THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ‘ETHOS’ IN POPE FRANCIS’S SPEECHES

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the construction of a new leadership in the Catholic Church in the light of the studies on ethos and scenography by Dominique Maingueneau (2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d), the building of the image of itself in the speech. The research will focus on an infographic published on the newspaper Correio Braziliense, in the Pope's interview granted to Father Antonio Spadaro and published in Civiltà Cattolica magazine in September 2013, and in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium - The Joy of Gospel, published in November 2013. This study seeks to demonstrate that Bergoglio works to buid an ethos of humility and self-denial that finds strength and legitimacy by contrast with the figure of emeritus pope Joseph Ratzinger, his anti-guarantor, representative of a set of values in which the current Catholic no longer recognizes leadership. The research also aims to illustrate why the reform promised by supervening of Bergoglio to the papacy hardly correspond to the big reform imagined by the young Catholic community in the world. It will be shown that the most significant change from the first two years of the new Pope is due to the tone of his speech, not real intent to change any aspects of the doctrine.