Inside the Vatican April 2020

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INSIDE THE

APRIL 2020 $5 / EUR 5 / £3.30

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VATICAN

THE SILENCE OF THE VIRUS ON MARCH 8, THE POPE’S VICAR FOR ROME ANNOUNCED THAT ALL OF ROME’S CHURCHES WOULD BE CLOSED AND THE PUBLIC SACRIFICE OF THE MASS WOULD CEASE WHILE THE CORONAVIRUS RAGES

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The“ABest ofapologist extraordinaire” – Publisher’s Weekly Christian

Frank Sheed

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X To Know Christ Jesus — A spiritual classic that’s helped countless readers develop a deep, profound knowledge of Jesus Christ. Thoroughly focusing on the Gospels, Sheed reveals Christ as he actually lived among us, and how he impacted and changed so many people that he encountered from his infancy to his passion, death, and resurrection.

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X Theology for Beginners — One of the most clear and outstanding explanations of the central doctrines of the Christian faith ever written. Sheed gives a compelling case for anyone to study theology, and the wonderful rewards that accompany such a pursuit.

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X Knowing God

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X Society and Sanity — Sheed examines the perennial truths about human nature based on the wisdom of Catholic social ethics, discussing the power of love, the nature of marriage, the role of government, the relationship of law and morality, of Church and State, and the duties of the citizen – so we can better grasp what human beings are, and what social conditions help or hinder human flourishing.

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03 editorial April 20 corr1_B. EDITORIAL December, 08, p. 4 copy 3/24/20 11:24 AM Page 3

EDITORIAL

by Robert Moynihan

“May We Mend Our Lives”

This Lent and Easter in Rome are the most silent in all the history of the Church. Rome is on total lockdown.

The fears of the coronavirus have led to the shutdown of the country. A special report

“Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”...

Then He told them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places... Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country stay out of the city...

“When these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” —Luke 21:5-28

I asked a young colleague, Dr. Jan Bentz, 32, to reflect on these painful times. This young German scholar — he earned a doctorate in philosophy — is a writer who lives in Rome with his wife. They have just had their first baby. He encourages all of us to hold fast to our faith, to persevere in hope, and to stay close to the Lord and one another in charity during these times. This is a letter he wrote for us about these days in Rome.—RM

By Dr. Jan Bentz, Letter from Rome, March 19 Lent has begun and, nolens volens, the world is taking part. This year’s particular penance bears a name: COVID-19. Virus diagnoses are sprouting up all over the world, and one country after another announces lockdown. People are urged to remain home — in some countries, they are forced to do so.

Rome is in a state of emergency. Here in the heart of the Church, public Masses are forbidden, liturgical events are canceled, and Italian citizens are quarantined.

The shocker for countless people: even the celebrations of the Easter Triduum, the most sacred and solemn festivity of the Church, will happen behind closed doors; no lay person will be able to participate.

In this unprecedented event, potentially for the first time since the Resurrection of Our Lord, there will not be a single public Mass in the heart of the Church celebrating His death and resurrection. Are these signs of the end times? Perhaps.

The Catholic world reacted quickly: countless Masses are livestreamed (ordinary and extraordinary form) on television, Facebook, and other media platforms; prayer groups have been founded among friends and strangers alike online; and parishes have found most creative ways to stay in touch despite being under “house arrest.”

As a Catholic, experiencing this ongoing crisis has been disenchanting in many ways. In a season designed to foster faith and hope, this event has brought out disillusionment.

Disillusionment about governments and their ever-increasing stranglehold on the individual. The measures taken (at least in Italy and possibly elsewhere) are not designed to nurture and sustain virtue, but are blind “one size fits all” measures bogging down the individual and whole economies.

Disillusionment with the health care system: it was not ready for

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a real public health threat of this magnitude. Too long have nonessential procedures been pushed and highlighted: abortion, euthanasia, and other “services” have sucked up resources and manpower that would have been better and more prudently used to prepare for emergencies of the sort we are experiencing now. The most morbid and demonic aspect of the situation: abortions are still available as “emergency procedures.”

Disillusionment with globalism. For once, millions are realizing the fateful truth: “No-border” policies have brought receiving countries to their knees. Even in good times they were strained.

Now, when an emergency arises, no one is suitably prepared, and suddenly “borders” and “limits” gain back their true importance in the consciousness of the people. It has also become tangible how the irresponsible behavior of a totalitarian regime, such as China, can indeed very quickly have an effect on each one of us. Why trust them in peace times when we cannot trust them in times of crisis?

Disillusionment, finally, with the Church as a voice in society: When times are dire, she, too, seems to hide from peril — however grave — despite her knowledge that this sickness can only befall the body, not the soul. What a tragedy to see priests with large face masks and gloves hustling through the streets of Rome minding their own business — should not they be the beacons of light and hope?

Surely some saints are caring for the sick in this moment. We owe gratitude especially to more than a dozen priests who have already died from exposure to the virus victims.

But where is the united voice of hope that the Church ought to proclaim? Why do we not hear her voice of hope for a godless society?

Yet, a sign of hope remains: on March 16th Pope Francis walked through the streets of Rome! Privately — and surrounded by his security guards — the Pope went on foot to the “San Marcello al Corso” Church to pray before the “Pestilence Crucifix.”

On display in a side chapel, the large wooden Crucifixs was carried through the streets of Rome in 1522 in order to fight off the plague which had infested the capital.

Francis also halted in St. Mary Major to pray before the famous icon, Salus Populi Romani, one of Rome’s most precious and beloved icons of the Virgin Mary, petitioning that the plague that is COVID19 will soon cease to spread.

On March 19th the Apostolic Penitentiary published a letter granting a plenary indulgence to all those who have contracted the virus and have been trying to fulfill the common conditions from home.

There is a sapling of spiritual health and regrowth.

When all this has blown over — and it will — may we all remember the personal suffering we had to endure, each in our own way, and mend our lives according to the lessons we can take away from it.

Lent is a time for reform, reflection, and repentance — and this year we are all in it, whether we like it or not. Let us rejoice in the Lord through this time of trial.m Y Gain valuable insights on the Vatican and Pope Francis Y Read behind-the-scenes news and exclusive interviews Y Find links to scholarly sources and unique research APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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APRIL 2020

CONTENTS

Year 28, #4

LEAD STORY Cardinal Against Cardinal: The Dispute over the Vatican’s China Accord

by Robert Moynihan (with texts from Cardinal Re and Archbishop Viganò) . . . . . . . . . . .10

APRIL 2020 Year 28, #4

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robert Moynihan ASSOCIATE EDITOR: George “Pat” Morse (+ 2013) ASSISTANT EDITOR: Christina Deardurff CULTURE EDITOR: Lucy Gordan CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Giuseppe Rusconi WRITERS: Anna Artymiak, Alberto Carosa, William D. Doino, Jr., David Quinn, Andrew Rabel, Vladimiro Redzioch, Serena Sartini, Father Vincent Twomey PHOTOS: Grzegorz Galazka LAYOUT: Giuseppe Sabatelli ILLUSTRATIONS: Stefano Navarrini CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Deborah B. Tomlinson ADVERTISING: Katie Carr Tel: 202-536-4555, ext.303 kcarr@insidethevatican.com

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EDITORIAL OFFICES FOR MAIL: US: 14 West Main St. Front Royal, VA 22630 USA Rome: Inside the Vatican via delle Mura Aurelie 7c, Rome 00165, Italy Tel: 39-06-3938-7471 Fax: 39-06-638-1316 POSTMASTER: send address changes to Inside the Vatican c/o St. Martin de Porres Lay Dominican Community PO Box 57 New Hope, KY 40052 USA Tel: 800-789-9494 Fax: 270-325-3091 Subscriptions (USA): Inside the Vatican PO Box 57 New Hope, KY 40052 USA www.insidethevatican.com Tel: 800-789-9494

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INSIDE THE VATICAN (ISSN 1068-8579, 1 yr subscription: $ 49.95; 2 yrs, $94.95; 3 yrs, $129.95), provides a comprehensive, independent report on Vatican affairs published monthly except July and September with occasional special supplements.

Inside the Vatican is published by Urbi et Orbi Communications, PO Box 57, New Hope, Kentucky, 40052, USA, pursuant to a License Agreement with Robert Moynihan, the owner of the Copyright. Inside the Vatican, Inc., maintains editorial offices in Rome, Italy.

Periodicals Postage PAID at New Haven, Kentucky and additional mailing offices.

Copyright 2020 Robert Moynihan

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INSIDE THE VATICAN

APRIL 2020

NEWS GERMANY/German bishops’ new president: “Sexual morality must change”

by Maike Hickson, Lifesitenews.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 INTERVIEW/Lucio Brunelli: ”The Pope is a man; he suffers like the rest of us”

by Domenico Coviello, Velvetmag.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 ART ESSAY: The Seven “Last Words” of Christ — and His First Word After Rising

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 CULTURE INTERVIEW/Gary Krupp: No longer a disparager of Pius XII

by Deborah Castellano Lubov, Zenit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 INTERVIEW/Plagues and prayers

by Cornelius Sullivan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 PERSPECTIVE/The Arian heresy and our present age, Part 2

by Joseph Tamayo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 SCRIPTURE/

by Prof. Anthony Esolen, Magdalen College, New Hampshire, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 OBITUARY/

by Alberto Carosa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 ESSAY/

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 INTERIOR CASTLE/

by A Hermitess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 FOOTSTEPS ON THE WAY/

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

URBI ET ORBI: CATHOLICISM AND ORTHODOXY Icon/

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Spirituality/

By Father El Meskeen (1919-2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 East-West Watch/

by Peter Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 News from the East:

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 FEATURES LATIN/The Eternal City in a season of plague

by John Byron Kuhner, Paideia Institute, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Art/Celebrating the great Raphael after 500 years

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 BOOK/Selection from Lord of the World (originally published in 1907)

by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Vatican Watch/A day-by-day chronicle of Vatican events: February and March

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 People/

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Food for Thought/Tables near Raphael

by Mother Martha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

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Glorious Children’s Books

X WHO IS JESUS? His Life, His Land, His Times

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Lavishly illustrated. Perfect for supplementing religious education in school or at home!

From the creation of the world to the infancy of the Church, all the important stories from both the Old and New Testament are retold and beautifully illustrated in this best-selling work.

Includes chapters on the prophets and the psalms, as well as a glossary of important people, objects and places.

6 WIJP. . . 96 pp, Softcover with flaps, $16.99

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X STORIES OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

X CATHOLIC SAINTS FOR CHILDREN

A unique, beautifully illustrated book with inspiring true stories to help children know Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. From the multiplication of the loaves in the Gospels to the heroic actions of a young girl in Nazi-occupied Poland, they learn how the Real Presence has led countless believers to lives of deep faith. 6 SBSP . . . Softcover with flaps, $16.99

For children today needing authentic heroes, this book holds up giants of our faith for them to be inspired by. With lovely illustrations, each delightful account models heroic love for God. Thirty saints lives, including Our Lady, St. Joseph, Peter, Benedict, Joan of Arc, Francis, Kateri, Ignatius, Therese, and many more!

X THE BIG BOOK OF CHRISTIANS AROUND THE WORLD

X YOUCAT FOR KIDS

Discover the customs, the daily life, and the heritage of Christians throughout the world! Join two young reporters who encounter Christians of 25 different countries and learn the highlights of Advent in Germany, Christmas in the tropics, Epiphany in Russia, Holy Week in Seville, the Assumption in Lourdes, and more! Lavishly illustrated. 6 BBCH. . . Hardcover, $16.99

X BROTHER FRANCIS OF ASSISI Tomie de Paola, acclaimed illustrator and author of children's books, presents a gorgeous, inspiring work on the most beloved saint of all time. Among his many books, this one fulfilled his lifelong desire to bring the story of St. Francis to people of all ages.

Drawing on primary source material, and two trips to Assisi, he has made this dream come true.

6 CSFCP . . . Softcover with flaps, $16.99

From the best-selling YOUCAT series comes an exciting new way to help children and parents discover their Catholic faith together, and a great help for classroom teachers. In child-friendly language, with talking points for parents and teachers, it explores Creation, Prayer, the Creed, the Sacraments, Ten Commandments, Life of Jesus, and more. Includes fun graphics, quotes from Saints, a n d YFKP. . . Sewn Softcover, $17.95 t h ou g ht - provoking images.

X SAINT JOSE : Boy Cristero Martyr This new title in the acclaimed Vision Books series lives of the saints series for youth 9-15 yrs. brings to life the inspirational and heroic story of St. José Sánchez del Río, a brave 14-year old boy in Mexico who died a martyr for the Catholic faith during the STJSP. . . Sewn Softcover, $11.95 Cristero War in the 1920s.

6 BFAH . . . Hardcover, $14.99

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

INSIDE THE VATICAN welcomes letters but cannot reply to all. Each is read and considered carefully. Printed letters may be edited for clarity. You may email us at editor@insidethevatican.com

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“PRAY FOR BISHOPS” St. Thomas More had the courage and insight to openly declare: “Sometimes the shepherds — the bishops — are not vigilant.”

For 50 years, I have watched as corporations in America have reduced workers, as Pope Francis has written, to “increase profits.”

Fully 40% of all American families live “paycheck to paycheck,” with an average of only $400 in savings, in constant fear of a financial setback causing the loss of homes or education for their children. The Catholic bishops have not been “vigilant” in protecting their flocks from financial ruin. St. Thomas More, pray for us and our bishops.

Robert Saverline Stamford, Connecticut, USA Thank you for all you are doing “ad majoram Dei gloriam” (“for the greater glory of God”)! Sorry I am late with my subscription.

With great anticipation I am waiting for your new book on Archbishop Viganò.

Stephen Hadrovic Buffalo, New York, USA

WAITING FOR BOOK

“SO MANY JUDASES”

With all your enthusiastic readers, I thank God for you, and Inside the Vatican, especially your Christmas issue and editorial. The January issue prompts me to write this: Sodano, Marciel = Money; so many Judases willing to betray Jesus and his Church for money! Christ said: “Blessed is he who is not scandalized in me.” (Mt 11:6)

BL. STANLEY ROTHER BUSTS The Vintage Catholic – Sacred Art & Antiques – “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred....” Pope Benedict XVI

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INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

No, I am not scandalized — I am grateful I am called, as a Poor Clare, to love and reparation for the Church. I take as my own the prayer of St. Catherine of Siena: “O Eternal God, receive the sacrifice of my life for the Mystical Body of Holy Church... May God have mercy on the Judases... Where sin abounds, grace more abounds.” Thank God for our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who wrote that what we need is the faith of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. Thank you, Holy Father Emeritus, for what you are to us.

Sr. Mary Pius, O.S.C. Monastery of St. Clare Kiryu-shi, Gumma-Ken, Japan

ON THE PRIESTHOOD Thank you for publishing Cardinal Müller’s essay addressing the broad controversy leading up to and addressed at the Amazon Synod. Using multiple citations from the Gospels, Müller defends the Church, as Pope Francis should, and demonstrates that failure to do so demeans priests into being employees of an NGO, not the consecrated representatives of Jesus Christ and His mission.

He defends Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as the outstanding theologian that he is and commends him for defending the Church and its dedicated priests. Catholic organizations and media should rise to the occasion and loudly proclaim their support for the message Cardinal Müller has given!

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EAST AND WEST UNITY Your work for Christian unity is vitally important. You have identified music and art as a way to break down barriers and go beyond disagreements. This has proven to be a way to bring humanity together in many circumstances.

I served in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania diocese under Bishop William Keeler, later Cardinal, and kept up correspondence after I left active ministry. He told me his initiatives with Patriarch Bartholomew were important precursors to wider Christian unity. I’m writing to affirm your efforts.

Robert (Bob) Graf, D.Min. robertgraf@aol.com

IS THE TIDE TURNING? Several surprisingly traditional interventions have come from Peter’s Successor in the last few months.

Notably, we’ve seen a robustly orthodox Motu Proprio on Sacred Scripture establishing the “Sunday of the Word of God,” and, in Querida Amazonia, the confirmation of priestly celibacy and the reservation of sacramental ordination (deacons as well as priests and bishops) to men.

I don’t think I’m the only Catholic in whom this development has been stirring hopes that we may now be starting to see Christ’s promises to Peter, the Rock, a little more clearly in action, after seven very lean years of a pontificate in which they have often seemed mysteriously hidden. Of course, the providential interplay, and probably frequent tension, between those promises and the human free will that they will never simply override, will always remain mysterious.

I thought you might find fascinating, as I have, a February 2, 2020 report by veteran vaticanista Sandro Magister, “Francis and the Schism of Germany, History of a Nightmare.” This report shows how Pope Francis, largely behind the scenes, or acting through Vatican cardinals, has been offering some definite resistance to the most radically heterodox sector of today’s Church, namely, the German bishops (or at least the vast majority of them). As is now well known, their noxious “synodal process” is openly pushing for the abolition of celibacy, for female deacons, priests and bishops, and for the rejection of perennial Church teaching on homosex-

uality and other issues covered by the Sixth Commandment.

As a little straw in the wind, who would have suspected that the most outspokenly conservative German cardinal, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, whom Francis fired as Prefect of the CDF a couple of years ago, would now receive a friendly personal letter from the Pope thanking him for his recent appreciative comments about Querida Amazonia’s upholding priestly celibacy?

This has happened around the same time that, according to a report, a papal audience given to Cardinal Marx, super-liberal leader of the German bishops, became a virtual shouting match in which his and Francis’ raised voices could be heard through closed doors down the adjacent corridor!

Is the tide beginning to turn? Or, as some of you reading this may suspect, is it all just a cynical piece of theatrical peronismo — i.e., Francis taking one step back in preparation for two steps forward?

Time will tell. But if anything should cause hope to spring eternal, it is surely our Lord’s promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church founded on petrine rock.

Let’s offer some Lenten prayers and sacrifices that Peter’s Titanic-sized barque continues to turn little by little away from the looming iceberg — or perhaps I should say, siren song — of conformity with the moral decadence and doctrinal skepticism and indifferentism that now predominates in what was once Western Christendom.

Fr. Brian W. Harrison, O.S. materdei82@hotmail.com

“I AM SCARED”

Today is March 7. Drudge tonight reports Italy is considering quarantine for one quarter of its population. They say there are fist fights over toilet paper and New York has just declared a state of emergency. My state of Florida has also.

We have been feeding the Beast for a long time. China, a Communist country, supplies 95% of Vitamin C, our penicillin and Ibuprofen, ingredients in diabetes meds and others, not to mention supply parts for everything we use, electronics, cell phones, military, etc.

Thank you for pressing on. This manmade virus from a Communist country will change many things. We’ve been feeding the Beast for too long.

Linda Smith Florida, USA

FROM PRISONERS I would like to first of all thank Robert Moynihan for an enjoyable year of reading Inside the Vatican. If possible, may I have another year? I read each and every article, then share it with our prayer group.

My prayers and those of our daily prayer group are with all you at Urbi et Orbi Communications! May God bless all of you!

David Williams, # D29095 SFRC South Unit. Doral, Florida, USA

I’m scared. I received the March issue of your beautiful publication today — thank you. I just pulled The Drudge Report.

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APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LEAD STORY

Left to right: Cardinal Re, Cardinal Zen, Archbishop Viganò

THE CHINESE ACCORD: PROGRESS OR BETRAYAL? CONFLICT ABOUNDS AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE CHURCH. CHINESE CARDINAL ZEN CALLS IT A “BRUTAL ACCORD” THAT POPE BENEDICT REFUSED TO SIGN; CARDINAL RE DENIES THIS. EXILED ARCHBISHOP VIGANÒ, MEANWHILE, DEFENDS ZEN AGAINST HIS ATTACKERS

n BY ROBERT MOYNIHAN

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s the world, from China to South Korea to Iran to Italy and now to the United States as well, is deeply troubled by fears of a virulent flu virus apparently originating in Wuhan, China, we have now also had a flurry of odd activity at the top of the Catholic Church — as Pope Francis himself seemed to have developed a cold which itself led to wild 10 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

(and not in any way verified) rumors about his own health.

The activity, in some ways unprecedented, has to do with disagreements over Catholic Church (Vatican) accords with the Communist government of China.

On February 26, Wednesday, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 86, recently appointed by Pope Francis

the new Dean of the College of Cardinals (succeeding Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 92) sent a letter to all the cardinals of the Catholic Church in which he sharply criticizes Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B., 88, born in Shanghai, China.

Zen, for his part, has for nearly two years been criticizing a secret (the text of the accord has never been released)

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Below, Cardinal Parolin and Cardinal Filoni

2018 Vatican accord with China which allows the Communist government a role in naming the bishops of the Catholic Church in China.

A letter Zen wrote to his fellow cardinals on September 17, 2019, is a particular object of Cardinal Re’s critique.

On February 26, Re, in his very first act as the new Dean of the College of Cardinals, said Zen’s criticisms of the Holy See-China Accord are misguid-

ed and should be discounted. In short, as of then, we clearly have had “cardinal against cardinal.”

