In The Spirit of Hope, Byung-Chul Han takes up the view that waking dreams are distinguished from night dreams by three characteristics: they lead to action, they involve active hope; they refer to the future, not the past, they are forward dreaming; they are concerned with others and lead to action to improve the world, whereas the sleeper is self-absorbed, in private with his treasures. 

This has to do with what Julián Marías studies in his Brief Treatise on Illusion; a term that only in the Spanish language takes on a positive meaning, since in psychopathology it means a concept or image that does not correspond to reality. On the other hand, only in Spanish does illusion refer to a hope of something attractive and which is usually related to people.  

The program of his pontificate is expressed in the apostolic exhortation on the joy of proclaiming the Gospel in today's world (Evangelii gaudium, 2013). His magisterial pathway officially begins on the shoulders of the theological giant that was Benedict XVI (encyclical Lumen fidei, 2013). He continues to call for the care of the Earth, in intimate connection with the poor (Laudato si', 2015). It moves forward with the incisive proposition of universal fraternity and at the same time social friendship (Fratelli tutti, 2020). And he concludes by closing the circle of his faith in depth, with the advertisement of the One who loved us (Dilexit nos, 2024). 

Pope Francis has been a daydreamer. He lived in rebellion against conformism, in heartfelt contact with history, in rapid response to "the sadness and anguish of the people of our time, especially the poor and those who suffer" (Gaudium et spes, 1). He was characterized by this daydreaming which, if these considerations are true, corresponds to the illness that leads to spending oneself and dying with one's boots on, if Providence so disposes. 

If the Second Vatican Council affirms that "man cannot find his own fullness except in the sincere submission of himself to others" (Ibid., 24), it was proper for Francis to add, with his own life, the phrase: especially to the poor, to the fragile, to the most needy.  

His autobiography - which was initially intended to be published after his death - begins by saying: 

"The book of my life is the story of a journey of hope (...) But hope is above all the virtue of movement and the engine of change: it is the tension that unites report and utopia to build the dreams that await us. (...) We Christians must know that hope neither deceives nor disillusions: everything is born to bloom in an eternal springtime". 

Indeed. In the Christian perspective, God is eternal spring that intends to infect us. 

Perhaps the great Antonio Machado sensed something like this, when at the end of his poem To a dry elm tree, and before the grace of a green branch, he confesses: "My heart awaits... another miracle of spring".

Francis liked the prophecy of Joel that St. Peter quotation in his first preaching, recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles: "It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh..., and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:14; Joel 3:1). 

Pope Bergoglio says that it is in the dreams of the elderly that it becomes possible for young people to have new visions, and for everyone to have a new future. 

He dreamed of life, of peace and justice, of the change that leads to light, of the dignity of every person, of the truly common good, as the horizon of every staff journey. Open to truth and goodness, to beauty and unity. 

He dreamed big. He wanted to build bridges and tear down walls, and for us to dream together. He was attracted to the image of a smiling God. He imitated his predecessor and namesake from Assisi, in making "the minstrel of God". I was told that sometimes when someone addressed him as "holy Father", he would answer quickly: "holy son...". 

He does not mind, in his writings and speeches, confessing his dreams. Thus, in one of the last ones, in the Jubilee of communicators, he tells them with the language of the weavers of dreams: "I dream of a communication that does not sell illusions or fears, but that is capable of giving reasons to hope".

He tried to make himself understood by everyone, speaking from the heart, without hiding the style of his people and the accent of his land. He almost always asked everyone to pray for him, but in his favor. He preferred to be wrong -that is what he said- and to have to rectify something, than to keep quiet when the broken dishes were at stake, paid by those who had no voice. 

The program of his pontificate is expressed in the apostolic exhortation on the joy of proclaiming the Gospel in today's world (Evangelii gaudium, 2013). His magisterial pathway officially begins on the shoulders of the theological giant that was Benedict XVI (encyclical Lumen fidei, 2013). He continues to call for the care of the Earth, in intimate connection with the poor (Laudato si', 2015). It moves forward with the incisive proposition of universal fraternity and at the same time social friendship (Fratelli tutti, 2020). And he concludes by closing the circle of his faith in depth, with the advertisement of the One who loved us (Dilexit nos, 2024). 

Not long ago he wrote: "When I die, I will not be buried in St. Peter's, but in St. Mary Major: the Vatican is the house of my last service, not that of eternity. I will be in the room where the candelabra are now kept, close to that Queen of Peace to whom I have always order financial aid and by whom I have been embraced more than a hundred times during my pontificate". In her arms we leave you. Rest in peace, Pope Francis.