Inside the Vatican magazine July-August 2023

INSIDE THE

JULY-AUGUST 2023 $10 / EUR 10 / £6.60

30 YEARS

VATICAN SPECIAL EDUCATION ISSUE

PHOTOS GRZEGORZ GALAZKA

The Three PoPes of InsIde the VatIcan

ThirTy years of hisTory of InsIde the VatIcan an inTerview wiTh GrzeGorz Galazka, co-founder of The maGazine

INSPIRATION FROM SAINTS FOR US TO BE SAiNTS

◆ Blessed Carlo Acutis:

◆ The Leaven of the

◆ Memoirs:

A Saint in Sneakers

Saints: Bringing Christ into a Fallen World

József Mindszenty

H

ow does a city boy who only lived to the age of 15 “go viral” more than a decade after he died? Discover the story of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first millennial to be beatified by the Church. Born in 1991, the tech-savvy teen is hailed by the Church as an example of holiness in our complex digital age, witnessing that computer coding and video games are no obstacle to sainthood.

From a young age, Carlo’s enthusiasm for Jesus was contagious. He called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven”, and used his computer to design an exhibition dedicated to Eucharistic miracles that has traversed the globe. Vatican journalist Courtney Mares traveled in the footsteps of Acutis across Italy to tell his story in depth, interviewing many whose lives he helped transform.

Includes an 8-page photo insert and an account of the miracles attributed to Acutis’ intercession.

SSCAP . . . Sewn Softcover, Illustrated, $17.95

“A superb delivery of the inspiring life of Carlo Acutis. Easy to read and packed with details about his story.”

—Edward Sri, Author, The Art of Living “Carlo teaches us an important lesson. God has called us all to be saints wherever we are—online, on the ski slopes, in sneakers.”

— Mike Aquilina Author, The Fathers of the Church

T

he lives of saints teach us how we can be part of the kingdom of heaven now, and spread it to others like leaven causing dough to rise. Over the past two millennia, the saints have loved and imitated Christ so wholeheartedly that they transformed the world around them.

Saints come from every background, and era. In this acclaimed book, Dawn Beutner groups them according to the kind of Christian witness they’ve given —as martyrs, Fathers & Doctors of the Church, priests, religious, popes, bishops, national heroes, married persons, and more. Each saint is a unique individual with a unique mission to grow in the knowledge and love of Christ, and to make him better known and loved in the world.

LVSP . . . Sewn Softcover, $19.95

“Sanctity can seem impossible to many people. This book reminds us that it is God who makes saints through his grace and love, and just as He has transformed so many others, he can do the same for us!”

—Fr. Sebastian White, O.P. Editor-in-Chief, Magnificat “A fresh presentation on the importance of the saints in our lives. Dawn weaves a tapestry from saints of all ages, nationalities, and vocations to show what they teach about vocation, virtue, and daily living.”

—Bishop Michael Burbidge Arlington, Virginia

T

hese moving Memoirs reveal the full story of the legendary Hungarian hero-priest Mindszenty, whose brave, uncompromising leadership against the atheistic Communist government laid the foundation for the strong Christian leadership in Hungary today.

Imprisoned, and physically and psychologically tortured by the Communist government, Mindszenty spent eight years in solitary confinement. This work is an extraordinary contribution to contemporary history and an eyewitness account of a Church and country under brutal Communist domination in the Cold War era.

MMRP . . . Sewn Softcover, Illustrated, $22.95

“These memoirs are enthralling, evidence of a terrible time, to be set with Solzhenitsyn’s tales of the Gulag. Mindszenty was a hero for me as a teenager.”

—Cardinal George Pell Author, Prison Journal “Mindszenty's memoirs are among the great Catholic testimonies of the 20th century, as the great Hungarian martyr-confessor was one of the century's great Catholic witnesses.”

—George Weigel Author, The Fragility of Order

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EDITORIAL by Robert Moynihan

The Holy Is the Real... Not AI The problem: our ancestors believed in the holiness of God. Today’s scientists are leaving that “outworn belief” behind, and, via technology, seeking... to make men into gods... with no regard whatsoever for “holiness”...

The central proclamation of the Christian faith is a fact of history, an event that occurred in a certain place at a certain time: the resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem on the first Easter morning.

This is the “Good News” (the Gospel): that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead after His execution in Jerusalem in c. 30 A.D., nearly 2,000 years ago. That Jesus “trampled death by death.”

The belief that He did this, the acceptance that this “Good News” — that He indeed conquered death — was true, led His followers to revere and love Him...

They revered and loved Him because they were persuaded that He was worthy, that the power which had enabled Jesus to conquer death, to “reverse entropy,” to overcome the seemingly inevitable process of aging, sickness, decay and death, was not a technological, financial or occult power of any sort, but rather... His perfect goodness, His perfect... holiness. (Because death has no power over perfect holiness.)

Holiness, ontologically, is linked to, or connected to, the eternal, a reality which in its essential “being-ness” is beyond decay and death, a reality which cannot die, a reality which, in its fundamental nature, its essence, remains forever, “unto ages of ages,” with no end... We find this truth throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments.

Jesus said the name of God (His essence) is “holy,” or “to be made or kept as holy,” when He taught His disciples the Our Father: “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name’” (Matthew 6:7-9).

The Prophet Isaiah wrote: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit...’” (Isaiah 57:15).

The Prophet Samuel wrote: “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you...” (1 Samuel 2:2).

Peter wrote, in his first letter: “Therefore... set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:13-16).

King David in the Psalms wrote: “I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed” (Psalm 71:22-23).

God is more than a means of achieving a transitory desire or worldly goal: He is our greatest good. God is an end in Himself.

The profound advances of modern science and technology, together with a general forgetting of the place of “the holy” in any effort to render eternal what is limited and temporal, have led us to the peculiar obsession of our present time: seeking eternal life through technology rather than through union with the eternal, holy God, that is, by becoming filled with grace, that is, holy.

Through technology, not through... sanctity. Through “AI” (arti-

ficial intelligence) and not through incorporation into the holiness of the risen Jesus Christ, by means of the mysteries of Christian life, also known as the Christian “sacraments,” all seven of which are intended to incorporate finite, sinful human beings into the infinite, holy being of the Risen Lord Himself.

Two recent news reports prompt this reflection. First, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk revealed in an April 18 interview with Tucker Carlson that Google co-founder Larry Page once told him he hoped to build an AI super-intelligence that Musk described as a “digital god.” According to Musk, the exchange occurred when he stayed at Page’s home in Palo Alto, California, when the two were “close friends.” Musk said: “I would talk to him late into the night.”

Page wanted a “digital super-intelligence,” Musk said, “basically a digital god, if you will, as soon as possible.” Musk noted a number of public statements by Page over the years showing that “the whole goal of Google is what’s called AGI, artificial general intelligence or artificial super-intelligence.” So, a new, “technological” God. Not a holy one...

Second, Israeli “futurologist” ww Noah Harari, in an interview on May 19 in Lisbon, Portugal, suggested that “AI can create new ideas; [it can] even write a new Bible.” Harari works closely with Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum, who has proposed a “Great Reset” for humanity between now and the year 2030.

This suggests that the “Reset” may involve the creation of a new “holy book” for humanity, authored by “artificial intelligence.” Not a holy but an artificial intelligence scripture.

Christianity makes a central proposal: that man — each human person — is in the image and likeness of God, and, in existing, is meant, as St. Irenaeus tells us, to give glory to God — the ultimate reality — by becoming fully alive through the vision of God, through seeking after and finally seeing God. This means that any humanism, any de facto deification of man… any worship of man, not God… will not lead humans to true happiness but, on the contrary, to a dead end and misery. That is the essence of the matter.

We have a calling, a vocation, each one of us. We are called to undertake a pilgrimage in this life, to set our sights on our true destiny, our true home, and journey toward that destiny, that home, in the face of every temptation, every proposed alternative destiny, focusing on that final goal alone. The goal is to encounter the Logos, Christ.

“Man bears within him a thirst for the infinite, a longing for eternity, a quest for beauty, a desire for love... man bears within him the desire for God,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his General Audience of May 11, 2011.

This is the message of Christianity, and it is the message that is behind all of the Church’s elaborate structures, all of the teachings, doctrines, commandments, counsels, laws, sacraments, rituals and charitable initiatives.

This is the true heart of the Church, and the true purpose of the Holy See, the true center of the Vatican — even if all the insufficiencies and failings of men have made that true center difficult to see clearly. Yet, this true center remains... m JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CONTENTS JULY-AUGUST 2023

Year 31, #4

LEAD STORY Zelensky to Pope Francis: “Thanks, but no thanks”

by Robert Moynihan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 NEWS HUNGARY/Pope Francis to Hungary: “You must be a bridge-builder”

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

JULY-AUGUST 2023 Year 31, #4

v

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robert Moynihan ASSOCIATE EDITOR: George “Pat” Morse (+ 2013) ASSISTANT EDITOR: Christina Deardurff CULTURE EDITOR: Lucy Gordan CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: William D. Doino, Jr. WRITERS: Anna Artymiak, Alberto Carosa, Giuseppe Rusconi, David Quinn, Andrew Rabel, Vladimiro Redzioch, Serena Sartini PHOTOS: Grzegorz Galazka LAYOUT: Giuseppe Sabatelli ILLUSTRATIONS: Stefano Navarrini CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Deborah B. Tomlinson ADVERTISING: Katie Carr Tel. +1.202.864.4263 kcarr@insidethevatican.com

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4 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

Speech/“The Pope is Not a Czar”

by Cardinal Gerhard Müller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Analysis/The Next Conclave

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 PHOTO ESSAY/30 Years of Inside the Vatican: An Anniversary Retrospective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 SPECIAL EDUCATION SECTION Authentic Catholic education: Thriving 50 years after the Land O’ Lakes disaster

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 How to cure the Catholic education headache: An interview with Patrick J. Reilly

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 “Trans” culture is swallowing our college kids: One family’s story

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Marriage is dying: How faithful Catholic colleges are reversing the trend

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 CULTURE Book/Hands Off Africa! by Pope Francis

by Joseph Tulloch (Vatican News) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Footsteps on the Way/America’s Only Approved Marian Apparition

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Scripture/The Brave Virtue of Patience

by Anthony Esolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Latin /The Children of Subtraction

by John Byron Kuhner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 URBI ET ORBI: CATHOLICISM AND ORTHODOXY Icon/“Through Him all things were made”

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 East-West Watch/World Focus on Kyiv Pechersk Lavra

by Peter Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 News from the East/Zelensky greetings to bishop; Pope changes Eastern bishops’ voting; Orthodox martyrs added to Roman Martyrology ; Coptic Orthodox liturgy at St. Peter’s

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 FEATURES Tradition and Beauty/Impoverishment of the liturgy: “The people” are the losers

by Aurelio Porfiri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Art/Francis of Assisi at London’s National Gallery; celebrating the papacy of Urban VIII

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Lord of the World/“The Greatest Danger: Indiscreet Zeal”

by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Vatican Watch/A day-by-day chronicle of Vatican events: April-May-June 2023

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 People/Knights of Malta elect “commoner”; German church tax confusion; severe anti-Catholic violence in Nigeria; China demands “total loyalty”; martyred priests beatified

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Food for Thought/Turin: The Vermouth Capital of the World

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

POWERFUL & INSPIRING FILMS

MOTHER TERESA: No Greater Love

LIBERATOR OF ASIA — Award-winning documentary on the

Filmed on 5 continents and with unprecedented access, this deeply moving film reveals not just who St. Teresa was, but how her singular vision to serve Christ through the poor continues to be realized today through the Missionaries of Charity. Interviews include Bishop Robert Barron, Fr. Donald Haggerty, and Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator of Mother Teresa’s cause of canonization.

MTNGLM • 110 min, $19.95

true story of Ngo Dinh Diem, the assassinated President of Vietnam.

Cast as a despot to justify the actions of self-serving policymakers, Diem receives a stunning new appraisal in this film that masterfully weaves together interviews with leading contemporaries and relatives of Diem, military historians, rare archival footage, and groundbreaking new evidence to present an altogether different portrait of a leader greatly esteemed by the Vietnamese, even considered a martyr and saint by many.

LOAM • 61 min, $16.95

ALIVE: The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist This inspiring and acclaimed film presents the compelling testimonies of five men and women with unique stories of how their lives were completely transformed by experiencing the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. DVD includes “A Conversation About the Power of the Eucharist”, featuring Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP, Fr. Julian Harris. In Spanish with English subtitles.

ALIVEM • 81 min, $17.95

THE SIEGE OF VIENNA— This epic film tells the powerful true story of one of the most important military battles in history, recounting the Ottoman Turks massive invasion of Vienna, the gateway to the West, on September 11, 1683, a moment when Christendom and Western civilization truly hung in the balance. Inspiring performances by an outstanding cast with F. Murray Abraham, Claire Bloom, Piotr Adamczyk, Enrico Lo Verso.

SOVM • 190 min, $19.95

SLAVES AND KINGS — Set in Spain and Cuba in the 1800s, this dramatic film tells the story of St. Anthony Mary Claret, an Archbishop, writer, publisher, social reformer, missionary, and confessor to the Queen of Spain. Claret, founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was called the “spiritual father of Cuba” due to his zealous missionary work amidst many enemies, surviving 14 attempts of assassination. He was canonized a saint in 1950.

SAKM • 120 min., $17.95

DYSCONNECTED: The Real Story Behind the Transgender Explosion — In recent years a transgender tsunami has swept the nation, completely overtaking the medical, educational, and counseling industries, and forever altering many thousands of young girls’ lives. How did it come to this? And who is behind it?

Filmmaker Don Johnson traveled the country to find out, interviewing many key people involved with the issue, and the evidence he presents is stunning.

DISM • 86 min., $19.95

CHIARA LUBICH: Love Conquers All— Portraying the life of the founder of the Focolare Movement, this powerful movie tells the story of a young teacher in Italy, who, amidst the devastation of World War II, was called to build a better, more united world. Directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Giacomo Campiotti (Mary of Nazareth; St. Philip Neri), it reveals a courageous, charismatic figure who chose love as the compass of life. Her cause for sainthood is opened in Rome. In Italian or English.

CLUM • 107 min, $16.95 PROPHET— A powerful film on Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the Primate of Poland, who, after three years of imprisonment by the Communist regime, was restored as the head of the Church in Poland. His unwavering faith and great courage kept the Polish Church strong through brutal persecution by the atheist regime, and helped prepare the way for the papacy of his fellow Polish Cardinal, Karol Wojtyla.

PROPM • 126 min, $19.95

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Signature Lebanon: Ancient Monasteries and Modern Saints: September 16 - 24, 2023 Lebanon is a small but beautiful country of seacoasts, mountains, rivers – and, of course, majestic cedar trees – with a history stretching back thousands of years. Tucked in between Syria and Israel, it is a crossroads between Asia and Europe, a unique land where Christians, Muslims and Jews live together in peace. Christianity took root here in its very beginnings.

Come with us to this ancient land where Jesus Himself walked …experience the breathtaking country Pope John Paul II called “a message of peace” for the world. Visit us online to learn more!

∞

I N S I D E T H E VAT I CA N PI LG R I M AG E S .C O M

2024 Pilgrimages

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

(Re: Moynihan Letter #92: Monday, May 15, Francis to Jesuits) Putin is not on board with the WEF. Until such time that he is, Russia will be maligned unabated. This is what it is all about, pure and simple. NWO is the goal.

Zelensky is a fascist and mentally insane, and to pretend he cares for his fellow Ukrainians is laughable. He wishes to establish the woke-ism that is awash in the culture of today with the sodomites and their ilk. Zelensky has brought on this war, and to push a nuclear-powered country to the brink of using their nukes is nothing short of insanity.

How could the Vatican have any credibility left to propose anything, after all this pontificate has produced? This pontificate that is at the same time trying to quash the traditional orders? The autodemolition of the Church is in full swing now, and the Vatican is acting as though it can broker peace? Seriously?

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

James Wilhelm Post Falls, Idaho, USA

@

Kingdom not of this world supersede all of this? I don’t know the answer.

I will consider prophetic the man who stands up to Putin, like the early Christian prophets, as a witness to a different Kingdom with a different Tsar-Caesar. He would do so in love of the servant of God, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and the salvation of his baptized Orthodox Christian soul — having prayed ceaselessly for him. He will prompt and lead Putin to Christian repentance and to immediately end the war which he started. He will retire to repent at an Orthodox monastery.

The man to stand up to Putin should be his own priest/bishop/patriarch. But they are unwilling, blinded by the same delusion.

Maybe a Roman Pope can take on such a role? The Pope who was truly prophetic in this manner would probably be killed. And the Church, by the blood of such martyrs, lived and made visible, somehow by grace, the Kingdom that was not of this world. Or maybe all this is my own delusion?

(Fr) Robert Holet fr.r.holet@uocusa.net

PRAYING FOR THE KING? (Re: Moynihan Letter #64, Wednesday, March 1, Danger; the letter spoke of the looming danger of a wider war in Ukraine after drones struck a building inside the Kremlin in Moscow) Danger for sure. But not because Ukraine shuttled a couple of drones across Russia’s border. WW III, if it happens, will be caused by a ruthless Russian autocrat goaded by his mindless followers and even ‘blessed’ by his religious sycophants, justified by the demonic paranoia that sees the next Western NATO assault as ultimately destroying ‘holy’ Russia. The fact is, it’s only a strong, united West that will show Putin the inadvisability of such a move.

I say all this from an earthly perspective. In fact, we all call for and pray for peace. But did God oppose Joshua as he made war against the Kings in Palestine, or as Scripture says, command him to attack? Does the

Can we be done with the royalty thing?

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, what should also pass is the idea of kings and queens in our time. It’s absurd. Just look at this Charles guy wearing a crown. It’s ridiculous. I get respecting Queen Elizabeth and all she has done during her time but, seriously, does anyone believe Charles should be honored to the point of placing his face on our currency, let alone having everyone chant for God to save him specifically?

