for the Vatican has risen tremandously since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Papa Francesco and it's been both refreshing and necessary to have a real bridge builder as Sommo Pontefice.

He was very clear in his statements towards the press and insisted that the war we are living is not a war between religions, since all religions seek peace.  That was a necessary diplomatic statement from after all who is also head of the Vatican as well as securing message towards the tens of thousands of clergy priests the Vatican indirectly employs and whom had lost a colleague brutally murdered by two stateless youngsters in Normandy.  As a political leader it does mean the Pope is getting involved and I am certain that there is a lot more meaning in all the actions rather than words he is launching.

But ....... if there is one aspect which characterises and distinguishes Islamic movements from present day Christian or simply the non-religious life which is pursued by a growing majority, it is the relevance and role the religion has in the overall day-to-day routines of its followers.

In most of the western countries which have had a hand in religious warfare, religion is not a daily concern and for the present generations the crusades or wars with Moors and Ottomans are just a more or less boring compulsory chapters in school education never to be revisited again when true life commences, just as much as a separation of church and state has relevance only if questions pop up on a school exam.

It is very worrisome that young people today whom may very well sit in the same class room, are being so distinctly raised at home to pursue different paths by principles approval or disapproval that have a time difference of hundreds of years in between.  So unfortunately the solution does vest in religion, but ..... being principally thought at schools by teachers and not by theologists and if we are in a hurry, a little room for adult education never harmed anyone.  Capito ?