In the Basilica of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome, one can find a series of mosaic portraits of the popes from Saint Peter all the way to Pope Francis. The project began with Pope Leo the Great (440-461) but a fire destroyed the Basilica in 1823. Only 40 portraits were saved. In 1847, Pope Pius IX (1846-76) revived the project which, of course, is ongoing.
The Christian hopes in the “here-after” and in the “here-now.” Christian eschatology is undividedly transcendent and immanent, anticipation of the future in the present and anticipating present of the future. The integral salvation of the human person begins now. In hope we expect our salvation at the end of time – eschatological salvation – and we work in time to attain it. Hence, integrates the eschatological and temporal (historical and social liberation).