Pope Francis passes away: A pope who believed in dreams, imagination

Two years ago when I was floundering as an author struggling to string even a decent sentence together and still only resting on the laurels of my previous books I met Pope FrancisPersonally it was a time of great selfdoubt It had been over four years since the release of my debut novel Bombay Balchatildeo set in a Catholic neighbourhood in South Mumbai And while the book had found its readers I feared I didnrsquot have another story inside me I would sometimes pick up the novel read a few lines and tell myself lsquoThat writer is not coming backrsquo To make it worse my health wasnrsquot keeping up and I found myself inundated with prescriptions The only thing going for me back then was my job as a journalistItrsquos under these circumstances that I received an unexpected email from Fr Mark Bosco a Jesuit professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC who wanted me to participate in a conference in Rome titled The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Literary Imagination The conference was bringing together poets writers artistes and filmmakers from North America South America Europe Africa and East and South Asia whose works drew from their Catholic experienceIt was however the second email which came closer to the conference that took me by greater surprise Pope Francis the Holy Father wanted to meet all of us at the VaticanI was curious about the Popersquos interest in us and our work My own writing had barely stemmed from a place of making a case for my religion I wanted to instead make room for the community of Indian Catholics whorsquod either been misrepresented and reduced to stereotypes or invisiblised in popular literature and cinema I wanted their experiences to be felt heard and seen In that yes my faith did influence my writing But not enough to secure an audience with the PopeDespite my hesitation I remember walking wideeyed into the large chamber decorated by massive frescoes in the maze that was the Vatican on that warm Saturday morning in May Seated ahead of me was filmmaker Martin Scorsese whorsquod come there with his family and who was going to be speaking at the conference later that dayThe Pope arrived a few minutes later taking slow steps with the help of a crutch Not one for protocol he immediately walked towards our side to greet Scorsese This was two weeks before he was going in for an abdominal surgery but despite not keeping well he had chosen against calling off the engagementTaking a seat on a chair in front of the fireplace Pope Francis addressed us for the first time He told us about his life as a young teacher of literature at the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcioacuten of Santa Fe in ArgentinaldquoI have loved many poets and writers in my life among whom I think especially of Dante Dostoevsky and others stillhelliprdquo he said ldquoThe words of those authors helped me to understand myself the world and my people but also to understand more profoundly the human heartrdquo Recognising the power of imagination he called our work most vital ldquoYou are eyes that see and dream We human beings yearn for a new world that we will probably never see fully with our eyes yet we desire it we seek it we dream of itrdquo So ldquocontinue to dream to be restlessrdquo he said ldquoto conjure up words and visionsrdquoThose words come back to me now as we bid farewell to a Pope who carried with him not just a love for his faith but also for humanity He relentlessly spoke for the poor for peace for inclusion for kindness for imagination He believed in dreams and he asked us to believe in them too I remember queuing up to meet the Pope and when my chance came I nervously brought my hands forward for a blessing He instead shook my hands and encouraged me to speak listening to me intently and smiling through it allAs I sit here now writing this piece in the quiet town of Stirling in Scotland nearing the end of my second novel a book I thought I would never write I am thinking of the Holy Father and his words to me and everyone else in the audience that day ldquoPersevere then tirelessly and with creativity and couragerdquoatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params