And then, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, himself a lifelong Vatican diplomat and in fact for decades a close collaborator of Cardinal Re, nevertheless sprang promptly to a passionate defense of Cardinal Zen against Re’s charges. (See below for the text)

This report and supporting documents is an attempt to provide some context for this controversy, by publishing the complete texts of the interventions. A blessed Lenten season for all, in faith and hope, despite the sins and worrisome fears of this present time. We entrust ourselves now as always to the love of Jesus Christ through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.m

Summary report from Catholic News Agency CARDINAL RE CLAIMS CARDINAL ZEN IS AT ODDS WITH JOHN PAUL II, BENEDICT XVI ON CHINA

V

atican City, February 29, 2020 (CNA) — The newly-appointed Dean of the College of Cardinals purportedly sent a letter to cardinals February 26 claiming that the China-Vatican deal represents the minds of St. John Paul II and of Benedict XVI, and that Cardinal Zen is mistaken in his opposition to the deal.

An Italian text of the letter from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dated Feb. 26, was published Feb. 29 by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.

“I desire first of all to emphasize that, in their approach to the situation of the Catholic Church in China, there is a profound symphony of the thought and of the action of the last three Pontificates, which — out of respect for the truth — have favored dialogue between the two parties and not contrariety,” Cardinal Re wrote.

“Cardinal Zen has affirmed several times that it would be better to have no accord than a ‘bad accord.’ The three last Popes did not share this position and supported and accompanied the drafting of the accord that, at the present moment, seemed to be the only one possible,” he stated.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, has

been an outspoken opponent of the 2018 agreement between the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China regarding episcopal appointments.

The Church in mainland China has been divided for some 60 years between the underground Church, which is persecuted and whose episcopal ap-

pointments are frequently not acknowledged by Chinese authorities, and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a government-sanctioned organization.

The agreement between the Holy See and Beijing was intended to normalize the situation of China’s Catholics and unify the underground Church and the CPCA. That accord was eventually reached, Cardinal Re said, and signed

in Beijing Sept. 22, 2018.

It is particularly surprising to the dean of cardinals that Zen has written that “the accord signed is the same one which Pope Benedict had, at the time, refused to sign.”

“That assertion does not correspond to truth,” Cardinal Re stated.

Cardinal Re was an official of the state secretariat from 1989 to 2000.

Because the deal provides for the Pope’s intervention in bishops’ appointments in China, the dean said, “the expression ‘independent Church’ can no longer be interpreted in an absolute manner, as ‘separation’ from the Pope, as was the case in the past.”

“Unfortunately, there is slowness in drawing in loco all the consequences which derive from this epochal change both on the doctrinal and on the practical level, and there persist dolorous tensions and situations,” Cardinal Re said.

Cardinal Re objected to Cardinal Zen’s evaluation of the Pope’s pastoral guidelines concerning the civil registration of clergy in China, saying that these guidelines “were designed precisely to safeguard the faith” in complicated and difficult situations.

APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 11

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CARDINAL RE’S FEBRUARY 26, 2020 LETTER The Vatican, February 26, 2020 Prot. N. 1/2020 - English translation:

TO

ALL

THE

CARDINALS

pendent Church” cannot be interpreted in an absolute manner, as “separation” from the Pope, as it has been in the past.

Lord Cardinal, Unfortunately, there is a delay in seeing all the conseWith reference to diverse public statements by Carquences in practice which derive from such an epochal dinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B., in particular to his letchange both on the doctrinal plane and on the practical ter of September 17, 2019, which he sent as Bishop one and there remain tensions and sorrowful situations.

Emeritus of Hong Kong to us members of the College It is unthinkable, on the other hand, that a partial Accord of Cardinals, I feel the duty to share some considerations — the Accord touches upon, in fact, only the theme of the and to offer my own contributions which favor a serene nomination of Bishops — changes things as if in an auevaluation of these complex questions in regard to the tomatic and immediate manner even in the other aspects Church in China. of the life of the Church.

I desire, first of all, to point out, Cardinal Zen, in evaluating the that in the approach to the situ“Pastoral Orientations of the Holy ation of the Catholic Church in See on Civil Registration of the ClerChina, there is a profound agreegy in China,” of June 28, 2019, ment of thought and of action writes: “A test contrary to the Faith among the last three Pontiffs, is signed and it declares that the inwhich — in respect of the truth — tention is to favor the good of the has favored dialogue between community, a more adequate evanthe two Parties and not their opgelization, a responsible care of the position. In particular, they had in goods of the Church. This general mind the delicate and important norm is obviously against every question of the nomination of principle of morality. If accepted, it Bishops. would justify apostasy” (see “Duthe Eucharist in Shanghai, China bia”). The “Pastoral Orientations,” Thus, Saint John Paul II, if he A priest consecrates (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec) favored in part the return to full on the contrary, have been thought communion of the Bishops illicitly consecrated in the out precisely to safeguard the Faith in such complicated course of the years beginning in 1958, and at the same and difficult situations which would put personal contime had the desire to support the life of the “underscience in a crisis. ground” community which was led by “un-official” BishThe Cardinal, then, in his letter speaks also of the ops and priests, on the other hand promoted the idea of “slaughter of the Church in China by the party which arriving at a formal Accord with the governing Authorities should protect Her and defend Her from Her enemies” on the nomination of Bishops. Such an Accord, the comand, in particular, in an interview, addresses Catholics position of which took much time, more than 20 years, with these words: “Wait for better times, return to the catwas signed at Peking on Sept. 22, 2018. acombs, Communism is not eternal” (New York Times, Oct. 24, 2018). This deals, unfortunately, with very heavy Cardinal Zen has affirmed several times that no Acaffirmations which contest the very pastoral guidance of cord would have been better than a “brutal Accord.” The the Holy Father even in his relations with “underground” last three Pontiffs did not share such a position and Catholics, not withstanding that the Pope has not omitted have supported and accompanied the crafting of the to listen repeatedly to the Eminent Cardinal and to read Accord which, at the present, appeared to be the only his numerous missives. one possible.

Dear confrere, this anguished intervention of Cardinal In particular, the affirmation of the Cardinal that “the Zen helps us to understand how much the path of the signed accord is the same which Pope Benedict had, in Church in China is still difficult and how complex is the his own time, refused to sign” is a surprising one. Such mission of Shepherds and of the Holy Father! an assertion does not correspond to the truth. After having Consequently, we are all of us called to be closely unittaken cognizance of the documents existing in the Current ed with him and to pray intensely so that the Holy Spirit Archive of the Secretary of State, I am able to assure Your support him and support the communities of the Catholic Eminence that Pope Benedict XVI approved the project Church in China, which although suffering for a long time, of the Accord on the nomination of Bishops in China, show their fidelity to the Lord, in the path of reconciliation, which was only able to be signed in 2018. of unity and of mission in the service of the Gospel.

The Accord foresees the intervention of the authority Wishing you all good, I cordially salute you, of the Pope in the process of nominations of Bishops in + Cardinal Re China. Even from this certain fact, the expression “inde12 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

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Those guidelines recognize the choice of those who feel that they cannot in good conscience register with the government and accept sinicization.

However, reports indicate that those who decline to register are facing harassment and persecution.

The Vatican-China deal has been roundly criticized not only by Cardinal Zen, but also by human rights groups and religious freedom advocates in the US, and the Holy See has taken pains to defend and promote it.

Less than two weeks before Cardinal Re’s letter was sent, the Holy See publicized a meeting held between its Secretary for Relations with States and the Chinese foreign minister, during which the accord on episcopal appointments was discussed.

In March 2019, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, then-prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, said that the accord “will be a very good thing for the Church,” and he criticized those who “run the risk of rowing out of sync within the barque of Peter.”

And one year ago, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin — whom Cardinal Zen holds as bearing primary responsibility for the deal — said at a conference that the agreement must be implemented.

Cardinal Zen told CNA Feb. 11 that “the situation is very bad” in China, and added that “the bad things come from [Parolin].”

According to Cardinal Zen, Cardinal Parolin is “so optimistic about the so-called ‘Ostpolitik’, the compromise.”

But, Cardinal Zen told CNA, “you cannot compromise” with the Chinese Communist Party, whom he called “persecutors” of the faith.

“They want complete surrender.

That’s Communism.”

“More and more, the Church [is] under persecution,” Cardinal Zen said, “both the official Church and the underground.”m

ARCHBISHOP VIGANÒ DEFENDS CARDINAL ZEN ARCHBISHOP VIGANÒ’S

OPEN LETTER IN SUPPORT OF ZEN’S POSITION ON THE CONTROVERSIAL HOLY SEE-CHINA ACCORD

February 29, 2020 Dearest Eminence, This is Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America.

I have followed deeply — sharing in prayer your suffering — your many heartfelt appeals to Pope Bergoglio concerning the tragic situation of the Martyr Church in China, which he himself has culpably aggravated through the treacherous and wicked secret Agreement signed by Holy See with the Chinese Communist government.

Your heartfelt appeals, dear Brother in Christ, have systematically been unheeded and even mocked in a hypocritical and perverse way. As for Cardinal Parolin, he has acted as a mere reckless executor of an evil order from above.

I read this morning the ignominious and shameful letter that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re has addressed to all the cardinals against you. I am deeply saddened and indignant, and I wish to express to you all my affection, prayer and fraternal solidarity in the episcopate.

You are a courageous Confessor of the Faith and you have all my esteem and veneration!

Unfortunately, in the Vatican, lying has been set into the system, truth has been totally overturned, and the most perverse deception is shamelessly practiced even by the most unsuspected figures, who have now given themselves over to acting as accomplices of the Adversary. They have even gone so far as to say that “Pope Benedict XVI had approved the draft Agreement” signed in 2018, when instead we all know of his strenuous resistance and repeated disapproval of the conditions imposed by a persecutory and bloody regime.

The Vatican has done everything and more to deliver the Chinese Martyr Church into the hands of the Enemy: it did so by signing the Secret Pact; it did so by legitimizing excommunicated “bishops” who are agents of the regime; it did so by the deposition of legitimate bishops; it did so by forcing faithful priests to register with a church that has succumbed to the Communist dictatorship; it does so on a daily basis by keeping silent about the persecutory fury that has gained unprecedented strength, precisely since the signing of that unfortunate Agreement. It is now doing so with this ignoble letter to all the cardinals, which is aimed at accusing you, denigrating you, and isolating you.

Our Lord assures us that nothing and no one will ever be able to snatch from His hands those who resist the infernal enemy and his acolytes, conquering them “by the Blood of the Lamb” and by the testimony of their martyrdom (cf. Rev. 12:11).

Your example, dear Cardinal, and the very high price you are paying to defend the Cause of God and His Church, gives us a salutary jolt, it rips us from the inertia and habituation with which we are passively witnessing the surrender of the Catholic Church, at its highest levels and in its hierarchy, to heresy and apostasy, by following the Prince of this world, who is a liar and murderer from the beginning (cf. Jn 8:44).

Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo, quem redemisti, Christe, sanguine tuo, ne in aeternum irascaris nobis. (“Spare, Lord, your people whom you redeemed by your blood; be not angry with us forever.”) + Carlo Maria Viganò Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana, Apostolic Nuncio APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 13

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POPE EMERITUS EMBROILED IN THE ZEN-RE CONFLICT MEANWHILE, CHINESE GOVERNMENT RETAINS FIRM CONTROL

n BY SANDRO MAGISTER

I

n the letter that the Dean of the Sacred College, Giovanni Battista Re, wrote on February 26 to all the cardinals, in contradiction to a previous letter addressed to them in September by Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen Zekiun, there is one point on which the split between the two cardinals is absolute.

In the letter Zen had written, regarding the provisional and secret agreement of September 22, 2018, between the Holy See and China on the appointment of bishops: “I have cause to believe (and I hope one day to be able to demonstrate with archival documents) that the signed agreement is the same one that Pope Benedict had, in his day, refused to sign.”

To which Re rebutted: “This assertion does not correspond to the truth. After having personally taken stock of the documents kept in the current archive of the secretariat of 14 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

state, I can attest that Pope Benedict XVI had approved the draft agreement on the appointment of bishops in China, which could be signed only in 2018.”

Zen’s rejoinder came on March 1 in an open letter to Re, in which the Chinese cardinal writes: “If you want to prove to me that the recently signed agreement was already approved by Benedict XVI, you just have to show me the text of the agreement, which I have been barred from seeing up to this point, and the archival evidence which you say you could verify. Then there remains to be explained why it was not signed at that time.”

In the absence of public documentation, it is difficult to say which of the two cardinals is more in the right.

However, we can get at the truth by retracing the whole history of the relations between the Holy See and

China during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, from 2005 to 2013.

BENEDICT’S HISTORIC LETTER TO CHINESE CATHOLICS This is what one of the leading experts on the Chinese Catholic Church, Gianni Criveller, recently did in the chapter “An Overview of the Catholic Church in Post-Mao China,” which appeared in the volume People, Communities, and the Catholic Church in China, edited by Cindy Yik-yi Chu and Paul P. Mariani, published in Singapore in 2020.

Criveller, 59, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, teaches at the Chinese University and the Holy Spirit College of Theology and Philosophy in Hong Kong. His essay has been translated in full and published in Il Regno, the most authoritative magazine of the progressive Italian Catholic camp.

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Joseph Xing Wenzhi and Thaddeus Ma Daqin

Criveller’s essay is of extraordinary interest, especially where he deals with the differences between the two Catholic communities in China, the one with official recognition from the regime, severely subjugated, and the highly-endangered “underground” one, or where he explains the reasons and the effects of the “Chinafication” of the religions, and of the return to Confucianism, advocated by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But limiting ourselves to what Criveller writes about the years of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, he does not hesitate to assign “historic” importance to the “Letter to Chinese Catholics” written by that Pope in 2007. And about the fate of the bishops in that country he writes : “Benedict XVI asked the civil authorities to recognize the underground bishops. However, he admitted that ‘almost always’ the official bishops are obliged to ‘adopt attitudes, perform gestures and make commitments that are contrary to the dictates of their conscience.’ Strangely, the phrase ‘almost always’ was omitted in the first Chinese translation issued by the Vatican, provoking the protest of Cardinal Zen. The Pope left it up to the individual bishops to determine the best course of action to be taken in their specific situations, that is, whether or not to seek recognition from the civil authorities.”

Criveller notes that “the Chinese government made every effort to downplay the significance of this letter.” And proof of this was the regime’s persistence in installing illegitimate bishops, that is, those not approved by Rome.

In 2006, the year before the letter was published, there had been three illegitimate ordinations. After that, from 2007 to the summer of 2010, the new bishops were ordained with the consent of both sides, “although the approval,” Criveller points out, “was always given independently, without direct negotiations.”

RELATIONS DETERIORATE But in the fall of 2010 the situation deteriorated again. The illegitimate consecration of Guo Jincai as bishop of Chengde, writes Criveller, “caused a deterioration in relations between the Vatican and China.” And early the following summer two other bishops were consecrated without the Pope’s

approval: Lei Shiyin in Leshan and Huang Bingzhang in Shantou. The affront was received in Rome with such alarm that for the first time the Holy See reacted by publicly declaring the excommunication of those bishops installed by the regime.

Meanwhile, in December 2010, a no less disturbing episode occurred, as described by Criveller: “The government held in Beijing, with great fanfare, the eighth national assembly of Catholic representatives.

The agenda of the meeting included the election of the new leaders of the Patriotic Association and of the Conference of Bishops [that is, the two bodies with which the regime exercises iron control over the official Catholic Church - ed.]. Joseph Xing Wenzhi, auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, went grudgingly to that contro-

versial assembly. Once there, he participated in it with a passive attitude.

He returned to Shanghai depressed, apologizing to his clergy for not being strong enough purely and simply to boycott the assembly. Right away the bishop’s personal life took a sad turn. Bishop Xing was accused by the secret police of having an affair with a woman. It was an alarming retaliation against a bishop who had shown the courage to resist the government’s policies.”

In April of 2012 there were two more ordinations approved by both sides, in Nanchong and Changsha, but the newly ordained “were forced to accept illegitimate bishops as consecrators.”

MORE ILLEGITIMATE ORDINATIONS Then again, on July 6 of that same year, there was another illegitimate ordination. Yue Fusheng was ordained bishop of Harbin “despite the request made by the Holy See to refuse the election.” The priests of that diocese who had opposed it were forced to write a letter of submission and to concelebrate with the illicit bishop. Again, the Holy See publicly announced the excommunication of the new bishop. Which, Criveller writes, “can be a significant example of how the Chinese authorities are capable, at times, of bringing onto their side people who previously had been explicitly loyal to the pope.”

Years earlier, in fact, while still an ordinary priest, Yue had been part of a delegation of Chinese priests authorized to participate in the Mass celebrated in Manila on January 15, 1995,

by John Paul II, visiting the Philippines for World Youth Day. And when at the beginning of the Mass the flags of the various national delegations were raised, including the flag of Taiwan, and in retaliation the political leaders of the Chinese delegation ordered them to abandon the ceremony, none other than Yue was one of the very few who had the courage to disAPRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 15

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obey and to stay, while today he “is known for his weakness and his adherence to the government.”

But even more revealing of the deterioration of relations between the Holy See and China, in that year 2012 which is the last glimpse of the pontificate of Benedict XVI, is what happened in Shanghai on July 7, with the ordination of Thaddeus Ma Daqin in the cathedral as new auxiliary bishop.

Criveller writes: “He was ordained with the approval of both sides. But the Chinese authorities imposed the presence of an illegitimate bishop, provoking the dismay of many priests, religious, and lay people who decided not to participate in the ceremony. Thaddeus Ma, in a shrewd maneuver, prevented the illegitimate bishop from laying his hands on him during the consecration rite.

“Towards the end of the Mass the new bishop declared that he wanted to be the pastor of all the faithful, so he would stop being a member of the Patriotic Association.

“An amateur video of Bishop Ma’s brief speech, publicly applauded by the people present in the cathedral, appeared for several days on various websites, until it was removed.

“Many thought the bishop’s gesture was courageous and prophetic.

But the government officials present at the Mass went into a state of great agitation and took him away by force that evening. Officials put the diocese under investigation, interrogating priests and nuns.

“After eight years, Thaddeus Ma is still under ‘house arrest’ in the Sheshan seminary. His 2016 ‘confessions’ were written in captivity and we do not know if they were sincere and if he did or did not regret what he had done.”

BENEDICT’S APPROVAL IMPLAUSIBLE If this is the known, public fabric of the relations between the Holy See 16 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

and China regarding the appointment of bishops between 2005 and 2013, it is not clear how to fit into this fabric the alleged “approval” during those same years, by Benedict XVI, of the agreement signed five years later.

This is an agreement whose contents are still kept secret and which has so far produced no new episcopal appointment, eighteen months after its signing, and, on the contrary, has been accompanied by a further “crackdown” — as Criveller writes at the beginning of his essay — in the regime’s control over the Catholic Church.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Saturday, February 15, 2020

It should also be borne in mind that with regard to China, Benedict XVI availed himself not only of the Secretariat of State, but also of an “ad hoc” commission in which Cardinal Zen had significant influence.

This commission has never been convened again during the pontificate of Francis.

It is therefore not to be ruled out that Pope Benedict was presented with draft agreements on the appointment of bishops, just as it cannot be ruled out that the Chinese side turned down, during those same years, potential proposals from the Vatican.

But that the agreement that Cardinal Re says was “approved” by Bene-

dict XVI was identical to the one signed in 2018 remains entirely to be proven.

And given the narrative of those years, as reported most recently by Criveller, this seems implausible.

All the more so if one compares it with the “historic” letter written by Pope Benedict to the Chinese Catholics.

AN “ASYMMETRICAL” DEAL It should be added that Cardinal Re’s letter falls under a phase of intensification of the Holy See’s policy of the “hand extended” to the Chinese regime.

The letter bears the date of February 26.

And on the 14th of the same month, on the sidelines of an international conference in Munich, there was for the first time since the breaking of diplomatic ties in 1951 a meeting between the two foreign ministers of the Holy See and of China, Paul Richard Gallagher and Wang Yi (pictured).

The Vatican secretariat of state headed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, whom Zen holds to be the main culprit of the surrender — issued on the occasion a press release with very optimistic tones.

And on March 5, in a video message broadcast in nine languages, Pope Francis himself expressed the hope that “Chinese Christians may be truly Christians, and be good citizens,” with a recommendation that also included a rebuke to the resistance: “They should promote the Gospel, but without engaging in proselytism, and they need to achieve the unity of the divided Catholic community.”

All this, so far, without any reciprocation from the Chinese, which has only benefited from the Vatican’s openness without paying the slightest price.

Exactly as with the 2018 agreement, which Criveller correctly calls “asymmetrical.”m

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18-19 NEWS GERMANY april1corr_Culture 3/24/20 4:20 PM Page 18

NEWS GERMANY

GERMAN BISHOPS’ NEW PRESIDENT: SEXUAL MORALITY “MUST CHANGE” “The German bishops’ conference has made it clear today that it no longer wishes to be Roman Catholic.”

— Journalist Marco Gallina in the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost

n BY MAIKE HICKSON (LIFESITE NEWS)

Bishop Georg Bätzing of the Diocese of Limburg. In the circles: Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Father Ansgar Wucherpfennig and Cardinal Kurt Koch

n March 3, Bishop Georg Bätzing of the Diocese of Limburg was elected the new president of the German bishops’ conference. In his first interview after his election, he touched upon the question of the Church’s teaching on sexual intercourse before marriage and on homosexuality. Asked whether he sees some leeway concerning these two topics, he says: “There is leeway and there are openings in the doctrine.”

