An intertextual reading of ‘What it means to love a country’ by José Tolentino Mendonça

the need for roots, fragility and hope

Abstract

Cardinal José Tolentino Mendonça provides a distinctive poetic and theological interpretation, focusing on the term root as the core of symbolic reflection based on the works of Luís de Camões and Herberto Helder. By doing so, he proposes a reversal of the traditional logic associated with this image, which typically represents strength, stability and permanence. In his 2020 speech, ‘O que é amar um país’ ('What it means to love a country'), especially in the context of the ongoing global pandemic, Tolentino suggests that the root can also represent vulnerability and fragility — constitutive aspects of the human condition. In this intertextual dialogue, he references the text The Need for Roots (L’Enracinement) by the philosopher Simone Weil, which was written during the Second World War. Building on this, Tolentino considers rooting as an existential and spiritual metaphor, emphasising the tension between the need for belonging and the acknowledgement of human vulnerability. This study therefore seeks to analyse how the concepts of fragility, rooting, and hope are articulated in Tolentino's thinking, providing hermeneutic axes through which to understand human identity in times of crisis. The study aims to demonstrate that by shifting the conventional meaning of roots, the author provides an ethical and anthropological interpretation of the human experience in which vulnerability is not viewed as a limitation, but as an opportunity for openness, solidarity, and community building.