Inside the Vatican magazine July-August 2021

INSIDE THE

JULY-AUGUST 2021 $5 / EUR 5 / £3.30

VATICAN LITURGY

The Body and Blood of Christ

Bishop Athanasius Schneider: The Mass expresses the agape, the love of the Christian community united in the sacrifice of Christ

Pope rejects Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s resignation request

PRISON JOURNAL The State Rejects the Cardinal’s Appeal “Anyone interested in what radical surrender to Christ looks like should read this luminous text.”

— Bishop Robert Barron, Host, Catholicism film series ◆

“Cardinal Pell is a superb writer and an articulate witness to an inexcusable abuse of law, but also to the triumph of God’s grace. His journal is a marvel.”

— Most Reverend Charles Chaput Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia ◆

“Like Thomas More and John Fisher, Cardinal Pell took his stand on the truth, confident that the truth is liberating in the deepest meaning of human freedom.

This journal illustrates that liberation in a luminous way.”

— George Weigel, from the Introduction

Innocent!

That final verdict from the Australian High Court came after George Cardinal Pell endured a grueling eight years of accusations, investigations, trials, public humiliations, and more than a year of imprisonment after being convicted of a crime he did not commit.

Led off to jail following his 2019 sentencing, the 78-year-old prelate began what was to be six years in jail for "historical sexual assault offenses”. Cardinal Pell endured more than thirteen months in solitary confinement, before the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn his original convictions. His victory over injustice was not just personal, but one for the entire Catholic Church.

Bearing no ill will toward his accusers, judges, prison workers, journalists, and those expressing hatred for him, he used his time in prison as a kind of "extended retreat". He eloquently filled notebook pages with his spiritual insights, prison experiences, and personal reflections on current events both inside and outside the Church, as well as moving prayers.

In this second volume, Cardinal Pell receives the terrible news that his first appeal is rejected. With the same grace, wisdom, and calm perseverance we see on display in Volume 1, he continues his quest for justice by appealing to the Australian High Court. Glimmers of hope emerge as more legal experts, including non-Catholics, join the chorus of those demanding that this miscarriage of justice be reversed. ◆ PRISON JOURNAL - Volume 2 The State Rejects the Cardinal’s Appeal PJ2P . . . 348 pages, Sewn Softcover, $19.95

◆ PRISON JOURNAL - Volume 1 The Cardinal Makes His Appeal PJ1P. . . 350 pages, Sewn Softcover, $19.95

www.ignatius.com P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, CO 80522

(800) 651-1531

EDITORIAL

by Robert Moynihan

An Appeal to Pope Francis The specific role and mission of the Bishop of Rome is to confirm the bishops of the world in the faith handed down from the beginning, expressed in the Creed. An appeal to Pope Francis to confirm his brother bishops

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against ... the spiritual forces of evil.” —St. Paul, Ephesians, 6:12 As the summer of 2021 proceeds toward the autumn, a number of disputes and divisions in the Church seem to be threatening both the truths of the Gospel — our doctrine, our faith — and the unity of our Roman Catholic Church — our mystical communion in space and time with all Christ’s followers down through the ages, which is so critical to preserve. For we are and must always remain... one Church.

Yet in Germany, many priests and even bishops are openly defying the Vatican’s own clarification on the question of blessing homosexual couples. The Vatican said in March that it was not in the power of the Church to bless such relationships, though the Church always blesses everyone who comes to her seeking to draw into closer union with Christ. The Church also blesses friendships and close collaborations. But the Church cannot bless sexual relations except between men and women who are married. Evidently many no longer believe this is the Gospel truth. So a division is looming between Rome and Germany.

In the United States, more division: many priests conservative in doctrine have liberal bishops who place restrictions on their pastoral work, or move them to isolated parishes where they will be in obscurity. These priests are now beginning to band together, to the point of defying the authority of their own bishops.

Meanwhile, the US bishops as a whole have become divided over the question of the moral requirements for receiving the Eucharist. In a vote in mid-June, the bishops voted 168-55, with six abstentions, to draft a document on “the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.” Many in the majority group believe Catholic politicians who openly, publicly, support laws legalizing abortion — the taking of innocent human life — must not approach the altar to receive the Eucharist, because supporting abortion is an objective evil which makes reception of the Eucharist an objective sacrilege. But the Vatican itself wrote to the US bishops asking them not to implement any policy on this question, saying the Eucharist ought not to become politicized in any way, but must remain an available remedy bringing spiritual healing to all who approach the altar; hence the decision to draft a document, not announce a policy. Still, one sees here a startling possibility: a deepening division between Rome and the more conservative US bishops.

Thus, various forces seem to be driving the universal Church into national or regional churches, or into a “high Church” and a “low Church,” a “modern Catholic Church” and a “traditional Catholic Church.” This is a sad, worrisome state of affairs.

We need to preserve our unity.

And it is the role of Rome, the specific mission of the Roman pontiff, to facilitate and confirm the unity of all bishops, and so of

the Church, around the world.

The unity of the Church is one of her four marks; she is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic,” as we say in the Creed: “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”

Logically, we must not say, “I believe in a multiple (not one), profane (not holy), un-catholic (not catholic, not universal) and un-apostolic (not apostolic) Church.” We know such a credal declaration would be wrong, would be not in keeping with our faith of all time, from the beginning.

And yet... many seem willing to begin to profess such a faith — a faith in a Church that is particular, local, diversified, not universal, not united, not “one”; a faith in a Church that reaches out to the sinner even to the point of blessing one or another sin, so blessing what is not “holy”; not a faith in a Church that retains the traditional moral teaching about what is holy and pleasing to God; a faith in a Church that is different in various countries, various regions, various segments of society, no longer “catholic,” but regional, diversified, disunited; a faith in a Church that is “modern,” “up-to-date,” no longer embracing the teaching of Sts. Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, no longer “apostolic.”

So we stand at a crossroads today. Do we still believe, as Catholics, what our Creed professes, when we say, “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church”? Or have we come to believe in another Church?

Among the faithful, there are many who are looking to the bishops to confirm our communities in the credal faith of all time. Yet the bishops themselves seem deeply divided.

In such a situation, the task of confirming the bishops in the faith once handed down by the Apostles falls to the Bishop of Rome: the Pope.

There are today many enemies of the Church who believe Catholicism is a negative factor in human society, that the Church does not bring salvation but neurosis, placing unbearable moral burdens on the backs of many. These enemies would like the Church to change (no longer teach what she has traditionally taught), or disappear. Tremendous pressures are being brought to bear on the Church to change her teaching, to eliminate beliefs taught from the beginning that are now regarded as outmoded, inconvenient, unloving, hateful.

