THE CAP OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCISKUS.

As previously announced in the media, the Pope has sent his skullcap, the headpiece he wears every day, to Sweden to be sold at auction. The Pope made the gesture after being told about by the plight of the Roma in Sweden by his Swedish friend, Carlos Luna.
It is an tremendous gesture. Really a miracle, and I am very touched. I have contacted a firm of accountants who will manage the money, and also existing Roma organisations so as to best promote a more sustainable position for the Roma, said Carlos Luna.
A resident of Båstad, Sweden, Carlos Luna originally comes from Argentina, the current Pope's homeland, and has been the Pope’s friend for forty years. A few months ago, Carlos brought the plight of the Roma people in Sweden to the Pope’s attention, partly because of the notorious Roma register, partly because of the acute transit situation among many Roma, also in Sweden. Touched, Pope Francis responded by donating his solideo papal, papal skullcap. Carlos Luna has announced that the Pope wishes for the skullcap to be sold at Bukowskis.

Antje Jackelén, Archbishop, Church of Sweden
Not every day is a papal cap up for auction! This unusual sale draws attention to the plight of one of our most vulnerable groups. By taking his hat off to Europe’s Roma people, the Pope makes an eloquent symbolic gesture in the spirit of Jesus. The Roma are not “some faraway tribe”, but fellow human beings in our midst. In Europe. In Sweden. We meet them every day, on our way to the train or outside the supermarket. Help is needed, in the form of hands-on support, from one human to another, as well as pan-European measures against poverty, discrimination and isolation.
As the archbishop of an Evangelical-Lutheran church, I am glad to help muster publicity for the Pope’s zucchetto, since this can further the cause of the Roma. Pope Francis has quickly become a distinct voice for the poor and marginalised throughout the world, and he is himself a model of simplicity and solidarity. Like his namesake St Francis of Assisi, he wants to work for justice and redemption among people, nature and the whole of creation.
Few are lucky to be in a position to help vulnerable people by such an apparently simple gesture as taking one’s hat off. But if we, at least metaphorically, take our hat off to our begging fellow human being, then much has already been accomplished. Change begins in our mind, before reaching our hand and our wallet.
I hope that this campaign and the funds it raises will help to improve the situation for Europe’s Roma, both individually and structurally.
Soraya Post, Member of the European Parliament (Fi)
Your cap made me so happy. On behalf of my people, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I pray that this blessing from you and Carlos will be a blessing to all of humanity.
You know what they say about camels, rich people and the eye of a needle. It is just as hard for the poor and the excluded to enter society. We are far too many who are fighting for our lives on the margins.
The Roma are not the only ones living in the shadow of society. We are many who are not allowed to be seen, heard or even exist. We are women who die in close relationships, we are Muslims who are blamed, and we are the racified who are demeaned daily.
What is the point of telling a pope that there are many who suffer? You already know that the suffering is great. But a letter to the pope is also a letter to the world. A letter that you read is also read by those who heed to you. To borrow your eyes is to borrow your mind and your heart.
They build walls around the Roma in Europe, but Europe also builds walls around itself. From my seat in the European Parliament, I see the emergence of hate-filled voices, and the darkness growing from within. Hate is gaining ground.
Today, the Roma situation is being exploited by populist parties. People cannot bear to see the poverty and the suffering that their banishment entails. When we no longer can stand to see our children die in the cold winter, we beg for work and money. We knock even harder on society’s door. Abuse and violence have taught us that our beseeching hand is not appreciated. Society has taught us that we are of less value. This has been going on for 700 years. We have learned to love travelling, for we have never been allowed to stay or feel secure.
It is a long voyage for a human being to gain self-esteem, and it is a long voyage for a society to learn to see the value in every human being. But it is the voyage of your faith and of democracy. It runs along the road of love, and we reach out our hands in streets and squares throughout Europe so we can make the voyage together.
I wish to give my blessing to your efforts. Thank you.
Soraya Post, Member of the European Parliament (Fi)
Your cap made me so happy. On behalf of my people, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I pray that this blessing from you and Carlos will be a blessing to all of humanity.
You know what they say about camels, rich people and the eye of a needle. It is just as hard for the poor and the excluded to enter society. We are far too many who are fighting for our lives on the margins.
The Roma are not the only ones living in the shadow of society. We are many who are not allowed to be seen, heard or even exist. We are women who die in close relationships, we are Muslims who are blamed, and we are the racified who are demeaned daily.
