As a tribute to Ernesto Cardenal and with a view to his upcoming 100th birthday next year — and on the occasion of the publication of the impressive collection of reflections „Longing for Paradise – Ernesto Cardenal: Poet, Priest, Revolutionary„ — we invite you to join us in celebrating his remarkable life, his work, and his formative literary and politico-theological legacy.
Cardenal was a political poet and also a deeply devout mystic. He was a priest who did not seek paradise in the hereafter, and, following the early Christian vision, he regarded the world as a whole. Above all, as a revolutionary he made space for political and social-revolutionary discourse and shaped those conversations internationally and across generations. As a “voice of the South,” he continues to inspire the One World movement and activists across Europe in the struggle for justice.

Longing for Paradise is a unique photo-biography featuring excerpts of his finest texts selected by Hermann Schulz and Lutz Kliche. The two publishers and translators were friends and companions of Ernesto Cardenal. They complement the chronology with partly unpublished photographs and personal impressions and movingly present his work and the defining stations of his life. The literary material is further enriched by recollections from eminent figures such as Heinrich Böll, Dorothee Sölle, Dietmar Schönherr, and Johann Baptist Metz.

The event focuses on raising awareness of the visionary power of Ernesto Cardenal’s work and poetry: as one of the leading figures of liberation theology, as a titan of Latin American literature, and as a witness to and co-creator of a short but intense social era of emancipation and lived dreams. This will be achieved through an engaging combination of readings, storytelling, and music.

Ernesto Cardenal’s life is marked by extraordinarily compelling moments that occurred in historically significant contexts. The passages and stages of his life will be recounted with great humor and affection by his translator and close friend Lutz Kliche, who personally witnessed many of them.

Ernesto Cardenal’s texts will be delivered with fitting sympathy by renowned personalities who bring out their full radiance.

The Grupo Sal Trio, long-time friends and collaborators of Ernesto Cardenal, builds an unmistakable bridge between poetry and music. Grupo Sal Trio members Aníbal Civilotti, Fernando Dias Costa, and Roberto Deimel create an intense, passionate atmosphere that gives the poetry and stories a sensual frame.
The series of events is at once a deeply moving homage to the mystic-revolutionary poet and theologian Ernesto Cardenal and a contextualization of his messages within a hopeful, forward-looking discourse.