Jesus chose Peter to become “the Rock” upon which He would build His Church. But Peter denied the Lord three times on the night He was arrested. When the cock crowed at dawn, Peter realized what he had done and wept “bitter tears.” Jesus said to Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Lk 22:31-32) As Christ prayed for Peter, let us pray for Pope Francis, and let us appeal to Pope Francis to confirm his brothers and preserve our unity.m

We will be holding our first-ever US pilgrimage in the Shenandoah Valley October 25-29. We will visit shrines, see the autumn beauty of the Valley (near Christendom College), and discuss issues facing the faith today. It will be a week of spiritual reflection, retreat and renewal which may help restore hope and joy in this challenging time. If interested, call 202-536-4555 or email pilgrimage@insidethevatican.com JULY-AUGUST 2021 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CONTENTS JULY-AUGUST 2021

INSIDE

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Bishop Athanasius Schneider: The Mass expresses the agape, the love of the Christian community united in the sacrifice of Christ

Pope rejects Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s resignation request

JULY-AUGUST 2021 Year 29, #4

v 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: Susan Sebesta Tel: 202-864-4261 suesebesta@insidethevatican.com

v 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

LEAD STORY Papal advisor Cardinal Marx asks to resign, and the Pope declines...

by Robert Moynihan and ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 NEWS GERMANY/Dispute over homosexual blessings continues

by CNA with ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 HOLY SEE/”Reform” of Benedict XI’s Latin Mass directives imminent

by CNA with ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 HOLY SEE/Archbishop Arthur Roche replaces Cardinal Sarah at Liturgy Office

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 ESSAY/Bishop Athanasius Schneider on the meaning of the Mass Layout by Giuseppe Sabatelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 VATICAN CONFERENCE HOLY SEE/The world and the Church meet at fifth Rome health conference

by Christina Deardurff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 IN MEMORIAM Sr. Margherita Marchione/The world’s #1 defender of Pope Pius XII dies at 99

by Robert Moynihan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 CULTURE INTERVIEW/Are the Holy Fire phenomenon and the Shroud of Turin related?

by James Bertrand, expert investigator of the Shroud of Turin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 SAINTS/St. Josaphat, feast day November 12

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 EDUCATION/“A College in the Making” — St. Athanasius in Illinois

by Timothy H. Bratt, Board of Directors Manager for the new college . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 LATIN/The Vatican poems of Iosephus del Ton

by John Byron Kuhner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 YEAR OF SAINT JOSEPH/Jesus’ first 30 years on earth

by Mark Drogin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 SCRIPTURE/Hidden and revealed: the poetry of Scripture

by Prof. Antony Esolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 LAY ACTION/Catholic lawyers join global prayer for China campaign

by Jane Adolphe and Marcela Szymanski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 URBI ET ORBI: CATHOLICISM AND ORTHODOXY The Message of the Icon/Birth of the Theotokos

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 East-West Watch/The Jesus Prayer

by Peter Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 News from the East

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

v 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 2021 Robert Moynihan

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

FEATURES Art/Laura Bosetti-Tonatto: The world’s leading maker of marvelous perfumes

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Lord of the World/”I welcome you, my son...”

by Robert Hugh Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Vatican Watch/A day-by-day chronicle of Vatican events: May and June

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 People/Monks protect Eucharist; Cardinal Cassidy dies at 96

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Food for Thought/Basil in food, history, religion, poetry and paintings

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

INSPIRATION & BEAUTY FOR CHILDREN

◆ MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS Tomie dePaola, beloved author and illustrator of children’s books, presents a splendid depiction of the life of Mary that will touch the heart of every child, and adult. His beautifully written and illustrated episodes draw on the Bible and Church tradition to portray the woman chosen to bring the Savior into the world, and will inspire a lifelong love for and devotion to Mary.

6 MARYH . . . 32 pp, Hardcover, $14.99

◆ SAINT JOSEPH: Watch Over My Family — In his great redemptive plan for humanity, God chose Joseph, a just man, to be the guardian of Mary and Jesus. With this delightful, inspiring and beautifully illustrated book, children will learn about and grow closer to Saint Joseph. They will also learn to ask for the powerful intercession and protection of this humble man, who always put Jesus and Mary first in his life.

◆ JUNIPERO SERRA In this beautifully illustrated book, join the founding father of California on his amazing journey and experience his saintly missionary zeal that led to the establishment of the 21 Catholic missions in California. His presence and work are still very much alive through these beautiful missions that are visited by millions of people every year.

6 JSH . . . 36 pp, Hardcover, $14.99

◆ HOLY MYSTERIES! This intriguing and fun book investigates 12 mysterious, inexplicable cases that happened in the history of the Catholic faith, some which still continue to remain today. These cases study the mysteries connected with the sun dancing at Fatima, the face on the Shroud of Turin, saints who are incorrupt, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Juan Diego’s tilma, a Eucharistic miracle, and much more!

6 HMYSH . . . 80 pp, Hardcover, $16.99

6 SJWFH . . . 56 pp, Hardcover, $13.99

◆ THE INTERIOR CASTLE Based on St. Teresa of Avila’s spiritual classic, this enchantingly adapted tale tells the story about a boy’s journey into the riches of prayer. Sure to captivate and inspire readers of all ages, this engaging story promises an amazing journey its readers will never forget! It wonderfully combines a dramatic adventure with rich spirituality and gorgeous illustrations.

◆ JESUS, I ADORE YOU How do we adore God who shares his divine presence with us in the Blessed Sacrament? This beautiful book teaches children what Eucharistic Adoration is, the ways they can practice Adoration, and suggestions for lovely prayers and words to use in Adoration. It draws on beautiful words from Scripture, and inspiring prayers from various saints.

6 JAYH . . . 64 pp, Hardcover, $13.99

6 ICH . . . 72 pp, Hardcover, $15.99

◆ THE SPIRIT OF HIAWATHA

◆ PETOOK, THE ROOSTER WHO MET JESUS

Demi, acclaimed children’s author and illustrator, tells the moving story of Hiawatha, the great leader of the Iroquois who brought the tribes together to restore peace and to unify his people. A true peacemaker, he prepared the way for the Gospel to spread in North America.

An engaging, colorful story that sets the scene for the missionary work of the heroic Jesuits of the 17th century!

Tomie dePaola and Caryll Houselander tell the classic story of a snowy white rooster who encounters a kind, mysterious young boy that caresses his newborn chicks, and years later experiences the death and resurrection of that boy as a grown-up man. The artful storytelling and delightful illustrations invite young readers to enter into a relationship with the One who longs to care for us all.

SOHH . . . 48 pp, Hardcover, $15.99

6PETH . . . 32 pp, Hardcover, $14.99

www.ignatius.com P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, CO 80522

(800) 651-1531

The Shenandoah Valley Experience October 2021 We are pleased to announce a new Classic pilgrimage experience in the United States! Cultivated for centuries, the majestic and serene Shenandoah Valley is now home to organic farms – a “farm to table” culinary treat – and family wineries producing award-winning local wines.

But this land has also cultivated the faith of thousands...come with us as we experience national Catholic shrines, monasteries and basilicas within easy driving distance of our peaceful and bountiful Valley.

The much-lauded American Catholic author, Walker Percy, foresaw in his 1971 novel, Love in the Ruins, a future gathering of Catholics in this lovely and peaceful Valley, turning it into a type of Catholic sanctuary in a post-Christian nation. The entire Shenandoah Valley, immortalized in story and song, stretches along 200 miles of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, but we will concentrate on the northern 30 miles in and around Warren County, Virginia.

Visit us online to learn more!

“The goodness of God, and the merriness of living… cooking out, attending Mass… What we Catholics call the sacramental life.”

—American novelist Walker Percy, speaking of life in the Shenandoah Valley

Virtual Pilgrimages

Join us live and enjoy the discussion after the pilgrimage. If you are unable to join us live, you can view all of our Virtual Pilgrimages on the Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe and stay informed of all of our Virtual Pilgrimages and other original content!

