[Vocabulary] retrieve

[Cynthia Garett]

Hi,

What does "Francis got up to retrieve his well-thumbed breviary" mean? I understand a breviary is a book of prayers and well-thumbed means having the pages marked from frequent turning. But what does "retrieve" mean here? Did he get up in front of someone and read from a book of precepts and them commented on those, correcting them or stressing some facts? Does "retrieve" mean reconsider, correct or add?

Thank you.

Francis violated a set code of Catholic ethical and philosophical discourse when, in an open letter to the prominent Italian journalist and atheist Eugenio Scalfari, in September, he wrote, “I would not speak about ‘absolute’ truths, even for believers. . . . Truth is a relationship. As such, each one of us receives the truth and expresses it from within, that is to say, according to one’s own circumstances, culture, and situation in life.” When Spadaro asked Francis about “the great changes in society, as well as the way human beings are reinterpreting themselves,” Francis got up to retrieve his well-thumbed breviary. He read from a fifth-century saint’s writings on the laws governing progress: “Even the dogma of the Christian religion must proceed from these laws. It progresses, solidifying with years, growing over time.” Then Francis commented, “So we grow in the understanding of the truth. . . . There are ecclesiastical rules and precepts that were once effective, but now they have lost value or meaning. The view of the Church’s teaching as a monolith to defend without nuance or different understandings is wrong.”

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hi,

What does "Francis got up to retrieve his well-thumbed breviary" mean? I understand a breviary is a book of prayers and well-thumbed means having the pages marked from frequent turning. But what does "retrieve" mean here? Did he get up in front of someone and read from a book of precepts and them commented on those, correcting them or stressing some facts? Does "retrieve" mean reconsider, correct or add?

Thank you.

Francis violated a set code of Catholic ethical and philosophical discourse when, in an open letter to the prominent Italian journalist and atheist Eugenio Scalfari, in September, he wrote, “I would not speak about ‘absolute’ truths, even for believers. . . . Truth is a relationship. As such, each one of us receives the truth and expresses it from within, that is to say, according to one’s own circumstances, culture, and situation in life.” When Spadaro asked Francis about “the great changes in society, as well as the way human beings are reinterpreting themselves,” Francis got up to retrieve his well-thumbed breviary. He read from a fifth-century saint’s writings on the laws governing progress: “Even the dogma of the Christian religion must proceed from these laws. It progresses, solidifying with years, growing over time.” Then Francis commented, “So we grow in the understanding of the truth. . . . There are ecclesiastical rules and precepts that were once effective, but now they have lost value or meaning. The view of the Church’s teaching as a monolith to defend without nuance or different understandings is wrong.”

I think he got up from his seat to grab his book and respond.