“Something has to change” also “with regard to how we deal with homosexuals and their way of life,” he adds.

“As we have presented it at the synodal assembly,” he further explains, “we see already changes in John Paul II’s ‘Theology of the Body.’ The encyclical Amoris Laetitia then opened the door once more,

O

18

INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

far and wide.” It is now important, the bishop adds, that “we can formulate this teaching in its substance in such a manner” that it becomes “a knowledge of orientation” and that it is not being perceived as “this fatal morality of interdictions.”

As LifeSite’s Martin Bürger reported, Bätzing is the head of the discussion forum on sexuality of the German “synodal path,” whose preparatory document proposes to do away with the Church’s teaching on such important moral matters as contraception, homosexuality, cohabitation, “self-sex,” and gender theory.

On December 1, 2019, the German bishops started, together with the lay organization called the Central Committee of German Catholics, a synodal process that aims at questioning the Church’s doctrine not only on sexual morality, but also on

priestly celibacy and its acknowledgment of the impossibility of female ordinations.

Bätzing was elected after Cardinal Reinhard Marx announced in February of this year that he will not be available for a second term as the head of the German bishops. Bätzing himself holds a whole row of controversial — and heterodox — positions.

One of the first German bishops to do so, he encouraged a working group in his diocese that is formulating concrete proposals for a liturgical blessing for homosexual and divorced and “remarried” couples.

He defended Father Ansgar Wucherpfennig, the rector of the Jesuit Sankt Georgen Post-Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, whom the Vatican rebuked for having blessed homosexual couples and for questioning the Church’s stance on female ordinations.

Wucherpfennig has been appointed

by Bätzing to work on a liturgical blessing for homosexuals.

As the presiding bishop of an ecumenical working group of Protestant and Catholic theologians, Bätzing supported its statement that calls for intercommunion, claiming that there is now “agreement” with regard to the “theological meaning of the Eucharist/Last Supper” and that, “on

18-19 NEWS GERMANY april1corr_Culture 3/24/20 4:20 PM Page 19

February 2020: Liberal Catholic campaigners spark international revolts in favor of women’s ordination

that foundation, the diversity of liturgical traditions is being valued.” This paper was publicly criticized

by Cardinal Kurt Koch, who said the document is based on an “assumption” he cannot share — “namely: that the Catholic Eucharistic celebration and the Protestant Last Supper are identical.” Bätzing called this paper “an important step” toward unity among Christians.

Bätzing also shows openness toward questioning the Church’s irreformable position on female ordination. At the end of 2019, he stated in a homily that he wishes for “changes” with regard to women in ministries of the Church, adding that “as bishop, I have to take it seriously that the exclusion of women from the ordained offices is being perceived as fundamentally unjust and inappropriate.”

Last but not least, the Limburg bishop also proposes to abandon obligatory priestly celibacy, making it optional.

These few aspects make it clear that with this election, the German bishops decided to continue their “path of destruction,” in the warning words of the Regensburg Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer.

As Marco Gallina, a journalist who writes for the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost, comments today on Twitter on the election of Bishop Bätzing as the head of the German bishops: “The DBK [German bishops’ conference] has made it clear today that it no longer wishes to be Roman Catholic.”

“This is not even directly related to Georg Bätzing,” Gallina continued. “In opposition to his predecessor Marx, who was presented by the German media as ‘Rambo with a cardinal’s hat,’ is Bätzing, a careful and affable person. But he has positioned himself in the past in favor of a ‘voluntary’ celibacy, of a ‘common Last

Supper’ with Protestants — and of the synodal path. He stands for the continuation of this project; he is less blustering, perhaps, but not less resolute. The German Bishops’ Conference signals: the transformation from a Roman Catholic into a German Catholic Church is to be continued.”

Mathias von Gersdorff, in comments to LifeSite, sees in Bätzing a member of the “reformist Catholic wing,” adding that “therefore, his election is not a breach with the

the new president. In today’s press conference, he explained that he had to deal with much pressure and conflict during his six-year term and that there will now come “new tasks” in his “diocese and in Rome.”

There is still much speculation as to why Cardinal Marx actually stepped back from his leadership in Germany. One of them is that he might soon be called to Rome — for example, into the office of Cardinal Marc Ouellet at the Congre-

tenure of Cardinal Reinhard Marx.”

This German journalist sees, however, that the new president avoids “militant and provocative” conduct and that he has “neither much authority nor prominence.” For von Gersdorff, it seems that the German bishops elected more of a “moderator,” which he sees, in light of such earlier dominant figures as Cardinal Marx and Cardinal Karl Lehmann — who posed more as a “regional pope” — as a “positive sign.”

But von Gersdorff also cautions us: “It remains to be seen whether Cardinal Marx maintains his control from the background.”

Bätzing worked under Bishop Reinhard Marx, not yet an archbishop then, in Trier as the head of the priestly seminary. The two men know each other well, and Marx showed himself visibly happy about

gation for Bishops or to the Secretariat for the Economy. If this speculation turns out to be true, it will be understandable why the German bishops chose a moderate bishop as their leader, since they will still have a high-profile speaker for their intentions directly in Rome.

This would be needed, inasmuch as, as one well-placed German source told LifeSite, Bätzing is a “weak figure,” with “little strength to impose himself,” as well as with no special connections whatsoever in Rome. He does not even speak Italian.

In any event, the election of Bätzing, as one source in Germany said, indicates that “the majority of the German bishops wish for an adaptation of the Church to the Zeitgeist and a Protestantization of the Catholic Church.”m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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INTERVIEW

“THE POPE IS A MAN; HE SUFFERS LIKE THE REST OF US”

AN INTERVIEW WITH LUCIO BRUNELLI, THE AUTHOR OF POPE FRANCIS: HOW I MET HIM

n BY DOMENICO COVIELLO (VELVETMAG.IT)

L

“He moved around the city by public transport, did not give interviews. I was fascinated by this figure.”

Right, Lucio Brunelli, then the director of Italy’s TV 2000, the television station of the Italian bishops’ conference.

Below, Brunelli's book: Pope Francis: As I Know Him (Papa Francesco: Come l’ho conosciuto io, San Paolo Edizioni)

ucio Brunelli, journalist and Vaticanist of long standing for the Italian secular news program Tg2, then director for information at Italy’s Catholic Tv2000 network and Inblu Radio, met Pope Francis well before Jorge Mario Bergoglio rose to the papal throne. And he continued to meet with the Argentinian pontiff once the latter was elected Pope. In his latest book, published February 21, Brunelli reveals to the public a more candid face of this successor of Peter. Pope Francis: As I Know Him (Papa Francesco: Come l’ho conosciuto io, San Paolo Edizioni) is a diary of memories based on interviews, letters and phone calls. The result is an extraordinary and delicate story of friendship, a word that the author never actually uses out of deference to Francis.

You met Jorge Mario Bergoglio as a Vatican newsman for TG2, eight years before he became Pope: what was your impression?

LUCIO BRUNELLI: I knew about him from the stories of some friends: a cardinal who lived like a monk, got up at 4 a.m. to pray, refused any social life. Not only that: he moved around the city by public transport, did not give interviews. I was fascinated by this figure, but it also put me in awe: he was so austere and severe. Instead, when I met him in person, in October 2005, at the home of Gianni Valente and Stefania Falasca, in Rome, I found myself facing a man of God, certainly, but one

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who immediately put one incredibly at ease — meek and hilarious. He asked me if I could pray for him and I felt that it was not a clerical meeting. As he waited for me to answer, he looked at me as if at that moment my answer was the most important thing in the world for him.

A friendship was born between you, which continued even after Francis’ election. How did the idea of this book “that was not supposed to be a book” come about?

I can’t use the term friendship; I don’t use that word with the Pope. For me, he was a father. A priest to whom, in important moments of my life, I was able to open my soul, share my thoughts, pains and joys. I retired a year ago, and felt compelled to write down some memories of our special meetings — before time wore out, alas, my memory.

I was thinking of a diary intended for my children and close friends. Then, some friends just reading these pages told me that reading them had “done them good.”

They felt they understood Bergoglio better, and convinced me to publish what I had written, leaving it in the form of a first-person story. The publisher, San Paolo, immediately believed in this project.

The Pope has experienced difficult years — in many respects, tormented — wars, an economy that crushes the poor, strong protests against him from within the Church.

How does he deal with all this?

The Pope is a man: he suffers like the rest of

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us because of what is painful in the world and all around us.

But he is a man of God; he has had the grace to experience a profound peace that has never left him since his election.

For me, it is a mystery how he does not get stressed with all he has to think about, the complicated dossiers that he has to examine, the hatred and confusion he sometimes has to face. For much less, I lose sleep. Instead, he “sleeps like a log.” The origin of this peace lies in that faith which perhaps, paradoxically, is his least-known dimension.

Much public opinion judges Francis not from the viewpoint of faith ...

In fact, from the right and left, we look at him more as a political Pope: from the right, which supports the absurd thesis of a Pope who does not speak of God, but only of social issues; from the left, which sees him as one of the few world leaders capable of challenging the “sovereignty” movement, defending the dignity of immigrants and contesting an “economy that kills.” But Francis would be incomprehensible without his faith. He would not humanly be able to bear the impact of responsibility. Every day, he says a prayer of St. Thomas More: “Lord, give me a good mood.” He once said humor is the closest human expression to “divine grace,” because if one trusts in the good God, one learns not to take oneself too seriously — one learns to smile, especially at one’s own and others’ limits.

What are the future challenges that the Pontiff faces?

He often says that the most demanding challenge he faces is to prepare for the final encounter with the eternal Father: to arrive before Him with a serene heart and a conscience, as much as possible, ready to meet Him. Having this horizon in front of him, he feels free not to care too much about external influences, but to follow the path that, in conscience, feels more just. That is, he follows a desire for a Church that looks a little more like its Lord, and therefore is close to the people, free in the face of power, attentive to the poorest and capable of witnessing to the truth and to the meekness of Christ.

Is there a personal life “secret” with which Francis faces his mission?

The only “secret” that I managed to take away is his prayer life. This Pope, who has often been called “revolutionary,” feeds on very traditional forms of prayer: rosaries, Eucharistic adoration, novenas...

Once I confided a great sorrow to him; the next day, an envelope arrived full of holy cards with St. Joseph, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, with prayers to invoke grace in situations that seem, humanly, inextricable. The sender’s name was written on the back of the envelope with its typical minute handwriting: a single letter, F, and the address, Casa Santa Marta, 00120 Vatican City.m

APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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THE EASTER TRIDUUM ESSAY

A

“THIS DAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE”

THE “SECOND WORD” OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS WAS SPOKEN TO THE GOOD THIEF, AFTER HE ASKED, “REMEMBER ME, O LORD, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM”

nd there were also two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified him there: and the robbers, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.... And there was also a superscription written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. And one of those robbers who were hanged blasphemed him, saying: “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: “Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly: for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done no evil.”

And he said to Jesus: “Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.” And Jesus said to him: “Amen I say to thee: This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”

(Luke 23:32-43)

It has become traditional to refer to the “Seven Last Words” of Christ on the Cross.

In this meditation, we add an eighth “word,” the first words spoken by Jesus after his resurrection, to Mary Magdalen, “Touch me not.”

The traditional order of the sayings is: 1st Word: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) 2nd Word: “Verily, I say unto you, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) 3rd Word: (To Mary His mother) “Woman, behold thy son.” (To His disciple) “Behold thy mother.” (John 19:26–27) 4th Word: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34) 5th Word: “I thirst.” (John 19:28) 6th Word: “It is finished.” (John 19:30) 7th Word: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) 8th Word (1st Word after Resurrection, to Mary Magdalen) “Touch me not” (John 20:17)

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Crucifixion by Gaudenzio Ferrari, painted in 1513 in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Varallo, Italy

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THE EASTER TRIDUUM ESSAY

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"I THIRST"

THE “FIFTH WORD” OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS: “I THIRST.” ONE OF THE SOLDIERS LIFTED A SPONGE SOAKED IN VINEGAR TO HIM TO DRINK. AFTER THIS, JESUS SPOKE THE “SIXTH WORD,” “IT IS CONSUMMATED,” AND GAVE UP HIS SPIRIT...

T

fterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said: “I thirst.” Now there was a vessel set there, full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to his mouth. Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: “It is consummated.” And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost. —John 19:28-30

he fifth word of Jesus is His only human expression of His physical suffering.

Jesus is now in shock. The wounds inflicted upon him in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, losing blood on the three-hour walk through the city of Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, and the nailing upon the cross are now taking their toll. The Gospel of John first refers to thirst when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. After first asking for "a drink," he answers the woman, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). This passage implies there is more than physical thirst. Jesus also thirsts in a spiritual sense. He thirsts for the love of his Father, who has left him unaided during this dreadful hour to fulfill his mission all alone. And for the love and salvation of his people, the human race.

—Msgr. Charles Pope, In Mission “I THIRST”

Jesus is God, therefore His Love and His

Thirst are infinite. He, the Creator of the universe, asked for the love of His creatures. He has thirst for our love... These words:

“I thirst”... Do they echo in our soul?

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—ST. TERESA OF CALCUTTA

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An angel by Bernini, holding one of the symbols of the Passion, on the Castel Sant’Angelo bridge

APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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THE EASTER TRIDUUM ESSAY

B

“TOUCH ME NOT”

THE “EIGHTH WORD” WAS THE FIRST CHRIST SPOKE AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, TO MARY MAGDALEN, WHO CAME TO THE TOMB TO ANOINT HIS DEAD BODY...

ut Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18)

I

n Jesus’ public ministry, Mary had rightly reverenced Jesus as teacher and rabbi, but Jesus the Lord is doing more now than merely leading an earthly life and fitting into earthly categories. In effect, Jesus is saying to Mary, “Don’t go on clinging to what in Me is familiar to you. Step back, take a good look, and then go tell my brothers what you see.”

When Mary Magdalene has done this, she runs to the apostles and says, “I have seen the LORD” (Jn 20:18). I show the word “LORD” in uppercase in this quote because up until this point, Mary used the word “Lord” as a title of human respect.

She said, “They have taken my Lord and I don’t know where they have put Him.” No longer clinging to Him in merely a familiar way, Mary now says, “I have seen the LORD,” in a divine sense. —Msgr. Charles Pope, In Mission

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REMEMBER ME IN PARADISE

My forgiving Savior, I am condemned justly for my sins

and deserve death. Forgive me and have mercy on me, dear Lord.

I repent of my sins and ask You for the grace to be remembered

by You in Your glorious Kingdom.

—Poem by St. Teresa of Calcutta

Noli me tangere by Titian Vecellio, National Gallery, London

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INTERVIEW

NO LONGER A DISPARAGER OF PIUS XII GARY KRUPP, THE JEWISH HEAD OF THE PAVE THE WAY FOUNDATION, NOW BELIEVES PIUS WILL BE RECOGNIZED AND HONORED AT YAD VASHEM IN ISRAEL

n BY DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV (ZENIT)

Left, a delegation of Canadian military officers who participated in the liberation of Rome in 1944 being received in audience by Pope Pius XII. Right, in Yad Vashem (the World Holocaust Remembrance Center). Gary Krupp says: “Some time ago, a commission of experts concluded that the negative plaque in their Hall of Shame was incorrect. So, they modified it, stating that they will wait for the archives to open to finalize their conclusions”

n March 4, 2019, Pope Francis announced that in a year’s time, the Vatican Archives of Pius XII’s pontificate (1939-1958) will be open for consultation to any researchers and academics who wish to consult it. How did you receive this news?

GARY KRUPP: We were extremely excited to hear the news! The Vatican Archives will be opened eight years earlier than canon law dictates, as we have been urging all the Vatican officials over the last several years. We also acted to reveal the documentation unearthed by our team of scholars, Dr. Michael Hesemann, Pave the Way Foundation Director for Germany; Johan Ickx, Ronald Rychlak, William Doino, Martin Gilbert, Limore Yagil, Edouard Husson, Dimitri Cavalli, Mark Riebling, and Deacon Dominiek Oversteyne.

Your view of Pope Pius XII is not the same as it was some time ago. How has it evolved?

Pius XII was Pope when I was a child. My uncle met him twice in 1948 and he received a medal from him when he was in Rome with the U.S. Navy. At that time my recollections of Pope Pius XII were always very positive. Then when I went to high school the world opinion completely changed. After reading some books dealing with this subject, I was convinced that he was not a friend of the Jewish people and at worst a collaborator with Nazi Germany against Communism.

O

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Then what happened?

A long time later, in 2006, through what I consider divine intervention, I was gradually exposed to some incredible documentation and testimony that brought me to a conclusion: I had been lied to! My emotions went from being shocked to being extremely angry.

Armed with documents, I traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, and revealed what I had discovered. He told me: “I want you to find everything you possibly can on this subject, and bless you for this work.”

In Judaism, the worst character flaw a Jew can have is ingratitude. The defamation and character assassination of Pacelli robbed the Jewish people of the dignity of expressing a measure of thanks to the one religious leader who acted to save more Jews than all the religious and political leaders of the era. This is to me a Jewish responsibility.

What did you do after that meeting?

I submitted this potentially explosive international project to the board of PTWF [Pave the Way Foundation] to consider. Since our mission is to identify and eliminate obstacles between religions, this project fit into my mission statement. The board approved it almost universally.

So, we proceeded to contact international scholars on the subject.

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As a Jewish man, I suppose this issue is particularly meaningful. . . .

As a Jewish man I thought that utilizing my positive relationship with the Vatican to identify and reveal these documents to the world would be praised and heralded. I was shocked when I was simply attacked and criticized by many of the “historians” internationally. The good news is that the critical comments made about our work at PTWF remain on the Internet. Our vindication will come when the world’s opinion returns to where it was in 1958. One day Pius XII will be recognized as Righteous Among Nations at Yad Vashem.

There are a lot of people who do not agree with this last statement.

What would you reply?

According to Israeli historian and diplomat Pinchas Lapide and sustained by Sir Martin Gilbert, the Catholic Church under the pontificate of Pius XII acted to save the lives of an estimated 847,000 Jews, almost a million. The difference is that Lapide and all the Jewish leaders who unreservedly praised Pius XII, lived through the war years and witnessed these actions. The modern historical revisionists simply read the false demonizing books to push their negative agendas.

The judgment on the work of Pius XII toward Nazism and the Holocaust still divides the Catholic Church and the Jewish world. What will be the consequences of opening the Vatican archives?

The opening of the six main archives will go a long way towards resolving the misunderstandings of the actions of the Holy See during World War II, even if it will take decades of devoted research to comb through the material.

The problem, however, is that many of the critics of Pius XII simply have not done any legitimate research on the subject.

A recent interview of [historian] Robert Ventresca is very revealing. He doesn’t believe that there will be a smoking gun in the Vatican archives. He’s probably correct, because our international scholar partners have already discovered hundreds of “smoking guns” throughout the world. The critics have conveniently chosen not to even look at these documents.

There are some Jews — for example, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni — who said that their negative judgment on Pope Pius XII will not change anyway. How do you judge this statement?

In 2008, Meredith and I went to visit the Chief Rabbi

From top to bottom, the rabbis of Rome from the 1930s to the present: Israel Zolli (who became a Catholic), Elio Toaff and Riccardo Di Segni

of Rome to invite him to attend the symposium for 80 international Jewish scholars we were sponsoring in Rome. He simply said: “You’re paving the way to Pius XII’s canonization. The Pope remained silent when 1,259 Roman Jews were sent to Auschwitz.”

The reality is that Rabbi Di Segni never lived through the war, contrasted by his predecessors, Rabbi Elio Toaff and Rabbi Israel Zolli, eyewitnesses of the actions of Pius XII. Ironically, he remains within walking distance from multiple archives which would’ve proved the truth.

And what is the truth?

Had the Chief Rabbi examined the archives of Bishop Hudal as Professor Johan Ickx did in Santa Maria dell’Anima, he would’ve discovered how it was Pius XII who acted directly to end the arrest of the Roman Jews on October 16, 1943. It was Pius XII who sent Fr. Pancratius Pfeiffer to try to gain the release of the 1,259 Jews arrested; he was unfortunately only successful in rescuing 224 Jews. The documents discovered at Santa Maria dell’Anima also showed how Pius XII used the threat to speak out against Hitler and the Nazis in order to end the arrest of the Roman Jews.

He knew that such a public statement would have triggered the planned invasion of the Vatican, something the German military feared since this could have resulted in massive riots throughout Europe.

Pius XII acted while he was mindful that he was to be arrested and assassinated according to the 1972 testimony of General Karl Wolff obtained by Michael Hesemann.

CONFIDENCE IN YAD VASHEM “The Church is not afraid of history,” Francis said last March 4. How did you interpret this statement?

He said that because he knows that truth will set us free. The Vatican archives possess over 16 million pages of documents, which will reveal many of the facts of the actions of the Holy See during WWII. But when Pope Benedict XVI opened the Secret Archives up to the period of 1939, only a few of the critics ever came to do any real research.