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I N S I D E T H E VAT I CA N PI LG R I M AG E S .C O M / PI LG R I M AG E / V I R T UA L- PI LG R I M AG E S

Start Planning for 2022 Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages are different from all other tours and pilgrimages. Our daily itinerary is a fabric woven of spiritual, historical and personal elements – the personalities of great saints, of those we encounter, and of our pilgrims, their lives and their faith journeys. And, we do not fill the bus! Our pilgrimages are unique, unrepeatable experiences, led by ITV’s editor, Dr. Robert Moynihan, and other renowned experts.

2022 Pilgrimages

Classic ITALY: Journey Toward the Face of Christ – May 28 – June 7

Classic IRELAND: Saints & Scholars

Classic ENGLAND: Mary’s Dowry August 10 - 19

Classic ITALY: Fall in Rome: Annual ITV

Our Signature Pilgrimages (intimate, limited to 15 pilgrims) are impossible to mass-produce. Like the products of an artisan, they are works of painstaking preparation that reflect our unswerving commitment to create something of great and unique beauty.

July

Mag Pilgrimage – September

Our Classic Pilgrimages (small by industry standards, limited to 35) are carefully budgeted so you can visit beautiful and sacred destinations while experiencing the quality, style and integrity of Inside the Vatican pilgrimages at an affordable price.

Our pilgrimages fill up fast. Make your reservation today! Join us on a trip of a lifetime.

C R E AT E A G R O U P O F 15 O R M O R E A N D G O F R E E !

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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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In this prison—deep in rural Georgia—there is no Catholic ministry, ergo, no sacraments; Inside the Vatican is therefore a vital part of my communion with the Church—second, of course, to prayer, in which I always include you and your staff.

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With love in Christ, Richard J. T. Clark, T.O.M.

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

First, let me sincerely thank you for the gift subscription this past year. I have greatly enjoyed reading the issues. I happily share with my fellows.

As a new Catholic, I have drawn much inspiration and also learned much from reading Inside the Vatican. I ask you to please renew the gift subscription for another year. Many Catholics in my unit benefit from it too. If you have a spare gift subscription available, please consider renewing it; I am still indigent.

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I have found one of the hardest things for me to do is to “beg.” Not only must I be

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a beggar, but I have learned this maxim: “If you do not humble yourself, God will never stop allowing you to be humiliated.” So as a humble beggar, I come to you in this letter begging you to renew my subscription for another year to ITV. The entire magazine is wonderful, every section, and every article.

I especially enjoy the “Scripture,” “News from the East,” the “Food for Thought” at the end and “Message of the Icon,” and learning about such great saints and how we can learn from them. The coverage on COVID has been exceptional, especially from my past nursing and microbiologist backgrounds.

I pray most fervently that some way, somehow there are resources available to grant me a scholarship subscription.

In closing, I would like you to know I include everyone at ITV in my daily prayers at 3 p.m. Divine Mercy, my evening rosary, and my liturgy of the hours prayers at 0600 and 1600 hours, and will continue to do so.

I hope I can ask someone there at ITV to pray for me too — I sure could use someone praying for me. Who can’t?

God bless you. Your brother in Christ.

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Here at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex [note: the largest federal

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complex in the Federal Bureau of Prisons], it has been instrumental in catechesis, education, and evangelization. I have received the magazine for a few years thanks to the generosity of a priest. Unfortunately, I have been out of touch with him for a while and my latest issue was marked as my last. If the resources are available (there are men who need the magazine a lot more than I do), I would like to request an extension of my subscription. Thank you and God bless you. Peace and Good!

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TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND GOODNESS Your magazine Inside the Vatican is a work of truth, beauty, and goodness. May God bless your faithful work at ITV for many more years. You reach out to everyone, and your efforts will yield a good harvest.

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I then pass the copy on to our pastor at our parish and he thoroughly enjoys getting it.

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I have enjoyed your magazine for the variety of subjects presented. Your lengthy letter moved me to the point of truly making this sacrificial gift. No matter what, the Catholic Church will survive till Jesus comes again! God bless you and

your staff. A blessed Easter. Viva Jesu.

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Lauretta Froelich River Forest, Illinois I’m sorry to be so delayed in sending this note and the contribution to you. I appreciate your good work with the magazine and very much enjoy reading it. Stepping back, I think it is the religious nature of so many articles, like the essays on Holy Week and Easter (and Christmas before, etc.), ones on Scripture and on saints and prayer.

Of course, I like the news and current affairs from the Vatican, depressing as they so often are, reminding us of the virtue of perseverance. I love the Books, Art and People articles, and Food for Thought is always a fun treat (pun intended!).

Seriously, I read every page from front to back and then pass it along to my priests, sometimes very much later, as now.

I am so sorry you have had to struggle during this crazy time we are living

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR through: we are all suffering from the lack of strength, courage and holiness in our institutions, secular and religious.

Though I am not Irish, St. Patrick’s Breastplate of Prayer is what we all need to pray with devotion each day, with total reliance on God. My gift is small next to your gifts, Bob, but I hope many have sent in to you even greater amounts to encourage and enable all of you to do what God is asking of you. If it be to continue your writing and editing and publishing, you can know that we are all grateful to Him for you. With prayers and thanks, Mary Ann Novak Washington, D.C. This is a salute to your exceptional journalism! With respect to your Volume 1, Finding Viganò, I must say this — the book is a thoroughgoing, substantive, and searching piece of journalism; compassionate, stirring, forthright, and at every turn, compelling. And I might add, every bishop should, to quote the words St. Augustine tells us he heard at the moment of his conversion, as he considered picking up the Scriptures, “Take (heed!) and read”!

Together with a final admonition: beware of wolves bearing cardinals’ crosiers!

Thank you, Dr. Moynihan, for ITV; for your courage, your coverage, and for your singular fidelity to the Faith and the Truth!

Wishing you every grace and blessing of the Risen Lord, as you move forward and cast your nets once more, “Duc in altum!”

Carol Crawford Crestone, Colorado

STAND STRONG I have begged my bishops and priests over the past 3 decades to stand strong against tendencies to reject Humanae Vitae and water down the biblical and traditional teachings regarding sexual morality. I have fought against the most horrendous sex education as it infiltrated our Ohio schools through the department of health and the department of education, during the administration of a Catholic governor who just refused to understand. I stood with some wise and brave Protestants who clearly understood the stakes; but I can honestly say that, even today, as a Catholic I stand alone.

And now, as sexual and financial scandals rock, and I dare say still rule, the 10

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

highest levels of the Church, it will be exponentially more difficult to stand against the legion of corporate and cultural leaders who espouse the latest, and most dangerous existential threat to the faith, the family, and indeed to humanity itself: the transgender ideology.

This ideology will destroy our children, physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. It is already promoted with no challenge by the public schools all over our country and Canada.

I believe it was Lord Baltimore in the 1600s to whom is attributed the saying, “Treason doth never prosper, and here's the reason; for if it prosper, none dare call it treason.” Both treason and heresy do indeed prosper in 2021, and they shamelessly consolidate their power. We stand mostly helpless. Please speak for us if you possibly can, by continuing to champion Archbishop Viganò and any who, like him, speak out bravely. They will save many who, like me, are sorely tempted.

I heard a story and I’m not sure it is exactly true, but it would not be out of character for the man. When Nicolae Ceausescu was consolidating his power in Romania, in what would become one of the most brutal of the Iron Curtain communist regimes, he went around the towns holding meetings to procure support and demoralize opposition. At those meetings, it is said that many pastors of all denominations stood up and intoned support for the regime, urging their people to go along to get along, and so on, in that vein.