Ian Toronto, Canada

PARISH HEROES I love the saints. I grew up with some. I speak of parish heroes who have withstood the test of time and carried their cross well.

We are all called to be like saints. So let us begin with their habits: In first place is the Rosary. All the “saints” I have known said the Rosary every day. Sometimes two

or three times a day. Next was daily Mass, and monthly Confession because the whole process of trying to be a good Catholic is a process of trying to keep one’s soul clean.

Another great habit is Eucharistic Adoration. Nothing is more contested in the world than the Lord’s Most Holy Eucharist. This is the great challenge of our Faith. But our saints have overcome it with faith in Jesus’ promises. They know the Lord through the Eucharist and he knows them in the same way. Amen!

Tom Greerty tgreerty@aol.com

As for “the Chinese,” the currently overlaid regime is a recent artifact of the Western Marxist heresy, not a feature of Chinese cultural continuity. Whereas Pope Benedict in his 2007 Letter affirmed that the Church is not a creature of the Western powers, now we have aggressive Sinicization—with the Church as a subsidiary of the Communist State.

Indeed, for less than one percent of the current Chinese population, still “not the best deal possible.”

Peter D. Beaulieu Shoreline, Washington, USA

“RESISTANCE” TO WHAT? IMPACTED BY BENEDICT I’ve been reading every word of the March/April “Pope Benedict” issue. I have been appreciative and impacted by Pope Benedict XVI, his life and words.

Thank you.

Michelle Small principessa108@gmail.com

“SINICIZATION” Of Vatican-China relations, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher remarks that “one of the things that the Chinese and the Catholic Church and the Holy See have in common is that we don’t think in months, or even in years.

We’re thinking in terms of a much longer time…” (“Vatican-China Deal ‘Not the Best Deal Possible’” May-June 2023).

Well, yes, even in the West the entrenched Investiture Crisis lingered in some form for centuries, even after the Concordat of Worms in A.D. 1122.

But is it possible that the overlaid and only decades-old (1949) Chinese regime is thinking in terms of only 1-2 decades?

Thirty-six of the 104 dioceses (not counting an additional 39 jurisdictions) are vacant of bishops. An entire generation under 18 years of age is prohibited from attending Mass. And, for those who do attend Mass, religious images are replaced with party portraits and slogans. In the first half of 2020 alone, almost 1,000 church crosses were torn down. The Church in China is being strangled under a “provisional agreement” which Cardinal Zen has suggested was floated past the Holy Father by Cardinal Parolin, and which others say was also influenced by the selfappointed diplomat McCarrick.

Two of Pope Francis’s recent statements stand out. The first: “Resistance to the decrees [of the Council] is terrible.”

What decrees does he mean?

The quote is in the context of a question on the Tridentine Latin Mass.

Many who demand the end of anything outside the books promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI, and revised by Pope St. John Paul II, appear not to have read Sacrosanctum Concilium, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, approved by the Council nearly unanimously in 1963.

Here is one quote from the Constitution: “The sacred Council declares that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and foster them in every way. The Council also desires that, where necessary, the rites be revised carefully in the light of sound tradition…” (n. 4, emphasis added).

It is quite obvious that there was no decree of the Council which, properly interpreted, led to the new Mass.

The Tridentine Mass is not for me; I

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am merely pointing out that it is not correct to attribute people’s positions to resistance to the Council (at least not the vast majority). Rather, people resist the implementation of the Council.

Second, the Pope, as he has before, cites St. Vincent of Lèrins on the development of dogma, implying that Lèrins supported “development” that actually leads to change. This is not accurate. The Saint meant, much as St. Bonaventure did, that dogma can be more deeply understood and fleshed out with time; not that it can be “updated” or changed. Even one of Joseph Ratzinger’s habilitation advisers rejected his work, as he believed Ratzinger was construing development much like a Modernist. In this area, then, careful attention to language is needed.

I would suggest off-the-cuff answers on technical and sensitive topics is not always the best idea.

Charles Cornelio ccornelio4696@gmail.com

WHY? In Rod Dreher’s blog post on Substack titled “The ‘God is Transgender’ Exhibit,” he says, “I don’t understand why Cardinal Tim Dolan, the leader of the Archdiocese of New York, tolerates this blasphemy.”

Someone who knows Cardinal Dolan should let Dreher know why.

Bill Schambra waschambra@comcast.net

TOXIC BLIGHT (Re: Moynihan Letter #100: Wednesday, August 17, 2022, Dreher. The article began this way: “The American writer Rod Dreher, 55, who converted from Catholicism to Orthodoxy some years ago, partly as a reaction to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse which he covered as a journalist, has just published a very long, very detailed, very passionate report on the rapidly growing movement to encourage young children to question their sexual identities, and to begin medication and therapy to change their gender without any involvement of the parents of the children — something Dreher thinks echoes the separation of children from their “ideologically retrogade” parents under Soviet Communism.

JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR “I am perhaps more sensitive to this than most because I am extremely focused on child protection,” Dreher writes. “As longtime readers know, I became so engrossed in writing about the systematic sexual abuse of children within Catholic clerical circles, and the systematic cover-up of same, that I burned out, and lost my ability to believe as a Catholic. I am grateful to be an Orthodox Christian now, but I wish I had managed my anger better. But I don’t regret my outrage itself, because it was entirely appropriate to the scale of the moral horror.”

A great article on an enormous Evil, whose genesis is in academia.

Academia since the late 50’s has been the epicenter of sedition of all types in society. Faculty in most universities are overpopulated with socialists, Communists, and worse, with no compass of ethics, morals, faith, conscience, etc. Marxists knew that education was vulnerable.

For at least six decades, these individuals have been indoctrinating young minds with subversive propaganda attacking our culture and traditional American values. Now, these oncestudents are now functioning in positions of responsibility with distorted, defective, and perverse perspectives. Every aspect of society has been permeated by this toxic blight of the Left.

Your Moynihan Letter #40: Francis, is also very alarming and provocative, citing the writings of Dr. Larry Chapp and Andrea Gagliarducci. Hopefully, Cardinals McElroy and Hollerich are in the minority relative to the College of Cardinals, the German Church itself being a problem also. Collectively, they are a serious threat to authentic apostolic Catholicism, Church teachings and doctrine.

Vic Cameron vcamco@ comcast.net

A BROTHER IN CHRIST I am grateful for the beauty of your print publication, the insights and depth of the Moynihan Letters, your understanding of the crisis in the Church — and commitment to what is right, your network with the very best in Rome and the world, a great book on Archbishop Viganò, interviews with Bishop Schneider, penetrating analysis of the 10

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

absurd directives on the Latin Mass (Cardinal Roche especially), love of the people of Lebanon, humility — not setting yourselves above others (those of the New Rite of Mass, for example) — and thus being truly Catholic.

Thank you for sharing your time, knowledge, thoughts and heart with your readers. I have been following you for many years, and consider you a dear brother in Christ. Enclosed is a gift for the Friends of Lebanon project. God bless you!

William Basile Rochester, New York, USA

ITV IN TRYING TIMES

judged too small to continue an authentic contemplative life.

Our own constitution (1986) doesn’t give numbers, but counsels that small communities unite with larger ones so that “souls dedicated to God do not suffer loss” (Perfectae Caritatis 21). Tiny groups, hanging on for dear life, are not contemplative communities. Thank you again for what you are doing for Christ’s Church — and for your readers who keep hope alive because of your writing.

Sr. Mary Pius, OSC Japan

ST. THERESE’S BIRTHDAY

While rodents try to devastate the US and steal all the money, we are motivated by the weak, pathetic attitude of most bishops and many priests, and the downright lying and conniving of others.

Inside the Vatican helps us see the road clearly for us and our children. And we are blessed to have a Latin Mass every Sunday!

Chris and Thea Quain Boiling Springs, S. Carolina, USA

In regard to your Moynihan Letter of June 7: I was surprised that you said Pope Francis venerated the relics of St. Therese on June 7, “the 150th anniversary of her birth.” She is my patron saint and her birth was on January 2, 1873. Faithfully and gratefully following your letters, Robert. Thanks for the witness!

Theresa Fons theresafons@yahoo.com

Thank you for all the work you do for the Holy Church during these trying times, rife with diabolical disorientation.

Prayers from a TLM-loving and persecuted Catholic from the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

Lance Olson West Salem, Wisconsin, USA

CARDINAL ROCHE AND THE RIFT OVER THE MASS

COR ORANS Congratulations on 30 years of Urbi et Orbi — you have lifted us up to higher realms with your Special Issues — thank you so much. In your latest issue, I enjoyed especially your editorial on St. Pius V and the miracle of the crucifix, and the last page, “Ratzinger the Gourmet.”

This letter surprised me [a previous Letter to the Editor which included the statement “Enemies of the Church are now striking at her very heart — the contemplative orders — utilizing the dagger of Cor Orans to bully and finally dismantle conservative contemplative religious communities so the Vatican can collect proceeds from the sale of assets.”

—Ed.]: could that possibly be true?

Actually, I was glad that some regulation was made for how low the numbers could get (5) before a community was

Thank you for your clear and informative article on “Critics of Cardinal Roche...” that appeared in the May/June issue of ITV, as well as the accompanying selection of responses. I am heartbroken that this is dividing our Holy Catholic Church. Why can’t the Traditionalists have their Mass? Can some of your articles, at least the content, be sent to Cardinal Roche or has he and other officials read these?

Can he think this over more carefully?

We must remember, of course, that the baptized laity share the role of priest, prophet and king, but we are certainly not the same as a consecrated priest. He has given his whole life as a servant and special instrument of God’s and serves us as well, as Christ does. We must know he stands in for the person of Christ in a very unique way.

How can we in charity disrupt our traditional communities and the unique preferences of individuals for the Latin Mass that, as we know, has been with us for centuries. While I do personally appreciate the vernacular Mass, I am so sorry for this rift in the Church.

Mary Gail Royal Cedarville, Michigan, USA

SSPX THROUGH THE FIRE BEFORE Years ago the popular country recording artist, Johnny Cash, recorded a poem that he wrote, entitled “Ragged Old Flag.” Near the end, one of the lines that raised goose-bumps was, “She’s been through the fire before, and I believe she can take a whole lot more!”

And so it goes without saying about the SSPX, for they have truly “been through the fire before”! It would be wise for all of us to brush up on their history and go to them for our consolation and expectations in light of this new directive.

Their constancy should be our clue.

Tim Bratt thughbratt@gmail.com

PUSHING THE OLD MASS “UNDERGROUND” It was “found necessary” to issue the Pope’s second letter on restrictions of the TLM, because of the lack of implementation of Pope Francis’ motu proprio by a good number of bishops around the world (by using Canon 87, etc.) I believe it will push the TLM “underground” and further add to the ranks of the Pius X Society (which has already grown by three times since the issuance of the motu proprio by Pope Francis). This will not end well; the TLM will survive — whether any Catholics will continue to go to a further watered-down Novus Ordo (which is also supposed to be a part of this document), will remain to be seen — we are currently at 12% weekly Mass attendance in the States (in most dioceses); 2.5% in the Netherlands. God bless and thank you for all you do.

Fr. Karl Millis, SMD I am wondering: Why do you think John Paul II accepted the new form of the Mass? I’m an octogenarian and have alway found the Latin Mass to be the anchor of the Church. Was he that easily influenced by modernists? Also the same for Benedict. I think Francis is leading the Church on the wrong path.

When the new Mass was introduced in our parish, it was uncomfortable but we all got used to it and, not really knowing much Latin, I thought it was a translation of sorts of the Latin Mass.

But now even in my old age I’m trying

to learn Latin to better understand the 1962 missal and am finding it a wonderful source of prayer.

I attend the Latin Mass almost daily on YouTube and pray with my missal.

Francis is wrong to take this away from the Church.

Sally Shamphan sasodowd80@gmail.com

EPOCH OF VATICAN II (Re: Letter #15: Viganó, on Thursday, January 12, 2023, which contains the text of a letter by Archbishop Viganò dated January 8 for the Feast of the Holy Family. His letter included this passage: “It is not surprising that the enemies of God also want to cancel His name, replacing it with Parent 1 and Parent 2, precisely to eliminate those blessed names, with which we can call Abba, Father, none other than God, and Mother the heavenly Mother of God.”) Do you have a channel through which you can communicate to Archbishop Viganò how very much we (certain Catholics in America) love and treasure him? For five years now, and especially during the “Covid era” he has been one of the few to state the truth about the major movements in the world. There have been so many times that I have observed and concluded things that sounded improbable, but which certainly followed from the evidence. I’d be guarded in whom I confided, since the conclusions made me sound crazy, but then I’d read the next letter from the Archbishop, and think, “Goodness, I was right.” I never wanted to be “right” on these things, but it was heartening to read that someone of great intelligence and high connections was drawing the same conclusions. It gave me courage to speak.

And in this time, when truth has been mis-shaped by almost all who bear the responsibility of communicating it intact to people, Archbishop Viganò has defended and asserted it. He has set the record straight, and given voice to people like me who saw the truth, but were intimidated to speak up. That is exactly what is needed desperately now, a critical mass of people not afraid to speak the truth.

And the good archbishop has swelled the ranks of those people.

We love him. The value of someone

that the Catholic laity can trust to speak truth, no matter what, is incalculable just now. Please tell him we pray for him.

Sheryl Collmer Texas Please know that all the ITV staff are in my prayer, many thanks to all of you.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and blameless at the coming of Our Lord Jesus.

Yours in Christ Jesus, Colby Wilson St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

FROM A PRISONER Your magazine is such a blessing and everyone loves it, even non-Catholics (I think it’s all the photography). We have not seen a priest nor had Mass or Confession in more than 3 years!! So we are truly in need of the lifeline of Inside the Vatican! I hope you will renew my subscription for another year. I really enjoyed the Marian Special Issue and the issue on the life of Joseph Ratzinger — he will be sorely missed! I love the painting of Benedict XVI by Natalia Tsarkova.

I hope your work goes forward with God’s blessing and it continues to change lives as it has mine and many others.

William F. Young, Jr., #650486 2501 State Farm Rd., Tucker Max Unit Tucker, Arkansas 72168-9567 My name is Matthew Herrmann and I am a Catholic inmate at Belmont Prison in Ohio. I have been incarcerated since 2010, and over the years high-quality Catholic reading material has become more and more difficult to find in prison.

Of course, there is plenty of Protestant and other religious materials. With this said, I would like to kindly ask if it would be possible to receive a complimentary prisoner subscription. I assure you that the magazine issues would be shared among other Catholic inmates. If this is not possible, I would simply ask for your staff to please pray for Catholic inmates in prisons. We are often persecuted for being Catholic due to the scandalous behavior of certain priests.

Thanks for your consideration!

Matthew Herrmann Belmont Correctional Institution St. Clairsville, Ohio, USA JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LEAD STORY

May 13, 2023, Vatican City. Arrival of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky for the meeting with Pope Francis, accompanied by Father Leonardo Sapienza (Vatican/Pool/Galazka)

ZELENSKY TO FRANCIS: “THANKS, BUT NO THANKS” After the Pope’s allusions to possible Vatican efforts toward peace and much subsequent speculation, Pope Francis met on Saturday, May 13 — the anniversary of the first Fatima apparition in 1917 – with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He ended the meeting without achieving what he sought: Ukrainian approval for a Vatican role in eventual peace

talks in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.

Zelensky started the meeting by placing a notebook on the table which contained the points he wished the Pope to hear and agree to.

Here below are excerpts from two articles which summarize what happened on May 13 between the two leaders.

LIKE BENEDICT XV, POPE FRANCIS SEEMINGLY REBUFFED IN BID TO END EUROPEAN WAR n BY JOHN L. ALLEN, JR.

D

uring a keenly anticipated visit to Rome May 13 that included a 40-minute encounter with Pope Francis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made it crystal clear that whatever secret peace plan the Vatican may be cooking up, he’s not interested.

In a tweet shortly after the meeting concluded, Zelensky said he’d pressed Francis “to condemn crimes in Ukraine. Because there can be no equality between the 12

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

victim and the aggressor.”

Speaking later during a special program on Italian television broadcast from Rome’s famed “Altar of the Fatherland” in the Piazza Venezia, Zelensky flatly ruled out a mediating role for the pontiff or the Vatican.

“With all due respect for His Holiness, we don’t need a mediator between Ukraine and the aggressor that’s seized and occupied our territory,” Zelensky said.

From the very beginning, many Ukrainians who live in Italy with their families, have come to St. Peter’s Square to solicit Pope Francis’ solidarity with their motherland Ukraine at war following aggression by the Russian Federation (Photo Grzegorz Galazka)

“No one can negotiate with Russia,” Zelensky said. “There can be no mediators.”

“They took away citizenship from people in the occupied territories,” he said, referring to Russian forces.

“They forced them to go fight on the front. They tossed out all Ukrainian instruction. They prohibited the Ukrainian language. They forbade having a Ukrainian Church. They brought abuses and evil.

“You can’t have mediation with Putin,” Zelensky emphasized. “We know the consequences… it’s not a question of the Vatican, or America, or Latin America, or China, or any country in the world. Putin only kills, you can’t have a mediation with him.”

The Ukrainian leader implied that if the Vatican wants to do something constructive, it should get on board with Ukraine’s own peace plan.

“For me, it was an honor to meet His Holiness,” Zelensky said.

“However, he knows my position and the position of Ukraine. The war is in Ukraine, and therefore the plan

[for peace] has to be Ukrainian.

We’ve proposed a plan, and we discussed it today. We’re very interested in involving the Vatican and Italy in our formula for peace, for restoring the peace in Ukraine.”

To be clear, it’s not as if Russia has gushed with enthusiasm over the idea of Pope Francis and the Vatican as a go-between, either. Spokespersons for Putin have restricted them-

selves to saying they know nothing of any Vatican peace effort, leaving hanging the broader question of whether they’d be open to such an initiative.

In other words, like Benedict XV’s peace plan in 1917, Francis’

efforts to provide an exit strategy from the war in Ukraine seem dead on arrival. [...]

