To Hope Is Not to Know: Nicholas of Cusa

On Saturday, 25 October 2025, in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father spoke of the Jubilee as making us pilgrims of hope. He referenced Nicholas of Cusa, who, despite the turbulent times in which he lived, relied on the teaching of St. Paul, that we may hope for what we don't yet see.  

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

You have reached the goal of your pilgrimage, but, like Jesus' disciples, we must now learn to inhabit a new world. The Jubilee has made us pilgrims of hope precisely for this reason: everything must now be viewed in the light of the resurrection of the Crucified One. It is in this hope that we are saved! Our eyes, however, are not accustomed. So, before ascending to heaven, the Risen One began to educate our gaze. And he continues to do so today! Indeed, things are not as they seem: love has triumphed, even though we have before our eyes so many contrasts and see the clash of many opposites.

In an equally troubled era, in the 15th century, the Church had a Cardinal who is still little known today. He was a great thinker and servant of unity. His name was Nicholas and he came from Kues, Germany: Nicholas of Cusa. He can teach us that to hope is also to "not know." As Saint Paul writes, "how can one hope for what he already sees?" ( Rom  8:24). Nicholas of Cusa could not see the unity of the Church, shaken by opposing currents and divided between East and West. He could not see peace in the world and among religions, in an era in which Christianity felt threatened from without. While he traveled, however, as a diplomat for the Pope, he prayed and thought. This is why his writings are full of light.

Many of his contemporaries lived in fear; others armed themselves, preparing new crusades. Nicholas, however, chose from a young age to associate with those who had hope, those who delved into new disciplines, those who reread the classics and returned to the sources. He believed in humanity. He understood that opposites must be held together, that God is a mystery in which what is in tension finds unity. Nicholas knew he did not know, and so he increasingly understood reality. What a great gift for the Church! What a call to renewal of the heart! These are his teachings: make space, hold opposites together, hope for what is not yet seen.

Cusanus spoke of "learned ignorance," a sign of intelligence. The protagonist of some of his writings is a curious character: the idiot. He is a simple, uneducated person who asks the learned basic questions, challenging their certainties.

It's the same in today's Church. How many questions challenge our teaching! Questions from young people, questions from the poor, questions from women, questions from those silenced or condemned because they differ from the majority. We live in a blessed time: how many questions! The Church becomes an expert on humanity if she walks with humanity and echoes its questions in her heart.

Dear brothers and sisters, To hope is not to know. We don't already have the answers to all questions. But we do have Jesus. We follow Jesus. And so we hope for what we don't yet see. We become a people in which opposites merge into unity. We enter like explorers into the new world of the Risen One. Jesus goes before us. We learn, advancing one step at a time. It is a journey not only of the Church, but of all humanity. A journey of hope.

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