At one such meeting sat the Lutheran Pastor Richard Wurmbrand and his wife, Sabina. At one point she leaned over and whispered to her husband “Richard, get up and wipe the shame off the face of Jesus.” He replied, “If I do, you’ll be a widow.” She was undaunted: “I don’t need a coward! Get up and wipe the shame off the face of Jesus!” And he did. And he went to prison for 14 years and was tortured severely. Miraculously, they both escaped and he wrote the book Tortured for Christ. I saw them once in person, at a Protestant church in my town. He also did an interview that I saw with Archbishop Fulton Sheen, with whom he was friends. He was a hero. I need such heroes today. I even would like to become like him if it were God's will.

Gilbert E. Adolph Barberton, Ohio

I greatly appreciate your work, and I look forward to your emails. I have learned a great deal from your other writings, such as Finding Viganò, which sits at my bedside.

I do not doubt that Archbishop Viganò has far greater insight into the workings of the Vatican than I shall ever have, though I gained some insights when I served for more than a decade as communications director for the Legionaries of Christ — a trying and sad episode, to say the least.

But a recent statement from the Archbishop opposing a Rome conference which will examine the use of stem cells, raises a question: How can the Church persuade people of influence to abandon research using fetal stem cells if it does not engage the leaders who make such decisions? On its face, it is not evident to me that inviting these people to a professional discussion reflects abandonment of the Faith.

Perhaps I continue to suffer from the naiveté that led me to serve in defense of the Legionaries....

Jay Dunlap dunlap.jay@gmail.com Thank you for your wonderful magazine Inside the Vatican. You are serving God and the Holy Catholic Church in a wonderful way with the Truth you print. God Bless You. Antonia Kimberlin Lewistown, Montana

ON VIGANÒ God bless you for sending your new book, Finding Viganò, and God bless the Archbishop. I liken Archbishop Viganò to the “manly” saints who have fought the various heresies that threatened the Church throughout Her history, e.g., Arianism by St. Athanasius, etc. We live in this time for a reason. Viganò helps keep us on our toes, invigorates courage within us to act, and quickens our prayers in the hope they will pierce Heaven.

Theresa Sitio@rogers.com Distinctions are as important in theology and ecclesiology as they are in philosophy.

The Vatican alone is not the true Church.

Rome alone is not the true Church.

The gates of hell are not prevailing and

will never prevail against the true Church.

In other words, the true Church is not eclipsed.

The Pope, the vicar of Christ, however, is the head of the true Church, and people of faith can be as certain that he will not teach anything contrary to faith and morals from the Chair of Peter as we are that the true Church will never be eclipsed.

Men are as sinful as they have been since the true Church was founded, and this reality need not cause us to waver in our faith. The devil is still telling lies; multitudes are still believing his lies.

We walk in the light, with the true Church leading and guiding us. Praised be Jesus Christ!

Katherine Fedoryka fedfamily@gmail.com

THE TRANSGENDERING OF OUR CHILDREN There are some narratives that get repeated on the conservative side on the issue of transgender identities that are untrue, wholly or partly. I want to briefly explain a few so you get where I am coming from.

One narrative is that this (as in transgender identities) is only happening to lib-

eral families. No. No. No. I know plenty of faithful Catholic, one Eastern Orthodox, a couple of Baptist and many other churchgoing families that have had this happen to one of their loved ones. The common denominator today is, I dare to say almost always, a similar type of child or young adult: the profoundly gifted, the autistic, and the neuro-atypical—the ones (like my own) who were seemingly flying in school and activities or the ones who have profound abilities yet cannot use them appropriately (like my own). When the wrong influence gets in the way, disaster can strike.

The other narrative is that this is always the illness of “gender dysphoria.”

Another no! I can assure you, neither I nor my husband had ever heard of the term until I learned after my daughter’s announcement that she was changing her gender. My question to a man considered one of the tops in his field was: “Do you think all these girls have gender dysphoria?” His answer was telling: “In my mind, they do.” I then told him that I completely failed to see this after my allnight deep dives into this madness. I then let him know that you cannot treat gender dysphoria if it is not gender dysphoria. He

called me “intense.” So, just what do you call things like the over 32,000 Go Fund Me posts for females seeking funding for “top surgery?” (The surgical removal of female breasts.) Of course, the problem is far more nuanced than “gender dysphoria” — it’s the whole society today. It works on the doctors too. These young people are learning via the internet exactly how to approach the doctors and get their drugs. Every parent will tell you: “This was not my kid — until” ...until they got the narrative from peers, social media, the internet, campuses, doctors...

One more idea is that the trans-identification problem lies primarily with females. While true, this is happening at exponentially higher rates to boys as well. We also see a younger and younger cohort of “patients” being shuffled into the neverending supply of gender clinics. As for the Catholics, I have been disappointed at their cowardice in addressing this issue head-on.

The swiftness with which these kids are ushered into drugs and surgeries is unbelievable. There is no time to waste. We are in a serious crisis of youth identity.

An anonymous Catholic mother (email withheld)

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LEAD STORY

PaPal advisor cardinal marx asks to resign ...and PoPe Francis reFuses his request. What does it all mean?

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, 67, Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany, sent shockwaves through the Catholic world when his letter to Pope Francis, dated May 21, asking the Pope to accept his resignation as Archbishop, was made public June 4. Pope Francis replied with his own letter, dated May 21 but published June 10, asking Cardinal Mark to “continue” in his episcopal post.

The German prelate is a former president of the German Bishops’ Conference and a confidant of Pope Francis who has been a member of his Council of Cardinal Advisers since April of 2013, just a month after Francis’ election, and is a coordinator of the Pope’s Council for the Economy. He is also a supporter of the Catholic Church in Germany’s proposed “Synodal Path,” about which it has been repeatedly warned by the Vatican for apparently treading too close to schism.

Why did cardinal marx Wish to resign? n BY ROBERT MOYNIHAN, EDITOR OF INSIDE THE VATICAN

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ardinal Reinhard Marx is only 67, and so he was asking to leave his archbishop’s post some eight years before turning 75 — the ordinary retirement age for bishops.

Why did Marx feel it was necessary for him to resign? There have been no allegations of any wrongdoing by him, either in his actions or in his dealing with the actions of others. Why then would he not remain at his post to continue working at something he says is

12 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

important to him: to ensure in so far as is in his power that sexual abuse does not occur, and, if it should occur, is not covered up by ecclesial authorities?

Marx has led the archdiocese of Munich-Freising for 14 years, since 2007.

His resignation request did not extend, evidently, to other important posts Marx holds in the Church.

For example, even if his resignation had been accepted by the Pope, Marx would still, it appears, continue

to be a voting cardinal, and would still serve as one of the seven members of Francis’ special advisory “Council of Cardinals,” and would still be the coordinator of the Vatican’s “Council for the Economy,” which supervises the financial activities of both the Vatican City-State and the offices of the Holy See. So why ask to leave his post as archbishop of Munich and Freising?

Marx is arguably the most prominent and influential of the German

bishops. He was the President of the German bishops’ conference from 2012-20. In that role, he was a key organizer of the often controversial German “synodal path,” initiated by the German bishops as a way of answering public calls for a number of Church reforms.

In 2019, Marx strongly defended the German Synodal program from criticism by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops.

Ouellet had said some of the topics up for discussion in Germany — including, for example, the role of women in the ministries of the Church — might have an impact on the entire global Church.

This exchange led many observers to conclude that Rome — in the person of Ouellet — was concerned about the path the German bishops, led by Marx, were taking, fearing the possible emergence of a type of “national Church” within Catholicism.