For now, Francis may be compelled to limit his efforts to trying to mitigate the humanitarian consequences of the war. Yesterday, for example, Zelensky invited the pope to assist in efforts to return Ukrainian children who’ve been deported by Russian forces.

In much the same vein, Benedict XV failed to end the fighting during WWI but was able to blunt some of its excesses, such as ending the deportations of Belgians by German forces. Benedict also launched an office for prisoners in the Vatican which, by war’s end, had processed more than 600,000 pieces of mail, including 170,000 requests for help in locating missing persons and 40,000 appeals for repatriation of prisoners who were sick.

It remains to be seen whether, in the long run, Francis’ broader efforts to continue his press for peace will play as well in the eyes of history as his predecessor.

(CRUX, May 14, 2023)

ZELENSKY, WITH U.S. BACKING, WANTED TO PUSH THE POPE INTO A CORNER… BUT THE HOLY SEE IS NOT STUPID n BY MARCO POLITI

I

n living memory it had never happened that a head of state, meeting the pontiff, opened a large notebook on the interview table with the points to be specified.

A leader goes to the Pope to speak, but also to listen.

To present his vision, and at the same time to welcome the other’s perspective, which has a profound ethical-political authority, an authority that, yes, is without any military divisions or economic

power, but which is distinguished by centuries of memory.

Now, with a cool head, the summit in the past, it becomes clear that the Ukrainian president had no desire to listen to Pope Francis. [...]

His [Zelensky’s] goal was to push Bergoglio into a corner, sabotage any hypothesis of Vatican mediation, force him [Pope Francis] to consider the pressing — and propagandistic — requests of the Uk-

rainian leader: (1) Join the condemnation of Putin as a criminal, (2) Press for him to accept as the only outcome the so-called “Zelensky plan,” which plan is not a peace plan but a list of conditions that a Russia on its knees should be forced to accept, because the blackmail of sanctions would continue even after the retreat of the Russian army.

That’s why the notebook was placed on the desk with the points clearly visible.

JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LEAD STORY

ZELEnSkY AT ThE VATicAn

“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS” — POPE SENDS ENVOY TO KYIV

R

eturning from Budapest, Hungary, after his April 28-30 visit, the Pontiff said in his in-air press meeting: “Everyone is interested in the path to peace. I am willing, I am available, to do anything that needs to be done. There is a mission, but it’s not public yet, let’s see... When it’s public, I’ll talk about it.”

It became “public” when the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, announced May 20 that Pope Francis had tasked Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi with leading an attempted peace initiative with the Ukrainian government.

Cardinal Zuppi subsequently met with Ukrainian President Zelensky during a two-day mission to Ukraine June 5 and 6.

Zuppi has long been associated with the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic lay association devoted to ecumenism and conflict resolution.

He is something of an expert in conflict resolution, in fact: he was one of the four mediators of the Rome General Peace Accords that helped end the civil war in Mozambique in 1992, in recognition of which he was made an honorary citizen of that country.

And in 1993, he traveled to Turkey to work for the release of two Italian tourists held by Kurdish rebels.

At the conclusion of Cardinal Zuppi’s Ukraine mission

In part concerning humanitarian matters (aid to the population, exchanges of prisoners, repatriation of children) but above all political requests culminating in the axiom that the only peace is the one imposed by a victorious Ukraine and in the exact terms decided by the Ukrainian leadership.

Thus, the gulf between Francis’ goal, oriented towards a ceasefire to favor a negotiated peace, and Zelensky’s approach appears evident. [...]

Twenty-four hours before Zelensky’s arrival at the Vatican, the line of the Ukrainian leadership had been sketched by the declarations of presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak: “There is no middle ground... There is an 14

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

on the evening of June 6, a Holy See Press Office statement said, “The results of these talks, like those with religious representatives as well as the direct experience of the atrocious suffering of the Ukrainian people as a result of the ongoing war, will be brought to the Holy Father’s attention.”

The mission, the statement continued, “will undoubtedly be useful to assess the next steps to be taken both on a humanitarian level and in the search for paths to a just and lasting peace.”

Zuppi has said previously that Pope Francis’ position, that peace must be sought on any basis, “is so rare today, when speaking of peace seems to avoid taking sides or acknowledging responsibility.” He characterized the Pope’s efforts to build peace and refrain from laying total blame on either side, despite its frequent unpopularity, as “prophetic,” and said the Pope’s focus on ending hostilities “takes charge of the deep anxiety, sometimes unexpressed, often unheard, of the peoples who need peace.”

Zelensky holds firm: Peace plan must be “Ukrainian only” President Zelensky commented on the June 6 meeting himself on the online platform Telegram: “I met with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Special Envoy of Pope Francis.

absolute aggressor, Russia, which has come to kill and destroy… And there is Ukraine which is defending its children and territories… Any attempt to simply say ‘Stop the war, come to the negotiating table’ would be to force Ukraine into defeat.”

With a corollary explicitly addressed to Pope Francis: “Perhaps the Vatican is ready to demonstrate a much deeper understanding of these issues. Perhaps the Vatican is ready to acknowledge that Russia… has unleashed a great unprovoked war.”

A slap in the face to the policy of the Holy See, accused of not being capable of adequate analysis and of not wanting to recognize Putin’s aggression.

Zelensky’s collaborators

reserved such slaps in the past for France, when Macron was trying to orient himself on an independent line, and for Germany when Berlin showed reluctance to the escalation of armaments.

Now it’s the Vatican’s turn.

On Saturday evening (May 13), Zelensky in a slightly more polite way reiterated: “With all due respect to His Holiness, we do not need mediators.”

There is only one peace plan and it is the Ukrainian one. [...]

Moreover, it has not escaped the notice of the Vatican diplomacy that the Kyiv government can use these uncompromising tones only because it feels directly protected by Washington. As long as it is affirmed in the United States that peace is made only on the conditions established by Ukraine, the

“We discussed the situation in Ukraine and humanitarian cooperation in the framework of the Ukrainian Peace Formula. Only united efforts, diplomatic isolation and pressure on Russia can influence the aggressor and bring a just peace to the Ukrainian land.

“I call on the Holy See to contribute to the implementation of the Ukrainian peace plan. Ukraine welcomes the readiness of other states and partners to find ways to peace, but since the war is on our territory, the algorithm for achieving peace can be Ukrainian only.”

Reports also circulated that a second envoy is being considered by the Pope as a liaison with the Russian government: Italian Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, currently Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

He was Nuncio to Ukraine from 2015 to 2020 and has previous experience in the Vatican diplomatic service, especially in central-eastern Europe. In 2020, he acted as the Pope’s envoy in Belarus, following President Lukashenko’s temporary barring of Belarussian Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who had lodged formal complaints about government elections, from re-entering the country after a visit abroad.

Speaking to the May 22-25, 2023 Plenary Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Zuppi said, “We are the people of peace, starting with Jesus, who is our peace,” noting that Italy is “a hinge between North and South, but also between East and West.”

Italy is an ideal springboard for peace, he said, “because of the deepest and most characteristic roots of our people,” Zuppi said. As Italian Christians, “we are called to a fervent and insistent prayer for peace in Ukraine” and that global fraternity would reign, he said.

The rest of the world cannot remain “spectators of war reduced to a game.”

“In a world like ours we cannot do without a global vision,” he said, adding, “Following the painful events of distant countries, with prayer and information, is a form of charity. After all, the culture of peace is a decisive chapter of the culture of life, which draws inspiration from faith.”

As Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told an international Summit of Heads of State and Government in Reykjavik, Iceland on May 17, “Together with Pope Francis we should ask, together with Ukraine, how to create peace: we cannot passively accept that the war of aggression continues in that country. It is the Ukrainian people who are dying and suffering. It is time to take initiatives to create a just peace in Ukraine and in all the so-called gray areas in Europe. I guarantee you that the Holy See will continue to play its part.”

—ITV Staff/ANSA

Pope Francis with the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk (Photo Grzegorz Galazka)

leadership of Kyiv can continuously play to the upside.

However, the Vatican insists on remaining above the contending parties.

Francis has no intention of regressing to the times of Pius XII, when the Church was the protagonist of the Cold War. Francis prefers that today the Holy See be on the side of those states (the majority of the world’s

population) who want to end the conflict and consider the idea of a unipolar hegemony on the planet to be outdated.

It is symptomatic that in a recent interview with the bishops’ newspaper Avvenire, the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Archbishop Shevchuk underlined that the Ukrainian government “does not understand the idea of a conference (world, with all

the new protagonists on the international scene) summarized in the Helsinki-2 formula.”

This dislike of Kyiv towards an international conference to establish the new rules of coexistence of the planet in the 21st century is singular.

But the apparent strangeness can be explained if one looks at Washington, which does not want to hear about it.

In the great geopolitical contest that opened with the Ukrainian war, Zelensky and his patrons perhaps underestimate the lucidity of an unarmed power, which, from John XXIII to John Paul II, from Paul VI to Francis, has shown that it is not exactly stupid in assessing the dynamics of the international scene.

—Il Fatto Quotidiano JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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NEWS

PoPe Francis in Hungary: “you Must Be a ‘Bridge Builder’” GROUNDED IN ITS CHRISTIAN FAITH, HUNGARY “CAN DRAW ON ITS SPECIFICALLY ECUMENICAL CHARACTER” TO BRING UNITY TO EUROPE... n SHANNON MULLEN (CNA)

S

peaking to Hungarian civil authorities in Budapest, “a city of bridges,” Pope Francis on April 28 challenged the nations of Europe to recapture a spirit of fraternal unity and pursue “creative efforts for peace.”

“In the postwar period, Europe, together with the United Nations, embodied the noble hope that, by working together for a closer bond between nations, further conflicts could be avoided,” the Pope said at the start of his three-day visit to the Hungarian capital.

“In the world in which we presently live, however, that passionate quest of a politics of community and the strengthening of multilateral relations seems a wistful memory from a distant past,” the Holy Father lamented.

Before his address, delivered in a

Budapest (Hungary), April 28, 2023. Pope Francis is welcomed by Katalin Novák, President of the Republic of Hungary, and by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Photo - Grzegorz Galazka)

former Carmelite monastery in Budapest’s Castle District, Pope Francis met with Hungary’s President Katalin Novák and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose conservative policies, many of which aim to preserve and

strengthen the nation’s Christian identity, have placed Hungary’s government at odds with more liberal members of the European Union.

In his remarks, the Pope made no direct reference to the ongoing war in

HUNGARY’S CHRISTIAN TRANS-NATIONAL VIEWPOINT: THE BEST HOPE FOR UNITY?

T

he Pope’s decision to visit Hungary, and what he said there, may have ramifications that reverberate more widely than expected.

Despite the attempts of the popular media to drive a wedge between Pope Francis and the political leadership of Hungary, including, especially, its Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and president Katalin Novák, herself a Catholic, Francis spoke positively of Hungary’s role as a “bridge builder” in efforts to foster peace: a Christian balance between respecting national sovereignty and identity while building a cooperative Europe.

The Holy Father called for a Europe “centered on the human person” and denounced the “‘supranationalism’ that loses sight of the life of its peoples”: “This is the baneful path taken by those forms of ‘ideological colonization’ that would cancel differences, as in the case of the so-called gender theory, or that would place before the reality of life reductive concepts of freedom, for example by vaunting as progress a senseless ‘right to abortion,’ which is always a tragic defeat,” the Pope said.

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“How much better it would be to build a Europe centered on the human person and on its peoples, with effective policies for birth rate and the family like those pursued attentively in this country,” Francis concluded.

Gladden Pappin, a Catholic visiting senior fellow at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest, commented on the pertinence of the Holy Father’s remarks to the current conditions and needs of Europe — and the world.

“How do the Holy Father’s evocations map onto the Hungary of 2023?” Pappiun asked in a May 3 article in First Things. “The situation has led Hungary to plead instead for connectivity among nations — not by dissolving them into a global order, but by creating practical relationships between them that respect national traditions, including religion. ‘To generate forms of diplomacy capable of pursuing unity, not aggravating divisions’ is a formidable challenge from the Holy Father. Increasingly, it seems like something that only a Christian transnational viewpoint — rather than an isolated, culturally alien liberal one — can achieve.” — ITV staff

“CHRISTIANITY LIES AT THE CORE OF HUNGARIAN IDENTITY”

K

atalin Novák, President of Hungary, addressed a March 5 gathering hosted by the Bonum Commune Foundation in New York City. Mrs. Novák, a Catholic, discussed Hungary’s conception of the role of Christianity in public life. Gladden Pappin, a member of the Foundation, summarized her remarks: President Novák expressed that Christianity lies at the core of Hungarian identity, both by definition — going back to its founding king, St. Stephen — and according to its destiny. President Novák named five chief elements of Hungary’s Christian identity.

The first, she said, is that Christianity gives priority to the common good and not only to the individual.

Second, from Christianity Hungary draws the notion of its own sovereignty.

Third, she mentioned respect for the contribution of work as essential to the Christian vision—that human beings are to work, while retaining their dignity as creatures made in the image of God. Thus, fourth, she highlighted Christianity’s fundamental commitment to the protection of human life and dignity.

Finally, and relating to each of these, Christianity communicates the idea of responsibility — that is, that human choices matter.

Hungary, said President Novák, is in the fortunate situation of having the power to implement these elements of Christian understanding in concrete practice. That comes about, she said, through establishing them on a legal basis and carrying them out through policy decisions, resulting in a more Christian mentality—even where Sunday observance may be lacking.

Sometimes, the president noted, people suggest that public Christianity and the state’s support for it constitutes “pushing” Christianity. But the Hungarian view is that public support is “enabling” rather than pushing a Christian way of life. Hungary thus enables a Christian way of life by its constitution itself and by the subsidizing of traditional family values—including family support schemes and financial support for church-run institutions. (postliberalorder.substack.com) — Gladden Pappin Catholic politics professor at the University of Dallas in Dallas, Texas, and a Knight of Malta

Budapest (Hungary), April 2023 28. Pope Francis meets the bishops, priests, and religious men and women in St. Stephen’s Co-Cathedral (Photo - Grzegorz Galazka)

Ukraine, Hungary’s neighbor to the northeast. Instead, he spoke broadly of an urgent need to “generate forms of diplomacy capable of pursuing unity, not aggravating differences.”

Pope Francis placed Hungary, a historically Christian nation with a rich tradition of statesmanship, and Budapest itself, forged 150 years ago out of three separate cities, at the center of this leadership challenge.

“I think of a Europe that is not hostage to its parts, neither falling prey to self-referential forms of populism nor resorting to a fluid, if not vapid, ‘supranationalism’ that loses sight of the life of its peoples,” the Pope said.

In a sense, the Pope said, the city of Budapest symbolizes that vision.

“The most famous bridge in Budapest, the chain bridge,” the Pope noted, “helps us to envision that kind of Europe, since it is composed of many great and diverse links that derive their solidity and strength from being joined together.

“In this regard, the Christian faith can be a resource, and Hungary can act as a ‘bridge builder’ by drawing upon its specific ecumenical character.

“Here, different confessions live together without friction, cooperating respectfully and constructively.”

Yet Hungary must also confront internal challenges to its historical character as a welcoming nation, the Pope emphasized, alluding to efforts

by Orbán and his party to curtail the flow of refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

Hungary has welcomed some 1.5 million war refugees from Ukraine since Russia invaded the country more than a year ago, and the country has been a global leader in assisting persecuted Christian communities in Syria, Lebanon, and other parts of the world.

While praising those efforts, Pope Francis also evoked the fraternal spirit of the country’s first king, St. Stephen, noting that the 11th-century monarch advised his son, St. Emeric, that those who brought different languages and customs to Hungary “adorn the country.”

“The issue of acceptance and welcome is a heated one in our time, and is surely complex,” the Pope acknowledged.

“Nonetheless, for those who are Christians, our basic attitude cannot differ from that which St. Stephen recommended to his son, having learned it from Jesus, who identified himself with the stranger needing to be welcomed,” he continued.m JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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NEWS

Cardinal Müller: “The PoPe is noT a Czar” THE POPE MUST “ENTRUST HIMSELF TO THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS” Photo Grzegorz Galazka

n BY ITV STAFF

“Every Pope must distinguish precisely between his divine mandate and himself as an individual with all his limitations. He must not impose his private opinions regarding politics or economics or non-theological sciences on other Christians.” —Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the release of his new book, True and False Reform: What it Means to Be Catholic, in Turin, Italy.

We excerpt the talk he gave on the occasion, published May 10 on the Italian website SilereNonPossum.com

BY CARDINAL GERHARD MÜLLER (EXCERPTS)

A

nyone who wants to describe the importance of the papacy to the Catholic Church must start with Jesus Christ.

Indeed, it is only in the light of the Word made flesh that the “mystery of the holy Church” is revealed in its foundation by the historical Jesus of Nazareth.

With the foundation of the Church as a visible community of people who are related to God in faith, hope and love in the Holy Spirit, Jesus also called his apostles as his vicars.

The bishops (with the presbyters and deacons at their side) preside as successors of the apostles “in the place of God of Christ’s flock,” as shepherds in their guidance, as teachers in the proclamation of the Gospel and as priests in sacred worship, i.e., in the celebration of the

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Card. Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Left, his new book True and False Reform: What it Means to Be Catholic

sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.

After his resurrection from the dead and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and all who are to come to faith, Jesus completed the foundation of the visible Church on earth. [...]

The papacy is, in its most intimate essence, a service to the unity of the whole Church in the truth of the Gospel. Peter’s ministry is not a secular office of ruler in the manner of absolutist kings and autocratic tsars, but a pastoral-spiritual ministry.

Bishops and popes must not follow the example of secular rulers who oppress and exploit their people.

Rather, they must excel in greater devotion to the eternal salvation of believers. In fact, Jesus said to the

apostles, who were arguing about which of them should take first place: “… whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. Like the Son of man, who did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20: 26-28) [...]

