An amusing scene took place at Casa Santa Marta where the pope lives. Inspired by St. John Bosco, who used magic tricks to preach to children and young people he met, Mexican priest Jose Luis Gonzalez Santoscoy, from the Archdiocese of Guadalajara (Mexico), used magic during a visit with Pope Francis to illustrate how he preaches creatively about God’s love.

His meeting with the pope took place earlier this month in the Vatican, and the scene of his interaction (in Spanish) with Peter’s Successor was recorded and later posted on Facebook.

The pope follows along with Fr. Gonzelez’s instructions and questions as he performs the magic trick.

Fr. Gonzalez Santoscoy begins the magic trick with two paper hearts, one for the pope and one for himself. He asks the pope several questions that helped illustrate the message of the magic trick. “What can break a person’s heart?” the priest-magician asks. “What condemns him to death is hate, envy, … and gossip,” answered the pope.

And with each answer, he and the pontiff tear the paper hearts into pieces.

“Jesus wants us to renew our hearts through grace and through prayer,” Fr. Gonzalez explains.

As he asks the pope about what heals and renews a heart—”humility, service, and letting yourself be seen by Jesus,” the pope replies, and “the Holy Spirit,” Fr. Gonzalez adds—and he folds the torn hearts up into a little ball, only to unfold them again, revealing a string of hearts made whole again.

On various occasions, Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics to be creative, joyful, and warm in their methods of evangelization.

Indeed, in the programmatic document of his pontificate, he wrote, “Jesus can also break through the dull categories with which we would enclose him and he constantly amazes us by his divine creativity” (Evangelii Gaudium).

“Mercy, creativity, and hope make life grow,” Francis said in Christus Vivit, the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation published in March 2019, directed to young people and to all the people of God.

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