On April 21—the anniversary of Pope Francis’s death and the founding of the city of Rome—the Vatican newspaper printed a previously unpublished reflection by the future Pope Francis on Virgil’s Aeneid.
Andrea Monda, the newspaper’s director, recalled that “he handed me this text—typewritten—dedicated to Virgil. I did not immediately realize it was a gift; I asked him if he wished for me to publish it in L’Osservatore Romano, but he demurred, saying, ‘It is merely a youthful trifle, something I wrote a long time ago.’”
“He went on to explain that, in his youth, he had been deeply intrigued by the widely held thesis of Virgil as a ‘pre-Christian’ poet and prophet; this text was born of that curiosity and passion,” Monda continued, adding:
Once his explanation was complete, he let me understand that he wanted me to keep it for myself. That gesture moved me—and still does, every time I think of it—but some time ago, as the date of the first anniversary of his death approached, I realized that April 21st is also the birthday of Rome, the city “founded” by Aeneas.
This coincidence prompted me to disobey him; yet I am convinced he would be pleased—as, too, will be the readers of this “party newspaper,” who will thus come to know another facet of the man who was Pope Francis.
The newspaper also published a commentary on the future Pope’s text by Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J., an undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.