Italy was one of the first Western countries to be hit by the pandemic. So at the beginning of 2020, the world closely watched what was happening there.<\/p>\n
Alexis Vald\u00e9s says that this was the inspiration behind his poem \u201cEsperanza,\u201d Spanish for \u201cHope,\u201d which Pope Francis quotes in his book \u201cSo\u00f1emos juntos,\u201d \u201cLet us Dream,\u201d in which he reflects on the challenges of today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n
ALEXIS VALD\u00c9S The poem\u2019s lines remind readers that even bad things come to an end and that when they pass, humanity awakens more united.<\/p>\n ALEXIS VALD\u00c9S Pope Francis liked this poem so much that he decided to call Alexis personally. After an unsuccessful first attempt, he insisted, and the second time was the charm.<\/p>\n ALEXIS VALD\u00c9S Alexis says he was struck by the humbleness in which the pope addressed him and other details that surprised him during the conversation.<\/p>\n ALEXIS VALD\u00c9S This is a phrase that Pope Francis often mentions to comedians. Perhaps because laughter is within everyone\u2019s reach, and it\u2019s also an excellent medicine for dealing with difficulties.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Javier Romero<\/p>\n Translation: Christian Campos<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 24, 2021. He jokingly tells how he felt when he did not respond to the pope's phone call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/60B2asMk0Q0","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/balexisvaldeseng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/balexisvaldesint.mp4","type":"rrp","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Artist
\n\u201cI was on the edge of the bed as I was getting ready to sleep and felt very scared. I was watching what was happening in Italy, especially in Milan. There was no more space for the dead, and it was already happening in Madrid. FLASH So I started to write those lines.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Artist
\n\u201cThat has a lot to do with a Cuban thinker and poet, the greatest of them all, whose name was Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed. Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed used to say: \u2018Climbing mountains makes men into brothers.\u2019This line has been engraved in my head for life. The concept is that when people go through a great struggle, great suffering, a great challenge, it unites people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Artist
\n\u201cThe pope called me. Well, he called me twice. The first time I didn\u2019t pick up the phone. I felt like an idiot because I saw the message from the pope\u2019s secretary telling me: \u2018Mr. Alexis, we called you, but you didn\u2019t pick up the phone...\u2019. I said: \u2018Oh no, please!\u2019 At first, I thought: \u2018I\u2019m an idiot, but then I thought: \u2018No, I\u2019m the person who didn\u2019t pick up a phone call from the Pope\u2019 (laughs).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Artist
\n\u201cI told him at the end: \u2018Well, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to disappoint you, but I\u2019m not really a poet. I\u2019m an actor, a comedian. I do comedy.\u2019 He retained that clarification, and at the end of the conversation, he said to me: \u2018keep on making people laugh, it is much needed\u2019 (he laughs)\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n