EM NOME DA "MAIS VELHA ALIANÇA", DEPOIS DE

 SÃO NUNINHO, É FAZER CLAQUE POR SÃO TONI

Em directo do National Prayer Breakfast, em Washington, um guia de leitura do discurso de São Toni

Onde Tony Blair, olhando em plano picado sobre Jerusalém, consegue fazer a remix de meia dúzia das mais célebres ficções históricas, sem se rir:

"I spend much of my time in the Holy Land and in the Holy City. The other evening I climbed to the top of Notre Dame in Jerusalem. You look left and see the Garden of Gethsemane. You look right and see where the Last Supper was held. Straight ahead lies Golgotha. In the distance is where King David was crowned and still further where Abraham was laid to rest. And of course in the centre of Jerusalem is the Al Aqsa Mosque, where according to the Qur'an, the Prophet was transported to commune with the prophets of the past".

Ou "tirem-me o Dawkins da frente que um gajo já nem de autocarro pode andar em Londres descansado":

"Religious faith is assailed by an increasingly aggressive secularism, which derides faith as contrary to reason and defines faith by conflict. Thus do the extreme believers and the aggressive non-believers come together in unholy alliance".

Santa Cherie, a outra metade da Divina Sizígia

Para o que um pai ateu está guardado ou há profes que nunca é demais manter debaixo de olho:

"I remember my first spiritual awakening. I was ten years old. That day my father - at the young age of 40 - had suffered a serious stroke. His life hung in the balance. My mother, to keep some sense of normality in the crisis, sent me to school. My teacher knelt and prayed with me. Now my father was a militant atheist. Before we prayed, I thought I should confess this. 'I'm afraid my father doesn't believe in God'. I said. 'That doesn't matter' my teacher replied 'God believes in him. He loves him without demanding or needing love in return'".

...por outro lado, há "civil servants" que valem muito mais que o seu peso em platina:

"I recall giving an address to the country at a time of crisis. I wanted to end my words with 'God bless the British people'. This caused complete consternation. Emergency meetings were convened. The system was aghast. Finally, as I sat trying to defend my words, a senior civil servant said, with utter distain: 'Really, Prime Minister, this is not America you know'".

São Toni preenche o impresso de candidatura à beatificação mas sonhando, lá no fundo, com a canonização:

"I believe restoring religious faith to its rightful place, as the guide to our world and its future, is itself of the essence. The 21st Century will be poorer in spirit, meaner in ambition, less disciplined in conscience, if it is not under the guardianship of faith in God".

Um caso típico de "fala por ti" (porém, na circunstância, verdade, verdadinha):

"'Fear of God' means really obedience to God; humility before God; acceptance through God that there is something bigger, better and more important than you".

Tradução do inglês técnico - "naquele dia da cimeira dos Açores, eu tinha comido qualquer coisa que me caíu mal, foi isso":

"When I was Prime Minister I had cause often to reflect on leadership. Courage in leadership is not simply about having the nerve to take difficult decisions or even in doing the right thing since oftentimes God alone knows what the right thing is. (...) And it is in that 'not knowing' that the courage lies".

(2009)