I do have confidence in Yad Vashem [the World Holocaust Remembrance Center]. They will ultimately come to the correct conclusion. Some time ago, a commission of experts concluded that the negative plaque in their Hall of Shame was incorrect. So, they modified it, stating that they will wait for the archives to open to finalize their conclusions. I believe they will do their duty as a historical institution whose agenda is simply the truth.m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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HISTORY

PLAGUES AND PRAYERS

CHRISTIANS HAVE NEVER BEEN HELPLESS IN THE FACE OF EPIDEMICS AND SOCIAL TURMOIL

n BY CORNELIUS SULLIVAN*

A

t the time of the plague of 590 AD and the Black Death of 1348 in Rome, prayers were the primary, and effective, remedy. Prayer produced an astonishing sign in the sky that the deadly plague would end: a vision of St. Michael the Archangel sheathing his sword appeared above Emperor Hadrian’s Tomb, signifying the end of the plague of 590.

As the model for my painting (right), I used the large bronze that is currently atop that building. The Archangel is in a Roman soldier’s garb and he is indeed putting away his sword. I painted how I imagined the vision to look, with shimmering movement, and blood stains in a brilliant sky.

St. Pope Gregory the Great and hundreds of pilgrims processed, praying, from the Basilica of St. Mary Major through the streets of Rome toward St. Peter’s Basilica, carrying an icon of the Virgin Mary: it was the image of Holy Mary, Protectress of the Roman People — the Santa Maria Salus Populi Romani — believed to have been painted by St. Luke.

Those in the procession saw the vision of St. Michael, dressed in the armor of a Roman soldier, returning his bloodied sword to the scabbard.

Emperor Hadrian’s Tomb has since been called Castel Sant’Angelo, after the “holy angel” who appeared there.

The miraculous vision of the archangel was commemorated by a chapel dedicated to St.

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Vision of St. Michael the Archangel, by Cornelius Sullivan.

Bottom, the icon of Mary Salus Populi Romani in the Basilica St. Mary Major, Rome

Michael, built atop the mausoleum, and later, by a statue of the angel placed above the chapel.

Pope Gregory’s vision was never forgotten. In fact, it was confirmed by a similar miracle marking the end of the Black Death of 1348.(1) The first statue of St. Michael was on top of the castle and is now in a courtyard of the castle.

This is typical of Roman recycling that can combine elements from different eras.

In this case, the bronze wings were screwed onto the marble sculpture.

In like manner, the Emperor’s Tomb was recycled to become a fortress, then a prison, then a sanctuary with a secret passageway from the Papal Palaces, and now it is one of the iconic buildings that form the Roman skyline.

In Milan, which was devastated by the plague of 1576, St. Charles Borromeo, then Archbishop, used prayer combined with active heroic charity to combat the plague.

Caravaggio’s biographer, Helen Langdon (Caravaggio: A Life, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998), presents a moving account of how St. Charles gave his life to care for the sick. Caravaggio’s grandfather and his father both died from the plague in 1577.

Another Caravaggio biographer, Andrew Graham-Dixon (Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, W.W. Norton, 2010), does not have such a high regard

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The marble statue of St. Michael inside Castel Sant’Angelo next to the chapel dedicated to him, and a view of the bronze statue at the top of the castle

center of this intense display of devotion Carlo himfor the saint. He wrote, “Borromeo did not entirely self, bearing aloft the relic of the Holy Nail from the succeed in his efforts to turn Milan into a model Tricathedral, shoeless and oblivious to his bleeding feet, dentine police state.” walked amid a dolorous procession of penitents.

I always wondered why Dixon, not a fan of the (Those Catholics are always processing and praying.)

Counter-Reformation, chose to write about the quinBorromeo wore a purple mantle with a hood and a tessential Catholic artist Caravaggio. rope around his neck, like a condemned man. The Dixon disparaged the promotion of confession and Canons were dressed in the same way. Carlo had other sacraments by St. Charles Borromeo and the become an emblem of Catholic charity, engraving in Counter-Reformation with its sacred art which made his own flesh the sufferings of Christ and re-creating a powerful response to the whitewashed iconoclasm the glories of the early Church, seeking a heroic marof Protestantism. tyrdom in the streets of Borromeo kept the Procession of St. Charles Borromeo to Cure Milan of the Plague of 1576, Milan.” lengthy Council of Trent,

by Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762), now in the Chapelle Royale, Chateau de Versailles, France Plagues look different 1545 to 1563, going long now, but in many ways, enough for it to express the they affect us in the same conviction that the Church way. We can see CAT scans would continue with and molecular diagrams renewed zeal to make today, but contagion and sacred art. quarantine remain the same Helen Langdon writes as they ever were. about St. Charles BorPlagues and viruses of romeo during the plague in today produce the heroism Milan: “Carlo, with unwaof doctors, nurses, and vering courage, labored health care workers, and to them, we are endlessly tirelessly to bring comfort to the sick, to both their grateful. But let us never lose sight of the fact, demonbodies and souls, winning the devotion of the poorest strated through the ages, that, in truth, “Our help is in and most miserable. the Lord.”

“Above all, Carlo, with immense rhetorical skill, Information is from a history of some apparitions transformed the city into a vast and highly orchestratof St. Michael the Archangel at Castel Sant’Angelo ed display of penitence and of ceaseless prayer. from The History and Decoration of Pont Sant’Ange“The Milanese, whom the quarantine laws forbade lo, Mark Weil, 1974, The Pennsylvania State Univerto go to church, worshipped at their doors and winsity Press, and Gregory the Great, F.H. Dudden, 1905, dows. Tabernacles and devotional images embellLondon. ished the roadsides, while at the crossroads, and throughout the squares of the city, Carlo erected *Cornelius Edmund Sullivan, MFA, altars, where Mass was celebrated, and those confined is an artist, art professor, lecturer to their houses could listen at the windows. And at the and consultant in Rome and the U.S.m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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PERSPECTIVE

THE ARIAN HERESY AND ITS RELATION TO OUR PRESENT AGE –PART 2 In the fourth century, the Faith was saved primarily by the laity — a lesson for the 21st century

n BY JOSEPH TAMAYO

der-in-chief (the Emperor) was THE POLITICAL AND the absolute monarch of the THEOLOGICAL CONNECTION: whole state. The Army went THE ARMY (9) solidly Arian, feeling Arianism to fter the Edict of Milan in be the potentially destructive 313 AD, the leftover power which made it superior to pagan upper class, many the civilian masses. The soldiers of whom filled the ranks of the were sympathetic with Arianism military, still dominated over for the same reason the old upper society. Many of the leftover Golden plate with the effigy of Constantine.

Bottom, the Holy Martyrs of the North African Persecution class pagans and intellectuals governing class clung to their by the Arians in 484 A.D. were. pagan traditions from the older There arose a feud between the world, traditions not religious Army chiefs on one hand, and the but intellectual, social, moral, Catholic bishops on the other. and literary. A great number of Certainly there was a division old noble families were reluctant between Catholics in the towns to accept the social revolution and the Catholic peasantry in the implied by the triumph of the country, and the almost universalChristian Church. They naturally Arian military. ly sided with a movement, AriBishops and clerics at this time anism, which they instinctively found it beneficial to their careers felt to be spiritually opposed to to go along with the “powers that the life and survival of that be.” It appears a similar political and theological connecChurch and which carried with it an atmosphere of “social tion is occurring today. Many governments are accepting superiority” over the populace. Many intellectuals felt the the LGBT culture and supporting it in their laws. Divorce same. They may not have had pride of social wealth and and cohabitation are also warmly accepted, as well as the position, but they had pride of culture and remembered rejecting of Judeo-Christian values as the basis of these with regret the former prestige of the pagan philosophers. countries’ legal structures. The theological left and politThey all felt this great revolution from paganism to ical left are forming a bond and looking to force their hetCatholicism would destroy the old cultural traditions and erodoxy on the Catholic faithful and the world. their own cultural positions.

The episcopate (bishops) whose action was so prompt Arianism had yet another ally, a very subtle ally: the and concordant at Nicaea in response to the rise of tendency of government in an absolute monarchy to be Arianism did not, as a class or group of men, play a half afraid of the emotions present in the minds of the peofavorable part in the troubles consequent upon the ple, and especially the poorer people (laymen) — emoCouncil; the laity did. The Catholic people, in the length tions which, if they spread and became enthusiastic and and breadth of Christendom, were the obstinate captured the masses, might become too strong to be ruled champions of Catholic truth, and the bishops were not! and would have to be surrendered to.

Of course, there were illustrious exceptions: first St. The other ally Arianism had was the Army. It is necesAthanasius; then St. Hillary, St. Eusebius the Latin (not sary to discuss the military-political power of the Army Eusebius of Nicodemia), and St. Phobadius; after that, because much of the Arian heresy revolved around it.

St. Basil the Great, the two Gregories and St. Ambrose.

The Army was the binding force, support and material A few other bishops, Eustathius, Paulus, Dionysius and guarantee of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the Egyptian bishops, whose number was small in a military state, not a civilian state. The Army’s comman-

A

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The great hermit St. Anthony of Alexandria

proportion to the great powers controlling the Eastern Church, also played significant roles. On the other hand, there were exceptions to the Christian heroism of the lay people, especially in some of the great cities. I include the local parish priests, in many places, with the laity; but on the whole, we are obliged to say that the governing body of the Church came up short, while the governed (lay people) were pre-eminent in faith, zeal, courage and constancy.(10) In the city of Alexandria, one of the most infamous of Arian bishops, George, made his appearance and took control. He arrived during the Great Feast with a large group of soldiers. He immediately attacked the people and attempted to force the orthodox Christians to take an oath of Arianism. After his scourging and torture of the people, some of them even died. He also later renewed the violent persecutions. He unleashed the military on many orthodox Christians who were worshipping in cemetery chapels instead of the churches that commemorated him. Many were killed and others banished.

Similar things occurred in other areas of Alexandria and the other cities under Emperor Constantius II in the East. At a church in Quininis, the bishop, backed by soldiers, attacked herdsmen and young people in an effort to get them to submit.(12) The orthodox bishops Paulinus and St. Hillary were banished. During this time the proorthodox Emperor Constans died and the pro-Arian Emperor Constantius became emperor of both East and West. He managed with extreme pressure from Arian bishops to manipulate Pope Liberius into signing the heretical “Arian Creed” denying Christ’s divinity.(13) Constantius later banished him. When Liberius returned after banishment, rescinding the Arian Creed, he was shunned by fellow clergy and the people because he was looked upon as weak. By the way, when St. John Henry Newman recorded this incident in a 19th-century essay, he was blacklisted by the Vatican as a possible heretic. As writer Michael Kearney notes, apparently Newman’s assertion that the Arian heresy was extinguished primarily by a few God-fearing bishops and pious lay people — not by the “infallible pronouncements” of the Roman Pope — did not fit the preferred model of 19th-century Roman Catholic ecclesiology.(14) With the death of Constantius II, the Empire in the West fell to Valentine I, who protected the Orthodox, but his brother, pro-Arian Valens, ruled in the East and subjected Athanasius and the orthodox lay people to a severe persecution. At the Portan Basilica, in the city of Edessa,

St. Ambrose was teaching the people the Creed but the Emperor’s wife intended to take control in support of the Arians. The people hearing this gathered at the church, blocked its entrances and seized the Arian bishop. The Roman commander dispatched soldiers and arrested many people, who were fined and thrown into prison(15).

There was a great hermit named St. Anthony of Alexandria, a lay person and considered the founder of the Eastern monastic system, who was highly respected by the people and a good friend of St. Athanasius. The Arian bishops tried to use St. Anthony to their advantage, but he left the solitude of the desert and went about the city of Alexandria condemning the Arians and their heresy and telling the people that the doctrines of the apostles were preached only by St. Athanasius.

(16,17) St. Athanasius and his fellow orthodox bishops were hunted down and exiled. St. Athanasius was constantly being moved for his safety, mostly under the protection of the faithful lay people.

Christendom as a whole followed St. Athanasius, but the persecutions continued. St. Basil says, “About the year 372, the lay people are sound in faith and avoid places of worship which they consider schools of impiety; the people have left their houses of prayer and assemble in the deserts, a pitiable sight: women and children and old men amid rain, storms and winds.”(18) When the pro-Arian Emperor Valens was killed in 379 AD, orthodox Emperor Theodosius took over in the East and orthodox Emperor Gratian in the West. The Arians were crushed and the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople approved our current Nicaean Creed.

St. John Henry Newman said: “The fourth century is an age of Doctors, illustrated by Saints Athanasius, Hillary, the two Gregories, Basil, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, etc.; nevertheless, in that very day, the Divine Tradition committed to the infallible Church was proclaimed and maintained far more by the people than by the Episcopate.”(19) Again Newman says: “But I mean still that in that time of confusion the Divine Dogma of Our Lord’s divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved in their duty to their baptismal vows far more by the Ecclesia Docta (the unlearned, simple lay people) than by the Ecclesia Docens (clergy, the learned, the teachers).” Again he says: “While on the other hand it was the Christian people, who, under Providence, were the ecclesiastical strength of Athanasius, Hillary, Eusebius of Vercellae, and the other great solitary confessors who would have simply failed without them.”

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PERSPECTIVE THE ARIAN HERESY AND ITS RELATION TO OUR PRESENT AGE – PART 2 What do we promise through our godparents in baptism? We promise to denounce the devil and sin, and to live according to the teachings of Christ and His Church.(22) Our Lord said, “I am the way, the truth and the Life.”(23) Again, Our Lord said, “I came into this world to give witness to the truth; all who love the truth listen to me.”(24) Our fidelity at baptism is promised to Christ, and takes form later in our assent to the Deposit of the Faith and the perennial teachings of the Church.

Our Catholic lay brothers and sisters understood this in the fourth century and, driven by the Holy Spirit, rose up to carry out their baptismal vows, and thus they saved the Church.

What did Venerable Fulton Sheen say in 1972, echoing the words of St. John Henry Newman some 140 years earlier? He said, “Who is going to save the Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious! It is up to you, the lay people! You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church! Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious!”(24) Father Bill Casey said in his talk, “Called to Battle”: “Maybe we can’t change this culture, but we can go down

THE LITUR LITURGICAL RGICAL GICA YEAR

on record as at least trying.” Then he quotes St. Teresa of Calcutta: “God doesn’t ask us to be successful, just faithful!” St. Athanasius, the other saints and the faithful Catholic laity put everything on the line to protect the Deposit of the Faith!

References: 9. Belloc, Heresies 10. Newman, Arians 11. Ibid. p. 445 12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. St. Athanasius and the Arian Controversy by Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston, 1996 conference 15. Newman, Arians 16. Ephraim of Boston, 1996 conference 17. Newman, Arians 18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Baltimore Catechism, article 326 21. Catholic Bible, John 14:6 22. Catholic Bible, John 18:37 23. Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen, address to the Convention of the Knights of Columbus, June 1972 m

• DOM GUÉRANGER

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he daily worship of G God od is at the hear heartt of the Catholic rreligion. eligion.

JJust ust as the French French Revolution Rev R evolution practically destr destroyed oyed the life of the chur church ch in F France, rance, so too we we hav havee witnessed in our day extreme extreme disr isru uption to the prayer life of the church.

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Dom Guéranger’s olume masterpiece on the Liturgical life SSince ince D om G uéranger’s 15 vvolume church France, rance, so too it can ser serve ve of the chur ch was a rrestorative estorative influence in F church ch in the 21st century. the same purpose for the chur century.

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36-37 CULTURE SCRIPTURE April201-corr1_Culture 3/24/20 11:46 AM Page 36

SCRIPTURE

THE SMALLEST “SEED”

Look to the small, the unconsidered trifle, for the great and hidden things of God n BY PROF. ANTHONY ESOLEN

“T

those things which are commandhe kingdom of heaven,” ed you, say, We are unprofitable says the Lord, “is like to a servants” (Lk. 17:10). grain of mustard seed, In Christ alone is our hope. But which a man took, and sowed in he tells us straight off that we his field.” It is the least of all the must expect to be persecuted: seeds, but when it grows, it is no “And ye shall be hated of all men mere herb on the ground, but it for my name’s sake” (Mt. 10:22). becomes a tree, “so that the birds Where, then, is the hope? “Comof the air come and lodge in the forter, where, where is your combranches” (Mt. 13:31-32). forting?” cries the poet Hopkins.

Optimism, that huckster, whee“Mary, mother of us, where is dles us into placing our trust in your relief?” sure bets, things that will be too Of course we might say that big to fail. The villain in Herman the hope is not now but in the age Melville’s The Confidence-Man to come, not here but in the kingplays upon the all too human dom of heaven, not in fallen man desire to be in the know, to perbut in man redeemed in Christ. suade his marks to enter into trusts “LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH And that is true, but it is not the that are both financial and moral – whole truth. For the kingdom of financially and morally dubious, GRASS, THE HERB YIELDING SEED, that is, but what a payoff there will AND THE FRUIT TREE YIELDING FRUIT heaven is like to that grain of mustard seed. be in the end, and soon! You must , WHOSE SEED IS IN AFTER HIS KIND Think of the wonder that is the have confidence, he says. seed. It is a single corn, a speck, a Jesus does not ask us to have ITSELF” (GENESIS 1:11) grain of dust. Yet somehow it holds confidence in our fellow men. He within itself great things to come. It is the bearer of life had no such, not even when people were eager to see him and its promise. Seeds are the first fruits of God’s crebecause of the wonders he had done: “But Jesus did not ation: “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew seed is in itself” (Gen. 1:11). what was in man” (Jn. 2:24-25). Jesus does not ask us to What does the seed of a tree have to do with us? Here have confidence in the future, not even when it appears we must be like those who restore bright and colorful embodied in the Temple itself: “There shall not be left works of art, scrubbing from their surfaces the grime of one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” a hundred years of smokestacks, so that tempera may be (Mk. 13:2). We surely must not be such fools as to have bold and marble may gleam again. The authors of Scripconfidence in ourselves: “When ye shall have done all 36

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(Gen. 19:5), or as when Lot’s daughters get their father ture thought as poets think, not as members of an indusdrunk so that he will lie with them, “that we may preserve trial committee. For the committee, and I am thinking of seed of our father” (Gen. 19:32), resulting in those perencommittees responsible for what we English-speaking nial idolaters and enemies of the children of Israel, the Catholics read in our Bibles or hear at Mass, the seed is Moabites and the Ammonites (Gen. 19:37-38). a seed and nothing more, and sometimes it is not even a So when we turn again to the mustard seed, that speck seed, but something workaday that the seed is supposed of dust, we find no cause to be optimistic, but every reato represent: the seed, like other poetic images, is an son for hope. Abram was but an old man and an idol worenvelope to be opened and then forgotten. shiper, living out a barren life in Ur of the Chaldees. But Not so for Scripture; not so for the sacred poet’s world from his seed sprang the Tree of Life. and its flowers of meaning. Think of the time when “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” asks Abram separates from his nephew Lot, giving him first Nathanael the guileless, apt to speak his mind (Jn. 1:46). choice of where to take his herds, and Lot chooses the No, nothing good does come from there, nothing except well-watered plains of Sodom before its destruction. At the only fully wondrous thing in the world. When Mary, that point God speaks to Abram, showing him the land who knew not man, said to the roundabout him in every direction angel, “Be it unto me according to as far as he can see. “To thee will I thy word,” then it was that the give it,” says God, “and to thy seed impetuous bridegroom sowed the for ever” (Genesis 13:15). seed, and it had life, as it was the You won’t hear that word seed source of all life, and he dwelt in the lectionary. It is too physical, among us in the flesh (Luke 1:38). too specific for comfort, too pregIt is the law of our existence that nant with allusion and echo and we should look to the small, the image. You will hear of descenunconsidered trifle, for the great dants instead. Yes, that is what the and hidden things of God, who sacred poet intends. But that is not brought the world out of nothingthe whole of what he intends. Seed ness. “Verily, I say unto you,” says means descendant, but descendant Jesus, “except a corn of wheat fall is too narrow to mean seed. into the ground and die, it abideth The underlying metaphor has alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth been obliterated and replaced with much fruit” (Jn. 12:24). It is not a word that either is not metaphorgood for us to abide alone, dark ical at all, or that alters the metand cold and inert. All the works of aphor: to descend is to come down. man alone are finally just one great God had commanded Noah to heap of stones, not one of which bring pairs of every kind of bird shall remain upon another. But a and beast into the ark, “to keep seed, a single seed, is more potent seed alive upon the face of the ABRAM, TO BE RE-NAMED than all the capitols and arches of earth” (Gen. 7:3). The mystery of the seed is that it contains the tree ABRAHAM, THE FATHER OF MANY, triumph and graveyards of glory in the world. within it. The seed is a holy thing.

IS THE “HERB YIELDING SEED,” There is our hope. What is in the “Thy seed shall be as the dust of the AND WE TOO IN FAITH smallest of the seeds? Says Chesearth,” says God to Jacob when he terton: lies dreaming on the plains of ARE THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. Padan-aram, transforming into a God Almighty, and with Him blessing the original curse laid upon fallen man: “For Cherubim and seraphim dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return” (Gen. 4:19, Filling all eternity — 28:14).

Adonai Elohim.