The eventual emergence of a such a “German Catholic Church” as a kind of special subset of the “Roman Catholic Church” would risk harming the unity of the Church, and the universality of the Church, characterized by the adherence to one faith and one practice throughout the world by all members of the Church, Ouellet seemed to be arguing.

It is precisely this unity and universality which is the special duty of the Pope — and his advisors in Rome (his Roman Curia) — to preserve and protect. The Pope carries out this duty by “confirming his brothers in the faith” (see Luke 22:32, where Jesus says to Peter: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren”).

Only once in his May 21 letter does Marx mention the German “synodal path,” but he refers to it, strikingly, as “the only way” out of the present crisis of the Church in Germany.

DOUBLING DOWN ON THE S YNODAL PATH ?

There is something admirable on the surface about taking personal responsibility for the shortcomings of the Church with regard to the sexual abuse of so many victims.

Paraphrasing, Marx in his letter seems to be saying: “I accuse myself of going along with the Church and its terrible ways.”

If “the system” is the problem, and the “synodal path” is the solution, no light is shed on what seems a central issue which few wish to focus on: the failure in formation — the failure to form Christian believers in Christian virtue so that sexual abuse is less likely to be a temptation.

In this sense, it seems that Marx wished to step down from his post as archbishop to publicly emphasize his repentance for and break with a “system of coverup” which thought more about the image of the Church than about the suffering of victims.

Yet, at the same time, Marx wishes to “double down” on the “synodal path” he has helped to fashion, calling it the “one way” to bring about a true reform of the Church which will help protect victims.

It is this point that remains doubtful: is the “synodal path” really the right path for the Church to take to grow in virtue and holiness, including caring in the most profound way for victims of every type of abuse?

Or could such a path lead to a type of “theological abuse,” a type of embrace of worldly thinking which breaks with tents of the faith handed down for 2,000 years?

Indeed, could such a path leading toward disunity in the Church, geographical division (region by region, country by country) but also division over time (departing from unity with the Christians of the first century, the fourth, the 12th, the 19th, down through all the ages)?

That question remains still to answer, after reading Marx’s unexpected and unusual letter.m

A

BIOGRAPHY OF CARDINAL REINHARD MARX

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orn in Geseke, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on September 21, 1953, Marx was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Paderborn on June 2, 1979. He obtained a doctorate in theology from the University of Bochum in 1989.

On July 23, 1996, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Paderborn and Titular Bishop of Petina by Pope John Paul II. On December 20, 2001 he was named Bishop of Trier, the oldest diocese in Germany.

On November 30, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Marx metropolitan archbishop of Munich and Freising (a position that Benedict held from 1977 to 1981).

While Archbishop of Munich, in 2010 Marx was named by Pope Benedict as a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education for a five-year term, and appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In March, 2012, he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community elected him its president.

He was one of the cardinal electors in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.

On April 13, 2013 he was appointed to Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisers, to advise him on revision of the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor Bonus.

On March 12, 2014 Marx was elected chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, and served in this capacity until his replacement Georg Bätzing was elected on March 3, 2020.

On 15 October 2020, Pope Francis renewed Marx’s term on the Council of Cardinal Advisers.

Marx currently serves as head of the committee for social issues at the German Bishops’ Conference.

None of Cardinal Marx’s positions within the Vatican Curia would be affected by his resignation as the Archbishop of Munich and Freisburg.n JULY-AUGUST 2021 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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essay

fIrst lIturgy and today IndIvIdual Masses at st. Peter’s halted... ruMors of further restrIctIons on the old Mass? Why? Why the battle over our lIturgy? an exclusIve essay by bIshoP schneIder

The Last Supper by Philippe de Champaigne, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons, France

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fter individual Masses were suppressed at St. Peter’s basilica by an unusual decree pinned to the basilica sacristy doors March 11, many have expressed alarm that St. Peter’s might become, in the words of Cardinal Gerhard Müller, “more and more like a museum.”

Vatican journalist Edward Pentin, writing in the National Catholic Register on March 22, the first day in which the new rules were in force, noted that the basilica was “almost completely devoid of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” Previously, there had been Masses being said on most of the 45 altars and 11 chapels in St. Peter’s.

Clergy who worked in the Vatican were accustomed to starting their days by saying Mass in St. Peter’s, sometimes alone.

Now, all clergy are restricted to concelebrating one of four Masses scheduled from 7 to 9:30 am daily.

The stated reason: to foster an “atmosphere of recollection and liturgical decorum,” said the directive, initialed by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, deputy Secretary of State (though such matters are typically overseen by the basilica’s cardinal archpriest).

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect Emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, criticized the directive, saying it unjustly conditions priests to concelebrate Masses in violation of their freedom to offer the Mass individually, a violation of Church law.

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan, a constant defender of Catholic liturgical tradition, in Christus Vincit (2019) a book-length interview with Diane Montagna, recalls the profoundly respectful eucharistic formation he received as a child.

Warned that the then-novel practice of Communion in t,he hand had been introduced into the parishes of their adopted Germany, his family, who had emigrated from the Soviet republic of Estonia, felt confused. “We could not imagine how the Holy of Holies, the Living God, could be taken in the hand,” the bishop remembered. “That was for me inconceivable, really.”

Now Bishop Schneider comes to the defense of tradition in objecting to the new Mass prohibitions in St. Peter’s Basilica — at the very heart of our Eucharistic Lord’s Church, arguing that tradition in the liturgy is not a tool of factionalism, but an expression of the participation of every Catholic in the sacrificial remedy for sin offered by the God-man Himself. The Mass is our “thanksgiving” for the great sacrifice of Our Lord.

Bishop Schneider has crafted for Inside the Vatican a thorough, multi-faceted explanation of the concept of concelebration of the Mass, its history and purpose — and also its theological differences from individual celebration of the Mass by a single priest. His analysis follows. — Christina Deardurff m

euchAristic concelebrAtion An essAy on the liturgy by bishop AthAnAsius schneider, AuxiliAry bishop of the Archdiocese of st. MAry in AstAnA, KAzAKhstAn

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, 60, is Bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan. He was born in 1961 in the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. His parents were Black Sea Germans from Ukraine, sent by Stalin to a gulag in the Ural Mountains, where the family was part of the underground Church. In 1973, after making his First Holy Communion in secret, Schneider emigrated with his family to Rottweil in West Germany. In 1982 in Austria, Schneider joined the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra. Starting in 1999, he taught Patristics at the Catholic seminary in Karaganda. On June 2, 2006, he was consecrated a bishop in Rome. In 2011, he became auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Astana. He is the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan.

BY BISHOP ATHANASIUS SCHNEIDER I. EUCHARISTIC CONCELEBRATION: THE THEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASPECT

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he first Holy Mass was celebrated by Our Lord in the cenacle. This Mass did not have the form of a sacramental concelebration, because the apostles did not pronounce the words of consecration, but only the Lord pronounced them. The apostles participated in the Eucharist, celebrated by the Lord, by sacramentally receiving His Body and His Blood. We could say they “concelebrated” in the first Mass in the form of a non-sacramental concelebration.

From the earliest times, the universal Church (both in the East and in the West) conserved faithfully this original form of Eucharistic concelebration with these two characteristics: The main celebrant alone pronounces the words of consecration.

The main celebrant is always and exclusively the “high priest,” i.e. the bishop (and, in Rome, the Pope).