Jesus’ great promise to Peter in the Gospel of Matthew is also found written in the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica above the tomb of the Apostle. “And I tell you: you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the powers of hell will not prevail over it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:18-19).

These words of Jesus cannot be relativized by saying that Jesus did

Nor may a Pope or bishop or other not expressly speak of a successor in much as, by divine mandate and with Rome or by questioning the histori- the assistance of the Holy Spirit, it ecclesiastical superior abuse the cal permanence and martyrdom of piously listens, holy guards and trust which is readily placed in him in a fraternal atmosphere to furnish the Prince of the Apostles in Rome. faithfully expounds that word.

Even if the doctrinal decisions of incompetent or corrupt “friends” It was rather providential that Peter’s universal mission was accomplished the Church in particular cases infal- with ecclesiastical sinecures or, conin his bloody martyrdom in Rome at libly reflect revelation because they trary to divine right, arbitrarily the time of Nero. Indeed, that Other are supported by the charism of the depose bishops to him personally (Jn 14:26) who will lead Peter where Holy Spirit, nevertheless they unwelcome or to interfere without he does not want to go is the Holy require the best possible human just cause in the ordinary pastoral Spirit, who assists him so that he can preparation and demand to be jeal- office of the diocesan bishop.

If there was a traitor “glorify God through his among the apostles chosen death” (Jn 21:19).

by Jesus, and even Peter deThe bishop therefore nied Jesus during the Pasalso represents in his persion, then we know that even son the diachronic and the human representatives synchronic unity of the of the Church in history and Church in the succession in the present can fail and of the apostles and the abuse their office in a selfish internal continuity of the or narrowed way.

Church with its origin in We also have an example Christ and in the apostles. of this in matters of faith, Since only the Bishop of given that Paul openly Rome is the personal sucresisted Peter when he cessor of Peter, while the allowed himself a dangerous other bishops are succesambiguity in the “truth of sors of the Apostles Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, by the Italian Renaissance painter the Gospel” (Gal 2:11-14). throughout their college, Pietro Perugino, Sistine Chapel, Rome Our affective and effective the prerogatives of Simon in his capacity as Peter, as rock on ously preserved and faithfully attachment to the Pope and our bishwhich Christ, the Son of the living exposed and both the Pope and the op or pastor has nothing to do with God, will build His Church, are also bishops are obliged to do so con- the unworthy personality cult of secvalid for the Bishop of Rome. Over sciously. Even for the general gover- ular autocrats, but is brotherly love time, the title of “Pope” has evolved nance of the Church, the Pope should for a fellow Christian who has been to include in a single term the essen- first entrust himself to the College of entrusted with the highest responsitial elements of the Petrine ministry Cardinals, which, after all, repre- bility in the Church. It can also fail in sents the Holy Roman Church and – this. That is why loving admonition of the Roman bishop.

But there remains a crucial differ- like the presbytery advises a bishop promotes the Church more than slavence between apostles and bishops. – advises the Pope collegially/syn- ish hypocrisy.

But the best way to help the Pope The apostles, with Peter at the head, odally.

As in all cases, a consultative and the bishops is through prayer. were the direct recipients and bearers of God’s full self-revelation in body constituted by the supreme We trust in Jesus, the Lord of the Christ. The bishops and the Pope, on decision-maker according to criteria Church, who before his Passion said the other hand, are linked in content of complacency and clientelism is of to Simon, the rock on which he to the realization of revelation in little use and does more harm than would build his Church (Mt 16:18): Sacred Scripture and in the Apos- good to those in charge. The latter “Simon, Simon, behold: Satan has tolic Tradition. “The office (…) of does not need the praises that flatter sought you to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith authentically interpreting the word human vanity. may not fail. And you, once convert[...] of God, whether written or transmitEvery Pope must distinguish pre- ed, strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22: ted, is entrusted to the sole living magisterium of the Church, whose cisely between his divine mandate 31-32).

Peter’s faith is the faith of the authority is exercised in the name of and himself as an individual with all Jesus Christ. Which magisterium, his limitations. He must not impose whole Church, “that Jesus is the however, is not superior to the word his private opinions on politics or Christ, the Son of God, and that, by of God but serves it, teaching only economics and non-theological sci- believing, you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:31).m what has been handed down, inas- ences on other Christians.

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ANALYSIS

the next conclave Who are some of the “papabili”? a (partial) list of possible candidates to become the next pope All photos by Grzegorz Galazka

“UBI PETRUS, IBI ERGO ECCLESIA” (“WHERE PETER IS, THERE, THEREFORE, IS THE CHURCH”) ardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to sit on the papal throne as Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), made clear in a November 19, 1998 text entitled The Primacy of the Successor of Peter in the Mystery of the Church, that the papacy is a “ministry of unity” that was established in Rome for all time.

He wrote: “In Peter’s person, mission and ministry, in his presence and death in Rome attested by the most ancient literary and archaeological tradition, the Church sees a deeper reality essentially related to her own mystery of communion and salvation: ‘Ubi Petrus, ibi ergo Ecclesia.’ From the beginning and with increasing clarity, the Church has understood that, just as there is a succession of the Apostles in the ministry of Bishops, so too the ministry of unity entrusted to Peter belongs to the permanent structure of Christ’s Church and that this succession is established in the see of his martyrdom.”

Two thousand years later, the task of transferring this “ministry of unity” from one Pope to another in this divinely-ordained succession, remains.

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Pope Francis has given no indication of preparing to vacate the Chair of Peter; however, in consideration of his age (86) and various health problems, it is possible that a conclave may be called to elect a new Pope in the not-too-distant future.

The Catholic news website The Pillar discussed in late spring cardinals who, in its view, could be considered among the papabili, that is, possible candidates for the ministry of Peter in the next conclave. And it further proposes that the chances of some of the most likely papabili in recent years seem to be a bit less likely today.

The Pillar points first to Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle of the Philippines, once nicknamed “the Asian Francis” for his similarity to the present Pope, in tone and emphasis, on many issues. The Pope tapped him in 2019 to head Caritas International, the Church’s main world relief arm, but recently replaced him, along with a few others, in a top-management shakeup. Following that, Tagle “has seen his star dim considerably,” The Pillar opines.

Alternately, on the more “conservative” side, Cardinal Péter Erdö of Budapest, Hungary, was thrust into

the limelight when Pope ism.” Dubbed the “Asian “THE OFFICE GIVEN BY THE LORD Francis visited his city in late Francis,” he is often seen as a UNIQUELY TO PETER” April, but some journalists representative of the Catholic Code of Canon Law, Section I, Chapter I, Artiseemed to cast his “conserChurch’s progressive wing. cle 1, Can. 331: “The bishop of the Roman vatism” as an opposition to Tagle has cautioned the CathChurch, in whom continues the office given by the Pope (while Cardinal olic Church πagainst using the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the AposErdö himself has taken great “harsh words” in reference to tles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is pains to emphasize his loyal the LGBT movement, as well support for Pope Francis). as divorced and remarried the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Among the other names Catholics, whom he believes Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on mentioned by The Pillar (but should be allowed to receive earth. By virtue of his office he possesses for one reason or another, Holy Communion on a casesupreme, full, immediate, and universal ordindiscounted) were Italian by-case basis. ary power in the Church, which he is always able Cardinal Matteo Maria to exercise freely.”

Zuppi, the archbishop of BoCARD. PÉTER ERDŐ, 70, is logna, recently tapped to act as envoy to Kiev and Mosa much-respected Hungarian Cardinal of the Catholic cow in discussions aimed at finding a path to peace in Church who has been the Archbishop of EsztergomUkraine; Cardinals Gerhard Müller (Germany) and Budapest and Primate of Hungary Raymond Burke (US), said to be “too critical” of Pope since 2003.

Francis; Cardinals Fernando Filoni and Mauro PiaFluent in five languages, he was cenza, both seasoned Vatican veterans named by Pope president of the Council of the Francis as heads of Vatican dicasteries; and men promotBishops’ Conferences of Europe ed by the Pope from relative obscurity, like Cardinal from 2006 to 2016 and was the Lazarus You Heung-sik from South Korea, chosen to relator general for the Third Extralead the Dicastery for Clergy, and the Spanish Jesuit ordinary General Assembly of the Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, chosen to head the Synod of Bishops in Rome (Octoimportant Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. ber 5-19, 2014).

The Secretary of State for Vatican City is usually to Erdő is reputed to have a special Marian devotion to be considered a possible papabile as well: under Francis Our Lady of Consolation. He has expressed opposition it is Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who has been in to the proposal to allow divorced and remarried the position since the year Francis was elected Pope, Catholics whose first marriages have not been annulled 2013. The Pillar observes, however, that under Parolin’s to receive Holy Communion, saying in 2014, “Divorced watch a number of questionable financial dealings have and civilly remarried persons belong to the Church” but occurred, as well as the Vatican-China deal, for which in the case “of a (consummated) sacramental marriage, Parolin’s support has never wavered while popular supafter a divorce, a second marriage recognized by the port for it has (some argue) declined.

Church is impossible, while the first spouse is still We have compiled our own list of papabili, though alive.” He has also said the mass-scale acceptance of not intending it to be, by any means, exhaustive. Many refugees into his country would amount to human trafother names have been “floated” as possible candidates ficking. at various times, but here is our present list: CARD. MATTEO MARIA ZUPPI, 67, has been ArchCARD. LUIS ANTONIO GOKIM TAGLE, 65, is the Probishop of Bologna since 2015. Pope Francis raised him Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery to the rank of cardinal in 2019. He for Evangelization and President of has been president of the Episcopal Interdicasterial Commission for Conference of Italy since May Consecrated Religious. He was the 2022.

32nd Archbishop of Manila from He has long worked with the 2011 to 2019.

Community of Sant’Egidio, a Tagle, who generally prefers to Catholic lay association devoted to be called by his nickname, “Chito,” ecumenism and conflict resolution. has been involved in many social Zuppi was one of the four mediators issues in the Philippines, with of the two-year-long Rome-based emphasis on helping the poor while peace negotiations that resulted in the Rome General defending the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion, Peace Accords and helped to end the civil war in contraception, and what he has called “practical atheMozambique in 1992, in recognition of which he was JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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ANALYSIS The NexT CoNCLAve made an honorary citizen of that country. Zuppi also traveled to Turkey in 1993 in an attempt to secure the release of two Italian tourists held by Kurdish rebels.

As head of the Italian bishops, he faces challenges as the Italian birth rate falls to critical numbers, dioceses struggle to provide transparency amid clergy abuse scandals, and his own diocese has recently experienced deadly floods.

CARD. GERALD CYPRIEN LACROIX, 65, born in Saint-Hilaire de Dorset, Quebec, was raised from age 8 in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. He joined the Pius X Secular Institute in 1975, and within seven years was named secretary-general of the Institute.

Ordained in 1988, he was 10 years a missionary in Colombia.

Returning to Canada, he became director general of the Institute in 2001. He was consecrated a bishop in 2009, named Archbishop of Quebec in 2011, and elevated by Pope Francis to cardinal in 2014.

Significantly, Pope Francis this year named Cardinal Lacroix to his international Council of Cardinals, created by Francis in April 2013 to advise him on the governance of the Universal Church.

In a February 2023 press conference on improving collaboration among laypeople, priests and bishops, Cardinal Lacroix answered his own question, “What is our role as priests and bishops in this beautiful adventure?” by saying, “Well, our main role is to be pastors.

We’re not managers, we’re not the boss: We’re pastors, shepherds.”

CARD. PIETRO PAROLIN, 68, born in Schiavon, in northern Italy, has been cardinal since February 2014, and has served as the Vatican’s Secretary of State since October 2013. This has made him one of the men with the most highlevel experience in governing the Church. He has been a member of the Pope’s Council of Cardinal Advisers since July 2014. Before that, he worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for 30 years, where his assignments included terms in Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela, as well as more than six years as Undersecretary of State for Relations with States.

In 2014, Venezuela’s President invited Cardinal Parolin to mediate during the nation’s worst unrest in a decade. Under his watch, the Holy See played a major role in the re-establishment of U.S.-Cuba relations.

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Vatican-China deal, about which he said, “We must be patient.”

In 2022 he said, “The heart of the diplomacy of mercy doesn’t consider anyone ever definitively lost.”

The solution to conflicts like the one in Ukraine, he said, “does not come by polarizing the world between the good and the bad.”

CARD. JEAN-CLAUDE HOLLERICH, S.J., 65, has been Archbishop of Luxembourg since 2011. He has been the president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) since March 2018.

Cardinal Hollerich studied in Japan from 1985 to 1989 and worked there from 1994 to 2011.

Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal in 2019, the first from Luxembourg.

In September 2020, he suggested that “merely cultural Catholicism cannot last over time.” In 2022 he said he approved asking the “big questions” but hoped the German Synod would recognize its obligations to the Church worldwide.

In July 2021, Pope Francis appointed him RelatorGeneral of the next synod of bishops.

In 2022, Hollerich said he considered the Church’s teaching that homosexual relationships are sinful to be wrong: “I believe that the sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct.”

In March 2023, Hollerich was appointed to the Pope’s Council of Cardinal Advisors.

CARD. BECHARA BOUTROS ALRAHI (OR RAÏ), 83, is the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Maronite Church, a position he has held since March 15, 2011. Rahi was made a cardinal in November 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. At 71, he was elected Patriarch of the Maronites in March 2011, after getting more than two-thirds of the votes of the 39 bishops. As is customary for all Maronite Patriarchs, Patriarch Raï took the additional name Boutros (Peter);

Peter briefly held the See of Antioch before moving to Rome. In March 2012, Patriarch Raï was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

In 2022, he said, “We are calling for a special international conference for Lebanon under the purview of the UN. We must also settle the issue of Palestinian and Syrian refugees. Finally, we must declare the positive neutrality of Lebanon. Without this, there is no solution.

These are the conditions for the ‘message country,’ as it was called by Pope John Paul II, to continue to bear its witness.”

CARD. PATABENDIGE DON ALBERT MALCOLM RANJITH, 75, often known simply as Malcolm Ranjith, is a Sri Lankan prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, since 2009. He was made a cardinal in 2010.

Cardinal Ranjith was the first Sri Lankan bishop to be appointed an Apostolic Nuncio; he was sent to Indonesia.

Ranjith was ordained to the priesthood in June 1975

by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter’s Square. Later he joined the tutorial staff of St. Thomas’ College, Kotte, Sri Lanka.

In 1994, Ranjith led a commission that denounced the theological work of Sri Lankan theologian Tissa Balasuriya. He charged that the latter had questioned original sin and the divinity of Christ, as well as supporting women’s ordination.

Ranjith was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in December 2005. He once said, “I’m not a fan of the Lefebvrians... but what they sometimes say about the liturgy they say for good reason.”

CARD. SEAN PATRICK O’MALLEY, OFM CAP., 78, is the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, since 2003.

He is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and was elevated by the Vatican to the rank of cardinal in 2006.

Cardinal O’Malley has been a key member of the Pope’s Council

of Cardinal Advisers for almost a decade, and, since March 22, 2014, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and its president since December 17, 2014. In November 2007, O’Malley said that the fact many Catholic voters support Democratic candidates, whose party is pro-abortion, “borders on scandal.” Despite criticism, Cardinal O’Malley assisted at the funeral Mass of pro-abortion Senator Ted Kennedy, commenting that “there is a tragic sense of lost opportunity in his lack of support for the unborn.”

CARD. RAYMOND LEO BURKE, 74, former ordinary of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the incumbent patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, was the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura from June 2008 to November 2014.

A canon lawyer, Cardinal Burke is often perceived as a voice of traditionalism among Catholic prelates. He is a major proponent of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Cardinal Burke has publicly clashed with Pope Francis, notably on permissive attitudes toward homosexuality and toward divorced Catholics remarried outside the Church. He has also stated his support of denying Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians.

A vocal foe of the “LGBT” movement, Cardinal Burke ruffled feathers when he said in 2014, regarding “gay” family members, “If it were another kind of relationship – something that was profoundly disordered and harmful – we wouldn’t expose our children to that relationship, to the direct experience of it.”

CARD. LARS ANDERS ARBORELIUS, OCD, 73, has been Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, since 1998, and the first-ever cardinal from Scandinavia, since June 2017.

Cardinal Arborelius, raised a Lutheran, commented, “I always had this longing for a life of prayer and silent adoration.” After a yearand-a-half-long process of investigation, he concluded that “Truth has been given to me through the Catholic faith,” and converted to Catholicism at the age of 20. Following his conversion, he read St. Therese of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul, and decided to enter the Carmelite order.

Cardinal Arborelius believes that his elevation to the cardinalate was a recognition of Sweden’s accepting immigrants and promoting interdenominational dialogue. In a country dominated by Protestantism, the Swedish Catholic Church has experienced the largest JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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ANALYSIS The NexT CoNCLAve percentage-gain in all of Europe; “Catholic spirituality has had a great impact, [including] on many Protestants. In addition, we stick to Tradition and don’t change our dogmas and ethical principles,” explained Cardinal Arborelius.

ARCHBP. CLAUDIO GUGEROTTI, 67, is Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches since November 2022. He has degrees in Eastern languages and literature and in sacred liturgy. Although Gugerotti did not train at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy as is standard practice for nuncios, he was appointed nuncio to various countries, mostly in eastern Photo Scottish Government Europe, by three Popes. Most recently, he was posted to Ukraine in 2015 and to Great Britain in 2020 before his 2022 appointment to his current position in Rome.

Gugerotti spearheaded efforts to raise money for victims of first, war, and then of a massive earthquake in Syria and Turkey, saying, “That mutilated crucifix invites us to recognize the pain of so many of our brothers and sisters who have seen the bodies of their loved ones tortured under the rubble or hit by bombs.”

Pope Francis is thought to rely on his advice with regard to efforts to end the Ukraine war.

Although Gugerotti is not a cardinal, it is possible that a non-cardinal could be chosen by the cardinal-electors to be the next Pope.

