Hermeneutic of mercy

A reading of the bull Misericordiae vultus

Abstract

The Bull of Indiction Misericordiae Vultus (April 11, 2015), with which Pope Francis announced the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, quotes Thomas Aquinas’ sentence on mercy as the way in which God particularly manifests his omnipotence. The bull develops a sort of “hermeneutic of mercy”: a comprehensive view of Christian faith, the relationship of the human being to God, and of human existence in the light of divine mercy, which can be put into relation with Aquinas’ understanding of mercy as “first root” (“prima radix”) of the whole of God’s action. The text invites to deepen in the mystery of divine mercy, as a privileged approach to the mystery of the human person and its dignity. Pointing out at mercy as a fundamental value for human culture and society is an own and irreplaceable contribution of Christian faith and theology in the present interdisciplinary dialogue. In that context, the view of Thomas Aquinas appears as an original and valuable contribution, a source of inspiration and motivation in favor of a “culture of mercy”.