Cell phone in the heights of the skies - "Vere Papa mortuus est"
When appearance is more important than living and understanding the moment
Pope Francis has died. Everyone to St. Peter's.
Everyone telling something without understanding it, without living it. It seemed like a holiday, just another day. The important thing was to take a selfie, make a video call, get photographed or interviewed by one of the countless TV crews present.
We hear talk of a moved and silent crowd. In person, it felt like Easter Monday out of town.
Few were living and understanding what had happened, what was happening. Few were there to return the embrace of St. Peter's.
It is no coincidence that in recent years we have lost along the way the strength of photographic reportage, that is, silently telling the reality of things without words, without opinions, without political or religious alignment. Only emotions and facts.
But evidently the "times" no longer ask for it. It is no longer important to understand and know in order to tell, it is enough to say you were there that day, to accompany the published photo—identical to a thousand others—with a couple of banal lines, to give a routine interview and then return to your own inconsistency. It is no longer important to understand the moment and it is no longer important to document the moment. The important thing is to be there.
In fact... the important thing is to show others that you are there. What that moment actually represents is completely irrelevant.
©Max Angeloni - All rights reserved
©Max Angeloni 2025