CARD. WILLEM JACOBUS EIJK, 69, has been the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, the Netherlands, since 2007. A medical doctor before entering the religious life, Cardinal Eijk coedited the Manual of Catholic Medical Ethics: Responsible Healthcare from a Catholic Perspective, published in 2010.

He was elected president of the Episcopal Conference of the Netherlands in 2011. In 2015, Eijk was elected to represent the Netherlands at the Bishops’ Synod on the Family that year. In advance, he published an essay stating that divorced and civilly remarried couples represent “a form of structured and institutionalized adultery.”

Commenting on suggestions by some bishops and even the Pope that non-Catholics might be allowed to receive Holy Communion, Cardinal Eijk said, “The practice of the Catholic Church, based on her faith, is not determined and does not change statistically when a majority of an episcopal conference votes in favor of it, not even if unanimously.” m

FRANCIS’ APPOINTEES – THE “BERGOGLIAN CARDINALS” – ARE NOW THE MAJORITY TODAY THEY MAKE UP 63% OF VOTING CARDINALS

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at the time of the last conclave, he youngest cardinal in the “was the product of Popes St. College of Cardinals is GiorJohn Paul II and Benedict XVI.” gio Marengo, apostolic prefect of “It would thus be unwise,” he Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. At 48, concludes, “to deduce that every he has nearly 32 years left to vote member appointed by Francis is a in papal conclaves. kindred spirit to the progressive And he exemplifies the kind of American and European cardinals cardinal Francis has often bewho have frequently been promotstowed the red hat upon: a man ed since 2013.” “from the peripheries,” who esIndeed, as one current cardinal pouses “attraction, not prosetold the French journal La Croix, lytism” as the correct means of “When I see a cardinal, I don’t ask evangelization.

On August 27, 2022, Pope Francis created 20 new myself whether he was appointed Francis has dramatically incardinals in a ceremony in the Vatican basilica. Cardinal

by Francis, Benedict XVI or John creased the portion of the college Giorgio Marengo, I.M.C., 48, Bishop Prefect Apostolic of Paul II. Honestly, there is no group who, like Cardinal Marengo, Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), became the youngest cardinal (Photo Grzegorz Galazka) of Bergoglians.” come from Asia and Africa, from Another cardinal noted that 9.4% each to 16% from Asia and order to assure a successor who will 13% from Africa. not perform a papal “about-face” on Francis’ penchant for choosing men Conversely, European represen- policy issues like immigration and from far-flung locales may be a problem for the next conclave. tation in the college is 40%, down women’s roles in the Church.

“It’s going to be very difficult when from 52% before the last consistory, They may be wrong. held in August 2022.

“The conclave that elected Pope we have to elect a new Pope. We’re Some say that Francis is “remak- Francis in 2013,” wrote National all over the world and we don’t know ing the conclave in his image” in Catholic Register’s Matthew Bunson each other,” he said.n

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Liberal Catholicism Is Suicidal The liberal, anti-doctrinal spirit has infected the Catholic Church. Liberal Catholics don’t like to talk about sin and its consequences. But then why did Christ bother to get cruci昀ed? And what are we saved from? Liberal clerics are silent about Hell. But if there’s no Hell, why be good? Why go to Mass? Not surprisingly, Mass attendance has dropped dramatically since the liberals got control of seminaries and parishes, and Catholics have been “drifting away” from the Church in record numbers.

Liberals constantly bellyache about the “sexist, homophobic, racist” Church. Not surprisingly, they struggle to attract converts.

Liberal priests excuse their congregations (and themselves!) from the Church’s high sexual standards. Not surprisingly, many Catholics’ attitudes about extramarital sex, cohabitation, and divorce mirror those of secular Americans’.

Liberals deny the binding character of Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium. They say you need only “follow your conscience,” which amounts to doing only what’s convenient. Who wants to belong to a Church which preaches that ? People instinctively do what’s convenient, without any coaxing from the clergy.

Liberal Catholics are merely weak imitators of liberal Protestants. By making Christianity comfortably ambiguous, have liberal Protestant churches been 昀ooded with converts? No. They’re actually dying! Why? Because they o昀er no authoritative answers to life’s big questions: Why am I here?

What is true religion and virtue? How do I get to

Heaven? By essentially turning themselves into therapy centers, they’ve failed to o昀er anything unique and unsurpassable. They elicit no commitment and little interest.

Let’s face it: The Catholic Church is su昀ering an identity crisis. And this is where the New Oxford Review comes in.

An orthodox Catholic monthly magazine, we’re published out of Berkeley — a.k.a. Berserkeley — so we know a goofball liberal when we see one. We don’t turn a blind eye to ecclesiastical scandals or troublemakers in the House of the Lord. And we don’t give a free pass to anybody — not even prelates or ponti昀s. Instead, we address all the challenges facing the Church today, both internal and external.

We don’t want to calm you down, as many lukewarm Catholic publications do. We want to 昀re you up — with zeal for Christ. We aren’t ashamed of the “hard” teachings of Christ and His bride, the Church. We know why we’re Catholic, and we’re not afraid to tell doubters and dissenters all about it.

No wonder Newsweek said we’re “cheeky”; Robert Moynihan, editor-in-chief of Inside the Vatican, described us “provocative”; and National Catholic Register called us “feisty and gutsy.”

Have you had it up to here with the “easy gospel” that masquerades as authentic Catholicism? Do you, like Chesterton, want the Church to move the world, rather than be moved by it? If you answered yes, then the New Oxford Review is for you.

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aNNIVerSarY

the three popes of InsIde The VaTIcan An interview with GrzeGorz Galazka, photogrApher And co-founder of the mAgAzine n BY ANNA ARTYMIAK, POLISH JOURNALIST LIVING IN ROME

Photo by Katarzyna Artymiak (twin sister of Anna Artymiak)

Polish photographer Grzegorz Galazka, who came from Poland to Italy almost 40 years ago. He crossed the Italian border for the first time on May 19, 1984 — the same day Robert Moynihan arrived in Rome from the United States. The two, along with Italian graphic designer Giuseppe Sabatelli, founded this magazine, Inside the Vatican, in the spring of 1993, more than 30 years ago

“I

arrived in Italy on the same day as Bob — on May 19, 1984. He arrived in Rome by plane from the United States; I entered northern Italy by bus from Poland. I wanted to be at Monte Cassino on May 18, but the pilgrimage was organized in such a way that we were there two days later.” And so, in this way, 30 years ago, began three men’s extraordinary adventure and passion to follow the Pope and the Vatican: Polish photographer Grzegorz Gałazka, American journalist Robert Moynihan, and Italian graphic designer Giuseppe Sabatelli, who together in 1993 launched Inside the Vatican magazine. To talk about the beginning of the magazine, its history, and the three Popes who have reigned during these years, I met Grzegorz on a beautiful Roman day in October.

How was Inside the Vatican born?

Grzegorz Gałazka: Inside the Vatican was born by sheer coincidence 20 years ago at one meeting with Bob 26

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

when he told me that he wanted to make a Vatican news bulletin. I suggested that we add photos so that it could become almost a magazine. In this way, we prepared our “Zero” issue. The cover was in full-color and the photos inside were, due to cost, black and white. We wanted to see if it was going to evoke a response, if there would be readers. To create that first issue, we turned to an Italian graphic designer, Giuseppe Sabatelli.

That first “dummy” issue came out in April 1993, and the first regular issue was released in August-September 1993. And thus Inside the Vatican magazine was born.

An important role and contribution in launching the magazine was played by the Polish Airlines, LOT. There was a LOT advertisment on the back cover, and that first money was very precious in starting the magazine.

What topics did the first issues cover?

Gałazka: The idea of the magazine was to inform readers about the Vatican and through the photographs to show the events, unique moments and life of the

Photo Grzegorz Galazka

Vatican, to encourage our era shutters was disturbing the readers to come to Rome to atmosphere of silence, I believe meet the Pope, at that time he wasn’t disturbed. He was so John Paul II. deep in prayer that everything Later, the magazine’s covthat was around didn’t distract erage expanded to include the him. He had such a special gift Church in different countries that among crowds and chaos he and other topics such as ecuremained calm and sure about menism and interreligious diahis duties. He was very focused. logue. We also began to pubThe signature gesture of lish a regular Photo Essay. Rome, 2002. From left: Vladimir Redzioch, June Hager, Robert John Paul II was that he kissed Delia Gallagher, Crista Kramer von Reisswitz (front), After a few issues, we received Moynihan, the ground upon arrival in a Antonio Gaspari (back), Shena Muldoon, the late Dominik positive feedback from the Vatnew country…

Morawski (1921-2016), a leading Polish journalist and actor ican and our readers, mostly in Gałazka: John Paul II made America. In those first years, the number of subscribers 104 pilgrimages. Every time, in every single country, he increased very quickly; we had a lot of readers, so it gave kissed the ground upon arrival. When he was younger us hope that there was a need for such a publication and and stronger, he kneeled to kiss directly. When he that we should continue. became older and he couldn’t bend himself, The year 1978, when the Polish someone brought him soil to kiss. This was Pope was elected, changed your life. such a characteristic gesture of John Paul II. When did you make the decision to Only he did this. I do not think that any of the come to Rome to follow John Paul II’s Popes before him did it, and his successors have pontificate? not done it. I understood what this gesture Gałazka: In 1978 I never thought I meant through his words. He was always stresswould go to Rome. In fact, I mostly ing that the ground is like a mother, and a mothwanted to go, not so much to Rome, but er is due respect. The gesture of kissing the to Monte Cassino where my grandfather ground is also a sign of respect for a mother. had fought. As a young man, I was interYou were also able to photograph ested to see what it looked like. Of more private moments of course, when Cardinal Karol Wojtyła the Pope’s life… was elected Pope John Paul II, my desire Gałazka: I had a chance to to see him and to photograph photograph John Paul II at him discreetly was increasthe papal summer residence ing and becoming stronger. in Castel Gandolfo. Here is a Finally, I was able to come to photo taken while John Paul II Rome in 1984, and since that prayed in his private chapel. moment, I’ve been here.

There is an icon of Our Lady of What attitude did John Czestochowa. It was placed Paul II have toward the there, not by the Polish Pope, as media? some may think, but by Pope Gałazka: John Paul II very Pius XI. You can’t see in this often joked with photographoto, but on the wall there are phers and journalists, and also, two frescoes, one depicting the Defense of Jasna Góra, quite often he smiled at us. He the other the Battle of Warsaw, or the Miracle at the Visknew that our job was necestula, in 1920, when the Bolsheviks were capturing Polsary, that thanks to us his message reached the world. He ish territory and were moving toward Warsaw, the capiknew that, thanks to photography, people can learn more tal. According to some, a miracle occurred. Others say it about the Pope’s life and the Vatican’s life and work. He was Piłsudski’s wise strategy that brought victory to the knew and appreciated journalistic work very well. Being Polish side. The defeated Soviet Army had to go back to photographed wasn’t a problem for him.

Russia.

At the same time, he was able to remain in deep It should be recalled that when the Bolsheviks were prayer… nearing Warsaw, all the diplomats left the capital city Gałazka: Yes, it’s true. I had a chance to notice that apart from the Apostolic Nuncio Achille Ratti, later often, especially during his trips inside Italy and abroad.

Pope Pius XI. Out of his respect for Poland he asked to Even if there were photographers and the click of camhave these frescoes made in the Chapel and to place JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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ANNIVERSARY ThREE PoPES of InsIde The VaTIcan

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

Photo Grzegorz Galazka

there the icon of the Black Madonna, Queen of Poland. who is greeting the Pope. Although the technology has They are still there now. I had an opportunity to photodeveloped considerably, the quality of many of those graph Pope Benedict XVI in the same chapel in front of photos is still very poor. the same icon.

For the 2011 beatification portrait, my photo was The year 1920 was also the year John Paul II was chosen for the official banner. I took the photo during born… one of John Paul II’s visits to a Roman parish. I rememGałazka: Surely. The year 1920 was the year of his ber it was a short meeting with small children who asked birth. During the apostolic visit to Poland in 1999, he him questions. I did three or four portraits. Those photos visited the cemetery in Radzymin where there are tombs of soldiers who died in the Polish-Bolshevik War. The Pope thanked them for their sacrifice which allowed him to grow up and live in a free Poland.

John Paul II also had profound respect for his predecessors…

Gałazka: Every November 2, on All Souls’ Day, the Popes go to the Grotte Vaticane to pray at the tombs of their predecessors. I had an opportunity to take the photos when John Paul II prayed at the tomb of John XXIII, whom he later proclaimed Blessed. Soon they both would be canonized (in April 2014).

This is a significative and symbolic photo, especially because in the same tomb where John XXIII was buried, John Paul II was later buried.

Under the pontificate of John Paul II, photography had a dynamic development. You took many unforgettable photos like the one used for the beatification portrait…

Gałazka: Photography under the pontificate of John Paul II was a little different than it is today.

Above all, there was no digital photography yet and there weren’t John Paul II at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, praying in his private chapel so many photographers with small before an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa cameras or cell phones. Not everyone was able to take a photo; it required some skills. remained in my archive. We didn’t even use them for I remember a photo from my archive where John Paul Inside the Vatican. Actually, I don’t know why I didn’t II is moving around in a car in St. Peter’s Square. Thounotice them. When I looked for photos in my archive for sands of people were greeting him, but only two or three the beatification, I found that series of photos. After I of them, maybe, had cameras. submitted one of them, it was approved and chosen as an Today, when Pope Francis is in St. Peter’s Square, or, official portrait of John Paul II. in past years, when Benedict XVI was there, almost I am happy that I was able to photograph a holy man everyone is taking photos with small cameras, smartand that a photo I took served people around the world phones or tablets. It is very hard to find a single person as an image of this new saint.

Photo Grzegorz Galazka Photo Grzegorz Galazka

February 3, 1994, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger visits Jerusalem, Israel. Grzegorz Galazka went along to record the trip in photographs. One of those photos became the cover of our Special Issue on Pope Benedict XVI in May-June 2023. Below, Pope Francis' General Audience in St. Peter's Square

The magazine also often depicted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became John Paul’s successor…

Gałazka: As a photographer of Inside the Vatican, I went together with June Hager to the Holy Land for a 1994 conference on interreligious dialogue. Present were Cardinal Ratzinger, Cardinal Martini and many other bishops as well as representatives of the Jewish community.

I learned that Cardinal Ratzinger was planning to go privately to Bethlehem. I truly wanted to take photos of that pilgrimage. But having talked with the cardinal and his secretary, they made me understand it wouldn’t be possible in Bethlehem, but if I wanted to, I could accompany the cardinal on his visit to Jerusalem. Of course, I did so, and for three hours I took photos which I am happy about, as they are very private and personal.

Of course, nobody at that time thought that he would be the future Pope Benedict XVI. At the end of the day, as I was going back to the hotel in a cab, someone from the crowd was trying to stop my taxi. And at that moment, I recognized that it was the cardinal’s secretary, Msgr. Josef Clemens. I asked my driver to stop. At that time it was difficult to find a cab. Cardinal Ratzinger wanted to go to Bethlehem. I said I would be willing to give him a lift. He said to drive first to the hotel and then they would go on their own to Bethlehem. So, I repeated my proposal.

Cardinal Ratzinger answered with a smile that probably Divine Providence wished it that way, and there was no other way. So, finally, we went together to Bethlehem.

I respected the cardinal’s wish that the visit was to have a private and prayerful character. I took a few photos, not too many. Of course, today I wish I had taken more. When Cardinal Ratzinger became the new Pope 11 years later, at my first opportunity to greet the new Holy Father, he reminded me of that visit to the Holy Land. It was so nice that even having so many important matters to attend to, he JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

29

ANALYSIS Three PoPeS of InsIde The VaTIcan remembered that. Later I had a chance once again to be A holy man... a saint, canonized together with Pope John with him during his visit to the Holy Land as Pope BeneXXIII. A multi-faceted man. He confronted many diffidict XVI. cult questions. And he did it well. At least I don’t know Did you ever imagine that Cardinal Ratzinger of any other person in the past or the present as gifted as might become John Paul II’s successor?

John Paul II was. He caused some agitation in the VatiGałazka: There were a lot of candidates. I think that can. He broke the rules, he went to visit the sick. He travonly a few thought that Cardinal Ratzinger would beeled to different places. All of them have their own style. come a Pope after John Paul II, as he was a very diligent What Francis is doing now began with John Paul II. cardinal and not looking for any publicity. His election Pope Benedict XVI was different. He was a very was kind of a surprise. A positive one, as he was John humble Pope. There were fewer gestures because he is Paul II’s closest collaborator and friend. a more private man. I personally empathize with BeneI was glad, because as a photographer I knew the dict. It would be difficult also for me to come out and newly-elected Pope pretty well. So for me it was a great greet people in the way John Paul II did or in the way joy. Some think that John Paul II may have indicated him Francis does. It would be false. It isn’t my gift nor my as his successor, but the cardinals made their choice character. So, I understand Benedict quite well. He according to their own feelings, so I doubt there were never imitated John Paul II’s gestures, because they such indications. On the conPhoto Agnieszka Galazka weren’t his. He remained trary, it is said that the Holy himself, kept his authenticiSpirit does His work, and in ty. This doesn’t mean he was this case it was clear. worse. It is impossible to Do you remember your compare them in this way. I first meeting with Cardiremember when I spoke nal Ber goglio, now Pope with him twice or three Francis? times when he was already a Gałazka: It was during the Pope. He was always corConsistory of 2001. Probably dial. Everybody is different, it was the biggest Consistory whether John Paul II or ever held in the Vatican. John Benedict XVI or Francis.

