António Pedro Santos/Lusa
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (C), flanked by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar Branco (D), during the 51 -year commemorative session of the Revolution of April 25, 1974, in the Assembly of the Republic.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, praised the life and work of Pope Francis, “without refusal, without hatred”, and argued that his message is all about the values of April 25, 1974.
The head of state spoke at the commemorative solemn session of the 51st anniversary of April 25, 1974, in the Assembly of the Republic, on the day of national mourning for the death of Pope Francis.
“I will speak, therefore, of Francis and what his life and work may have to do with what he meant and can mean April 25,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the beginning of his tenth and last intervention as president On this historical date – exactly 50 years after being elected constituent deputy.
Comparing the current global conjuncture with the context in which April 25 took place, half a century ago, he questioned: “How not to come across Francisco’s words with the defense of these estropic values 50 years ago?”
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the “appeals of Francisco, for twelve years and even five days” are related to “some of the same dramas, or some equal or greater, making peace, justice, the struggle against poverty.”
In the final part of his speech, the President of the Republic asked “what has to do the facts, problems and mode of dealing with them, that is, the spirit and the lived spirit, which has to do with April 25”, and gave the answer.
“Everything, everything: human dignity, peace, justice, freedom, equality, solidarity, fraternity, openness, inclusion, service of others, preference for the ignored, omitted and silenced,” he defended.
“More donation than proclamation”
According to the head of state, the example of Pope Francis invites “evocations such as today’s, April 25, be more donation than proclamation, more incarnation of service than affirmation of mission already fulfilled, more future than past” and “that the fundamental with the accessory, the lasting with the ephemeral”.
The President of the Republic added that “the lasting is the spirit that must be demanding, renewing, explorer of new paths, new goals, with its mobilizing experience”, while “the ephemeral is the self -contemplation of each moment, the self -purchasing of each apparent success, the self -flagellation of each misfortune.”
“These sessions exist so that the lasting lasting is lasting and the ephemeral is indeed ephemeral. April 25 always? Yes, especially if with the incessant search for values, the full and uncompleing hug to all people and attention to all things, and the radical humility that has lived and taught us to live Francis,” he defended.
“May this spirit be alive. Live freedom, live democracy, live Portugal,” he exclaimed.
Earlier, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa signaled the way Pope Francis will be buried on Saturday, “in a nook of a temple, behind a discreet door,” an “unnamed if not his, Francisco.”
“Remembering that the infinitely greatest is infinitely the smallest of all, and that we will all end, will end those who dominated or thought to dominate the world: in powder or gray. An inviting sign of material and spiritual poverty, not to forget,” he said.
This was the first of three major speeches by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa before leaving Belém. The following will be the June 10th and the third of October 5.
