Unpublished text of Pope Francis: Death is not the end of everything

Pope Francis pointed out that death “is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something”, in his reflections contained in the prologue of the book “waiting for a new beginning. Reflections on old age”, written by the archbishop emeritus of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola.

In the unpublished text, written by the Holy Father on February 7 but released by the Vatican news portal, Vatican Newsthis Tuesday, April 22, he says that the pages of Cardinal Scola’s book are “a sincere confession of how he prepares for the final encounter with Jesus.”

The text emerges, according to the Pontiff, the “comforting certainty” that “death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something.”

“It is a new beginning, as the title stands out wisely, because eternal life, which those who love already experience on earth within the occupations of each day, is the beginning of something that will have no end. And it is precisely because it is a new beginning, because we will experience something that we have never fully experienced: eternity,” explains the Holy Father.

The volume of Purpurado Italiano, edited by the Vatican Editrice Library, will go on sale in bookstores from Thursday, April 24.

Pope Francis recalls that after being chosen Pontiff in March 2013, already covered with “the white habit of the Pope, in the Sistine Chapel” embraced “with great esteem and affection” to Cardinal Scola, which he calls in the text “My brother, Angelo.”

After verifying that, in February both were already “elder”, he says that “always” will be “united by gratitude to this loving god” that offers “life and hope at any age”

The pontiff also reflects on old age, a stage that should be synonymous with “experience, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, reflection, listening, slowness … values ​​that we desperately need!”

Read the full text of Pope Francis:

I read with emotion these pages born from the thought and affection of Angelo Scola, dear brother in the Episcopate and person who has performed delicate services in the Church, for example having been the rector of the Pontifical Lateranense University, then Patriarch of Venice and Archbishop of Milan.

First, I want to express my gratitude for this reflection that combines personal experience and cultural sensitivity as I have rarely read. One, experience, illuminates the other, culture; The second corroborates the first. In this happy intertwining, life and culture bloom with beauty.

Do not be fooled by the brevity of this book: they are very dense pages, to read and reread. I take from Angelo’s reflections, some ideas that are particularly in line with what my experience has made me understand.

Angelo Scola tells us about old age, his old age, which – he writes with a touch of confidence that he disarms – “I survive with a sudden acceleration and in many unexpected aspects.”

Already in the choice of the word with which it is defined, “old”, I find a consonance with the author. Yes, we must not be afraid of old age, we must not be afraid to embrace aging, because life is life and sweeten reality means betraying the truth of things.

Returning pride to a term that is often considered insane is a gesture for which we must be grateful to Cardinal Scola.

Because saying “old” does not mean “throwing in the trash”, as sometimes leads to think a degraded culture of using and throwing. Saying old man, on the other hand, means saying experience, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, reflection, listening, slowness … values ​​that we desperately need!

It is true that we age, but that is not the problem: the problem is how we age. If you live this time of life as a grace, and not with resentment; If we welcome the period of gratitude and recognition in the period (even long) in which we experience the decrease in forces, the growing tired of the body, the reflexes are no longer the same as those of youth, and well, also old age becomes a life age, as Romano Guardini taught us, truly fruitful and capable of irradiating good.

Angelo Scola highlights the human and social value of grandparents. I have repeatedly underlined that the role of grandparents is of fundamental importance for the balanced development of young people and, ultimately, for a more peaceful society, because their example, their words, their wisdom can instill in the youngest a long -term vision, the memory of the past and the anchor in values ​​that last.

In the frenzy of our societies, often delivered to the ephemeral and bad taste for appearances, the wisdom of grandparents becomes a lighthouse that shines, illuminates uncertainty and gives direction to the grandchildren who can get a “more” out of their experience with respect to their daily lives.

The words that Angelo Scola dedicates to the subject of suffering, which often appears when we get old and, consequently, when we die, they are precious jewels of faith and hope.

In the arguments of this brother Bishop I listen to echoes of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger, a theology “made of knees”, impregnated with prayer and dialogue with the Lord.

Therefore, he said above, that these are pages that are born from the “thought and affection” of Cardinal Scola: not only of thought, but also of the affective dimension, which is what the Christian faith refers to, being Christianity not so much an intellectual action or a moral choice, but rather the affection to a person, that Christ who came to meet us and decided to call us friends.

The same conclusion of these pages of Angelo Scola, who are a sincere confession of how he prepares for the final encounter with Jesus, gives us a comforting certainty: death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something.

It is a new beginning, as the title stands out wisely, because eternal life, which those who love already experience on earth within the occupations of each day, is the beginning of something that will not end.

And it is precisely why it is a “new” beginning, because we will experience something that we have never fully experienced: eternity.

With these pages in my hands, I would ideally want to make the same gesture that I barely covered the white habit of the Pope, in the Sistine Chapel: embrace with great esteem and affection to my brother Angelo, now, both, older than that day of March 2013. But always united by gratitude towards this loving god that offers life and hope at any age of our life.

Vatican City, February 7, 2025