We see then the filth and perversity of doing with seed what should not be done; sins against what the seed is, as when Onan spills his on the ground, “lest he should give Anthony Esolen, Ph.D., is a faculty member and Writer-inseed to his brother,” who was slain by the Lord for his Residence at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in New wickedness (Gen. 38:9), or as when the men of Sodom Hampshire. Dr. Esolen is a renowned scholar and translator of demand to know the angel visitors, knowledge that is literature, and an author of multiple books and hundreds of madness and vanity and that treats seed with contempt articles in both Catholic and secular periodicals.m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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OBITUARY

MOTHER TEKLA FAMIGLIETTI Abbess General of the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget

BY ALBERTO CAROSA

B

y a terse communiqué on their website, the Sisters of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget (in Latin Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris Sanctae Birgittae, O.SS.S.), more popularly known as the Bridgettine Order, have announced to the world that their beloved former Abbess, Mother Tekla Famiglietti, passed away on March 3, 2020, in Rome. She died in the Order’s headquarters, Casa di Santa Brigida (after the name of its original foundress, St. Bridget (or Birgitta) of Sweden (13031373), in Piazza Farnese, in the heart of historic Rome, after a long illness.

The funeral took place at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso the following Friday, March 6, and was presided over by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals, in the presence of other senior clergy and prelates, including a delegation of the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden and senior diplomats, including the Ambassadors of Sweden and Cuba to the Holy See. Pope Francis sent a telegram of condolence, which was read out at the end of the religious service.

In his homily, Cardinal Sandri pointed out what he said were her extraordinary internal and external dimensions: a deep-rooted spirituality based on suffering and hope, whose outer projection was a tireless activity which led to a phenomenal expansion of the Order — a trajectory in a way similar to that of her spiritual mother, Holy Mother Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad, who re-established the Bridgettine Order in 1911, and was beatified in 2000 and canonized in 2016.

Mother Tekla was born in 1936 in Sturno, Italy, in the province of Avellino, not far from Naples. From a very young age, she felt attracted by religious life, so much so that she joined the Order when she was

38

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14. As reported in the Acistampa obituary (March 4, 2020) by Angela Ambrogetti, it was love at first sight, in the sense that in her first contact with the Bridgettines, she realized it was the Order she had always dreamt of, with its perfect balance between contemplative life and active life. She spent her first years of religious life in the Order’s convent in Lugano, where she remained for 24 years, half of them in her capacity as abbess. In 1979 Mother Tekla was elected Abbess General of the Order, a position that she held for 37 years, until 2016, when for health and age reasons she decided to step down and was succeeded by Mother Fabia Kattakayam, a native of Angadikadavu, Kerala, in southwestern India.

As already said, during Mother Tekla’s many successful years as a general abbess, the number of monasteries of the Order more than doubled and the number of sisters also increased considerably.

Today, the Bridgettine Order has some 700 sisters who are active in 55 monasteries in 19 countries on four continents. As pointed out by Angela Ambrogetti, these results were achieved “not without difficulties and criticism,” a typical case in point being Mother Tekla’s initiative to establish a convent in Cuba. Those who accused her of being a friend to Fidel Castro, perhaps are not aware of her unshakeable conviction that “even if only for the salvation of just one soul, who otherwise might never have been able to meet Christ, the opening of a new house would be thoroughly worthwhile.” Wasn’t Our Lord also accused of being a friend to pagans and publicans?

But there is more: ultimately her critics had to eat humble pie, since the establishment of a convent in Cuba had an almost prophetic dimension that nobody could have ever imagined at the time, probably save for Mother Tekla. But this is hardly surprising, in the

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Cuban President Fidel Castro greets Mother Tekla Famiglietti during the inauguration of a new Bridgettine convent in Havana on March 8, 2003.

Below, the Church of St. Bridget annexed to their house on Piazza Farnese in Rome

sense that real men and women of God, thanks to their extraordinary far-sightedness, may envisage well ahead of time events and developments due to take place even many years later. In fact, the miracle that paved the way for Mother Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad’s canonization in 2016 happened precisely in Cuba thanks to the newly-established presence of the Bridgettines there.

Mother Tekla has been described in many ways. In an interview, the now-defunct Catholic journal 30 Giorni (No. 12, 1999) quoted Jesús Castellano Cervera, director of the Pontifical Teresianum University of Rome, as calling her “la terza (third) Brigida” after St. Bridget and Mother Hesselblad. In the same interview, former Danish Ambassador to the Holy See Henrik Ree Iversen was quoted as saying that Mother Tekla Famiglietti “is the most powerful woman in the Catholic Church today.”

In the obituary “Moder Tekla Famiglietti har avlidit” (“Mother Tekla has passed away”), penned by former Swedish Ambassador to the Holy See from 2002 to 2008, Fredrik Vahlquist, which appeared in the Swedish journal of Catholic culture, Signum, he referred to her as a “legendary” figure who, due to her profound friendship with John Paul II, in Rome and in the Vatican came to be “regarded with both admiration and respect, and she has been termed one of the most influential women in the Catholic Church.”

In particular, the senior diplomat points out, she proved an invaluable builder of bridges between Rome and the Nordic countries for the advancement of what he called “ecumenism in practical action.” Suffice it to think of the Chapel of St. Catherine (the saintly daughter of St. Bridget) in the crypt beneath the Casa di Santa Brigida which has been granted to the Swedish Lutheran community in Rome for their religious services, and the participation of the Bridgettine nuns in the feast of St. Henrik, martyr patron saint of Finland, on January 19, within the framework of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-

25), which is celebrated in Rome every year.

As is by now a consolidated tradition for many years, an ecumenical delegation from Finland led by the heads of its three historic Christian traditions, Evangelical Lutheran, Orthodox and Catholic, is received by the Pope as a sign of encouragement for them to proceed on the ecumenical path for an increasingly full and visible unity among Christians.

In fact, in this Nordic dimension of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Bridgettine Order fulfills a prominent role by hosting in its headquarters, Casa di Santa Brigida, the convivial function that normally follows the Mass celebrated in the national Finnish chapel in the nearby Chiesa di Santa Maria sopra Minerva. In alternate years, this service is presided over by either a Catholic or a Lutheran bishop, with the homily being preached by a bishop of the other tradition.

The Bridgettine nuns also host and participate in other closely-related religious initiatives, such the celebration of ecumenical vespers on the eve of the Mass in Santa Maria. In the last few years these vespers were presided over by the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch.

This year, due to restoration work, the Church of Santa Maria was not available and the nuns generously offered the Church of St. Bridget annexed to their Casa for the celebration of the service, which this year was the Catholic Mass.

And last but not least, Mother Tekla’s work for the consolidation and intensification of the relations between the Vatican and Scandinavian countries, and most notably Sweden, did not go unnoticed in the top echelons of the latter’s political establishment, up to the point that in 1991 H.M. the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, bestowed upon Mother Tekla the prestigious honor of the Commander’s Sign of the North Star Order.m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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COMMENTARY

PINK MOHAWKS IN CHURCH!

Evangelizing your neighbor really does mean embracing the lost sheep n BY ROBERT WIESNER

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ilies fully devoted to homebook recently appeared schooling; the mothers were which relates the convernot so very certain about assosion story of a, shall we ciating with a “woman with a say, “differently-gendered” past,” but Professor Butteruniversity literature professor. field would confront them The Secret Thoughts of an with “Jesus forgave the adulUnlikely Convert by Rosaria terous woman. What are YOU Butterfield details the interestgoing to do about ME?” Needing process of a move from less to say, the process was a rabid secularism to fervent healthy one for all involved. belief. Although she actually The professor became a became a member of a conserspringboard for spiritual vative Calvinist congregation, her story brought to mind the Pope Francis pictured celebrating Mass in 1998 in a poor section struggle and growth; she asked questions which all teaching of our current Holy of Buenos Aires, Argentina. (CNS photo) Christians must ask (and Father regarding evangelizing answer!): “I gave up a girl friend to be here. What did in the streets! you give up?” A rather staid church found itself actively In her courses, Professor Butterfield had occasion to confronting a world which they had tended to ignore, read the Bible as just another piece of literature to be even to shun. A new energy and purpose steadily grew analyzed and studied objectively. She rapidly found among the congregation; they were forced out of their that such an approach to Scripture simply did not work; insular attitudes and petty prejudices in order to conshe could make no headway in understanding what front the vast question, “What does it mean to preach to appeared to be a random collection of widely divergent the whole world?” writing styles and literary genres. Through a series of There is a story about then-Bishop Bergoglio when “coincidences,” she came into contact with a Presbyterhe was first consecrated in Buenos Aires. Each day, the ian minister who agreed to help guide her through the parish priests with some of the faithful would distribute intricacies of Biblical writing. He did not condemn, he food in the poor sections of the city. Bishop Bergoglio did not proselytize, he did not preach to her: he approved of the practice, but he did insist that before befriended her in the certain knowledge that the Word the food was taken to the streets, everyone involved of God would do the necessary without his intervenmust spend an hour in Eucharistic adoration. The food tion. would then be distributed, but it would be understood Over a period of some months, they met regularly, usually at the minister’s house University literature professor Rosaria Butterfield and her book that more was involved than simple social action. Adoration with his wife providing wonThe Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert would ensure that Christ was derful meals and her own spetaken to the people along with the cial insights. Of course, at food. Nourishment became a some point the professor ran complete ministry; while taking into the inevitable question: care of bodily needs there was “What if this is true?” So added the incredibly important began a process involving a dimension of feeding souls spiricomplete makeover for a tually as well. troubled life.

Discipleship is tough; the costs As it happens, the Presbyinvolved go well beyond simply terian congregation involved dropping money into a collection was a rather traditional group. plate. Engaging with those who There were a number of fam40

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In the circles: Father Paul Quillet, SMA and Mother Teresa. Bottom, The Good Shepherd, altar baldacchino at St. John Lateran

most need Christ is exhausting and usually emotionally draining. A thank you is not to be expected, while often enough a curse might be the reward. Seeds planted in a soul may not take root for years, and so a tangible result may never be observed.

There is a missionary priest in Africa whose work involves a semi-nomadic Muslim tribe of shepherds on the Sahara’s southern fringes. Father Paul Quillet, SMA, once delivered a sermon in his home country of France which touches on precisely what discipleship means: each morning he witnessed the chief of the tribe rising and immediately going to the flock. He greeted each sheep by name, and caressed each individually. Only after tending to the sheep did the chief greet his family and other members of his tribe and eat his breakfast. Father Paul saw in this Muslim chieftain what Jesus meant when he enjoined believers to leave family and friends to tend to God’s business.

Small wonder that Father Paul chose to make Psalm 23 his first translation of Scripture into Fulani, the local language: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want…” His people immediately understood the imagery of the Psalm; they see the principle in action every day. Father Paul also completely grasped the meaning of Pope Francis’ remark that pastors must “be fragrant with the smell of the sheep!” Father Paul has yet to see conversion among the Muslims; any conversion must involve an entire social group, the whole tribe. He recognizes that he has been given by God a unique monastic calling to witness to Christ in a difficult situation and to plant seeds of faith which may not grow for generations.

One lesson Father Paul takes from the Fulani is the vitally important task of taking the sheep out from the fold; without proper pasture the sheep soon sicken and die. Pope Francis has stressed the point that a church which remains enclosed in its small parish/sheepfold also sickens and dies. A pastor must lead his flock out from the fold and find spiritual nourishment in good works outside the parish church and the home. The church frequented by Professor Butterfield found itself renewed and invigorated by the infusion of rather strange new blood. Catholic parishes must take this lesson to heart.

Missionaries in various parts of the world grow used to seeing outlandish sights in their churches, perhaps a

bone through the nose or horrific scarring on the face.

The Church grew by incorporating barbarians into the Mystical Body. Well, America has become barbarian territory. But the frightening human sights one sees on any city street should also be seen in our churches.

Catholicism has been aptly described as a hospital for sinners. There is enormous need for healing in our sad modern American culture; with good reason did Mother Teresa describe us as the most povertystricken people on earth. For the culture to regain health, there is an urgent necessity to bring as many sinners into the hospital as quickly as possible. Catholic parishes might begin to regain their health and vitality once the neat suits and trim haircuts begin to be punctuated by leather and pink Mohawks! But, conversion is rarely accomplished without time and struggle. Vicious habits sometimes take a lifetime to overcome, so it would be no surprise if barbarians coming into our hospital are not immediate paragons of virtue. Our Church is not a Church for saints, remember, but the last, best hope for sinners.

Catholics must accept “the smell of the sheep” in the parish. Actually, all Catholics have a whiff of ovine aroma; no Catholic can say in good conscience, “Thank God I am not like others, like this poor addict here, for instance.” Under some circumstances, every one of us can be an addict, a thief, or a murderer. In ALL circumstances, however, every one of us IS sorely afflicted with pride, a vastly more deadly sin than any addiction.

A natural reaction of traditionallyminded people when confronted with the unusual is to shy away, to feel a bit threatened. The appearance of roughlooking bikers or creepy Goths at Mass might be a bit disturbing, but the proper reaction would be an approach with a greeting and “Good to see you here. Let’s have coffee and you can tell me your story.”

Every aspiring saint will find immense spiritual growth by encountering the earnest efforts of sinners to better their lives. A repentant great sinner, after all, has learned much more about humility than those whose sins are somewhat less scarlet.

Some sins and situations might demand attention beyond the capabilities of the average parishioner, of course. There certainly is a singularly grave esthetic sin involved in a neon pink Mohawk! But, the mercy of God, we can be assured, extends even to this heinous crime…m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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THE INTERIOR CASTLE

ACHIEVING TRUE HUMILITY THROUGH THE MASS

QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE BOOK THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS, BY FR. NICHOLAS GIHR

REFLECTIONS ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE RICHES OF THE MASS

n BY A HERMITESS

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“Splendor and wealth of ornament serve, in the first n “the heart of the devout Catholic…a mere glance place to glorify God, and secondly to promote the ediat the altar, upon which day after day heaven with its fication and salvation of men.” By reason of the “submajesty and grace descends in Mass…convinces limity and adorableness of the mysteries celebrated,” him that it is just as it should be, that it ought not to be one is “lifted up above the common daily life, penetratotherwise. The mysteries of the Eucharistic Sacrifice ed by a holy awe and reverence for heavenly things, are so exalted and sublime, so holy and so divine, that more devoutly and seriously disposed, edified in heart, for their worthy celebration nothing can be too prerefreshed in mind.” cious. With His precious blood the immaculate Lamb of Paradoxically, humiliation gives the creaGod purchased and ransomed us; this ture an inexplicable refreshment, world-redeeming blood, this inesrelief, joy. Although the flesh, the timable ransom, compared with body, the psyche, hates it, fights which all transitory things are it, and tries to defy humilianaught. All the treasures of tion, the soul is content withthe earth are but vain dust in, if it cooperates with the and ashes, this precious response of surrender. blood poured out so abunThe orientation in one’s dantly and lavishly, flows heart toward God is not a daily on the altar and fills matter of indifference to the chalice.”

Him. If self is the center, God That this world is quickis not pleased. When God is ly passing away is a fact of not pleased, man experiences which the most prayerful shame and disorder in his life. assisters at the altar must be Even if it is not acknowledged, even painfully aware. As the priest and if man tries to ignore the shame, it is still the servers enter the sanctuary, kneelthere, wailing and grinding its teeth. If ing at the feet of the enthroned Detail from the Ghent Altarpiece (or The God is the center, on the other hand, Eucharistic Presence for the preparaAdoration of the Mystic Lamb) in St. Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium man is rightly ordered and has peace. tory prayers, they are effectively Even the consecrated objects and vessels of the Mass drawn into another world. The precise hierarchy “become capable of producing salutary effects.” Salubetween creature and Creator is acknowledged and tary effects are what man needs for salvation. The more observed carefully for those who truly pray the Mass. exposure to salutary effects, the closer one gets to heav“Upon the altar He veils His glory under the humble en, even on this earth. To receive these salutary effects sacramental appearances, comes to us and remains with built in to the Mass, one need only follow the missal and us in such profound concealment, abasement, and watch the priest — the orientation of the person is slowhumiliation…. The more He abases and conceals Himly changed just by being attentive. Attentiveness only self…the more fervent should the gratitude of the creabecomes hard when the rite is anthropocentric rather ture be….” The Son of God in the Eucharistic Species than theocentric. When people find themselves distracthumiliates Himself on the altar, as He once did on Goled and bored, it is because God is not allowed His propgotha. To witness that humiliation with our senses – our er place in the surroundings and in the Rite itself. God senses work best in silence and stillness – is efficacious Himself is not a bore. It is the creature who is altogether to transform the one who prays into the likeness of his boring.

Master. The humiliation of the creature, then, can be a The consecration of the very vessels and objects for welcome effect of the Mass. Humiliation brings one the Mass is meant to draw the creature out of his boring into true prayer.

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banal state. By the consecration of the objects for the Mass, these objects are “transferred from the domain of nature into the kingdom of grace, and become the special property of God. Thus they have in themselves something divine, on account of which due religious veneration is to be shown them…. It is evident that according to the intent and spirit of the Church a mystical or deeper meaning is to be attached to objects used in divine worship, by which they become a silent but eloquent sermon, announcing the holy truths and wholesome doctrines….”

Thus, the details of each consecrated object, and also the details of the altar, become another means of the humiliation of man. The care taken with each vessel, the handling of each vessel only by the priest, this all requires a certain abasement on the part of humanity, which wants to, but can never, meet God in His own abasement.

One can easily be absorbed also in the movements and words of the priest at the altar, this altar covered with fine linens – a sudaria, as it were – to receive the body of the Lord. A glance at the missal here and there during the Consecration suffices not only to keep one’s attention on union and direct contact with God, but indeed effects that union. It is enough to let oneself be humbled, vulnerable, and captivated by the Divine Majesty.

The altar is elevated and has steps because it is a mystical Mount Calvary. The goodness observed in the order and hierarchy of the servers upon the steps is no mere practical matter. Rank is fitting in the human condition, as another simple detail effecting salutary consequences. The little graces add up. Accordingly, if a young man serves at the altar, he learns this divine ordering and orientation which then opens him to contemplate the mysteries he serves. All in attendance, in fact, are led into holy dread. Holy dread, to be sure, is frightening to the modern mind, but is the one virtue that will gain union with God. God is near us, and indeed, through the Sacred Humanity of Christ, is one of us, but our humanity can never be on an equal par. As the Psalms constantly say, man’s pride can and will be crushed if it dares to assert itself against the Divine Majesty.

The Divine Majesty is recognized in Scripture in the images of the Holy of Holies, the stone altar of Jacob, the place where the blood of Abel was sprinkled, the place where Abraham was to immolate Isaac, the place where Melchizedech offered sacrifice, and also the altar which Moses built. Fulfilled in the Mass, “Our altar, therefore, recalls the places of sacrifice on which the figurative sacrifices were offered up. It is also a figure of that venerable table at which Christ celebrated the Eucharistic sacrifice and banquet, it is also likened to

the sepulcher in which the wounded and sacrificed body of Christ reposed, and likewise to the Cross, where in the fullness of time the bloody sacrifice of our redemption was accomplished; it is the mystical Golgotha upon which the sacrifice of the Cross” is renewed.

After the Holy Sacrifice, the abasement of our Savior continues in the tabernacle, with its ever-present accompanying invitation to join Him in His abasement.

With the effects of the Mass now in place, the correct orientation (towards God) and the correct disposition (silence, stillness), one can take refuge in this altar, in this tabernacle containing the Divine Presence. “The unbroken stillness, the solemn dim light, the mystic glow of the sanctuary lamp, the familiar nearness, the blessed presence of the Eucharistic Savior, often enable the weary soul at the foot of the altar to enjoy a foretaste of heavenly bliss and a super-mundane peace, while the restless world without is full of noise and tumult, fatiguing and torturing itself in its feverish race for gain and its pursuit of pleasure. Here the Lord dispenses grace, joy, peace, consolation, and bliss into the hearts that are still struggling in fear and want with the sorrows and hardships of this perishable life.”m

Your Y our M Mother other Wants W ants Y You ou ttoo V Visit. isit.

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FOOTSTEPS ON THE WAY

THE RE-CONSECRATION THIS YEAR MARKS AN IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL MOMENT FOR ENGLAND: THE COUNTRY IS BEING “RE-CONSECRATED” TO MARY AS HER DOWRY... n BY ITV STAFF

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n a historic act that harkens back to the year 1381, the Catholic Church in England has officially rededicated the nation to Mary, the Mother of God. A ceremony was slated to take place March 29 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, led by Monsignor John Armitage, rector, to be representative of a nationwide act of prayer to again place England under the patronage of Mary.

“It is taking place in 2020 quite simply to address the fact that the understanding of the ancient title of England as the Dowry of Mary, indicating the great love of Our Lady by the people of England, has declined, and needs to be highlighted for this generation, and also to promote the Message of Our Lady at Walsingham to ‘Share my Joy at the Annunciation,’ for Walsingham is a Marian Shrine of the Incarnation,” Armitage said.

The first dedication of England to Our Lady was made in 1381 by King Richard II in Westminster Abbey on the feast of Corpus Christi, in thanksgiving for his kingdom being saved at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt.

In 1399, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to his suffragan bishops: “The contemplation of the great mystery of the Incarnation has drawn all Christian nations to venerate her from whom came the first beginnings of our redemption.

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Pope Francis blesses the new Mary’s Dowry painting by Amanda de Pulford on February 15 in Rome as Cardinal Nichols looks on

But we English, being the servants of her special inheritance and her own dowry, as we are commonly called, ought to surpass others in the fervor of our praises and devotions.”