What is the point of telling a pope that there are many who suffer? You already know that the suffering is great. But a letter to the pope is also a letter to the world. A letter that you read is also read by those who heed to you. To borrow your eyes is to borrow your mind and your heart.
They build walls around the Roma in Europe, but Europe also builds walls around itself. From my seat in the European Parliament, I see the emergence of hate-filled voices, and the darkness growing from within. Hate is gaining ground.
Today, the Roma situation is being exploited by populist parties. People cannot bear to see the poverty and the suffering that their banishment entails. When we no longer can stand to see our children die in the cold winter, we beg for work and money. We knock even harder on society’s door. Abuse and violence have taught us that our beseeching hand is not appreciated. Society has taught us that we are of less value. This has been going on for 700 years. We have learned to love travelling, for we have never been allowed to stay or feel secure.
It is a long voyage for a human being to gain self-esteem, and it is a long voyage for a society to learn to see the value in every human being. But it is the voyage of your faith and of democracy. It runs along the road of love, and we reach out our hands in streets and squares throughout Europe so we can make the voyage together.
I wish to give my blessing to your efforts. Thank you.
Anders Arborelius O.C.D.
The Pope always wears a white skull cap, or zucchetto, as part of his papal attire, while a cardinal’s is red, and the bishop's skull cap I wear is purple. Usually, this garment is not called a skull cap but a solideo (only for God). Whether you are a pope, a cardinal or a bishop, you remove it “only for God”. This gesture accordingly takes place during the most solemn part of mass, when bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Our clothes can also express our veneration for God, who created the universe and holds the universe in his hand. There lies an exquisite symbolism that may not be apparent to some, in the fact that Pope Francis wants specifically to give his solideo to help the Roma in Sweden. We Christians believe that Jesus is especially present among the poor and the excluded, and therefore, the Pope removes his skull cap as a sign of respect for the Roma beggars, who are now feeling the cold in our streets and usually wait in vain for the occasional pittance given to them. I hope his solideo will not only make their harsh lives a little easier to bear, but also help us, the well-fed and wealthy, to show them our respect, or at least a little common compassion.
I myself recently returned from the synod on the family in Rome, where I spent several days in the presence of the Pope. He was wearing a white solideo all the time, of course, and he probably has a small stock of them. Before the synod started, when I was given the opportunity to say hello to the Pope and told him I had greetings from Carlos Luna, he gave me a broad smile. The next time I spoke to the Pope, he chuckled and asked if I didn’t have Luna with me. In a few weeks, I will be meeting the Pope again, when I will be granted an audience at St Peter’s Place together with three Orthodox bishops from Sweden, and then I might bring with me more greetings from Sweden. And then the pPope will probably want to know how the auction is going, and how the Roma are managing in the Swedish cold.
If you need any more skull caps to auction off, I would be glad to help. Naturally, a humble bishop’s cap is not worth as much as a papal solideo, but it might at least be of some help to our beggars, who need all the encouragement and warmth we are capable of giving them.
Jonas Gardell, Swedish author
When the Pharisees condemn Jesus for breaking the Sabbath, he replies that they need to understand the meaning of the words: “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”
Jesus clearly sides with the many Jewish prophets who teach us that it is not the practice of religion in itself that makes a human godly, but that all faith in God must ultimately lead to caring for one’s neighbour.
The society in which Jesus lived was characterised by collectivism.
Group identity.
You either belonged or didn’t belong to the community.
Embraced or excluded. Pure or impure.
What Jesus does by lying down at the table of sinners and social outcasts, by not turning away lepers but actually touching them, by stating that whores also belong to the Kingdom of God – is to tear down any hierarchy that excludes people.
When Pope Francis is requested by his old friend, the Argentinean freedom fighter Carlos Luna who now lives in Sweden, to do something for the Roma, who are marginalised throughout Europe, the Pope decides to donate his skull cap.
To give away a piece of clothing is an evangelical tradition. In Luke, for instance, it says, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”
A skull cap is not much. A few bits of cloth stitched together, nothing more. But with this act, Francis is helping to tear down the hierarchies that exclude people.
He, who stands at the very top of the pyramid, takes off his hat, and reaches out his hand, to the Roma who are at the bottom of European society.
When we gather in church for Holy Communion, we say: “One bread, one body”.
We are all loved, wanted and embraced by the same God.
The Kingdom of God has no borders. No Schengen agreement. In the Kingdom of God there can be no “us” and “them”. We are neither woman nor man, Jew nor Greek, black nor white, homo nor hetero, profitable nor non-profitable – nor are we popes, nor Roma.
We are one.

