Pope Francis made a historic visit to the United States last week. His tremendous popularity around the world led to huge crowds of admirers wherever he went. Although he is primarily a religious leader, I believe his speeches are worthy of consideration in this blog for several reasons: 1) Politically, he made several powerful speeches concerned with American political, economic and environmental issues; 2) Culturally, he drew crowds unheard of for a religious leader or politician. No one has drawn such huge crowds since Barack Obama first ran for president in 2007 and 2008. 3) Historically, one is tempted to compare the speeches of Pope Francis to those of Martin Luther King, Jr. The pope actually refers to one MLK speech in his own speeches but it is doubtful if the pope has the rhetorical firepower that Martin Luther King demonstrated in the 1960s. 4) Linguistically, Pope Francis speaks several different languages but English is not is first language. I was very curious to see if his speeches contained the usual amount or type of conceptual metaphors that a native English speaker would use.
I have analyzed three of the Pope’s speeches – his remarks at the White House (henceforth referred to as WH), the speech he gave to a joint meeting of Congress (CG) and his talk at the United Nations (UN). As many people must have noticed, Pope Francis often referred to his previous writing, the Laudato Si’, an encyclical he wrote and presented in April of this year. (An encyclical is a very lengthy article on a specific topic written by the pope and published by the Vatican. This year’s topic was on climate change. The name Laudato Si’ is a shortened form of a line from a poem Saint Francis of Assisi, “Laudato Si”, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”.) Although it is not a speech, the Laudato Si’ contains many of the original language used in the speeches, so I will refer to it on occasion here as well. It is a thesis-length article (more than 37,000 words!) with more than two hundred separate issues discussed. The pope refers to some of these points by number in his own speeches.
Given that English is not the Pope’s first language, I was not surprised that I did not find a great deal of metaphor usage in his speeches. However, he used several interesting categories of metaphors that illustrate the ubiquity of many of our conceptual metaphors. Specifically, he used metaphors of family, homes, buildings and journeys. As usual, all the examples provided here are from the speeches and writings of the pope. Italics are mine. Some examples are repeated if they contain more than one type of metaphor.
Family
One common conceptual metaphor is to describe people who are not blood relations as brothers, sisters, fathers or mothers. Pope Francis used these metaphors extensively in his speeches. This is not too surprising since these metaphors are commonly used in Catholic naming of various roles within the church. Catholic nuns are referred to as Sisters, monks as Brothers, a head nun as Mother Superior, and priests as Fathers. Pope Francis extends these metaphors to other members of the church or different people around the world. He also uses the family members of sons and daughters to describe citizens of certain countries.
Example: “During my visit I will have the honor of addressing Congress, where I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation’s political future in fidelity to its founding principles.” (WH)
Example: “That freedom [religious liberty] remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.” (WH)
Example: “I would like all men and women of good will in this great nation to support the efforts of the international community to protect the vulnerable in our world and to stimulate integral and inclusive models of development, so that our brothers and sisters everywhere may know the blessings of peace and prosperity which God wills for all his children.” (WH)
Example: “I am most grateful for your invitation to address this Joint Session of Congress in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. I would like to think that the reason for this is that I too am a son of this great continent, from which we have all received so much and toward which we share a common responsibility. Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility.” (CG)
Example: “The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps.” (CG)
Example: “Three sons and a daughter of this land, four individuals and four dreams: Lincoln, liberty; Martin Luther King, liberty in plurality and non-exclusion; Dorothy Day, social justice and the rights of persons; and Thomas Merton, the capacity for dialogue and openness to God.” (CG)
Home and Community
The word normally refers to the physical residence or location of a person or family. In the Laudato Si’, Pope Francis often refers to the earth metaphorically as our common home as if we all live in the same place. He repeats these metaphors quite often in his speeches. In one instance, he extends the metaphor of a common home to that of a community.
Example: “When it comes to the care of our ‘common home,’ we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about ‘a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change’ (Laudato Si’, 13).” (WH)
Example: “Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies.” (WH)
Example: “The common home of all men and women must continue to rise on the foundations of a right understanding of universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic. This common home of all men and women must also be built on the understanding of a certain sacredness of created nature.” (UN)
Example: “The United Nations is presently celebrating its seventieth anniversary. The history of this organized community of states is one of important common achievements over a period of unusually fast- paced changes.” (UN)
Buildings
Another common metaphor used by Pope Francis was that of building societies and communities as if they are physical structures. Thus we see metaphorical references to buildings, foundations, structures and pillars.