Paul II created 44 new cardiSignificant were the nals, among them Archbishop words Pope Francis adJorge Mario Bergoglio. The dressed to the faithful after very first photo of him I took his election: “You know that 11, 2019, Rome. Center, Grzegorz Galazka, who received an was from above while he was June it was the duty of the Conhonor from the Polish Embassy to Italy. Left, Dr. Robert Moynihan receiving the cardinal’s red clave to give Rome a Bishop. and right, graphic designer Giuseppe Sabatelli biretta and then at the recepIt seems that my brother Cartion at the Embassy of Argentina to the Holy See, by dinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one…” whom I was employed. I asked the new cardinal if I which harkened back to John Paul II’s words procould take some private photos of him. He didn’t like to nounced under the same circumstances: “So the cardipose; he preferred more to be among people than on his nals have called for a new Bishop of Rome. They called own. When I observed him while taking the photos, his him from a faraway land.” contact with others wasn’t so forthcoming as it is today It was a wordplay which in a significant way illustratas Pope Francis. Probably, there is some reason, as a ed the novelty in these papal elections, one of that time Pope has other gifts than he had as a cardinal.

(1978), divided by the Iron Curtain, the other of our How did you react to his election? time, when the world has become a global village.

Gałazka: When Bergoglio’s name was announced, Pope Francis’ peculiarity is that when he goes one person in the Italian delegation of the mayor of around St. Peter’s Square, people get so used to him Rome, who was standing next to me, didn’t know where that they hand him different things, and if they can’t, the new Pope was from. That man thought he was they toss them over and the Pope catches them. DurBrazilian. Immediately, I explained that he is from ing the Mass on a Marian day when he was going Argentina, a Jesuit with Italian roots. I only made a misaround the Square, I was able to take a photo when take in his age. His election was a surprise for most of someone tossed him a rosary and it landed on the the people in St. Peter’s Square. The second surprise was Pope’s ear. the name he chose, Francis.

These things didn’t happen under John Paul II and How would you compare the three Popes?

Benedict XVI. Nobody threw anything. Now, people Gałazka: John Paul II was first of all a very open man. have become quite familiar with the Pope.m 30

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

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EDUCATION

discovering authentic cathoLic education 56 years after the disastrous Land o’ Lakes decLaration, faithfuL cathoLic coLLeges and universities are thriving n BY ITV STAFF In 2009, Cardinal Newman Society founder and president Patrick Reilly presented Pope Benedict XVI with a copy of The Newman Guide and asked for his blessing on the work

R

egularly featured in Inside the Vatican for years now has been our “Education” section, in which we have profiled colleges and universities appearing in the Newman Guide —a yearly publication of the Cardinal Newman Society, founded 30 years ago this year, to help parents and prospective students choose authentically Catholic educational institutions that are faithful to their Catholic identity.

When Patrick Reilly, founder and president of the Cardinal Newman Society, decided to first compile a list of faithful Catholic colleges in 1993, there were only a handful on it.

Catholic colleges and universities — including the flagship Catholic institutions like Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., had long since reaped the bitter fruits of the 1967 Land-O-Lakes Statement, signed by the presidents of six leading Catholic universities: Boston College, Catholic University of America, Fordham, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Saint Louis — a declaration of independence from “authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.”

Says Reilly, “Over the course of just a few years following the statement, most Catholic colleges and universities in America shed their legal ties to the Church and handed their institutions over to independent boards of

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

trustees. In the quest for secular prestige and government funding, many went so far as to remove the crucifixes from their classroom walls and to represent their Catholic identity in historical terms (such as, ‘in the Jesuit tradition’).

“The wound of secularization deepened over the next few decades: many Catholic colleges and universities weakened their core curricula in favor of the Harvard model of electives and specialization, adopted a radical notion of academic freedom, embraced relativism and political correctness, and largely abandoned the project of forming young people for Christ outside the classroom.

Embracing the idea of “freedom” as merely “choice,” Catholic schools rapidly adopted the attitude that teachings of the Church were no longer the pre-eminent guarantor of truth, but rather just one selection from the cafeteria of ideas.

“It wasn’t until 1990,” explains Reilly, “that the ‘Land O’ Lakes Statement’ was soundly repudiated by Saint Pope John Paul II in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution for Catholic universities.”

Since then, a whole new crop of faithful Catholic colleges and universities has sprung up to fill the desperate need for authentically Catholic education. Parents no longer need despair of finding a school where their children’s faith is nurtured along with their intellectual development.m

“PROCLAIMING THE MEANING OF TRUTH” An excerpt from Ex Corde Ecclesiae Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities (August 15, 1990) 4. It is the honor and responsibility of a Catholic University to consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth. This is its way of serving at one and the same time both the dignity of man and the good of the Church, which has “an intimate conviction that truth is (its) real ally ... and that knowledge and reason are sure ministers to faith.”

Without in any way neglecting the acquisition of useful knowledge, a Catholic University is distinguished by its free search for the whole truth about nature, man and God. The present age is in urgent need of this kind of disinterested service, namely of proclaiming the meaning of truth, that fundamental value without which freedom, justice and human dignity are extinguished. By means of a kind of universal humanism a Catholic University is completely dedicated to the research of all aspects of truth in their essential connection with the supreme Truth, who is God. It does this without fear but rather with enthusiasm, dedicating itself to every path of knowledge, aware of being preceded by him who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” the Logos, whose Spirit of intelligence and love enables the human person with his or her own intelligence to find the ultimate reality of which he is the source and end and who alone is capable of giving fully that Wisdom without which the future of the world would be in danger.

HOW CAN WE HAVE “AN INTELLIGENT, WELL-INSTRUCTED LAITY”?

sity of Ireland, to be sure, but likewise (and even especially) in his founding of the Oratory School in Birmingham, often called “the apple of his eye.”

Current assaults against the Church and her teachings are even more pernicious than those of the nineteenth century, spreading through thoroughly hostile and godless, socalled “public,” schools as children are exposed to every kind of perversion and lunacy imaginable. Indeed, a recent study revealed that the average Catholic child in a government school loses his or her faith by the fourth grade!

Therefore, every priest and bishop should warn parents that subjecting their children to government schools endangers their souls. Of course, that will mean ensuring that authentic Catholic schools are available and affordable, and likewise challenging the priorities of all too many parents who prefer a winter vacation to the Catholic education of their sons and daughters.

And further, our situation demands we be proactive in protecting the Catholic identity of our schools from any incursions. Historically, totalitarian forces always go after our schools first.

Yes, Catholic schools are more necessary today than ever before in our history, but schools determined to form intentional Catholics, comfortable with being different. The aggressive secularization of the moment can only be held off and even reversed if the Church is able to offer her members an alternative vision of life and what sociologists call a viable “sub-culture” (actually, the Catholic “sub-culture” is the real culture, while what society is offering is no culture at all).

BENEDICT XVI: “EDUCATION IN FAITH” IS EVERY CHILD’S RIGHT Pope Benedict XVI devoted an entire address to Catholic education during his 2008 pastoral visit to the United States. One paragraph stands out in particular: [Catholic education] is an outstanding apostolate of hope, seeking to address the material, intellectual and spiritual needs of over three million children and students. It also provides a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to contribute generously to the financial needs of our institutions. Their long-term sustainability must be assured. Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.n

April 17, 2008 Washington, USA. Pope Benedict XVI meets the communities of Catholic universities at the Conference Hall of the Catholic University of America. Greeting of the Rector Mons. David M. O'Connell, C.M. (Photo Grzegorz Galazka)

Newman tells us clearly: “I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity.”

By Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas (The Catholic Thing) How is one to get this “well-instructed laity” to bring about “the new evangelization” – that living and preaching of the Gospel in formerly Christian lands? We have the answer in Newman’s establishment of the Catholic Univer-

JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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eDUcatiON

the plACe of ChriSt in higher eduCAtion An interview with CArdinAl newmAn SoCiety preSident Patrick reilly n BY ITV STAFF

C

ountless Catholic families have faced the same dilemma over the past few decades: where can their children attend college and not have their faith opposed, ridiculed or worse — lost?

The Catholic colleges and universities mom and dad once attended are now “Catholic” in name only, usually as dedicated to progressive moral values and intellectual trends as virtually every secular school. Kids don’t often grasp the most vital criteria to use in their college search.

Parents tear their hair out trying to assess which schools will foster

both a robust intellectual formation and a strong faith.

But there is a lighthouse beaming across the darkness: Since 2007, the Newman Guide has been the “go-to” resource for Catholic families who are trying to meet this ongoing challenge. Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society (now also celebrating its 30th anniversary), producer of the Newman Guide to Catholic education, spoke recently with Inside the Vatican about the Newman Society’s mission of renewing the Church through the renewal of Catholic education.

Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, producer of the Newman Guide to Catholic education

What was the impetus for starting the Cardinal Newman Society back in 1993?

Patrick Reilly: I found outright dissent and moral corruption at the Jesuit university I attended in the late 1980s. As editor of the student newspaper, I started writing about it and have never stopped advocating for the reform of Catholic education, which to me seems the most important means of renewing the Church in America. I often tell the story of a priest at my college, who advised me to “stop chasing the horses 20 years after the barn doors were opened.” He meant that the decline of fidelity and excellence in Catholic education, begun in the 1960s, could not be reversed.

But God can do anything, and now we’re celebrating our 30th anniversary and the great renewal of faithful Catholic education that is underway. Our Newman Guide is helping families find those schools, colleges, and graduate programs that are fully devoted to their Catholic mission, and these are growing in size, number, and reputation.

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What exactly is the Newman Guide and how does it work?

Patrick Reilly: The Newman Guide is an online compendium identifying faithful Catholic colleges and universities (at this writing, 24) — and, starting this year, faithful Catholic elementary and high schools, and also graduate programs. It is found on our website, cardinalnewmansociety.org.

We thoroughly examine and then monitor everything from academics to athletics to personnel policies, and we affirm that these appear consistent with the Church’s expectations for Catholic education.

We also recognize several colleges in other parts of the world—including Canada, Spain, Rome, Austria, Australia and the Philippines — but these must offer English-language instruction for at least the first year.

How is Catholic education different from secular education?

Patrick Reilly: Catholic education is a wider, deeper, and more free education, because it embraces what God

has revealed through Christ and invites students to a But Catholic educators who refuse corruption are findmuch greater understanding of themselves and of the ing greater strength amid the challenges. And ironically, world. Christ changes everything! He provides the key a U.S. Catholic college’s best legal defense is to be more to understanding not just how, but why, and leads us to Catholic — deeply rooted Catholic beliefs allow it to our greatest happiness. Secular education often focuses invoke Constitutional religious freedom protections. on skills and empowerment — and today it is captured Gender ideology, racial division, and government manby false, destructive ideologies — while Catholic edudates are being forced upon every institution that cannot cation stands in awe and gratitude for our Creator’s wisclaim religious freedom. Lukewarm Catholic schools dom and love. It forms students in reverence and virtue, will find it hard to survive. growing ever closer to the mind and heart of God. Where does your passion for education come Pope John Paul II issued documents about from?

Catholic education, especially Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

Patrick Reilly: In my own college experience, I saw Did it have a lasting effect? a lot of confusion and pain in the students who had been Patrick Reilly: They say that law is a great teacher, promised something beautiful but were fed bland secuand while Ex Corde Ecclesiae — the 1990 apostolic conlar education and even dangerous falsehoods. But my stitution on Catholic higher education — is still not passion for faithful Catholic education is mainly fueled widely embraced or strongly enforced in the U.S., I do by the students I meet at Newman Guide schools – their think that it effectively set a higher standard for Catholic joy, virtue, and wisdom. The Holy Spirit is bringing colleges. More than 20 years later, the Newabout something truly amazing in the Church man Guide colleges exemplify what both St. through faithful Catholic education!

John Paul II and Pope Benedict envisioned for I also have an amazing wife, Rosario, who Catholic education, and Catholic families are shares my deep concern for our own five chilincreasingly turning away from the once-presdren. She founded Aquinas Learning, a faithtigious universities that still pursue a path of ful classical curriculum and a hybrid schoolsecularization. homeschool program, with nearly 200 stuWhy are so many of the Newman Guide dents in our community attending classes one colleges liberal arts schools? What do you or two days a week in a setting very similar to tell kids and parents worried about getting a parish school. a “useful” degree?

I’ve also discovered the joy of teaching! I Our Catholic Mission Patrick Reilly: Looking toward a career is magazine (now celebrating have taught and developed courses for understandable, but the heart of Catholic edu- the 30th anniversary of the Aquinas Learning, and I teach rhetoric for Guide), is a free cation is formation of the mind, while cultivat- Newman Holy Apostles College and Seminary (where resource equipping ing faith and virtue. The liberal arts and sci- educators with the latest Rosario and I are also working toward masinformation on issues ences have consistently been the core of ter’s degrees in philosophy), so we’re Newimpacting faithful Catholic Catholic education, and there is no better subman Guide students ourselves! education ject matter for developing the human person.

You have a new “30th anniversary” Moreover, Newman warned that students and schollogo that features the image of John Henry Newman ars become distorted when everything is viewed through himself. What message lies within it? the lens of one specialty, instead of the broad awareness Patrick Reilly: We wanted to better display our devothat all knowledge begins and ends in God and therefore tion to Cardinal Newman, canonized in 2019; his vision ought to be integrated. for Catholic education, as described in his Idea of a UniAnd the graduates of Newman Guide colleges are getversity and other writings, has always been foundational ting good jobs. Graduate programs are eager for sucto us. His lifelong struggle against liberalism in the cessful liberal arts students, and some studies show that Church is especially relevant to American Catholics liberal arts students often rise up to leadership positions today. The design highlights Newman’s red cardinal’s because they can reason well and communicate clearly. zucchetto: red signifies the blood of Christ whose truth, But many of the Newman Guide colleges also offer a love, and redemption are the firm foundation of authenwide array of majors in both the arts and the sciences — tic Catholic education. Red also signifies the blood of including nursing, engineering, psychology, and more the martyrs, reminding us to teach and defend the — while retaining a strong core curriculum.

Catholic faith without fear or compromise.

The social and legal landscape looks increasingly The top of the logo features a red bar or “high bar,” hostile to Catholic schools. What is your forecast for representing The Cardinal Newman Society’s commitCatholic education across the board? ment to upholding high standards of faithful Catholic Patrick Reilly: As American society becomes more formation. The bar extends across the page, representing hostile to Catholicism, lukewarm schools have tended to the lifelong continuum of Catholic education from birth buckle under pressure and compromise their mission. to death.m JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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EDUCATION

a mOther’s LOve One mOther’s stOry Of what happened tO her daughter

n BY ITV STAFF

T

he last thing Mary and her husband expected when her daughter Kate left for a private college in a midsize American city (pseudonyms are used to protect the family) was that Kate would begin “identifying” as a male by the end of her freshman year.

Kate had been a normal, “gender-conforming” girl all through her Catholic grammar school and public junior high and high school years. She was a top student and tutored peers at school. She was active, and got along well with her siblings of both sexes and her mostly female friends. She had typically female interests. She liked boys.

And she was raised with her siblings in a practicing Catholic family. “Weekly Mass, CCD (while attending public school), summer attending or (in later years) volunteering for Vacation Bible School, family prayers at bedtime as a child, prayer before dinner, etc. were the norm in our household,” explained Mary.

“I suspect our daughter/family would be nothing like what people imagine ‘trans’ kids and their families to be like. Her relationships with both parents I would describe as strong, her teachers found her mature, she bonded with her siblings, etc. Sure, there were the normal disagreements and such, but nothing out of the ordinary.”

Kate began to experience distrust of the Catholic Church around Confirmation age, although she continued to attend weekly Mass with her family. She felt strongly about social

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inequities, and the clerical abuse scandal, playing out locally, increased her estrangement from her faith.

“I figured in time her choices might be better informed as she matured,” said her mother.

FILLING THE HOLE LEFT BY LOST FAITH “I failed to recognize that the hole that was left by a faith disregarded might be replaced by something quite awful when bad actors are actively recruiting to fill these holes.

When that something is the ‘trans’ cult, it is like watching a horror show unfold upon your child. Then there is no time left to come to a fuller understanding of themselves and the world.”

Kate had taken an interest in feminism in high school. “I had done so as well in my youth,” says Mary, “so I was not so much worried by this. I had no idea that ‘sex positivity’ and ‘trans inclusivity’ were now the norm in feminist circles. I made assumptions that as her life progressed, feminism would mean to her what it means to me – to be a strong woman of faith.”

By late high school, Kate had many friends in the LGBT sphere. Her parents were wary of this but, Mary says, “at the time we were unaware that the transgender wave was building and unaware of the strange psychological manipulations being played in culture. The concept of ‘reverse misogyny’ is clearly evident now, but before her bizarre

role reversal, we could have never fathomed the things that came to pass.”

In retrospect, Mary now recognizes that the “transgender moment” had been exposing itself among the general public with the occasional magazine cover, but she was unaware how much “trans” material young people were in fact seeing — largely on the internet.

“Looking back, we were quite naïve,” she says, “but really could not even fathom that college students (let alone young children) were being prescribed cross-sex hormones.”

“Even if someone had pulled me aside in those years and explained it, I am not so sure I would have worried my kid might get caught up in it.”

Sadly, this is exactly what happened to Mary’s daughter in her freshman year of college.

PUSHED OVER THE EDGE AT COLLEGE By the end of that first school year, Kate was on male hormonal drugs and contemplating surgery to remove her breasts. “The campus harbored her and her friends egged her on,” Mary says.

“Things progressed very rapidly. I spent several sleepless nights immediately after learning about what our daughter was thinking. After speaking with a couple of concerned therapists who were among the few voices of concern at that time, I was expecting the worst — and my fears were realized.

“It was just months later that we learned our daughter’s breasts had been surgically removed,” says Mary.

Kate ended up quitting college and currently lives and works a job as a man.

What was it about the college milieu that seemed to push Kate over the edge of the “trans” cliff so quickly?

“The influences on campuses are vast,” explains Mary, “but peers played a strong role initially. We know many females on campus used underarm testosterone patches.

The packaging comes with warnings of the harmful effects possible to other people in proximity to the user – particularly to women and children. How does this affect roommates in dorms, where I know it is used?”

But Mary’s anger and frustration are particularly directed against the college itself — and most colleges, she says, because they are all held in what she calls “institutional capture”; the administration of most colleges, she maintains, is solidly in the grip of the “trans” movement.

