“Today, politics do not have a good reputation: corruption, scandals, distant from people’s daily lives.” Francis’ first words, in the message introducing his prayer intention this month, seem to say what many of us think: that is, that politics is a dirty business in the hands of those who think only of getting rich or gaining power. Those who engage in politics, in the eyes of ordinary people, should be viewed with suspicion: they will certainly have some personal interests to hide.

As the seconds pass, however, it becomes clear that the Pope is saying something different: he is reminding all of us that another kind of politics is always possible. A “Politics with a capital P,” as he calls it, at the service of the people and in particular of the poorest, capable of building universal fraternity, carried out in a spirit of service and not of power. Under these conditions,” he repeats, quoting Paul VI, “politics is one of the highest forms of charity.”

We all need “good politics,” Francis stresses, “if we are to progress toward universal fraternity”: the temptation to do without it, often evoked by populisms of all kinds, is a great deception. The images that accompany his words try to tell precisely this, alternating between life situations in two different contexts: one in which people are doing it alone (a refugee woman, an unemployed 40-year-old, children without water, a homeless man on the street) and another in which, instead, they have found an answer-sometimes temporary, sometimes lasting- for their problems. The world with no good politics and the world with good politics, indeed.

Here then is the Pope’s invitation for this month to rediscover that politics “is much nobler than it seems,” especially when it “listens to reality,” “is at the service of the poor” and “seeks the common good.” Francis not only thanks “the many politicians who carry out their duties with a spirit of service, not power,” but invites us to a task that may seem difficult for some: to pray a month together with him “for political leaders.” Including those who do not think like us.

Andrea Sarubbi

Coordinator of the Pope’s Video