In the beginning of the Middles Ages, in the Papal Liturgy in Rome there was a development of the original form by the fact that the concelebrants pronounced the words of consecration together with the Pope (cf. Ordo Romanus III, 8th century).

However, down to the present, the most ancient Oriental churches — the non-Catholic Greek Byzantines, the non-Catholic Copts, and non-Catholic Nestorians — have conserved the norm that only the main celebrant pronounces the words of consecration.

JULY-AUGUST 2021 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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ESSAY

EUCHARISTIC CONCELEBRATION

Until recent times in the universal Church, a priest never Chrism Mass of Lyons, or when the Pope (in the first millepresided as the main celebrant of a Eucharistic sacramental nium) celebrated solemnly on the four highest feast in the concelebration. year: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Ss. Peter and Paul (a cusFrom the 17th century on, the Byzantine Catholic tom that ceased in Rome in the high Middles Ages). churches introduced an innovation, that is, the form of conIn all rites of all times, a solemn episcopal Mass always celebration among priests without a bishop as the main celrequired the liturgical assistance of the representatives of all ebrant. Thereby the concelebration among priests became degrees of the clergy. In the Roman rite, such a Mass was usual (cf. the article “Le rituel de la concélébration structured as follows: priests wearing Mass vestments (so, eucharistique” of Aimé Georges Martimort in Ephemerides for example, the ceremonial concelebrants in the case of the Liturgicae 77 [1963] 147–168).

Cathedral canons “canonici parati,” prescribed in the Such a form of Eucharistic concelebration only among ancient Caeremoniale Episcoporum), assisting priest, two priests was alien to the universal and constant tradition of assisting deacons, deacon and subdeacon of Mass, acolytes, the Church. Therefore the Roman lectors.

Church forbade such concelebraThe solemn Papal Mass in tion among priests (cf. can. 803 of Saint Peter’s before the Second the Code of Canon Law 1917).

Vatican Council had the same Only the Catholic Oriental structure: cardinal bishops and carchurches adopted the custom that dinal priests, wearing Mass vestall concelebrants pronounce the ments, and cardinal deacons assistwords of consecration. ing the Pope. The cardinals concelUntil the Second Vatican Counebrated ceremonially, i.e. noncil, in the Latin Church a Eucharissacramentally. tic sacramental concelebration, The use of the sacramental where all concelebrants pronounce Eucharistic concelebration in order the words of consecration, was practo resolve practical problems in a ticed only on three occasions: gathering of a great number of priests Episcopal consecration: only the or bishops is therefore entirely alien main consecrator and the newly conto the original and constant tradition “The firsT holy Mass was secrated bishops concelebrated. of the entire Church. Such a use concelebraTed by our lord in The Priestly ordination: only the bishtradicts the original form and nature op and the newly ordained priests cenacle. This Mass did noT have The of the Eucharistic concelebration concelebrated. and constitutes a “degradation” of forM of a sacraMenTal Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday concelebration, as Martimort concelebraTion, because The in the Cathedral of Lyons (France): already noticed (cf. op. cit.). the bishop concelebrated with six The argument for extending the aposTles did noT pronounce The priests. cases of concelebration on the occawords of consecraTion, buT only For the Chrism Mass, the Roman sion of priest gatherings in order to Church conserved until the Second resolve practical problems of celeThe lord pronounced TheM” Vatican Council however the most bration figured in “Schema II” of the ancient form, i.e. the words of conseConstitution Sacrosanctum Concilicration pronounced only the bishop, although twelve priests um of the Second Vatican Council. This argument, however, assisted him clothed with all the vestments required for was rejected by the majority of the Councils Fathers, so that Mass. With this form, the Roman Church perhaps wished to it disappeared in the definitive text of n. 57. recount the first Holy Mass on Holy Thursday, where the A Eucharistic concelebration only among priests main celebrant, Jesus the High Priest, alone pronounced the obscures an essential element of this form of celebration, words of consecration while the twelve apostles concelei.e., the visibly recognizable hierarchical form. Each celebrated non-sacramentally, since they did not pronounce bration of Holy Mass possesses its innate hierarchical form. together with the Lord the words of the sacramental conseThe first Holy Mass in the cenacle revealed this charactercration. istic: Jesus the High Priest was the main celebrant and He In the millennial tradition of the Roman Church, sacraalone pronounced the words of consecration, being surmental Eucharistic concelebration constituted always an rounded by the twelve first priests (bishops) of the New extraordinary solemn act, which occurred on: Covenant, who ceremonially assisted Him. Jesus was hierEcclesiastically important circumstances, which reflectarchically higher and the ceremonially concelebrating aposed the hierarchically ordered constitution of the Church, tles were lower. Since then, every authentic concelebration such as in the aforementioned episcopal consecrations and of the Holy Mass possessed this structure. in priestly ordinations; When a priest celebrates alone and without the sacraWhen the bishop celebrated Mass in a most solemn and mental concelebration of other priests, he alone represents hierarchically structured form, such as was the case in the Jesus the High Priest in the moment of the consecration, and 22

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

The French liturgist Monsignor Aimé-Georges Martimort during a session of the Second Vatican Council.

Opposite, two fundamental books to understand the thought of Bishop Athanasius Schneider

all other priests who are present and do not pronounce the words of consecration (e.g., those who may be ministering as deacon or subdeacon, or any who are assisting in choir) are, at this moment, hierarchically lower from the point of view of the sacramental action, inasmuch as the celebrating priest alone acts at this moment sacramentally in persona Christi capitis, while the others do not.

Every Eucharistic celebration or concelebration has to demonstrate visibly the aspect of Christ the Head, i.e., that there is in the structure of the Church only one Head, Christ the High Priest. All other priests (presbyters, bishops) who are acting in the Eucharistic consecration in persona Christi capitis are only His visible vicars on different levels.

Therefore, the moment of realizing the Eucharistic consecration in persona Christi capitis — whether the consecration is made by only one consecrator or simultaneously by several consecrators — has to show visibly the uniqueness of the Head; in the case of a group of consecrators there has to be visibly one who is hierarchically higher, to show the uniqueness of Christ the Head.

From the point of view of the sign — and with the sacramental celebration, only one concrete person, in this case the main celebrant, visibly represents Christ the Head — it would be against the law of the sign-representation and of sacramental symbolism, when in the moment of the Eucharistic consecration a group of hierarchically equal persons simultaneously represents Christ, the one Head. “Indeed a pure multiplication of the concelebrants makes difficult the liturgical expression of their unity in Christ. How in this case is the Mass the act of the unique Priest?” (P. Tihon, “De la concélébration eucharistique,” Nouvelle Revue Théologique 86 [1964] 600, n. 97).

On the other side, the totality of the faithful represents the Mystical Body of Christ (Christus totus), because there are many hierarchically different members. There is, however, only a single Head in the Body, and therefore the Head is represented concretely by only one person in the visible acts of the life of the Church: both on the canonical level (jurisdiction) and on the Eucharistic level (celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice).

The Eucharistic celebration is the sacrament which most perfectly realizes and visibly reflects the mystery of the Mystical Body with only one Head and one High Priest and with many hierarchically subordinated members.

On the canonical level, the Pope represents Christ the Head for the universal Church and the bishop represents Christ for the particular church (diocese).

On the Eucharistic sacramental level, the celebrant or the main celebrant (in the case of a concelebration) represents Christ the Head.