So the title of England as the “Dowry of Mary” was in use by the end of the 14th century, but Archbishop Arundel’s letter further indicates that, at the time of his writing, it was already in common use, indicating an earlier origin.

The word “dowry” (from the Latin dos, meaning “donation”) is sometimes understood as the donation accompanying a bride. In medieval English law, however, the meaning is reversed — a husband would set apart a portion of his estate designated for the maintenance of his wife, should she become a widow. The historical understanding of England as “Mary’s Dowry” is understood in this sense — that England has been “set apart” for Mary.

The rededication this year includes the communal praying of The Angelus Promise and The Act of Entrustment prayers by the Catholic people of England throughout all the nation’s parishes and private homes.

A Plenary Indulgence was granted by the Bishop of East Anglia to all who participated in the rededication.

A Mass was planned for celebration at the National

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Shrine in Walsingham, followed by procession of a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham and a new Dowry Painting, which were to be carried to the original Holy House site on the grounds of the Walsingham Priory.

The painting, an icon, was brought to Rome by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Msgr. Armitage and the artist, Amanda de Pulford, and blessed by Pope Francis in February; after the rededication, it will be carried to every parish around the country, never to return to Walsingham.

Amanda de Pulford is a 64year-old artist who, over the past 15 years, has turned her hand to iconography, a style of painting that all but vanished from England after the Reformation.

Her interest in icons developed after a visit to the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow. “I saw that through painting in this way I could come to understand the meaning of the Incarnation and the events of salvation history in a much more profound way, which was something I wanted very badly indeed,” she explained.

With her seven children grown up, Mrs. de Pulford was able to travel regularly to Brussels to be tutored by Irina Gorbounova Lomax, the distinguished Russian icon painter.

The Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham itself was established in 1061 when, according to the text of the Pynson Ballad (c.

1485), Richeldis de Faverches prayed that she might undertake some special work in honor of Our Lady. In answer to her prayer, the Virgin Mary led her in spirit to Nazareth, showed her the house where the Annunciation occurred, and asked her to build a replica in Walsingham to serve as a perpetual memorial of the Annunciation.

A PILGRIMAGE TO ENGLAND: MARY’S DOWRY AUGUST 11 – 20, 2020

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oin Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages in this affordable opportunity to journey to England and trace the history of Catholicism in England — called “Mary’s Dowry” by the devout Richard II — from Ramsgate, where the “Apostle to the English,” St. Augustine, first landed, to Walsingham, “England’s Nazareth.” The year 2020 is the year of England’s re-dedication to Our Lady, and the pilgrims on this journey will have an opportunity to join in and consecrate themselves to Mary. We will be in Walsingham on the Feast Day of the Assumption, August 15.

Catholic expert and author K.V. Turley will be joining us on this pilgrimage. Kevin is a Catholic filmmaker, a writer, a journalist, a scriptwriter, radio presenter, television host, podcast presenter, film and book reviewer, and tour guide.

In Amanda de Pulford’s new icon of Our Lady of Walsingham (detail pictured above), the Virgin Mary is depicted dressed in AngloSaxon attire and holding up the Child Jesus.

The image includes the coat of arms of St. Edward the Confessor, a patron saint of England, and it depicts Lady Richeldis, who built a replica of the “holy house” of Nazareth following an apparition. It also shows a frog in the place of the serpent, following a traditional Old English telling of Genesis in art.

EMAIL pilgrimages@insidethevatican.com OR CALL 202-536-4555 TO LEARN MORE!

This Holy House was built and a religious community took charge of the foundation. Although there is very little historical material from this period, it is known that with papal approval the Augustinian Canons built a Priory (c. 1150).

Walsingham became one of the greatest shrines in Medieval Christendom.

In 1538, the Reformation caused the Priory property to be handed over to the King’s commissioners, and the famous statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was taken to London and burned.

Nothing remains today of the original shrine, but its site is marked on the lawn in “The Abbey Grounds” in the village.

After the destruction of the shrine, Walsingham ceased to be a place of pilgrimage. Devotion was necessarily in secret until after Catholic Emancipation (1829) when public expressions of Catholic faith were allowed.

The Church of England also built a shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham in 1938.

Msgr. Armitage explained why the rededication should take place now: “Each generation and moment in history brings great and sometimes dangerous challenges. Our moment in history is one such time. Our Holy Father Pope Francis says that ‘we are not in an era of change but a change of era.’ Pope Leo XIII prophesied that: ‘When England comes back to Walsingham, Our Lady will return to England.’ As the world and the Church face the challenges of our day, we turn to one who overcame her fear at the Annunciation, accepting, in faith, that nothing is impossible to God. Her ‘Yes’ to God created the way for the light of Christ to enter into our world.

In faith, like Mary, we wish to bring that light into the world of today.”m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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C AT H O L I C I S M A N D O R T H O D O X Y E D I T E D B Y: C H R I S T I N A D E A R D U R F F

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The Message of the Icon

BY ROBERT WIESNER

CONON THE GARDENER

ometimes Christians are a little bit prone to concentrate on the flashier aspects of our Faith. We take great delight in startling miracles or spectacular apparitions, much to the detriment of finding nuggets of wisdom hidden in apparently more mundane matters. Here, perhaps, the life and career of Conon, a humble gardener from (of all places!) Nazareth, might be of use as a corrective.

He was not well known except to a few in his own locality. He was a simple fellow, lived simply and simply grew enough food for his own use — though he always found a bit extra for the poor. He was arrested in 251, accused only of being a Christian. Those sent to arrest him told him that the governor wished to see him. He answered (simply, of course) to the effect that the governor would have no use for him; he was a Christian and the governor should probably consort with those who thought like other Romans. When brought before the authorities, Conon freely confessed to Christianity, whereupon nails were driven through his feet and he was forced to run ahead of a carriage until it finally crushed him.

Despite his simplicity, Conon was no doubt aware of certain realities which largely escape the average modern city-dweller. He would know, of course, that when Jesus told the tale of the fig tree planted in a vineyard, there were nuances worthy of attention; primarily, he would have known that a fig tree had no business growing in a vineyard. They require totally different types of soil. Grapes like a rather poor soil, a bit dry. Figs like a rich soil, kept rather damp.

So why did Jesus place a fig tree in a vineyard? For His agriculturally aware audience, Jesus used an image that would startle His hearers and force them to ask

searching questions. Does the fig tree represent Israel?

Is it the New Covenant? An individual? And what is the vineyard? Israel? The Gentile world? Why is it worthwhile to keep tending and fertilizing a tree which isn’t in the proper place to begin with? What manure can be added anyway which wouldn’t ruin the soil for the vines? Spiritually speaking, what is manure, for that matter? (Hint: is repented, confessed and amended sin anything but spiritual sewage?)

St. Paul offers another image that would capture the attention of olive growers. He speaks of grafting the wild olive onto the domestic olive tree. His hearers would immediately react “But that’s not how it’s done! We graft the domestic olive onto the wild root stock!” The image apparently is speaking of Israel and the Gentile world, but why would the process be reversed?

Wild olive trees bear no fruit, but have strong roots. Domestic olives tend to have a weaker constitution. So why graft a branch which will bear no fruit onto a tree which does not have a hardy root system? There is a great deal to ponder in the image which is lost to the average modern Christian.

And so it goes with parables and imagery. In the 21st century we have lost much of the connection to the earth that the original Christians would have maintained. We find the parables rather bland, and maybe we too easily assume that we understand. All too often our blasé attitude just might be preventing us from fully appreciating hidden riches within Scripture.

However, with a little bit of research and cerebral effort, they can once more assume the same startling character which so captivated those hearing Jesus for the first time. Tales we think dead can live again!m

INSIDE THE VATICAN PILGRIMAGES has had to cancel all of our spring pilgrimages for 2020.

We hope it may be possible to start making pilgrimages again in the summer or fall.

Please contact us at insidethevaticanpilgrimages.com for information about joining us for upcoming special pilgrimages, or virtual pilgrimages from your home.

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Spirituality

“ITS EFFECT IS TO HOLD THE WORLD TOGETHER”

o every sentence of these sayings carries with it an experience or, rather, a part of the life of every saint. Therefore, you should pause at each of these sayings and consider the lives of these heroes — how they gained prayer for themselves as if it were everything. Their lives became prayer and their prayer became life.

Compare your life with theirs and your experience with theirs. If your spirit burns within you, lay down this book, worship, and pray, and thus mingle your reading with prayer.

...S

1. We ought to pray, neither according to any bodily habit nor with a habit of loud noise nor out of a custom of silence or on bended knees. But we ought soberly to have an attentive mind, waiting expectantly on God until he comes and visits the soul by means of all of its openings and its paths and senses. And so we should be silent when we ought and to pray with a cry, just as long as the mind is concentrated on God ... so also the soul should be totally concentrated on asking and on a loving movement toward the Lord, not wandering and dispersed by its thoughts but with concentration wait expectantly for Christ. And thus he will enlighten, teaching one how to ask, giving pure prayer that is spiritual and worthy of God and bestowing the gift of worship “in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4.24).... God who teaches us how truly to pray.

In this way the Lord finds rest in the well-intended soul, making it a throne of glory and he sits on it and takes his rest. (St. Macarius the Great, Homilies 33.1, 2, in Maloney, Intoxicated with God: The Fifty Spiritual Homilies of Macarius)

2. Prayer is the lifting up of the mind to God. (St. John of Damascus, in Moore, “Some Aspects of Orthodox Prayer,” p i)

BY FATHER EL MESKEEN*

ORTHODOX PRAYER, PART 3. CONTINUING OUR PRAYERFUL EXAMINATION OF THE BOOK ORTHODOX PRAYER, BY MATTA EL-MESKEEN, COPTIC MONASTIC REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL FATHER OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. MACARIUS, WE TAKE A LOOK NOW AT THE CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER ONE, WITH SOME SELECTED INSPIRING SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER

3. Prayer is by nature a dialog between man and God. It unites the soul with its Creator and reconciles the two.

Its effect is to hold the world together. (St. John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent 28.1, p 274)

4. Now, my children, do not neglect to cry out day and night to God, entreating the bounty of the Father, and in his bounty he will give you help from heaven, teaching you until you know what is good... God will have pity upon him who follows these instructions, and will grant him that invisible fire which will consume all his impurity. His spirit will be purified; and then the Holy Spirit will dwell in him, and Jesus will abide with him, and so he will be able to worship God as he should. (St. Antony the Great, in Chitty, The Letters of St. Antony the Great 4, 5, pp. 12,14, 15)

5. We must also know, beloved brethren, that every secret converse, every good care of the intellect directed toward God and every meditation upon spiritual things is delimited by prayer, is called by the name of prayer, and under its name is comprehended; whether you speak of various readings, or the cries of a mouth glorifying God, or sorrowing reflection on the Lord, or making bows with the body, or psalmody in verses, or all the other things from which the teaching of genuine prayer ensues. From genuine prayer the love of God is born, for love comes of prayer. (St. Isaac the Syrian, Homilies 63, in The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, p 303) 6. Sometimes during a long-continued prayer only a few minutes are really pleasing to God, only a few moments constitute true prayer and true service to God. The chief thing in prayer is the nearness of the heart to God, as proved by the sweetness of God’s presence in the soul. (Fr. John of Kronstadt, in Moore, “Orthodox Prayer,” p. 3)m

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C AT H O L I C I S M A N D O R T H O D O X Y

East-West Watch

BY PETER ANDERSON

THE INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC-ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE – PART III

A

fter the approval in 2007 of the Ravenna document on synodality and authority, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches (“Commission”) turned to the subject of the role of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium. The Coordinating Committee of the Commission met on Crete in October 2008 and agreed on a text to be submitted to the next plenary of the Commission. However, before the next plenary, which was held in Paphos, Cyprus, in October 2009, the draft Crete document was leaked. Conservatives among the Orthodox were greatly upset by the document, and this created pressure on the Orthodox members of the Commission.

Compared to the harmonious meeting in Ravenna, the plenary in Cyprus was marked by strong criticism from the Orthodox side. It was possible only to review half of the Crete draft at this meeting, and a second meeting of the Commission was held in Vienna in September 2010. Although the atmosphere improved in Vienna, little progress was made in approving the document. At the end of the Vienna plenary, it was decided to put aside the Crete draft and to prepare a new document. Rather than taking the historical approached used in the Crete draft, the new document would focus on the theological and ecclesiological aspects of primacy in its relation to synodality. In November 2012 in Paris, the Coordinating Committee approved a draft of such a document, entitled Primacy and Synodality.

The plenary of the Commission met in Amman, Jordan, in September 2014. It soon became apparent that the new text using the theological approach would not be approved. A possible complicating factor was that nine months earlier the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate had ruled that primacy at the universal level only involves honor. In order to come up with somepage 48

Cardinal Koch during his speech at the plenary of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, September 22, 2016, in Chieti, Italy

thing and not to have a complete failure, a group at the Amman plenary decided to draft on the spot a document that would again take the historical approach, but in a shorter and more limited way than the original Crete draft. Except for a few delegates at the plenary, this third document seemed to have general approval. The plenary therefore decided to refer the third document to the Coordinating Committee for further refinement.

Meeting in Rome in September 2015, the Coordinating Committee, including Metropolitan Hilarion (Moscow Patriarchate), approved the latest draft of the third document. The document, entitled Synodality and Primacy during the First Millennium, was then approved by the plenary of the Commission at its meeting at Chieti, Italy, in September 2016. The approved document was approximately one-half the length of the Crete document and far less detailed. Unlike the Crete document, it did not cause an uproar in the conservative wing of Orthodoxy. There was a sense of accomplishment as the Commission had finally approved a new document after nine years.

The Coordinating Committee is now working on two draft documents. The first document will assess the work of the Commission since its commencement in 1980 and will describe the work that needs to be done in the future. The second document will build on the Chieti document and will focus on synodality and primacy during the second millennium. The Coordinating Committee has already had two meetings to discuss the second document. Unfortunately, the Moscow Patriarchate has boycotted both meetings because of its dispute with the Ecumenical Patriarchate over Ukraine. A third meeting is scheduled for September 2020 in Rethymno, Crete. In ecumenical work, great patience is needed.m

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NEWS from the EAST

ROME CONFERENCE FOR FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF FRANCIS-KIRILL MEETING

On February 12, a conference took place on “Saints – A Sign and Seed of Unity” at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, devoted to the fourth anniversary of the meeting between Pope Francis of Rome and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

The event was presided over by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations (DECR).

Cardinal Kurt Koch welcomed the gathering on behalf of Pope Francis, pointing to the relevance of conferences held annually at the anniversary of the Havana meeting to discuss subjects concerning the most important points of the Declaration signed by the Primates of the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. Thus in 2017, there was a discussion at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland on the general importance of the Havana meeting. In 2018, there was a discussion in Vienna on the situation of Christians in the Middle East, and in 2019 in Moscow on “Death and Dying in a Technological Society: Between Bio-medicine and Spirituality.” Cardinal Koch pointed to the relevance of the subject chosen for this year and stressed that the phenomenon of holiness and the example of saints is the foundation for building Church unity.

Then Metropolitan Hilarion greeted the participants and guests of the conference. In his address, he emphasized, “The first meeting of the Primates of the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church to be held in history defined the prospect for developing bilateral relations for many years ahead. Due to the fundamental significance of the Havana meeting, it was agreed to mark this event annually by a joint conference on one of the

BY BECKY DERKS

pressing topics mentioned in the Joint Declaration which was signed to sum up the negotiations between the Pope and the Patriarch.”

His Eminence recalled the history of such conferences and said, “This year, our meeting is held in Rome, a city in which the relics of the holy first hierarchal apostles Peter and Paul and of many other apostles, martyrs and people of God rest, where great Christian shrines abide attracting thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. The place of the conference has defined its theme: ‘Saints – Sign and Seed of Unity.’ The theme of holiness and saints occupies an important place in the Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill.”

“Significant is also the reference made in the Joint Declaration to the rebirth of Christianity in Russia and other Eastern European countries,” His Eminence continued. “In the terrible years of theomachy, thousands of Orthodox people followed Christ’s path to the Cross, and in our days they are ranked among the saints as new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church. At the same time, the faithful of other Churches also took the path of suffering, in particular those of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Metropolitan Hilarion reminded the conference that in May-July 2017, an unprecedented event happened in the life of the two Churches — the bringing in of a part of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to Moscow and St. Petersburg from Bari. “The relics of the man of God brought from Myra in Lycia to Bari in 1087 have never left the basilica, in which they rest, in the past 930 years.

Thanks to the agreement reached between the Pope and the Patriarch, it became possible to bring a part of the relics of St. Nicholas to Russia,” he stressed.

After the conference, Metropolitan Hilarion’s film St. Peter was premiered with Italian translation at the university’s assembly hall. (mospat.ru)

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C AT H O L I C I S M A N D O R T H O D O X Y

MONTENEGRO’S PM SETS UP NEGOTIATING TEAM, INVITES ORTHODOX CHURCH TO START TALKS ON NEW LAW

Patriarch Irenaeus of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Metropolitan Rostislav of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

The Orthodox Churches of Poland and Romania Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic were represented by a delegation. has formed a negotiating team and invited the SerThe Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I refused bian and Orthodox Church to launch talks on Monto attend the gathering, which prompted the primates tenegro’s controversial Church law, the government of Alexandria, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Georgia, said in a statement on March 5.

Bulgaria and Antioch to also boycott the meeting.

At the end of December the parliament in Podgor“The purpose of the gathering was to renew diaica adopted the Church law that, according to its critlogue and promote unity between brothers within the ics, may strip the Serbian Orthodox Church of Orthodox Communion,” said a February 26 press rehundreds of religious sites in Montenegro, including lease issued by the Jerusalem Pamedieval monasteries and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill takes part in the meeting of triarchate. churches.

Primates and delegations of Local Orthodox Churches It said the meeting was held Following the law’s adoption, in Amman, February 26, 2020 “with the primary view of unity tensions have escalated in Serbia and reconciliation within Holy and Montenegro and in midOrthodoxy” in light of “the imFebruary Markovic met the Serminent danger of schism within bian Orthodox Church’s top our Orthodox Communion.” bishop in the country, Metropol(La Croix) itan Amfilohije, to discuss disagreements.

ONLY 10% OF RUSSIANS INTEND After Amfilohije submitted a TO KEEP LENTEN FAST, list of proposed amendments to ACCORDING TO NEW SURVEY the law to Markovic, they agreed One out of every 10 Russians intends to observe to a comprehensive review of the law. the Lenten fast this year, according to the results of Montenegro seceded peacefully from its loose a new survey conducted by the All-Russian Center union with Serbia in 2006 following a referendum. for Public Opinion Research.

Two-thirds of its population of around 620,000 is OrThe absolute majority of Russians—94%—have thodox Christian and the main church is the Serbian heard about Lent, though only 30% know that it beOrthodox Church. gins after Maslenitsa (Cheesefare).

A separate Montenegrin Orthodox Church was set 10% of respondents in the survey said they will up in 1993 but has not been recognized by other Orcertainly be keeping the Lenten fast, up from only thodox Christian communities to date. The local 2% who strove to keep the entire fast in 2017, branch of the Serbian Orthodox Church controls while 69% said they would not, and 20% were unmost holy sites, some of which are popular among decided. tourists and bring in significant revenue.

More than half of the respondents (55%) have (IntelliNews) heard something about Lent and generally know about the rules and restrictions associated with it, ORTHODOXY: A CALL FOR DIALOGUE ON THE while 43% do not.

UKRAINIAN CRISIS The survey was conducted on February 21 with A summit of Orthodox primates, including the Pathe participation of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over. triarch of Moscow, has failed to make significant (OrthoChristian) progress in resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

The February 26 gathering in Amman, Jordan was CORONAVIRUS SPARKS HOLY COMMUNION called by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilus III. ROW IN GREECE But, as expected, it turned out to be nothing more A row has erupted between doctors and the influthan a “fraternal meeting,” illustrating the impasse in ential Church of Greece over whether to restrict Holy which the Orthodox world finds itself today after the Communion in churches amid a rising number of Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople officially coronavirus cases. recognized the independent Orthodox Church in The federation of hospital doctors this week Ukraine. In the end, only three primates responded stressed that no exception “for religious, sacramental to Theophilus’ invitation: Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, page 50

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icon of Christ Pantocrator is perhaps the single most or metaphysical reasons” should be made to state recognizable Orthodox icon in the world. health warnings to please the Church.

Now that icon of Christ, along with more than The state public health organization EODY on 1,000 other sacred images, has been made available March 7 announced 21 new confirmed cases, raising online by Princeton University, reports Aleteia. the nationwide total to 66.

