The Pope said he is ‘allergic’ to adjectives in a speech yesterday.
He is much more keen on nouns and thinks they’re massively underrated. Speaking to the Vatican’s communications team, Pope Francis said: ‘We have fallen into the culture of adjectives and adverbs, and we have forgotten the strength of nouns.’
It was the first time His Holiness met the Dicastery for Communications, set up in 2015 to modernise the way the Catholic Church communicates with the world.
Addressing the team, he said: ‘I have a speech to read, it’s not that long, it’s seven pages … but I’m sure that after the first one the majority of you will fall asleep.’
The Pope revealed one adjective that really grinds his gears.
He said: ‘Why say authentically Christian? It is Christian! The mere fact of the noun “Christian”, “I am Christ” is strong: it is an adjective noun, yes, but it is a noun.’
‘The communicator must make people understand the weight of the reality of nouns that reflect the reality of people.’
In a bid to get to speed with the 21st century, he urged the department to ‘encourage the formation of digital environments in which people communicate’.