The one who represents Christ the Head at the moment of the Eucharistic consecration has to be as well “head” hierarchically or sacramentally in reference to the other concelebrants: this case is seen when the bishop concelebrates with priests, or a papal delegate (or the Metropolitan or the main consecrator in an episcopal consecration) concelebrates with other bishops, or when a priest celebrates alone.

When several priests are realizing the Eucharistic consecration together and on the same level, the symbolism of the representation of the one Head is obscured, because there is no hierarchical difference of the Eucharistic co-consecrators, for none of them is a real “head” relative to the others on the hierarchical level. A hierarchical difference between Eucharistic co-consecrators guarantees convincingly the true symbolism of representing the only one Head.

Furthermore, having a main celebrant who is hierarchically higher and clearly distinguished as such also displays the truth that there is ultimately only one principal and main celebrant in each Mass, who is Christ the High Priest, the “minister principalis” of each sacrament, with all celebrants, even the main celebrant, occupying the rank of “minister secundarius.”

The essentially hierarchical structure of the visible Church has only one visible head as the vicar of Christ, the one sole Head (Vicarius Christi): Saint Peter and his successors, the bishops of Rome.

The Orthodox Churches rejected this truth of faith and created as a substitution for it an ecclesiology called “synodality” (sobornost in Russian). According to such a vision, the uniqueness of Christ the Head is not represented by one concrete person, i.e., Peter and his successors, but by the body or the collegium of bishops simultaneously, especially when gathered in a council or synod and sacramentally when concelebrating the Eucharist. In such a theory, there is no real visible head, but all are equal (“pares”). Consequently, the president of such a synod or of such a Eucharistic concelebration is only “primus inter pares.”

A Eucharistic celebration most perfectly reflects and realizes the mystery of the Church if and only if there is a real jurisdictional and hierarchical “primus.” Therefore, from the point of view of the sign and symbol, there must be among the concelebrants one who at the moment of the Eucharistic consecration is really “primus”: Only sacramentally: when only one priest (however many are present) consecrates sacramentally, or Sacramentally and hierarchically: when the bishop concelebrates with priests, or Sacramentally and hierarchically: when a bishop with ordinary or extraordinary papal delegation concelebrates JULY-AUGUST 2021 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LATIN

the vatican poems of iosephus DeL ton Latin poetry of the 20th century, “shot through with quiet reverence” n BY JOHN BYRON KUHNER

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ne of the most common misconceptions people have about the Latin language is that it “stopped” at some point, many centuries ago. Actually, people have never stopped reading, speaking, and writing Latin. In fact, the Latin we have from the ancient world – say St. Augustine and everything before him – represents less than one tenth of one percent of the total written material in Latin.

The Latin book I’ve been returning to most recently is by Iosephus (or Giuseppe) del Ton (1900-1997), a CroatianItalian who headed the Vatican Latin Office in the 1970s. Del Ton was the epitome of a Vatican don — learned, devout, thoughtful, his writings are shot through with quiet reverence for the splendor and majesty of the Christian life, with all its glorious history, and its transcendence of history.

Del Ton’s magnum opus is his Vaticana Levia, a collection of Latin poems published in 1968, but never translated into English. The title contains a pun: the primary meaning is probably “Light Poems from the Vatican,” or “Vatican Trifles,” but levia can mean not only “light” but “smooth,” implying elegance: “the Vatican Elegancies.” It’s just more proof of the general truth that you really can’t translate poetry: there are always implications you can’t quite pin down.

More than anything else, these poems offer us a unique perspective on living day in, day out beside the tomb of St. Peter. Del Ton treats of the daily variations and textures of life in the Vatican penumbra: crowds in St. Peter’s Square, children throwing snowballs in the colonnade during a rare Roman snowstorm, seeing the lights on at night in the Pope’s apartment (Pastor excubias nocte nigrante gerit, “the Shepherd keeps his watch in the darkness of the night”).

Living in a place is not the same as visiting it. Del Ton could do things most tourists never can — he writes, for instance, about using the Codex Vaticanus — the world’s most important (and possibly oldest) Bible, in the Vatican Library — as his own personal study Bible. He also sees St. Peter’s in all its vicissitudes — crowded at Christmas and Easter, totally empty at off-hours and off-seasons. I think of Del Ton as he writes in Divina Silentia, standing, solitary, in St. Peter’s, amazed at being alone in that vast, godly space:

42

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

Arcanis mihi sunt gravida ista silentia rebus: Nil sane his potius musica ferre potest.

Omnia cum tacuere, animus tum percipit alta; Hic sisto, ut capiam mystica verba Dei. The silences are heavy with hidden meanings; Music itself could not say so much as this.

When all things grow silent, the soul perceives the sublime: I stand here, to receive the mystical words of God. Everything Del Ton writes about is still part of Vatican life: the Porta Santa, the Swiss Guards, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Library. The Catholic Church, at its heart, is an island of stability in a changing world; our ideal for life comes from the life and teachings of Christ, almost two thousand years ago. Latin is itself a symbol of that: we venerate and pass on an inheritance coming from the time of Christ himself. The 1960s Latin of Del Ton is much like the Latin poetry written at the time of St. Peter. Del Ton, in one of his best poems, uses the Vatican obelisk as a symbol of it all. The obelisk, standing in the Circus of Nero where St. Peter was likely martyred, is often called “the silent witness”: it saw that martyrdom which was the seed for all the life that has gathered around it since. Del Ton writes in the voice of the obelisk itself: Me fuga saeclorum lambit velocibus alis; Prae me regnorum creba ruina iacet.

Eventa, aeva, tribus praeterlabuntur ut amnis; Terrigenum varias testor in urbe vices.

Intactus, firmus caelum peto, tempora vinco; Iure ego, sancta fides, imago dicor tua.

The swift wings of centuries but brush against my sides: Whole kingdoms lie ruined before me.

Events, epochs, peoples, pass by like a river: To mortals’ vicissitudes here I am a witness.

Unscathed, unbent, I seek heaven, I rise above time, I am well called your Image, O Holy Faith.m

YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH

Jesus’ first 30 years on eartH He lived in filial devotion to JosepH and Mary n BY MARK DROGIN

T

he Word became flesh” to redeem us humans by sanctifying human life: 33 years after the Incarnation began, Jesus offered the one, holy, acceptable, living, eternal Thanksgiving Sacrifice on Calvary for our Salvation. He offered the Holy Sacrifice – in one Holy Week plus 40 days more; and, 10 days later, He sent the Holy Spirit.

For three years, “beginning with the baptism of John,” St. Peter says, “Jesus went around doing good and healing all” (Acts 10:38). “The Word became flesh” – with Mary’s “Fiat” in “the fullness of time” – 33 years before the Holy Sacrifice on Calvary, when the Divine Word became the human Son of Mary and Joseph.

Today, the Holy Spirit is shouting “Go to Joseph!” The Holy Spirit is pointing to the “other” 30 years on earth when Jesus sanctified the human family!

The God of Israel promised to establish a New Covenant written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34; and interpreted in the Epistle to the Hebrews 8:6-13 and 10:3-18). In the fullness of time, God fulfilled that promise and wrote the New Covenant on the hearts of Mary and Joseph before the Incarnation. In the Holy Marriage of Jesus’ human parents, God established the first Sacrament of the New Covenant – the Sacrament of Marriage-and-Family (St. John Paul II; see Redemptoris Custos, #7). Matthew and Luke report essential details in the first 12 years: the pregnancy, birth, infancy, and early childhood. Today the Holy Spirit is also telling us that Jesus lived another 18 “hidden” years in His Holy Family in Nazareth, working and sanctifying family life.