Many of the treasures archived at the Icons of Sinai Most of the cases come from a single group of project of the Princeton University Department of Art Holy Land pilgrims that traveled to Israel and Egypt and Archaeology pre-date the 8th and 9th-century pelast month. riods of Iconoclasm when many ancient icons were But in the run-up to Orthodox Easter in April that destroyed. traditionally sees a high turnout of faithful, the The monastery’s website says of its icon collecChurch is holding its ground. tion: “Whoever believes that Holy Communion is life Of all the Byzantine icons that survive in the has nothing to fear, it’s a matter of faith,” Bishop world, over half of them are at Saint Catherine’s Chrysostomos of Patras told Open TV. “Across the Monastery. This is due to the dry centuries, there is no case of and stable climate, to the uninsickness spreading through Holy terrupted history of the monCommunion.” astery over the course of 17 Leftist Syriza party leader centuries, and to the vigilant and former PM Alexis Tsipras care and devotion of the monks has called the failure to issue of Sinai. The most notable are church warnings “anti-scientific, panel icons from the 6th and 7th anachronistic and a threat to centuries executed in the enpublic health.” caustic technique, where wax is In a statement this week, The ancient St. Catherine’s Monastery used as the medium for the pigthe governing Holy Synod of at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Egypt ments. the Orthodox Church of The pre-iconoclastic icons at Sinai survived beGreece encouraged sick worshippers to “temcause Sinai was already at that time under the rule of porarily stay away from mass gatherings and the Muslims, and thus out of reach of the Iconoclast avoid kisses and embraces.”

Emperors. Some scholars have speculated that icons It also urged the faithful “to intensify prayer to Jewere sent to Sinai for their safekeeping during this sus Christ.” period.

In Romania, the Orthodox Church has allowed In the late 1950s, the monks of St. Catherine’s beworshippers to bring their own spoon to Communion gan to clean and restore their collection, and a team and to kiss icons in their own homes. (Straits Times) of professors from Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Alexandria ST. CATHERINE’S MONASTERY ON MT. SINAI’S began to make trips to the ancient monastery to HISTORIC ICON COLLECTION NOW photograph the icons.

AVAILABLE ONLINE The website currently presents 1,294 The ancient St. Catherine’s Monastery at icons, with the addition of new images ongothe foot of Mt. Sinai is home to one of the ing. (OrthoChristian)m world’s most famous icon collections, and its The Christian Churches, the communities of the disciples of Christ, were intended to be united as one; Pope John Paul II proclaimed, “The Church must breathe with Her two lungs!” Unfortunately, the Churches are not united. This is a great scandal, an impediment to the witness of the Church. Since unity was desired by Christ Himself, we must work to end this disunity and accomplish the will of the Lord.

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LATIN

THE ETERNAL CITY IN A SEASON OF PLAGUE

n BY JOHN BYRON KUHNER

The Tiber Island got its temple of Asclepius in 293 B.C. and still has a hospital 2,300 years later.

The Church of San Rocco, with a hospital attached, right by the Mausoleum of Augustus.

On the right side of its facade is the inscription discussed in this essay Bottom, St. Roch in a painting by Bernardo Strozzi

I

think the defining characteristic of these past few months, when coronavirus debuted on the world stage, has been uncertainty. We’ve heard people talking about it as a dire global disaster, while others are saying it’s trivial and we should just proceed with business as usual. We don’t have any personal experience of the disease, so we can’t really evaluate these claims very well. Until we have experience, we are left with uncertainty.

We are not the first generation to experience this. Latin has a word for a highly infectious, rapidly spreading, potentially fatal disease of uncertain nature. In fact, it has three: lues, pestis and pestilentia.

They are all roughly synonymous, and are all translated into English as “plague.”

“Plague” itself comes from a Latin word, plaga, which means a “blow,” a stroke which causes injury. Hence the 10 “plagues” which precede the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt are not all diseases – in fact only two are – but rather ten “smacks,” as it were, from the hand of God. The word “plague” hence originally carries with it the idea of intentional, cosmic retribution, whereas the Latin words for plague merely suggests sudden infectious disease.

We like certainty, and so when we think of “plague” nowadays, we think of a specific disease: the “Black Death” caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and transmitted by fleas, which killed perhaps as much as a third of the population of Europe in the mid-14th 52

INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

century, including St. Roch of Montpellier, who became the patron saint of its sufferers. But the Latin word pestis is much broader than that. The “Antonine Plague” which struck the Roman Empire at the time of Marcus Aurelius is thought to have been measles; the “Plague of St. Cyprian” 70 years later may have been smallpox. Coronavirus, which has already infected more than 10,000 people in Italy and killed 600 of them, would fit under the Latin term pestis.

Rome is a marvelous place, and its very buildings hold the memories we all forget.

None of us have any experience of a highly infectious, rapidly spreading, potentially fatal disease of uncertain nature. These things don’t happen very often. But memories of them are scattered all over Rome.

The Tiber Island got its temple of Asclepius – and its boat-shape – in 293 B.C., when a plague motivated the Romans to bring over the cult of the Greek healing-god Asclepius. The island still has a hospital on it 2,300 years later. Apollo was considered the god of plague, cutting down people with his arrows, and it was long believed that the Vatican’s celebrated Apollo Belvedere, one of the most beautiful statues in Rome, was commissioned to ward off a plague in Athens in the fifth century. The statue is later than that date, but any statue of Apollo you see in Rome may well have seen incense and prayers in time of plague.

Castel Sant’Angelo, the papal fortress, is named for a vision of St. Gregory the Great during a plague: he

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saw the angel of God sheathing his sword, which marked the end of the outbreak. Less than a century later, St. Sebastian, of the beautiful body and many arrows (much like Apollo), was called on to defend the city from plague. His relics were brought to San Pietro in Vincoli during the Plague of 680, at which time a mosaic of St. Sebastian as an old man – a most unusual depiction – was attached to the wall in the church, where it still remains. I like to think of St. Sebastian in this manifestation as being the saint who can help you live to a ripe old age.

After the Black Death St. Roch became the saint of choice when it came to plague, and San Rocco received his own church with a hospital attached, right by the Mausoleum of Augustus. Its facade, which I walked by often when living in the area, seemed outdated until very recently, but it seems fresh and relevant again:

NEWLY DISCOVERED WRITINGS FROM

JOHN PAUL II

NE DIRA ATTINGAT MORTALIA CORPORA PESTIS SORDIDA NE FOEDENT IMMORTALES ANIMOS CRIMINA PRECIBUS AGE TUIS INCLITE ROCHE

“Glorious Roch [the last two words], so dire plague may not touch our mortal bodies, and so crimes may not soil our immortal souls, act [age] on our behalf with your prayers.” This is fabulous ecclesiastical Latin, every bit as good as Cicero – the adjective dira goes with pestis two lines down, the mortal bodies balanced by immortal souls, etc. – and it balances nicely our desires for worldly goods like health with more spiritual concerns.

One summer, during Paideia’s Living Latin in Rome program, we visited Augustus’ Ara Pacis, which now stands right next to San Rocco. The students sang Horace’s Carmen Saeculare, a hymn to the gods of Rome commissioned by Augustus as part of the same effort at social restoration that inspired the Ara Pacis. It specifically asks that Apollo keep his plague-arrow buried – telo condito in the Latin – and that the gods give “upright morals” (probos mores) to the Roman people. The correspondence with the inscription on San Rocco, which we had just read, could not have been clearer. This is Rome, this continuity through the ages, this memory of things we have never even experienced. It gives me faith and hope that we will make it through this, as generations have before us. It’s an antidote to all the anxiety of uncertainty.m

Teachings for an Unbelieving World is a newly discovered work written by St. John Paul II— then Archbishop Karol Wojtyła of Kraków— in the years just after Vatican II. He uses St. Paul’s sermon to the people of Athens in Acts 17 as a framework for articulating the faith in a culture of skepticism and unbelief.

These thirteen brief homilies provide compelling teaching for Catholics in today’s post-Christian world and give fresh insight into JPII’s pontificate. This is the first Englishlanguage publication of this important work.

160 pages, $20.00 (Hardcover)

“This book is one of the great hidden treasures unearthed in our time.”

—From the introduction by Scott Hahn Founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

Look for this title wherever books and eBooks are sold.

Visit avemariapress.com for more information.

APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

53

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Of Books, Art and People

RAPHAEL SUPERSTAR n BY LUCY GORDAN

W

ith over 70,000 advance ticket sales from all over the world and, as of this writing (in late February) no cancelations in spite of coronavirus, the megashow three years in the planning “Raffaello 1520-1483” was opened on March 3 by Sergio Mattarella, the president of Italy. To celebrate the 500th death anniversary of the “divin pictor” or “dio mortale” (“mortal God”) as his contemporary artist-biographer Giorgio Vasari called Raphael, it’s on in the Quirinal’s Scuderie until June 2. [Note: The government announced in early March the closing of the show until April 3 due to the virus.]

On display are 240 works-of-art; 120 of them (including the Tapestry of The Sacrifice of Lystra based on his cartoons and his letter to Medici-born Pope Leo X, reign 1513-21, about the importance of preserving Rome’s antiquities) are by Raphael himself. Twenty-seven of these are paintings, the rest mostly drawings.

Never before have so many works by Raphael been displayed in a single exhibition. They are on loan from 55 different private collections and museums: The Louvre, London’s National Gallery and Royal Collection HM Elizabeth II, Washington D.C.’s National Gallery, The Metropolitan, Florence’s Palazzo Pitti, Rome’s Palazzo Barberini and Villa Borghese, to name just a few. Several are returning to Rome for the first time since their creation there.

The most generous lender is the Uffizi in Florence with 49 works, mostly drawings. “Only 10 of the Museum’s 21 Raphael canvases, since 2018 on display in ‘a room of their own’ with works by Michelangelo and Leonardo, have been loaned, but visitors who’ve seen ‘Raffaello’ will receive a 33% discount on the entrance fee to the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti and vice versa,” German art historian Eike Schmidt, Director of the Uffizi since 2015, announced at a late February press conference at the Ministry of Culture.

54 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

On this page, Raphael’s self-portrait; Madonna del Granduca; and Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals

One Uffizi loan is Raphael’s realistic Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals (c. 1517). Commissioned by the Pope himself and painted in Rome, it was a wedding present for his nephew Lorenzo, the Duke of Urbino, who fathered Catherine who became Queen of France, and so ended up in the Uffizi. The cardinal on the left is the Pope’s nephew, Giuliano de’ Medici (future Pope Clement VII); the other is Cardinal Luigi de’ Rossi, a maternal cousin. It was especially restored for “Raffaello” at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence.

The other Uffizi paintings by Raphael are his San Giovanni Battista, La Velata, perhaps a portrait of Raphael’s great love Margherita Luti; a portrait of Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena (1470-1520), a patron of Raphael, a close advisor to Pope Leo X and the uncle of Raphael’s official but not beloved fiancée; Ezekiel’s Vision, Madonna del Granduca and Madonna dell’Impannata, a portrait of wall-eyed Tommaso Inghirami, Prefect of the Vatican Library, A Young Man with an Apple, and one of his two self-portraits here, which is the logo of the exhibition.

Raphael is best-known for his Madonnas: three, all painted in Rome, are returning for the first time: Washington’s d’Alba (c. 1510), Capodimonte’s (Naples) of Divine Love (c. 1516), and the Prado’s of the Rose (151820). He is also famous for his realistic portraits. The most famous is on loan from Rome’s Palazzo Barberini and depicts, according to Vasari although with no evidence, his beloved mistress, Margherita Luti, known as La Fornarina because her father was a baker.

However, “Raffaello 1520-1483” concentrates on the artist’s love of antiquity and of Rome, to which he owes his fame, thanks to his patrons Pope Julius II, Pope Leo X, and their banker Agostino Chigi.

These inverted dates are intentional — a flashback of sorts. At the time of his death at only age 37 on Good Friday, Raphael, at the height of his fame, was already a cult figure in Rome. He was venerated and it was commonly believed that

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altars and stela because in 1514 Pope Leo X had put his death on Good Friday was not a coincidence, but the Raphael in charge of collecting ancient artifacts in the will of God. During the eight days of his high fever, he’d hopes of rebuilding a modern Rome as glorious as Imperequested to be buried in the Pantheon, the temple to all rial Rome. the ancient gods before becoming the Christian church Also here are Raphael’s drawings of ancient sculpSanta Maria dei Martiri. It was the ancient monument he tures and monuments, in particular the Pantheon, his loved most. Hence the exhibition begins with two paintcompass and topical surveys of the ancient fora by ings of his tragic premature death: Raphael’s the architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger Funeral by Piero Vanni (1845-1905) and (1484-1546).

Homage Paid to Raphael on his Generally speaking, the 10 rooms of Deathbed by Pierre-Nolasque Berg“Raffaello 1520-1483” follow a retroeret (1782-1863). spective chronological order. The Next comes a reproduction of highlights in Rooms 4 and 5 are his his tomb with a reproduction of religious works; Room 6 his porthe Madonna del Sasso by his traits; Room 7 his architectural trusted collaborator Lorenzetto, drawings, especially those for St. who used an ancient Roman Peter’s Basilica; and Rooms 8-10 sculpture of Venus as his model, his pre-Rome works. The earliest of and Raphael’s epitaph, written by these, an ink drawing of a hand holdhis friend Pietro Bembo (1470ing a pen and a face of a young boy, 1547), a Venetian scholar and hudates to 1497-9. manist, who met Raphael at the court Rome is the perfect location for a megaof Urbino. The Latin text reads: “Here show about Raphael because, as I wrote in my lies the great Raphael, by whom Nature January article “Raphael and His Friends feared to be conquered while he lived, The Alba Madonna and and, when he was dying, feared herself to Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione from Urbino,” many of his greatest works are frescoes and thus not transportable, not die.” to mention the ancient ruins that he so loved.

The centerpiece of Room Two — not to mention the Therefore after visits to “Raffaello 1520-1483,” his exhibition’s raison d’être — is Raphael’s letter written frescoed rooms, paintings, and Loggia in the Vatican with the help of courtier, diplomat, soldier, and author of Museums and St. Peter’s, wander in the various fora and The Book of the Courtier, Baldassare Castiglione (1478Nero’s Golden House on the Oppian Hill; pay him 1529), in 1519 to Pope Leo X. Although it may never homage at his grave in the Pantheon; admire his archihave been sent, the two close friends begin by emphasiztecture and mosaics in the Chigi funerary Chapel of Saning the importance of preserving the glory of ancient ta Maria del Popolo and in the Church of Sant’Eligio Rome so that contemporary Rome could once again be degli Orefici; and his Sybil fresco in a chapel of the the center of the world and of culture. church Santa Maria della Pace and his Prophet Isaiah A second section includes a summary of the history of in the Basilica of Sant’Agostino, both near Piazza architecture and building techniques, and the third and Navona; and especially his many freslast a technical survey of the ancient coes in Agostino Chigi’s Villa Farnesina monuments under study. in Trastevere.

Hence the rest of the exhibition traces To learn more about this genius who the direct influence of ancient Roman art never married, his loves, and his life in on Raphael’s creations. Clearly some of Rome, read Vasari’s biography and the the ancient sculptures on display inspired historical novel, The Ruby Ring by Diane the figures in his paintings, like the head Haeger. of Isis and Santa Cecilia or Antinuous After this full-immersion experience, and Jonah. one can’t help but wonder what this arOn display in Rooms 2 and 3 are porchitect, drauftsman, painter, poet, and traits of the Letter’s three protagonists by archeologist, who died of mysterious Raphael: Leo X, Castiglione and his selfcauses, most likely exhaustion, might portrait with a friend, the latter two on have accomplished had he lived Leonarloan from the Louvre. Also on display do’s 67 or Michelangelo’s 89 years.m here are many recently-excavated ancient APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 55

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THE END EXCERPTS FROM LORD OF THE WORLD

“He had promised to say nothing...”

OVER A CENTURY AGO, THE PRIEST AND WRITER ROBERT HUGH BENSON FORESAW THE TREMENDOUS RISE OF SECULAR HUMANISM… AND THE CONTRACTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

n BY ITV STAFF

Editor’s Note: The passage below is from the novel Lord of the World, written by the English Catholic convert Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson (the son of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1907. He attempts a vision of the world more than a century in the future — in the early 21st century… our own time… predicting the

LORD OF THE WORLD

BY ROBERT HUGH BENSON (1907) Chapter IV, Part I (continued) “Well, sir, let me tell you this first. This old lady’s son is my employer, and a very prominent Communist. She lives with him and his wife. The other two will be away to-night. That is why I am asking you all this. And now, you will come, sir?”

Percy looked at him steadily for a moment or two. Certainly, if this was a conspiracy, the conspirators were feeble folk. Then he answered: “I will come, sir; I promise. Now the name.”

The stranger again licked his lips nervously, and glanced timidly from side to side. Then he seemed to gather his resolution; he leaned forward and whispered sharply.

“The old lady’s name is Brand, sir—the mother of Mr. Oliver Brand.”

For a moment Percy was bewildered. It was too extraordinary to be true. He knew Mr. Oliver Brand’s name only too well; it was he who, by God’s permission, was doing more in England at this moment against the Catholic cause than any other man alive; and it was he whom the Trafalgar Square incident had raised into such eminent popularity. And now, here was his mother—He turned fiercely upon the man.

“I do not know what you are, sir—whether you believe in God or not; but will you swear to me on your religion and your honour that all this is true?”

The timid eyes met his, and wavered; but it was the wavering of weakness, not of treachery.

“I—I swear it, sir; by God Almighty.”

“Are you a Catholic?”

The man shook his head.

“But I believe in God,” he said. “At least, I think so.”

Percy leaned back, trying to realise exactly what it all meant.

There was no triumph in his mind—that kind of emotion was not his weakness; there was fear of a kind, excitement, bewilderment, and under all a satisfaction that God’s grace was so sovereign. If it could reach this woman, who could be too far removed for it to take 56

INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

rise of Communism, the fall of faith in many places, the advance of technology (he foresees helicopters) and so forth, up until... the Second Coming of the Lord, with which his vision ends. For this reason, and also because Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have repeatedly cited Benson’s book, saying its clarification of the danger of a type of humanitarianism without God is a true danger that we do face, we are printing selections from it in ITV, now and in the months ahead.

effect? Presently he noticed the other looking at him anxiously.

“You are afraid, sir? You are not going back from your promise?”

That dispersed the cloud a little, and Percy smiled.

“Oh! no,” he said. “I will be there at twenty-two o’clock. … Is death imminent?”

“No, sir; it is syncope. She is recovered a little this morning.”

The priest passed his hand over his eyes and stood up.

“Well, I will be there,” he said. “Shall you be there, sir?”

The other shook his head, standing up too.

“I must be with Mr. Brand, sir; there is to be a meeting to-night; but I must not speak of that…. No, sir; ask for Mrs. Brand, and say that she is expecting you. They will take you upstairs at once.”

“I must not say I am a priest, I suppose?”

“No, sir; if you please.”

He drew out a pocket-book, scribbled in it a moment, tore out the sheet, and handed it to the priest.

“The address, sir. Will you kindly destroy that when you have copied it? I—I do not wish to lose my place, sir, if it can be helped.”

Percy stood twisting the paper in his fingers a moment.

“Why are you not a Catholic yourself?” he asked.

The man shook his head mutely. Then he took up his hat, and went towards the door. ***** Percy passed a very emotional afternoon.

For the last month or two little had happened to encourage him.

He had been obliged to report half-a-dozen more significant secessions, and hardly a conversion of any kind. There was no doubt at all that the tide was setting steadily against the Church. The mad act in Trafalgar Square, too, had done incalculable harm last week: men were saying more than ever, and the papers storming, that the Church’s reliance on the supernatural was belied by every one of her public acts. “Scratch a Catholic and find an assassin” had been the text of a leading article in the New People, and Percy himself was dismayed at the folly of the attempt. It was true that the Archbishop had formally repudiated both the act and the motive from the Cathedral pulpit, but that too had only served as an opportunity

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God as seen by William Blake as the Architect of the world, in Ancient of Days, held in the British Museum, London

hastily taken up by the principal papers, to recall the continual policy of the Church to avail herself of violence while she repudiated the violent. The horrible death of the man had in no way appeased popular indignation; there were not even wanting suggestions that the man had been seen coming out of Archbishop’s House an hour before the attempt at assassination had taken place.

And now here, with dramatic swiftness, had come a message that the hero’s own mother desired reconciliation with the Church that had attempted to murder her son. ***** Again and again that afternoon, as Percy sped northwards on his visit to a priest in Worcester, and southwards once more as the lights began to shine towards evening, he wondered whether this were not a plot after all—some kind of retaliation, an attempt to trap him. Yet he had promised to say nothing, and to go.

He finished his daily letter after dinner as usual, with a curious sense of fatality; addressed and stamped it. Then he went downstairs, in his walking-dress, to Father Blackmore’s room.

“Will you hear my confession, Father?” he said abruptly.

Chapter IV, Part II Victoria Station, still named after the great nineteenth-century Queen, was neither more nor less busy than usual as he came into it half-an-hour later. The vast platform, sunk now nearly two hundred feet below the ground level, showed the double crowd of passengers entering and leaving town. Those on the extreme left, towards whom Percy began to descend in the open glazed lift, were by far the most numerous, and the stream at the lift-entrance made it necessary for him to move slowly.

He arrived at last, walking in the soft light on the noiseless ribbed rubber, and stood by the door of the long car that ran straight through to the Junction. It was the last of a series of a dozen or more, each of which slid off minute by minute. Then, still watching the endless movement of the lifts ascending and descending between the entrances of the upper end of the station, he stepped in and sat down.