Example: “As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.” (WH)
Example: “Mr. President, together with their fellow citizens, American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination.” (WH)
Example: “Here, together with their representatives, I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and –one step at a time – to build a better life for their families.” (CG)
Example: “The complexities of history and the reality of human weakness notwithstanding, these men and women, for all their many differences and limitations, were able by hard work and self-sacrifice – some at the cost of their lives – to build a better future.” (CG)
Example: “Building a future of freedom requires love of the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.” (CG)
Example: “Even in the developed world, the effects of unjust structures and actions are all too apparent.” (CG)
Example: “In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to building and strengthening society.” (CG)
Example: “How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement!” (CG)
Example: “For all this, the simplest and best measure and indicator of the implementation of the new Agenda for development will be effective, practical and immediate access, on the part of all, to essential material and spiritual goods: housing, dignified and properly remunerated employment, adequate food and drinking water; religious freedom and, more generally, spiritual freedom and education. These pillars of integral human development have a common foundation, which is the right to life and, more generally, what we could call the right to existence of human nature itself.” (UN)
Example: “The common home of all men and women must continue to rise on the foundations of a right understanding of universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic. This common home of all men and women must also be built on the understanding of a certain sacredness of created nature.” (UN)
Example: “The contemporary world, so apparently connected, is experiencing a growing and steady social fragmentation, which places at risk ‘the foundations of social life’ and consequently leads to ‘battles over conflicting interests’ (Laudato Si’, 229).” (UN)
Journeys
Journey metaphors are among the most commonly used tropes in political rhetoric. A speaker will often compare the attempts at making progress on a certain political or social issue as people going on a journey. Thus we can see examples of people opening doors to start a journey, taking steps along the way, or moving forward along a path. People can also get lost on their journeys or be led astray by making wrong choices. Other people can be trapped where they are or stuck in a maze and not be able to make the journey they need to go on.
Example: “The efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to cooperation within our human family represent positive steps along the path of reconciliation, justice and freedom.” (WH)
Example: “I also want to dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize their great and noble aspirations, who are not led astray by facile proposals, and who face difficult situations, often as a result of immaturity on the part of many adults.” (CG)
Example: “We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.” (CG)
Example: “At the same time I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty.” (CG)
Example: “In Laudato Si’, I call for a courageous and responsible effort to ‘redirect our steps’ (ibid., 61), and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity.” (CG)
Example: “When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue – a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons – new opportunities open up for all.” (CG)
Example: “In particular, I would like to call attention to those family members who are the most vulnerable, the young. For many of them, a future filled with countless possibilities beckons, yet so many others seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair. Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them.” (CG)
Example: “This is the fifth time that a Pope has visited the United Nations. I follow in the footsteps of my predecessors Paul VI, in 1965, John Paul II, in 1979 and 1995, and my most recent predecessor, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in 2008.” (UN)
Example: “Our world demands of all government leaders a will which is effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion, with its baneful consequences: human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labor, including prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime.” (UN)
Echoes of Martin Luther King, Jr.
As a final note, Pope Francis refers to the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. at several points in his own speeches. He directly quotes MLK’s use of the metaphor of the promissory note that he used in the “I Have a Dream” speech. He also comments extensively on MLK’s use of the idea of pursuing a dream to make life better for citizens of the world.
Example: “Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies. To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.” (WH)
Example: “Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his ‘dream’ of full civil and political rights for African-Americans. That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of ‘dreams.’ Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.” (CG)
Example: “Three sons and a daughter of this land, four individuals and four dreams: Lincoln, liberty; Martin Luther King, liberty in plurality and non-exclusion; Dorothy Day, social justice and the rights of persons; and Thomas Merton, the capacity for dialogue and openness to God.” (CG)
Example: “A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to ‘dream’ of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton. “(CG)
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Although Pope Francis clearly does not have the oratorical style or rhetorical power of Martin Luther King, Jr., his ability to draw huge crowds of people indicates he is reaching millions of people with his messages. His popularity is perhaps partially due to his lack of partisan politics or hidden agendas. His piety and world-wide respect allow him to comment on political and social issues with great gravitas. Time will tell if American politicians and citizens will truly help the dreams of Pope Francis to become reality.
Next time: More metaphors of containers.