“We really do not know what exactly happened on campus to our daughter but, although peers seemed to play a role in her initial capture by the movement, peers alone could never have caused the tragedies that were soon to unfold.

“Our daughter’s college and most others have all the fixings to inculcate confusion and edge students into the bizarre world of transgender identities. Safe spaces, LGBTQ-friendly everything, clothing swaps where the

carefully picked-out outfits a daughter (or son) once loved could be traded in for an opposite-sex peer’s possessions, campus clinics with cross-sex hormone-happy practitioners, ties to nearby clinics for further body manipulations, and everything in between, are routine features of more college campuses than not.

“I would also caution parents that just like the abortion pill, cross-sex hormones are easily accessible not just on campus but from Planned Parenthood and online,” warns Mary.

“I believe the college was the one thing that could have stopped Kate’s trajectory,” Mary believes. Instead, the school summoned security guards when she attempted to visit her daughter on campus. School administrators had no sympathy: “One even had the gall to tell me, ‘Sometimes a child does not have the same moral compass as their parents.’

“It is the college’s moral compass that is plain broken.

Sadly, I believe this to be true of most colleges today.”

COLLEGES IN THE GRIP OF A “CORPORATE-FASCIST AGENDA” It’s not only the “trans” movement’s hold on campuses that has soured Mary on the idea of college today. She is the veteran of yet another college battle, one that followed on the heels of her experience with the “trans” juggernaut.

“Not long after our ‘trans’ tragedy,” she goes on to relate, “we had other children in college while another medical scandal was brewing: the COVID injection, which is also built upon shaky ground.

“We had to work hard to convince our children that the narratives their own universities were telling them were flat-out lies. We had to fight for religious exemptions. At the core, I do not believe most universities can be trusted.

They are certainly not acting ‘in loco parentis’ in any way.

Young people have been maimed for life and some have lost their lives. Both the ‘trans’ and COVID injection tragedies were 100% avoidable if colleges were doing their jobs.

“Honestly,” she says, “colleges have succumbed to the corporate/fascist agenda that is now the United States.

Today, I would consider only the Newman Schools and a couple others like, perhaps, Hillsdale College. The more prestigious Catholic universities are no better than their secular counterparts. Despite whatever positive things they do, they have crossed the line with the tolerance of gender ideology and are, ultimately, causing harm to their students.

“Even if a child does not personally believe in gender ideology and never adopts a strange identity, a horrible campus culture still supports this: ‘Gender 101’ classes, pronoun requirements, inter-sex dorms, etc. In law and medicine, students are taught that doing actual harm is ‘medicine’ and that lies can constitute legality.

“Does anybody really want their kids at these places and do they really want to pay for this madness?”

(To be continued in the next issue of ITV) JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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EDUCATION

and marriage remains...

What faithful CatholiC Colleges are doing to reverse the trend against marriage n BY ITV STAFF

A

ccording to a national January 2023 American Perspectives Survey of more than 5,000 adults aged 18 and older, including nearly 800 single adults, 43 percent of young women and 34 percent of young men have no interest in dating.

The majority of both sexes reported that their reluctance was based on the failure of prospects to meet their expectations.

Says Auguste Meyrat in a May 3, 2023 article in Crisis, “In addition to men who don’t have college degrees, most of these women are refusing to consider men for what amounts to having the wrong political opinions,” and he cites the numbers: 74 percent would be less likely to date a Trump supporter; 72 percent, a vaccine skeptic; 54 percent, someone who is very religious; and 52 percent, a Republican.”

Meanwhile, character traits like honor or commitment or kindness don’t appear Books: Pope prominently on their radar.

St. John Paul II’s Meyrat concludes: “These numbers Theology of the Patrick strongly suggest that it’s not the college Body and O’Hearn’s degree that keeps women from dating and Courtship of the marrying but the college ‘education’ that Saints: How the Saints Met Their they’re receiving.”

Spouses Indeed, Meyrat goes on to observe, the cultural propaganda that young women are absorbing is on top of the feminist propaganda that permeates the campus, casting men as the “enemy” or, alternately, as superfluous.

No wonder dating — and marriage — are going the way of the Dodo bird.

It need not be said that this trend augurs a dystopian future for our society, not to mention a lot of lonely and unhappy lives.

In happy contrast, there are the college students attending schools on the Cardinal Newman Society’s Newman List of faithful Catholic colleges and universities.

One example: Thomas Aquinas College, with campuses in Santa Paula, California, and Northfield, Massachusetts, notes that “about 10 percent of the College’s alumni have entered the priesthood or religious life. Most of the rest marry, often wedding fellow Thomas Aquinas College alumni and raising fruitful, faithful families that bear joyful witness to the Culture of Life.’”

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Another example: Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, with an enrollment of just 500 students, boasts more than 480 alumnus-alumna marriages in its 40-year history. This has something to do with academics, the college explains: “Students learn Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in one course, while they learn about Catholic doctrine and moral theology in other courses as well. As students complete each course, they gain a greater knowledge of the principles of the faith, especially pertaining to the Church’s teachings on sexuality, marriage and family.”

Perhaps even more importantly, Newman List college campuses foster healthy relationships by providing only single-sex dorms, totally off limits to students of the opposite sex. Inter-visitation between the sexes has been the standard on most campuses, Catholic and otherwise, for decades, and, unsurprisingly, a robust “hookup culture” has also become the norm.

Now some Catholic colleges are attempting to catch up with their secular counterparts in adopting “gender-inclusive” housing policies, spelling the end of single-sex dorms. Sacred Heart University, Saint Mary’s College of California, and Fairfield University are three universities now providing a “gender-inclusive” roommate option, which means sharing a dorm room with someone of the opposite sex.

School officials do recommend against sharing a room with a romantic partner of the opposite sex: “Some relationships are ready for this step while others are not, and there can be serious challenges for all students should the relationship end,” Sacred Heart University’s policy reads.

But parents may find this less than reassuring.

Patrick O’Hearn, author of Courtship of the Saints: How the Saints Met Their Spouses, sums it up on the Newman Society’s blog: “Attending a Newman Guide college with its promotion of the sacramental life, faithfulness to the Magisterium, and flowering of Catholic culture increases grace in one’s soul, but also increases one’s odds to find a holy spouse. You are more likely to find a holy spouse at daily Mass than you will at a bar. You are more likely to find a holy spouse sitting in a theology class than sitting in a class on LGBT studies.”m

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NEWS

“Hands off africa!”

— PoPe’s new Book Hits stores CONDEMNING THE CONTINUING EXPLOITATION OF AFRICA BY FOREIGN POWERS n BY JOSEPH TULLOCH (VATICAN NEWS)

“

Photo Grzegorz Galazka

H

ands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be exploited, or a land to be plundered. May Africa be the protagonist of its own destiny!”

These were the words of Pope Francis on his first day in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this year (January 31-February 3).

On May 22, the Vatican Publishing House announced the release of a new book — written in Italian and entitled Hands Off Africa! — collecting all the Pope’s speeches during that trip, as well as those from his visit to South Sudan immediately afterwards.

Crucially, however, the book does not contain only the Pope’s voice, but also the voices of those he met during his journey. In both the DRC and South Sudan — two countries torn by vicious conflict — Pope Francis listened to the testimonies of war victims, and their stories, too, are included in the volume.

The preface, meanwhile, is written by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who said that the book “brings me a small sliver of hope for Congo, and for the beloved and broken-hearted continent that I call home.”

A “PILGRIMAGE OF PEACE” Pope Francis visited the DRC and South Sudan from the 31st of January to the 5th of February of this year.

The week-long visit, which he referred to as a “Pilgrimage of Peace,” aimed at promoting reconciliation in the conflict-ridden coun40

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tries, as well as promoting their independence from foreign interference.

In the DRC, he met with government officials, bishops, and young people, saying that “political colonialism” of Africa has given way to “economic colonialism,” which he called “equally enslaving.”

In South Sudan, meanwhile, he addressed feuding politicians, conflict between whom has devastated the country, stressing that “Now is the time to say: No more of this!”

THE DRC AND THE SILENCE OF THE WORLD In her preface, Adichie focuses in particular on the Pope’s trip to the DRC, “a country whose resources have long been exploited, a country exhausted by pillage and conflict, a

country desperate to be made whole again.”

The greatest tragedy of the situation, she says, is “not the internecine conflicts but the silence of the world,” which “speaks to the continued devaluing of African humanity by a world that nevertheless eagerly consumes African resources.” In this context, she says, Pope Francis’ visit to the DRC, and his “potent” messages there, read as “a necessary rebuke” to wealthy nations.

“His message,” she continues, “is not merely that Congo — and, by extension, Africa — matters but that it matters for one reason only. Not for its resources, which the global North depends on, not for fear that the continent could become again the scene of Western proxy battles as happened during the Cold War, but simply because of the people. Africa matters because Africans matter.”m

FOOTSTEPS On ThE WAY

“GaTher The Children in This wild CounTry” The liTTle-known appariTion of our lady of Champion, wisConsin

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here is only one Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States, located along the pilgrimage route known as The Wisconsin Way. It’s a pilgrimage destination that was little-known until recently, but its amazing story is beginning to spread.

On October 9, 1859, Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared in rural Wisconsin to a young Belgian immigrant woman named Adele Brise, identifying herself as “The Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners.”

Adele Brise was born in Belgium to Lambert and Catherine Brise on January 30, 1831.

Although she suffered an accident at a young age that left her blind in her right eye, those who knew her best describe her cheerfulness, fervent piety, and simple religious ways.

Upon receiving her First Holy Communion, Adele promised the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would dedicate her life as a religious teaching sister in Belgium. However, her parents decided to join Belgian settlers moving to America.

After the six-week voyage, the Brise family joined the largest Belgian settlement, near present-day Champion, Wisconsin, not far from Green Bay. It was a difficult life and many died in the harsh Wisconsin winters.

THE APPARITION One day, as she walked along a trail in the woods, Adele saw a lady dressed in white, standing between two trees. The mysterious woman remained silent.

A few days later, Adele encountered the silent lady a second time; but on their third encounter, Adele asked her who she was and what she wanted.

The lady replied, “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same.”

“Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation,” said Our Lady.

This was the simple beginning of Adele’s mission to become a catechist for the Lord and His Blessed Mother, despite the fact that she never learned to read or write.

Following Mary’s instructions, Adele would venture as far as 50 miles to teach children the catechism. She was undeterred by weather, fatigue, or ridicule; she would go from home to home offering to do household chores in exchange for the privilege of teaching their children.

Adele’s father built a small family chapel soon after the apparitions.

Eventually, more young women would join Adele.

In 1861, townspeople built a convent, school, and a larger chapel near Our Lady’s apparition site. The words “Notre Dame De Bon Secours, Priez Pour Nous” (“Our Lady of Good Help, Pray for Us”) were inscribed over the chapel’s entrance.

In 2009, Bishop David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin, opened a formal Church investigation of the apparitions; in 2010, they were declared “worthy of belief.”

In 2016, the USCCB declared the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help a national shrine.

A CHANGE OF NAME The shrine which began as that first wooden chapel has always been known as the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, but to conform to common naming conventions, and to dispel confusion with other shrines, its name has been changed this year to Our Lady of Champion.

“We recognize that the title of Our Lady of Good Help is very close to many hearts, as it is for the Shrine,” said Bishop Ricken. “While these titles are helpful for us, the faithful, in remembering an association with a message or place, they ultimately all refer to the same Blessed Virgin Mary, whose only desire is to bring souls to her Son, Jesus.”

Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages led its first “Discovering Mary in the Heartland” pilgrimage in 2022, which included the shrine now called Our Lady of Champion.

Please consider coming with us as we again visit this hallowed ground, and a whole constellation of other Catholic shrines, historic churches and monasteries on the beautiful, peaceful Wisconsin Way.m

JOIN US! Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages “DISCOVERING MARY IN THE HEARTLAND” Classic pilgrimage INSIDETHEVATICANPILGRIMAGES.COM Email: pilgrimage@InsidetheVatican.com phone: +1.202.536.4555 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

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SCRIPTURE

The brave virTue of PaTience To subordinaTe oneself is difficulT — buT whaT meriT is There in The easy? n BY ANTHONY ESOLEN

I

n Riccardo Bacchelli’s novel law and to those who are set in The Gaze of Jesus —which I authority over us. The Christian have recently translated from life is evidently not a spree of the Italian, for Ignatius Press — doing as you please. Household the tetrarch Herod Antipas, unservants are to obey their massettled by his superstitious fear ters, and not just the kindly that Jesus may be the same John ones, but those with a crooked the Baptist whom he had betemperament too (Greek skoheaded, comes in disguise as a lios, for someone who is crosssoldier to listen to the preacher grained, perverse, unfair). For it everyone is talking about. is a real gift — Greek charis, “You have heard it said, an from which we derive the term eye for an eye and a tooth for a eucharist, the good gift — if for tooth,” says Jesus, “but I say to the sake of your conscience you, render good for evil; and if before God, you endure grief a man strike you on one cheek, and suffer unjustly (19). turn to him the other also.”

And here we see something When he hears this, Herod we might easily miss, but for the laughs and says that Jesus isn’t context. For Peter clearly has in His right mind. the Lord’s specific words in “Hey you,” he shouts toward mind: “If you love those who a strapping young lad, “if I give love you, what merit is there in you a swat — answer me withthat? Do not even the tax collecout thinking about it — what are tors do so?” (Mt. 5:46) Crowning with Thorns by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, you going to do?”

“What glory is it,” says Peter, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna “I’ll give you back two for “if you bear it patiently when one!” cries the boy. you are beaten for your faults? But if you suffer for doing Herod gives him a cheer and says he should enlist well, and you endure it with patience, that is acceptable among the tetrarch’s bodyguards at Tiberias. He’ll get [charis] with God” (1 Peter 2:20). For, after all, we have good food and drink, good pay, and plenty of women. the exemplar of Christ to lead us, who suffered for us, That is the way of the world. though He committed no sin, nor was there guile in His Tolerance is supposed to be the one dazzling virtue that mouth, and when He was reviled, He did not retaliate in best characterizes our time, and yet I daresay that you are kind, and when He suffered, He did not respond with likelier to find jollity among Puritans, honesty among threats, but gave Himself up to the just Judge (21-23), the thieves, and broad reading among the professors in a uniFather. versity lounge, than tolerance among people who are quick The parallel is quite strong, and deeply moving. For the to take offense and who seek occasion to condemn an Son of Man came among us “not to be served, but to serve, enemy personally, to the harm of his reputations and his and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). professional life.

Jesus took upon Himself, says St. Paul, “the form of a serI have been put in mind of this minor virtue, and of the vant,” that is, a slave (Ph. 2:7), and if we are to follow Him, nobler virtue of patience, by the first reading for the Fourth the question is not whether our lives should be marked by Sunday of Easter (1 Peter 2:20-25). It is a shame that the readsubmission, but how. ing did not include the context, because Peter is speaking of I am aware that young people are often encouraged to our duties generally, even those that we may sometimes find lead conspicuous lives of what is called “public service,” unappealing, most especially the duty to subordinate ourbut aside from questions of efficacy or even of appropriate selves — the Greek noun that names the action or the conaims, the fanfare surrounding it seems self-serving, like dition is hypotaxis, implying a hierarchical order — to the the trumpets that Jesus shrewdly says the hypocrites — 42

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

Ecce Homo by Guido Reni, Louvre Museum, Paris

play-actors, who may well be sincere in their acting — blow before them when they give alms, making sure to do it in public (Mt. 6:2), and, as Jesus says, they get all their reward right then, and will deserve no more.

No, the service, the submission that Peter commends, does not lay a garland on your head while you are performing it.

It is something to be tolerated, or better, to be endured bravely, steadfastly, with perseverance and patience. And again the example of Jesus stands before us, for “by his stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus came among us to serve, and He was faithful, and for that we, swaggering like the most cruel of masters, scourged Him, crowned Him with thorns, mocked Him and laughed at Him, and nailed Him to the cross.

We are not talking about cowering in fear, or obeying a command to do evil, or subjecting the innocent to grave harm. Cowardice is just another form of impatience, of being unwilling to suffer when courage and righteousness demand that you stand in opposition against evil, let the storm break and the rain fall where it may. But most of the time, in our daily struggles and disappointments and frustrations, we are not talking about what to do in the face of

moral monstrosity. We are talking about how to deal with the boor, the bully, the shrew, the gossip, the lay-about, the irascible, the needling, the self-absorbed; particularly when such a person is your bishop, priest, father, sergeant, manager, mayor, magistrate, spouse, coach, chairman, boss, and so forth.

“Patience is a virtue, though it often displeases,” says the medieval author of Patience, which tells the story of Jonah the impatient, unwilling to set himself beneath the authority of God. He too echoes the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, saying, “They are happy also who can govern their hearts,” meaning those who suffer for the sake of righteousness (cf. Mt. 5:11), “for theirs is heaven’s kingdom, as I have heard say.” For patience makes for peace, and that is why the final two blessings are bound together: you are a peacemaker most if you hold your peace when others would offend you.

I know it is a difficult life, this that Christ and His apostles enjoin upon us. But what merit is there in the easy?

So let us pray to God for that brave virtue of patience, so that others may see it in us, and turn to the Father who has given us the gift.m

JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LATIN

the “Children of shrinking baCk”?

Who in the ChurCh is really guilty of “shrinking baCk”? n BY JOHN BYRON KUHNER

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or those of us who love Latin, it’s always a little disheartening to hear the Pope double down on his distaste for tradition. I count the hours I spent in Rome, reading Latin from Plautus to John Paul II, as some of my happiest. Saints who had really only been names before — Cyprian, Gregory, Anselm, Pius X — became real people. Latin was a respite from modern bland homogeneity. It felt like tossing a bucket down into a well and drawing up cool, refreshing water — water we could use to refresh a tired, oblivious, jaded world.

