Abstract
This article examines the metaphorical language of Pope Francis by analyzing a broad constellation of recurrent metaphors in Italian texts and their Romanian translations. Expressions such as “outgoing Church”, “culture of waste”, “non-citizens”, “half-citizens”, “urban leftovers”, “shepherds with the smell of the sheep”, “museum Christians”, “armchair Christians”, “anesthetized Christians”, “a piecemeal Third World War”, “choreographers of the dance of life”, “administrators of fears” versus “entrepreneurs of dreams”, money as “the devil’s dung”, the Church as a “field hospital” and “globalization of Indifference” are interpreted not as isolated rhetorical figures but as components of a coherent conceptual system. Drawing on the theoretical framework of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson) and critical metaphor analysis in public discourse (Charteris-Black), the study shows how these images structure a dynamic ethical and social vision oriented toward action, critique of exclusion and pastoral renewal. Particular attention is devoted to translation strategies in the Romanian versions, highlighting the role of controlled metaphorical calque in preserving conceptual domains, axiological values and pragmatic force. Translation thus emerges as a form of conceptual and cultural mediation essential to the translinguistic circulation of papal discourse.