It’s a very difficult day for all of us. We thought it wouldn’t come because we started to believe that Francisco Pinto Balsemão – father, husband, grandfather, journalist, entrepreneur – was eternal. As everyone will remember, the sentences about the future began by the founder of the Impresa with the expression “If I ever die…”. But his legacy is eternal. And his legacy is all of us.
We had the privilege of learning from him, of being motivated by him, of listening to his ideas, of being galvanized by his speeches, of receiving his congratulatory message when something went well, or even that repair when something could have gone better. These are attitudes and gestures that we keep in our memory with the importance that he has always deserved from us and will continue to deserve. That we will value for the friendship and dignity with which he always treated us. We will miss the emails in which you asked us what we thought and, of course, your affectionate greetings.
We are all united in the same feeling of loss because we were all part of his family: wife, children and grandchildren, but also the many professionals who collaborated or collaborate with Impresa. And the loss is not just for us. It is also for the entire sector, as a unique and visionary figure in social communication, and for the country, as one of the founding fathers of our democracy and who contributed so much to the development of Portuguese civil society.
As a family, we want to thank all the messages we received and all the support at these times. But our gratitude is much broader: thank you for building, with Francisco Pinto Balsemão, a story that we are all proud of. A history that gave the country winds of freedom, with Expresso, winds of modernity, with SIC, winds of change, with the pioneering spirit that has always characterized it. A history spanning more than 50 years, guided by principles and values that continue to guide our work and our commitment: freedom, independence, rigor.
More important than reading our words is remembering yours. Because your words have always been a beacon for all of us. And, if they were so all these years, they will also be so now and in the future:
Of what I have done in life, I would place as a guiding thread and as the main objective, exercised and achieved in different ways, depending on the times and responsibilities, the fight for freedom of expression in general and, in particular, for the right to inform and to be informed.
Freedom is the beginning and must be the ultimate end. Any intervention on it must be on a subsidiary basis. And this intervention can never go beyond fair measure. The principle is freedom. The exception is the restriction.
Today and always, the only moral obligation that can be demanded of Man, in order to be “more than physical-chemical matter”, is that he seeks to leave the World in which he was born, be it Earth or something larger, better than he found it.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão left the world better. It is up to us to follow his legacy.
The wake will take place today, at the Jerónimos Monastery, from 6:30 pm, and the mass will take place tomorrow, at 1 pm, in the same location.
Francisco Maria Balsemão
Francisco Pedro Balsemão
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