Antje Jackelén, Arzobispa de la Iglesia Sueca
¡No sucede a diario que un solideo papal se subaste! La subasta de este objeto singular llama la atención sobre la situación de uno de nuestros grupos más vulnerables. Que el Papa “se quite el sombrero” por los romaníes de Europa, es un expresivo acto simbólico que sigue el ejemplo de Jesús. Los romaníes no son ”aquéllos, de allá lejos”, sino el prójimo que está aquí entre nosotros. En Europa. En Suecia. Con frecuencia nos encontramos a diario, en camino al tren o fuera de las tiendas de alimentos. Se requiere de ayuda en forma de apoyo concreto de persona a persona, al igual que de un esfuerzo vigoroso de Europa contra pobreza, discriminación y aislamiento.
Como arzobispa en una iglesia evangélica luterana, contribuyo con gusto a despertar el interés por el solideo papal, ya que puede servir a la causa de los romaníes. En poco tiempo el Papa Francisco ha llegado a ser una voz clara a favor de los pobres y marginados del mundo, y él mismo un ejemplo de sencillez y solidaridad. Como su predecesor, Francisco de Asís, quiere trabajar por la justicia y la reconciliación entre los hombres, con la naturaleza y con toda la creación.
Es privilegio de pocos poder ayudar a los desprotegidos a través de un aparentemente gesto sencillo, como quitarse ”el sombrero”. Pero si nosotros, por lo menos en el pensamiento, nos quitáramos el sombrero frente a un prójimo que mendiga, ya se habría ganado mucho. Los cambios empiezan en la cabeza antes de alcanzar la mano y la cartera.
Espero que esta campaña y el dinero que rinda, contribuyan a mejorar la situación de los romaníes de Europa, tanto individual como estructuralmente.
Soraya Post, parlamentaria en la Unión Europea. Y miembra del partido (FI – Iniciativa Feminista)
Me dio tanto gusto lo de tu kipá. Quiero darte las gracias desde el fondo de mi corazón y a nombre de mi gente. Hago oración para que tu bendición y la de Carlos pueda ser una bendición para toda la humanidad.
Tú sabes lo que se acostumbra decir de los camellos, el ojo de las agujas y los ricos. Es igualmente difícil para los marginados y pobres ser admitidos en la sociedad. Somos demasiados los que luchamos por nuestras vidas, fuera de la sociedad.
No son solamente los romaníes quienes viven a la sombra de la sociedad. Somos muchos los que no deben verse, expresarse o existir. Somos mujeres que mueren víctimas de violencia familiar, somos musulmanes que son inculpados y somos rasificados devaluados diariamente.
¿De qué sirve contarle a un Papa que el sufrimiento es grande? Tú sabes que el sufrimiento es grande. Sin embargo una carta al Papa es también una carta al mundo. Una carta que tú lees es leída también por los que te escuchan. Pedir prestados tus ojos es pedir prestado tu pensamiento y tu corazón.
Construyen muros contra los romaníes en Europa, pero Europa construye también muros a su alrededor. Desde mi sede en el Parlamento Europeo veo cómo las voces rencorosas son cada vez más y la oscuridad crece desde dentro. El odio gana terreno.
Hoy en día partidos populistas se valen de la situación de los romaníes. La gente no puede ver la pobreza y el sufrimiento que la deportación trae consigo. Cuando nosotros ya no podemos más ver morir a nuestros hijos en el frío invernal, pedimos trabajo y limosna. Golpeamos aún más fuerte las puertas de la sociedad. Patadas y golpes nos han enseñado que nuestra mano extendida no es aceptada. La sociedad nos ha enseñado que valemos menos. Esto ha pasado durante 700 años. Hemos aprendido a amar el viaje porque nunca nos han dejado quedarnos ni sentirnos seguros.
Es un viaje largo para un ser humano llegar a ver su propio valor, y es un viaje largo para la sociedad el llegar a ver el valor de todos los seres humanos. Pero es el viaje de tu fé y de la democracia el que sigue el camino del amor, y es para aunarnos a él que extendemos nuestras manos en las calles y plazas de Europa.
Quiero darle mi bendición a tu trabajo. Gracias.