Jesus was fully human in everything but sin: He sanctified all seasons of human life, beginning with Marriage-and-Family. Maria Montessori, an expert in the stages of human development, proposed a fascinating perspective in her book, The Child in the Church. “There are some of those who think that the child’s only value for humanity lies in the fact that he will someday be an adult,” she wrote. “In this way they detract from the true value of childhood by shifting it only into the future. This cannot be justified. The child is a human entity having importance in himself, not just a transition on the way to adulthood. We ought to look upon the child and the adult,” she continued, “as two different forms [seasons] of human life, going on at the same time, and exerting upon one another

“

a reciprocal influence.” (Maria Montessori, The Child in the Church) The Incarnation fully reveals God’s Plan for human life; Jesus completes, perfects, and fulfills all the Old Testament types. In the Old Testament type, Sarah and Abraham, wife and husband together, become the mother and father of a multitude of nations – the mother and father of God’s Chosen People. In the New Testament fulfillment, God calls and sanctifies Mary and Joseph, wife and husband together, to become the human mother and father of all God’s People. Every Pope has proclaimed for 150 years, “Go to Joseph”; and this Year of Joseph marks this call from the Holy Spirit. Today, we see Mary and Joseph as the “new Sarah and Abraham”: the human spiritual Mother and Father of every member of the Mystical Body.

Why do the saints repeatedly counsel us to take Joseph for our spiritual father, to ask Joseph to be our spiritual director (see Consecration to Saint Joseph by Father Donald Calloway)? Because we are called to follow Jesus! Joseph is Jesus’ human father and Jesus’ spiritual director in Nazareth.

Joseph taught Jesus; and Jesus obeyed Joseph.

The Incarnation reveals, in the flesh, the beautiful “reciprocal influence” of all the members of a human family: God includes Mary and Joseph in the Incarnation. St. Luke documents this “reciprocal influence” when, in “the fullness of time,” Mary and Joseph with Jesus learn from each other and grow “in wisdom and stature and grace with God and men” (Luke 2:52 and 40). The sanctification – the recapitulation – of all human life takes place in Nazareth as the Creator teaches and learns from His holy parents; the holy parents teach and learn from the Child.

Jesus and Joseph-with-Mary lived, worked, prayed, laughed, cried, and worshipped together for decades. Two thousand years later, we can still hear Joseph and Mary praying the Psalms of David as we pray them – and the whole divine liturgy – with the Holy Family now!

The extraordinary participation of Mary and Joseph in the Incarnation continues forever. Do not hesitate to invite them into your home and ask them to help you in everything you do. Multiply Nazareth! Live Nazareth! Bring the Holy Family into your hearts and into your homes; and the Holy Family will bring your family into their Home.m INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

43

Food FoR THoUGHT

Stefano Navarrini illustration

n BY MOTHER MARTHA

I

n the late spring little pots of the culinary herb basil (basilico in Italian) go on sale at flower stands and market stalls all over Italy. Placed on terraces and balconies chefs and housewives add hand-picked leaves to their summer dishes for color, fragrance, and anise-like flavor.

Originally a native of India and tropical regions of Africa and Southeast Asia, today basil is used in cuisines worldwide.

It’s particularly popular in Italy, especially Genoa, where it’s profusely cultivated on terrace farms close to the city. Basil is the main ingredient of pesto, a pasta sauce of crushed (pesto in Italian) basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. It also features prominently in the southern Italian dishes pomodori al riso (baked tomatoes filled with rice) and insalata Caprese of mozzarella cheese slices, tomatoes, and basil leaves named for the world-famous island of Capri where it was first served. Just across the Bay in Naples, the pizza Margherita’s toppings have the same ingredients.

A legend recounts that on November 6, 1889 the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito, Pizzeria Brandi’s chef, invented this pizza in honor of the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, during her visit to Naples. He supposedly chose the toppings to represent the colors of the Italian national flag. While the pizza Margherita undoubtedly became more popular after the royal visit, a book by “a certain” Riccio, otherwise unknown, entitled Napoli, contorni e dintorni (Naples, side-dishes and surroundings) (1830) had already described a similar pizza as had Emanuele Rocco in 1849, but here the slices of mozzarella and the basil leaves were arranged on the tomato paste in a flower shape because Margherita means “daisy” in Italian.

In addition to its culinary connection, basil is associated with many rituals.

The French sometimes call basil “l’herbe royal”; Jewish folklore suggests it adds strength during fasting.

In Portugal a future groom traditionally gives a pot of basil, a love poem and a paper carnation, to his fiancée on the feast days of St. John and of St. Anthony. On the contrary, in ancient Greece basil was the symbol of hatred.

Basil also has had a long religious significance. In ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and medieval Europe it was placed in the hands of the dead to ensure a safe journey to eternal life. Today it’s highly revered in Hinduism. In the Greek Orthodox Church it’s used to sprinkle holy water, while the Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian and Romanian Orthodox Churches prepare holy water with it and pots of the plant often decorate their church altars.

Some Greek Orthodox Christians avoid eating basil because of its association with the legend of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, celebrated on September 14. For, according to Orthodox teachings, St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great, discovered the Holy Cross on September 14, 325 AD near Golgotha, where it had laid in the dust for centuries. In the same place she also discovered a hitherto unknown plant of rare beauty and fragrance namely basil.

Centuries later, basil was featured in the Decameron, a collection of 100 short stories written in c. 1350 by Giovanni Boccaccio for 10 friends secluded in a villa outside Florence during the Black Death. In the 5th story of the narrative’s fourth day, a pot of basil is central to the plot. Elisabetta’s family wish her to marry a prosperous nobleman, but she is in love with Lorenzo, her brothers’ accountant. Her brothers murder Lorenzo and bury his body. He appears to Elisabetta in a dream and tells her where he is buried. Broken-hearted, she exhumes his body, buries his head in a pot of basil, and tends the plant obsessively. When her brothers confiscate her pot, she dies shortly thereafter.

Boccaccio’s story inspired the British poet John Keats (1795-1821) to write in 1818 a long narrative poem entitled Isabella, or the Pot of Basil. Keats’ poem inspired three paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: John Everett Millais’s Isabella in 1849, today in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery, and William Holman Hunt’s and John William Waterhouse’s Isabella and the Pot of Basil (both 1868), today both in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Later John White Alexander depicted the poem in his 1897 Isabella and the Pot of Basil, now in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.m

basil (“Basilico”) in History, religion, Poetry and Painting

In the paintings, from left to right: Millais’s Isabella, and Isabella and the Pot of Basil by Waterhouse, Hunt and Alexander

62 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2021

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Classic USA: California Missions March 16 - 24, 2020 • Visit eight missions in eight days and seven nights • Attend the Return of the Swallows to the San Juan Capistrano Mission on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph • Spend 2 nights in San Diego’s Little Italy to include St. Patrick’s Day • Celebrate ITV magazine’s 27th Anniversary with 2 special dinners as we journey up the coastline • Spend 2 nights in the center of historic Santa Barbara with only a 5 minute walk to the beach • Enjoy wine tasting and lunch at one of the most beautiful vineyards with French Courtyards and stone barrelaging caves • Discuss the Church today with Dr. Robert Moynihan and why the Church is more important than ever • Spiritual encounters along the way

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