He felt quiet now that he had actually started. He had made his confession, just in order to make certain of his own soul, though scarcely expecting any definite danger, and sat now, his grey suit and straw hat in no way distinguishing him as a priest (for a general leave was given by the authorities to dress so for any adequate reason). Since the case was not imminent, he had not brought stocks or pyx—Father Dolan had wired to him that he might fetch them if he wished from St. Joseph’s, near the Junction. He had only the violet thread in his pocket, such as was customary for sick calls.

He was sliding along peaceably enough, fixing his eyes on the empty seat opposite, and trying to preserve complete collectedness when the car abruptly stopped. He looked out, astonished, and saw by the white enamelled walks twenty feet from the window that they were already in the tunnel. The stoppage might arise from many causes, and he was not greatly excited, nor did it seem that

others in the carriage took it very seriously; he could hear, after a moment’s silence, the talking recommence beyond the partition.

Then there came, echoed by the walls, the sound of shouting from far away, mingled with hoots and chords; it grew louder. The talking in the carriage stopped. He heard a window thrown up, and the next instant a car tore past, going back to the station although on the down line. This must be looked into, thought Percy: something certainly was happening; so he got up and went across the empty compartment to the further window. Again came the crying of voices, again the signals, and once more a car whirled past, followed almost immediately by another. There was a jerk—a smooth movement. Percy staggered and fell into a seat, as the carriage in which he was seated itself began to move backwards.

There was a clamour now in the next compartment, and Percy made his way there through the door, only to find half-a-dozen men with their heads thrust from the windows, who paid absolutely no attention to his inquiries. So he stood there, aware that they knew no more than himself, waiting for an explanation from some one.

It was disgraceful, he told himself, that any misadventure should so disorganise the line.

Twice the car stopped; each time it moved on again after a hoot or two, and at last drew up at the platform whence it had started, although a hundred yards further out. Ah! there was no doubt that something had happened! The instant he opened the door a great roar met his ears, and as he sprang on to the platform and looked up at the end of the station, he began to understand. ***** From right to left of the huge interior, across the platforms, swelling every instant, surged an enormous swaying, roaring crowd. The flight of steps, twenty yards broad, used only in cases of emergency, resembled a gigantic black cataract nearly two hundred feet in height. Each car as it drew up discharged more and more men and women, who ran like ants towards the assembly of their fellows. The noise was indescribable, the shouting of men, the screaming of women, the clang and hoot of the huge machines, and three or four times the brazen cry of a trumpet, as an emergency door was flung open overhead, and a small swirl of crowd poured through it towards the streets beyond. But after one look Percy looked no more at the people; for there, high up beneath the clock, on the Government signal board, flared out monstrous letters of fire, telling in Esperanto and English, the message for which England had grown sick. He read it a dozen times before he moved, staring, as at a supernatural sight which might denote the triumph of either heaven or hell.

“EASTERN CONVENTION DISPERSED. PEACE, NOT WAR. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ESTABLISHED. FELSENBURGH IN LONDON TO-NIGHT.” ***** (To be continued)m

APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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FEBRUARY

VATICAN WATCH

By Becky Derks with CNA Reports - Grzegorz Galazka and CNA photos

SATURDAY 15

POPE FRANCIS SPEAKS ABOUT FINANCIAL REFORMS TO VATICAN TRIBUNAL

As the Holy See awaits the results of a scheduled financial inspection, Pope Francis spoke about ongoing financial reform and investigations at the opening of the judicial year of the Vatican City State’s court, which he attended for the first time.

He said February 15 the Holy See is trying to conform to international law and has put in place processes to combat “illegality in the international finance sector.” To do this, the Vatican has put in place internal surveillance and intervention systems, which “have recently brought to light suspicious financial situations,” he stated.

THURSDAY 20

POPE FRANCIS URGES CATHOLIC EDUCATORS TO TEACH INCLUSIVE INTEGRAL ECOLOGY

Pope Francis called for an educational revolution telling the Congregation for Catholic Education that more effort needs to be made to accelerate the inclusiveness of education.

Ecology and fraternity are an integral part of education, Pope Francis told the Catholic education leaders ahead of the Pope’s Global Compact on Education scheduled to take place May 14.

“The educational pact must not be a simple order, it must not be a rehash of the positivisms we have received from an Enlightenment education. It must be revolutionary,” Pope Francis said February 20. The Pope said that the purpose of an “education that focuses on the person in his integral reality” is “above all” oriented “to the discovery of fraternity that produces the multicultural composition of humanity.”

WEDNESDAY 26

PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE, TECH COMPANIES, CALL FOR ETHICAL USE OF AI TECHNOLOGY

The Pontifical Academy for Life signed, alongside presidents of IBM and Microsoft, a call for ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence technologies.

According to the document, “the sponsors of the call express their desire to work together, in this context and at a national and international level, to promote ‘algor-ethics.’”

58 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

“Algor-ethics,” according to the text, is the ethical use of artificial intelligence according to the principles of “transparency, inclusion, responsibility, impartiality, reliability, security, and privacy.”

The signing of the Rome Call for AI Ethics took place as part of the 2020 assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which was held February 26-28 on the theme of artificial intelligence.

MARCH SUNDAY 1

POPE FRANCIS’ “ECONOMY OF FRANCESCO” IN ASSISI IS POSTPONED

Pope Francis’ “Economy of Francesco” conference in Assisi is postponed until November 21 due to concerns about the coronavirus in Europe and worldwide.

This was announced by organizers on March 1, 2020, in a statement, which follows press conferences that were scheduled but postponed regarding the event at the headquarters of Rome’s Stampa Estera.

“The organizing committee of the ‘Economy of Francesco,’ the statement began, “informs that detailed information will be given shortly regarding the preparation of the event.”

They clarified that its planning continues “with great commitment and enthusiasm” and “has aroused much interest worldwide, expecting the participation of about 2,000 young people from 115 countries. In order to encourage the best progress of the initiative, given the objective difficulty that so many young people are currently having when traveling internationally and nationally,” the statement said, “the Holy Father, in agreement with the committee, has set November 21, 2020 for the new date of his meeting with young people in Assisi, preceded by the already planned days of study.” (Zenit) TUESDAY 3

POPE FRANCIS ANNOUNCES LAUDATO SI’ WEEK TO TAKE PLACE IN MAY

Pope Francis is calling on Catholics to participate in “Laudato si’ Week” in May to encourage care for our common home.

“I renew my urgent call to respond to the ecological crisis. The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor cannot

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Opposite page, The Rome Call for AI Ethics was signed in Rome during the 2020 assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Below, the Pope plants a tree at the Vatican during the Amazon Synod, which was dedicated to St. Francis

wait anywhere,” Pope Francis said in a video message published March 3.

The video shows young protesters yelling, “Climate justice, now” juxtaposed with images of wildlife in Africa and a beached whale.

Laudato si’ Week, sponsored by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, will take place May 16-24.

The date marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical on integral human ecology.

The Global Catholic Climate Movement and Renova + are facilitating the campaign. The Laudato si’ Week website recommends Catholics participate by engaging elected representatives, conducting an energy audit, or divesting in fossil fuels. It also recommends the option to “represent your commitment with a symbolic gesture,” such as planting a tree or attending a climate strike.

THURSDAY 5

POPE’S MESSAGE TO YOUTH: DON’T LET YOUR CELL PHONE DISTRACT YOU FROM REALITY

Pope Francis is asking youth to wake up from the deadening static of staring at a cell phone to encounter Christ in their neighbor.

“Today, we are often ‘connected’ but not communicating. The indiscriminate use of electronic devices can keep us constantly glued to the screen,” Pope Francis said in his message to young people published March 5.

“When I look at things, do I look carefully, or is it more like when I quickly scroll through the thousands of photos or social profiles on my cell phone?” Francis asked. The Pope warned that he sees a “growing digital narcissism” among young people and adults alike.

“How often do we end up being eyewitnesses of events without ever experiencing them in real time!

Sometimes our first reaction is to take a picture with our cell phone, without even bothering to look into the eyes of the persons involved,” Francis said.

PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITIES CLOSE AS CORONAVIRUS DEATHS IN ITALY SURPASS 100

Rome’s pontifical universities temporarily shut down after Italy’s death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 100 people March 4. Italian officials announced March 4 that all schools and universities in the country were closing March 5-15 because of the country’s coronavirus outbreak. Pontifical universities in Rome — Vatican-accredited schools teaching theology, phi-

losophy, and other related disciples — are expected to follow the government directive.

The Pontifical University Santa Croce issued a statement Tuesday, telling students that “following the announcement of the Italian government,” the university will suspend classes until March 15.

The Pontifical University of St. Thomas, the Angelicum, posted on its website March 4 that it will suspend its classes until March 15. The university also cancelled March 9 events which had been scheduled to celebrate the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.

SATURDAY 7

POPE FRANCIS ANNOUNCES A 2022 SYNOD ON SYNODALITY

The next ordinary Synod of Bishops will be a synod on synodality, the Vatican announced March 7.

In October 2022, bishops from around the world will meet in Rome to discuss the theme: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”

The concept of “synodality” has been a topic of frequent discussion by Pope Francis, particularly during the previous ordinary Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment in October 2018.

SUNDAY 8

DIOCESE OF ROME CANCELS ALL PUBLIC MASSES, ANNOUNCES DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER

The Diocese of Rome canceled all public Masses until April 3 in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The announcement by the vicar general of the diocese follows a decree by the Italian government suspending all public religious ceremonies.

“The Church of Rome … assumes an attitude of full responsibility towards the community in the awareness that protection from contagion requires even drastic measures, especially in interpersonal contact. Therefore, until the same date of April 3, the communal liturgical celebrations are suspended,” Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of Rome, said March 8.

“The season of Lent helps us to live this great trial evangelically. I bless you by entrusting you all to Our Lady of Divine Love,” the vicar general said.

Priests living in Rome and Vatican City can continue to celebrate Mass in private. Parishes in Rome will remain open for personal prayer before the tabernacle, the diocese said. n APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 59

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PEOPLE B

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BECKY DERKS with G. Galazka, CNA and CNS photos

n POPE ACCEPTS RESIGNATION OF CARDINAL BARBARIN AS ARCHBISHOP OF LYON

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin as archbishop of Lyon after his recent acquittal at the conclusion of his appeal of a 2019 conviction of failing to report abuse.

January 30 the French cardinal was acquitted of last March’s conviction of failing to report the sexual abuse of a minor by a diocesan priest.

He had received a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Barbarin, 69, had submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Francis after his initial conviction in March 2019, but it was not accepted, pending his appeal.

The Vatican stated at the time that Pope Francis preferred to leave “Cardinal Barbarin free to make the best decision for the diocese.”

Barbarin elected to step back from the governance of the diocese, leaving the day-to-day management to his vicar general, Fr. Yves Baumgarten.

(CNA) n “FREED BECAUSE OF JESUS”— ASIA BIBI SHARES HER STORY

Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Catholic woman who was sentenced to death in 2010 for alleged blasphemy against Islam. After more than eight years in prison, she was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2018.

“I was accused because of the name of Jesus and I knew I would be freed because of Jesus,” Bibi said at a Paris press conference last week.

Bibi said that during her time on death row, her faith “was always strong because I knew that God was with me, God never leaves you alone, he always accompanies you.” Together with French journalist Anne60 INSIDE THE VATICAN APRIL 2020

BONES FOUND IN CHURCH WALL ARE SEVENTH-CENTURY SAINT, SCIENTISTS SAY

Bones discovered in England in the late 19th century are likely those of a 7th-century English saint, scientists announced on March 6. Carbon dating confirmed that human remains discovered hidden in a church wall in 1885 are from the 7th century, and are almost certainly the bones of St. Eanswythe, one of the first English saints.

Dr. Andrew Richardson of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust praised the work of the “locally-based community partnership” that had the bones carbon dated, and called the discovery “a stunning result of national importance.”

If the bones are St. Eanswythe’s, they would be the only known surviving remains of the Kentish royal house, Richardson said.

St. Eanswythe was the granddaughter of King Ethelbert, the first Christian king in England, and the daughter of King Eadbald of Kent.

She was born in approximately 614 AD. (CNA)

Isabelle Tollet, Bibi has written her autobiography, Enfin Libre (“Free at Last”). The English edition is due out in September.

According to UCA News, Tollet campaigned for Bibi’s release and is the only journalist to interview her in Canada, where Bibi was granted refugee status last year.

Bibi has been living with her husband and two daughters in Canada since last May. Her refugee status is due to expire at the end of this year, and she is seeking political asylum in France. (CNA) n FRENCH BISHOP: FEAR THE “EPIDEMIC OF FEAR” MORE THAN CORONAVIRUS

People should be more concerned about the epidemic of fear than the coronavirus outbreak, Bishop Pascal Roland of Belley-Ars, France, has said. “More than the epidemic of coronavirus, we should fear the epidemic of fear! For my part, I refuse to yield to the collective panic and to subject myself to the principle of pre-

caution that seems to be moving the civil institutions,” Bishop Roland wrote in a column at his diocesan website. “So I don’t intend to issue any specific instructions for my diocese.

Are Christians going to stop gathering together for prayer? Will they give up going to see and help their fellow man?

Apart from measures of elementary prudence everyone takes spontaneously to not contaminate others when sick, it’s not advisable to add on more,” he said. (CNA)

n VATICAN INVESTIGATORS TO MEET WITH MEXICAN SEX ABUSE VICTIMS, BISHOPS

The Vatican is sending Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeo to Mexico this month to meet with sex abuse victims and to strengthen the Mexican bishops’ fight against sexual abuse.

“We have tried to fight in a responsible, transparent and clear way against the culture

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of abuse and cover-up that allows it to perpetuate itself. This conviction, which stems from accompanying the victims in their pain, seeking justice and healing, led us to request support from the Holy See through the Apostolic Nunciature,” the Mexican bishops’ conference said in a statement March 2.

Scicluna and Bertomeo were to travel to Mexico March 20-27. This team from the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith previously investigated the Church in Chile’s response to sex abuse allegations in 2018, which eventually led every Chilean bishop to submit his resignation to Pope Francis. (CNA) n CARDINAL RE CLAIMS CARDINAL ZEN IS AT ODDS WITH JOHN PAUL II, BENEDICT XVI ON CHINA

The newly-appointed Dean of the College of Cardinals purportedly sent a letter to cardinals claiming that the China-Vatican deal represents the

minds of St. John Paul II and of Benedict XVI, and that Cardinal Zen is mistaken in his opposition to the deal.

An Italian text of the letter from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dated February 26, was published February 29 by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.

“I desire first of all to emphasize that, in their approach to the situation of the Catholic Church in China, there is a profound symphony of the thought and of the action of the last three Pontificates, which — out of respect for the truth — have favored dialogue between the two parties and not contrariety,” Cardinal Re wrote.

“Cardinal Zen has affirmed several times that it would be better to have no Accord than a ‘bad Accord’.

The three last Popes di not share this position and supported and accompanied the drafting of the Accord that, at the present moment, seemed to be the only one possible,” he stated.

(CNA)

MASS FORMALLY OPENS BEATIFICATION CAUSE OF EILEEN O’CONNOR, LAYWOMAN AND MYSTIC

Archbishop Anthony Fisher, O.P., of Sydney, Australia, celebrated a Mass on February 20 to formally open the cause of beatification of Eileen O’Connor, the foundress of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, who died at a young age.

Born in Melbourne in 1892, Eileen suffered an injury at the age of three that would leave her paralyzed for some years and then confined to a wheelchair in pain for the rest of her life. Together with Fr. Edward McGrath, she founded a ministry to serve the poor in their own homes in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She died at the age of 28, in 1921. “I think the youth of Eileen focuses attention far more on the brief period of her activity,” Fr. Anthony Robbie, a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney and postulator of O’Connor’s cause, told CNA February 20.

“We’re focused much more intently on the particular luminosity of the character that the Servant of God shows under stressful circumstances, perhaps brought on above all by the physical frailties that she suffered during her life. And she’s a hidden soul in many ways, again imposed by her illness.” (CNA)

n SRI LANKAN CARDINAL CALLS FOR FULL INVESTIGATION INTO EASTER BOMBINGS

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, has called for a full investigation into the bombing attacks on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019. Also, he has launched a program to pray for the victims of the attacks. “The people of this country have a right to know the truth about the Easter bomb attacks,” said Ranjith on February 18. “We hope that our political leaders will work to fulfill that obligation.”

The Easter bomb attacks killed 259 people and injured more than 500. Two Catholic churches, one evangelical Christian church, four hotels, and a housing complex were hit by a total of nine suicide bombers.

The suicide bombers, who were all Sri Lankan citizens, belonged to an Islamist group known as the National Thowheeth Jama’ath. They attacked the three churches in the middle of Easter Sunday services. (CNA) n DOMINICANS OPEN HOSPITAL IN PERU TO SERVE THE POOR

A Dominican province in Peru has converted its formation house for aspirants in Lima into a hospital.

The Hospital of the Charity of St. Martin de Porres was blessed at a dedication ceremony January 23.

The hospital is headed by Fr. Luis Enrique Ramírez Camacho and Fr. Rómulo Vásquez Gavidia, the current prior provincial.

Speaking to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Ramírez explained the inspiration for the hospital came from the charitable example of both their founder St. Dominic and St. Martin de Porres.

The Dominicans did not want “just to devote ourselves to academic and intellectual affairs but also to dedicate ourselves to serving those most in need.” (CNA)m APRIL 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 61

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

n BY MOTHER MARTHA

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Stefano Navarrini illustration

TABLES NEAR RAPHAEL

lready an acclaimed artist, at the end of 1508 Raphael (1483-1520) left Florence for Rome, where he lived for the rest of his short life. He was invited to come

by Pope Julius II (reigned 1503-13), probably at the suggestion of the architect Donato Bramante, who was working on St. Peter’s Basilica. Bramante came from just outside Urbino, Raphael’s birthplace, and was distantly related to the “divin pictor” (“divine painter”), the biographer Giorgio Vasari’s nickname for Raphael.

Raphael’s first commission was to paint the frescoes for Julius II’s new papal apartments, known as “The Raphael Rooms” and today part of the Vatican Museums and generally regarded as his greatest masterpieces.

Julius II’s death in 1513 did not interrupt Raphael’s creativity. Quite the contrary, Raphael had an even closer relationship with Julius II’s successor, Pope Leo X (reigned 1513-21). His close friend and patron Cardinal Bernardo da Bibbiena was also a former tutor, close friend, and advisor of the Medici Pope. Cardinal Bibbiena had a niece Maria who fell in love with Raphael.

Although he didn’t reciprocate, Raphael became officially engaged to Maria so as not to lose favor with the cardinal and the Pope. However, he kept on postponing their marriage. Leo X may have promised to make him a cardinal, but his heart, it seems, belonged to Margherita Luti, the daughter of Francesco Luti, a baker (fornaio) from Siena, who lived on Via del Governo Vecchio just across the Tiber from St. Peter’s.

Although no one cites a date, supposedly the lovers first met after Raphael watched her bathing her feet in the Tiber in a garden near his first Roman home in Trastevere. They would meet in a nearby house, maybe hers, now the restaurant Romolo at Via di Settimiana 8, which specializes in delicious Roman dishes with excellent service. House specialties: cacio e pepe, all’amatriciana, carbonara, trippa, coda alla vaccinara, and saltimbocca.

It’s also said, that, when commissioned by the very rich banker Agostino Chigi to decorate his nearby Villa

Farnesina, Raphael couldn’t concentrate on his work until Margherita was allowed to come to live at his side there. She was also one of his models: for his Madonna della Seggiola and his Madonna di Foligno, the kneeling figure in the Vatican Museums’ Transfiguration, the Ecstasy of St. Cecilia, and Galatea. His La Velata and La Fornarina are both her portraits. La Fornarina, identified by Vasari as Raphael’s mistress, wears a blue ribbon on her left arm with the artist’s name. X-rays during restoration in 2012 revealed a ring with a ruby on the third finger of her left hand, which had been painted over by Raphael’s apprentices. Other symbols of the artist’s love for Margherita are the pearls, margarita in Latin, in both canvases. Although generously provided for in his will, on his deathbed Raphael sent Margherita away. At the time there were rumors that they’d been secretly married in spite of her humble origins. A document discovered in 1897 reports that she retired to the Convent of Santa Apollonia in Trastevere four months after Raphael’s death, registered as “widow Margherita.”

Instead, Maria, who died a maiden before Raphael, may be buried with him in the Pantheon. Raphael or his apprentices installed a memorial plaque to her there. All three carried the truth to their graves. Their story has been the subject of numerous artworks: by Ingres, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Turner and Picasso, to name just a few.

For a very special meal overlooking the Pantheon, head to rooftop “Idylio by Apreda” in the 5-star Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel. Only six months after opening last year, Neapolitan Chef Francesco Apreda, formerly executive chef at Imagò, the rooftop restaurant in the deluxe Hassler Hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps, was awarded a Michelin star.

You can order à la carte or choose among three tasting menus: “Inside the Pantheon,” or Rome through Apreda’s eyes (120 euros); “Iconic Signature by Apreda” (140 euros), a journey through Apreda’s experience of gourmet dishes from around the world; or “Seasons at the Pantheon” (160 euros).m

In the paintings, from left: Pope Julius II, Cardinal Bernardo Bibbiena, La Fornarina and La Velata. In the photo, center, Neapolitan Chef Francesco Apreda

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