+Anders Arborelius ocd (Orden de Carmelitas Descalzos)
El Papa lleva siempre como parte de su atuendo oficial una kipá blanca, al igual que un cardenal lleva una roja y un obispo, como yo, una violeta. A menudo no se usa la palabra kipá, sino solideo (sólo para Dios). Ya sea uno papa, cardenal u obispo, uno se la quita “sólo para Dios”. Esto sucede durante la parte más solemne de la misa, cuando el pan y el vino se transforman en el cuerpo y la sangre de Cristo. También a través de nuestras vestiduras podemos expresar nuestro respeto a Dios, a Él que lo ha creado todo y quien mantiene a la creación en su mano. Hay un simbolismo hermoso, pero para muchos oculto, en el hecho de que el Papa Francisco haya querido dar precisamente su solideo para ayudar a los romaníes en Suecia. Nosotros los cristianos creemos también que Jesús está presente especialmente entre los pobres y los marginados y por eso el Papa se ha quitado su solideo porque ha querido mostrar su respeto a los y las indigentes romaníes, que ahora van tiritando por nuestras calles frías y que tienen que esperar, muchas veces inútilmente, que les den una limosna exigua. Ojalá que su solideo no sólo pueda hacer que su vida dura sea un poco más facil, sino que también nos ayude a nosotros, bien alimentados y bien situados, a mostrarles nuestro respeto o en todo caso, un poco de misericordia humana común y corriente.
Yo mismo acabo de regresar del Sínodo de la Familia en Roma donde pude estar cerca del Papa durante varios días. Naturalmente llevaba siempre puesto su blanco solideo pues seguramente tiene una pequeña provisión. Cuando lo saludé antes de iniciarse el sínodo, le dije que le llevaba saludos de Carlos Luna y sonrío abiertamente. La siguiente vez que hablé con el Papa me preguntó si no había yo llevado conmigo a Luna y empezó a reir. Dentro de unas semanas podré saludar al Papa de nuevo, cuando junto con tres obispos ortodoxos de Suecia tengamos audiencia en la Plaza de San Pedro y entonces quizás lleve conmigo más saludos de Suecia. Y luego querrá saber seguramente el Papa, cómo ha ido la subasta y cómo les va a los romaníes que ahora la pasan mal en el frío sueco.
Si hacen falta más solideos para subastar, con gusto estoy a la orden. Ciertamente un sencillo solideo de obispo no puede tener el mismo valor que un solideo papal, pero quizás pueda servir de algo para nuestros hombres y
Jonas Gardell, autor sueco
Cuando Jesús fue acusado por los fariseos de transgredir las leyes del sabbat y de la purificación, les respondió que deberían entender el significado de las palabras: ”Misericordia quiero ver y no ofrendas.”
Jesús se suma claramente a la fila de profetas judíos que nos enseñan que no es la práctica de ritos religiosos en sí lo que hace al ser humano piadoso, sino que toda creencia en Dios finalmente debe confluir en ocuparse del prójimo.
La sociedad en la que Jesús vivía estaba impregnada de colectivismo.
De pertenencia al grupo
O se estaba dentro de la comunidad o se estaba fuera de ella.
O se estaba incluído o excluído. O se era puro o impuro.
Lo que Jesús hace al sentarse a la mesa con pecadores y marginados sociales, al no rechazar a leprosos, sino al contrario tocarlos, al afirmar que también las mujeres pecadoras pertenecen al reino de los cielos, es que hace estallar toda jerarquía que excluye a los hombres.
Cuando al Papa Francisco le pide su viejo amigo Carlos Luna, el luchador por la paz argentino que ahora vive en Suecia, que haga algo por el desprotegido grupo de romaníes en toda Europa, el Papa decide donar su solideo papal.
Donar una prenda de vestir es una tradición evangélica. El evangelio de Lucas dice, por ejemplo: ”El que tenga dos túnicas las compartirá con quien no tiene ninguna y quien tenga pan hará lo mismo.”
Un solideo papal no es gran cosa. Algunos trozos de tela unidos, nada más. Pero con su acción contribuye Francisco a hacer estallar las jerarquías que excluyen a los hombres.
El que está en la cumbre más alta de la pirámide se quita el sombrero y le tiende la mano a los romaníes que se encuentran en el nivel más bajo de la sociedad europea.
Cuando nos reunimos en la iglesia para celebrar la Comunión decimos: ”Ya que tomos somos un solo cuerpo, recibamos una parte del único y mismo pan.”
Todos somos amados, apreciados y acogidos por el mismo Dios.
En el reino de Dios no hay fronteras. Ningún Acuerdo Schengen. En el reino de Dios no puede haber ni ”nosotros” ni ”ellos”. No somos ni mujer ni hombre, judío o griego, negro o blanco, homo o hetero, productivo o improductivo y no somos ni papas ni somos romaníes.
Somos uno.