This was exactly Pope Francis’s message to China. In his first, historic interview on 28 January 2016 with Francesco Sisci for Asia Times, the Pope said: “[China] is a land blessed with many things. And the Catholic Church, one of whose duties is to respect all civilizations, before this civilization, I would say, has the duty to respect it with a capital “R”. The Church has great potential to receive culture”

Sadness is certainly not a desired or attractive feeling with its dense cluster of synonyms that are difficult to separate with any precision (boredom, angst, depression). It never has been, even if it has had a certain consideration in literary and philosophical circles (think of Spleen, the meditative or melancholic sadness, of Romanticism and decadence, or of the angst of Heidegger as the cipher of human existence) and has, in general, influenced the entire history of culture and medical research in the West.

Sadness is certainly not a desired or attractive feeling with its dense cluster of synonyms that are difficult to separate with any precision (boredom, angst, depression). It never has been, even if it has had a certain consideration in literary and philosophical circles (think of Spleen, the meditative or melancholic sadness, of Romanticism and decadence, or of the angst of Heidegger as the cipher of human existence) and has, in general, influenced the entire history of culture and medical research in the West.

“Go, cursed people, out of my sight into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). These are the most terrible words that we find in the Gospel and are among others that fell from the lips of Jesus. Luke and Matthew remember some more: “I don’t know where you come from! Away from me, all you workers of evil”