Pope Francis recently (on April 29, on the second day of his trip to Hungary, meeting with the Jesuits of the country) reiterated his condemnation for “indietrismo,” backwardism, calling it “a nostalgic disease.”

“Going backwards does not preserve life, ever,” Francis declared.

And he called on St. Paul to back him up, citing the Letter to the Hebrews (10:39): “Noi però non siamo di quelli che tornano indietro” — “We on the other hand are not of those who turn back.”

Hebrews 10:39 is definitely a strong verse, and when I read it I thought it was worth investigating further. St. Paul — or, for those who are a bit more exacting in these things, the author of the epistle, whoever it was — was keenly interested in the question of new versus old, and making sure that Christianity was not ensnared by the past. How does this affect the Christian life? How does this affect Latin? Is Latin part of this “turning back” which St. Paul — in Pope Francis’s quotation of him — seems to define as inherently unchristian?

The first thing I will note is that turning backwards, whatever a single verse of Scripture might suggest, has

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certainly always been part of the Christian tradition. Jesus cited centuries-old Scripture; to explain marriage He looked back to how it was “in the beginning”; the early Christians related His ministry to ancient prophecies.

Since his day, we have continued to look back, not only to the ancient Scriptures but to His example in the New Testament as well as the example and wisdom of other Christians (and non-Christians). I like this: we treat the past with humility, as something which may well contain something of importance.

Pope Francis himself made his comments about looking back in the context of how to interpret Vatican II, an event half a century in the past, but one which he feels still has yet to be fully realized in our lives today.

Second, let’s examine St. Paul a bit more closely. The verse in Greek runs: ημεις δε ουκ εσμεν υποστολης εις απωλειαν αλλα πιστεως εις περιποιησιν ψυχης. “We on the other hand are not of the hypostole unto destruction, but of the faith unto the preservation of soul.”

Hypostole is the word Francis is translating as “turning back.” I always like to get help from the Latin translation, which is an ancient translation and gives us some sense of how other Christians interpreted the phrase. St. Jerome writes: “Nos autem non sumus subtractionis filii in perditionem, sed fidei in acquisitionem animae.” “We are not the children of subtraction unto perdition, but of the faith unto the increase of soul.”

Hypostole is here translated as “subtraction” rather than “turning back.” It doesn’t have any sense of direction, really: the word describes the action of a turtle going back into its shell, or a soldier moving back into a crowd of troops, or someone placing themselves under the authority of someone else. In Latin it means “drag

under.” It is often translated as “shrinking back,” and is the conceptual source of the Christian idea of “backsliding.” In Greek it is a clever pun on apostole, the sending out of the disciples into the world, and it here serves as an antonym for faith. The context here, in the Letter to the Hebrews, is whether or not Christians have need of the blood sacrifices offered in the Hebrew temple. The epistle declares that God set aside those sacrifices in order to institute a new sacrifice: the Eucharist.

We can start by noticing that it is rather strong of Pope Francis to suggest that the changes instituted after Vatican II are like Christ establishing a new covenant in the Eucharist. But I do think this verse is a good one to ponder.

We do not want to shrink back, to lose our exuberance, to lose our faith. But who really is guilty of shrinking back?

G.K. Chesterton, in his The Resurrection of Rome, writes about the wild exuberance of Rome, the gold and marble churches, the ostrich feather fans held aloft before the Pope, the artistic glories of the Vatican: The Pope, he wrote, “should either be in a hovel such as covered the humility of Christ or else in a palace painted like the heavens that show forth the glory of God. I do not think, therefore, that the Papacy was wrong when, having once decided to meet human nature on the subject of ceremonial, it made it a very gorgeous ceremonial. I can see no good at all in it having made it a mean or doubtful or third-rate or threadbare ceremonial.”

But is the modern Church still exuberant like this?

What we younger Catholics see is that the past 50 years have been the rule of the “children of subtraction”: they thought the music was “over people’s heads” and needed to be pared back (Rembert Weakland, who chaired the committee on music in American parishes, said that we were a schlocky people and needed schlock music we could understand). They thought the Pope’s moving throne, the peacock feathers, the birettas, the dalmatics — it all had to go. They thought people couldn’t understand Latin and we needed to go back to a “normal” language. Since then we have been caught in a terrible either/or, rather than a Christian both/and. Why can’t we have Latin and the vernacular? Wouldn’t that mean we were not shrinking back but rather expanding into new ground? Why not have gorgeous ceremonials and also stripped-down ceremonies? Why not let the people who want chant and ember days and all that have them?

Even Francis’ basic approach has been to take things away, rather than add things. We see a Church that continues to shrink back into its little shell, afraid of the excesses of faith, what Chesterton called the “abnormal magnificence” of it. I think we do not need to shrink away from these “abnormalities” — Latin, chant, polyphony, incense, peacock feathers, looking to the past for wisdom, any of it — so long as we don’t make it the only thing our Church does.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 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

The Message of the Icon

BY ROBERT WIESNER

“THROUGH HIM ALL THINGS WERE MADE”

T

IN THE CREED: THE POWERFUL — AND TENDER — CREATIVE WORK OF GOD

tree, there is unending intellectual stimulation as well, he Apostles’ Creed of 325 originally read, “By new discoveries to be made in all corners of Adam’s playWhom all things were made, both in heaven and ground. A garden was given for his sustenance and delight on earth.” The Council of Nicea of 381 simplified and, finally, even a companion to share his dominion. Imthe language, presumably in the interest of avoiding replicit in the account is that all material creation is ordered dundancy. In any event, the Book of Genesis makes it to the use and enjoyment of humanity. abundantly clear that creation came about by means of God’s Word.

Obviously, God would know all the things which huBut there are two renditions of creation in Genesis. man beings would love, enjoy and find useful. All things Chapter 1 depicts an almighty deity made by God through His Word, Who, causing existence to be extended in after all, would share in our humanity, matter: galaxies, planets, all the orders were fashioned for the sake of manof animals and plants, come into being kind. Sin entering this wonderful by the awesome verbal artistry of God. world did distort human understandThe image depicted is of the omnipotent ing, but that does not alter the fact that deity causing creation in a resounding the world is yet ordered to human exdisplay of raw power. istence. Even given our fallen moral Chapter 2, concentrating on the adstate, we are still the stewards of the vent of humanity, brings to light a difmaterial world, responsible for the ferent image of creation. The nature of proper disposition of all the resources eternity does give rise to a theological given to us, as best we are able. theory that the Body of Christ was There are times when our intelavailable for the work of creation. Thus, lects may not quite reach a full unin an engaging, rather gentle, narrative, derstanding of the beauties bestowed God fashions humanity from the dust of upon us; mosquitoes and black mamthe ground, making a sort of mud pie, In this mosaic of the magnificent Cathedral bas may not immediately be apprecigiving rise to the image of Christ actu- of Monreale, located near Palermo in Sicily, ated as gifts from God. Still, these the Latin inscription reads: “Let us make ally forming matter with His own things are manifestations of divine creman in our image and likeness, and breathe ativity and the fault for their low regard hands. He then breathes the Holy Spirit in his face the breath of life” into His work, a “kiss of life” as it were, no doubt lies with us rather than with and names it Adam. There is an intimate personal touch God. We are still meant to glory in the gifts given us: the to the story, a tender and loving caress in the creative laexuberant joy of dogs, the smug insolence of cats, the bor, as though God regards His own creation with the magnificence of Mt. Everest. sense of wonder a parent would feel at the birth of a child.

All things are a manifestation of the mind of God and Genesis goes on to relate that, as a good Father must thus are fair prospects for theological reflection. God said do, God sees to the sustenance and education of His child, “duck-billed platypus”: He meant something by it, and Adam. All plants, animals, rocks, waters and minerals are there is a theological message for human beings in the presented to Adam for naming and classification; the unibeast. No doubt some enterprising young divinity student verse is filled with all the educational toys Adam could someday will undertake a full theological investigation to ever want. Beyond even the pleasure to be had in playing plumb the depths of divine creativity in that fascinating fetch with a dog or contemplating a magnificent redwood creature.m

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East-West Watch

BY PETER ANDERSON

CONTROVERSY OVER ANCIENT MONASTERY

A view of the historic Orthodox Christian monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, which has been a pre-eminent center of Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe for a thousand years. Now the monastery is at the center of a bitter controversy

A

side from great media attention to the war in Ukraine, there is also a conflict in Kyiv that has received considerable attention. This involves the right of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC, regarded as close to Moscow) to continue to use the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Many people in Ukraine believe that the UOC remains a part of the “Moscow Church” and desire that the UOC be removed from the Lavra. On the other hand, the UOC contends that, as a result of a “local council” held in May 2022, it has become completely independent of the Moscow Patriarchate. To make matters more complex, the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established in 2018, is seeking to replace the UOC at the Lavra.

Why is the Lavra so important? In 1051 St. Anthony, a monk, returned to Kyiv from Mt. Athos and settled in a cave dug in the hills above the Dnieper River. His abbot at Mt. Athos had prophesized, “You will be the father of many monks.” Shortly thereafter, Anthony was joined by St. Theodosius, and together they founded a monastery at this location. The early monks also lived in caves, and the monastery was therefore given the name “Pechersk,” which is derived from the Slavic word for caves.

At that time, Kyiv was the main city of a large medieval principality called Rus’, which covered much of what is today’s Ukraine, European Russia, and Belarus.

The Pechersk monastery sent into this vast area monks who founded additional monasteries. These monasteries then brought the Orthodox faith to the peoples of their respective areas. In 1159, the Pechersk monastery was given the title “Lavra,” an honor reserved for only the most important Orthodox monasteries. By 1250 approximately 50 monks from the Lavra had become bishops.

The Lavra also became a great center for culture and education. In approximately 1113, St. Nestor, a monk from the Lavra, wrote the Tale of Bygone Years, the first written history of the East Slavic people. St. Alypios, another Lavra monk, is considered the first iconographer of Rus’. In 1615 the first printing press in Kyiv was established at the Lavra. Ukraine’s first institution of higher education, founded in 1632, was located at the Lavra.

Over the years the Lavra grew in size and wealth. In the 18th century it was the feudal overlord of many cities, towns, and villages. Although this came to an end when the tsars secularized church property, the Lavra remained a great monastery and a destination of many pilgrims. Before World War I, the Lavra had more than 1,000 monks.

The advent of Communism changed all of this. The Lavra was made a museum, and the monks expelled.

Monks were allowed to return in the period 1941 — 1961, but then were expelled again. The Lavra has remained the property of the State to the present time.

However, beginning in 1988, the UOC has been allowed to use large portions of the Lavra, most recently through rent-free lease agreements. At the present time, there are approximately 200 UOC monks and novices at the Lavra.

The latest development is that the government has terminated the two leases under which the UOC has been using much of the Lavra property. The legality of this termination is now being challenged in court by the UOC. Meanwhile, the UOC has refused to leave the Lavra. There is much uncertainty now. Hopefully, the Mother of God, to whom the Lavra is dedicated, will protect it so that the spiritual life of this great religious site will continue without interruption.m

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page 47

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

NEWS from the EAST

BY MATTHEW TROJACEK

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT GREETS ARCHBISHOP SVIATOSLAV ON HIS BIRTHDAY On May 5, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, turned 53 years old. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated the Primate on this occasion.

In his congratulatory letter, the President wished Sviatoslav indefatigable vitality and good health. Furthermore, he expressed gratitude for his spiritual work and practical deeds in the name of unity and victory.

“May your archpastoral ministry and wise guidance continue to establish harmony, give the faithful vital inspiration and fill their souls with confidence and faith for the triumph of good,” the President wrote.

(Zenit)

bishops have different priorities on the appointment of bishops than do their younger counterparts, or the patriarchs themselves — and that retired bishops are less in touch with the day-to-day needs of particular dioceses.

While some have suggested that excluding bishops poses ecclesiological questions, it should be noted that the Pope, and the synods of bishops themselves, have always had the authority to circumscribe the members, and different Eastern Catholic Churches have allowed participation from bishops far-flung from their home territories in different ways.

(The Pillar) Photo Vatican/Pool/Galazka

POPE FRANCIS ADDS COPTIC ORTHODOX MARTYRS TO LITURGICAL BOOK OF SAINTS INDIAN ARCHDIOCESE MAKES MARRIAGE Pope Francis said May 11 that the CONCESSION AMID COURT Coptic Orthodox martyrs killed by BATTLE ISIS in 2015 will be added to the Catholic Church’s official list of A parish in an Indian archdiocese saints. He also received a relic of the established to serve a strictly endogmartyrs’ blood as a gift. amous community has taken the un“I am glad to announce today precedented step of permitting a that, with the consent of Your Holimember to marry a Catholic from ness, these 21 martyrs will be inanother diocese.

On May 11, Pope Francis receives in private audience serted into the Roman Martyrology The pastor of Saint Anne’s KnaHis Holiness Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and as a sign of the spiritual communion naya Catholic Church in Kottody, Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, Head of the Coptic Orthodox uniting our two Churches,” Francis Kerala State, reportedly issued a letChurch of Egypt (Photo Vatican/Pool/Galazka) said in a speech to the head of the ter of permission April 15 to 31Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II. year-old Justin John, who was engaged two days later to The Roman Martyrology is an official list of the saints Vijimol Shaji, a member of the Archdiocese of Tellicherry. and blesseds, including martyrs, recognized in the liturgy of Knanaya men who marry Catholics outside the archthe Catholic Church. The list is ordered according to the eparchy are usually no longer regarded as members of the Church’s calendar of feast days. archeparchy and are expected to join a non-Knanaya parish.

In his speech, Pope Francis said he had “no words” to Indian media described the granting of permission to John express his gratitude for the Orthodox leader’s gift of relics as a historic step that could signal the death knell for the of the Coptic martyrs, who were beheaded by ISIS on a archeparchy’s marriage rules. (The Pillar) beach in Libya on February 15, 2015.

“May the prayer of the Coptic martyrs, united with that POPE FRANCIS CHANGES EASTERN CATHOLIC of the Theotokos, continue to grow the friendship between SYNODS our Churches, until the blessed day when we can celebrate Pope Francis on April 17 issued a new motu proprio, a together at the same altar and commune in the same Body change to canon law, impacting the Eastern Catholic Churchand Blood of the Savior, ‘that the world may believe,’” es of the Catholic communion.

Francis said. (CNA) According to the motu proprio, the Pope was asked by a number of hierarchs to restrict the voting authority of older bishops at the synods of bishops.

AMERICAN MONASTERIES GATHERING Pope Francis explicitly mentioned “the number of SUPPORT FOR BUILDING PROJECTS bishops emeritus who participate with an active voice, A number of Orthodox monasteries in America are in the especially in the election of the bishops and of the [leaders] midst of building projects that will allow them to house more of respective [Eastern Catholic Churches].” monastics and receive more pilgrims, thus helping to spread Some Eastern Catholic sources have told The Pillar they the Orthodox faith. One of these monasteries is Holy Cross suspect that some patriarchs have complained that older Monastery in Wayne, West Virginia. page 48

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Holy Cross is an English-speaking monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia with more than two dozen monks, novices, candidates, and lay workers. The quickly growing community has long needed a new, larger church, construction of which is now underway.

The new church will have a capacity for 50 monks and 150 laypeople.

At Holy Assumption Monastery (Orthodox Church in America) in Calistoga, California, a new residence house for the nuns, named in honor of Saint Nicholas, has been built.

The Orthodox Monastery of Saint Mary of Egypt (Orthodox Church in America) in Glendale, Arizona, has acquired land for a new home in Casa Grande, Arizona.

The monastery was founded in Arizona in 2021 by a community of nuns who had already labored in asceticism together in Egypt for more than 20 years. They write: “God relocated us to the U.S. to continue our ministry and asceticism here. With full faith in God, we packed up and ventured to this entirely new land. God blessed us greatly in His divine arrangements and care for us in all regards, and we have been able to serve Him in even more new ways here.”

(OrthoChristian)

faithful. On the previous evening, Saturday, May 13, Pope Tawadros delivered a catechesis on Christian unity to the Orthodox faithful in a Basilica filled to capacity.

Upon his arrival at the Basilica, Pope Tawadros was greeted by His Eminence Angelo Di Donatis, Cardinal Vicar of Rome, and Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Bishop Farrell noted that “today, for the first time, the Patriarch of the See of St. Mark celebrates the Eucharistic liturgy in the Coptic rite in this illustrious Basilica of St. John Lateran,” and hoped it “may also remind us that the temple of stones that brings us together is symbolic of the one Church that Christians are called to build: the ‘spiritual edifice’ built by God with the ‘living stones’ who are Christians, on the one foundation of the ‘cornerstone,’ Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4-8).”

(Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)

PUTIN HANDS THE IMAGE OF THE HOLY TRINITY OF ANDREI RUBLEV TO THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to hand over the historic icon of the 15th-century Holy Trinity, on display in a museum, to the Russian Orthodox Church because of the interest of its faithful, the Kremlin spokesman said on May 16.

The icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev is one of the holiest and most artistically POPE TAWADROS II The icon of the Trinity by Andrei significant Russian icons CELEBRATES THE Rublev is one of the holiest and most EUCHARISTIC LITURGY artistically significant Russian icons believed to have been IN ST. JOHN LATERAN BASILICA painted in honor of Saint Sergius of Radonezh at the Sergiev During his visit to Rome to commemorate the 1973 Posad near Moscow. meeting between Paul VI and Shenouda III, His Holiness It depicts three angels who visited Abraham in Mamre’s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II presided over the oak tree in the Book of Genesis, the first of the Bible.

Eucharistic Liturgy in the Basilica of St. John Lateran In 1929 the authorities of the officially atheistic on Sunday, May 14.

Communist Soviet Union placed the icon in the The liturgy was concelebrated by members of his Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. delegation and the clergy of the Coptic Orthodox During World War II it was moved to a safe Diocese of Rome and Southern Italy, with the location for a while. participation of a large number of Coptic Orthodox (OrthodoxTimes)m

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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page 49

TradiTion and BeauTy

The poor “ordinary people” The Treasures of The liTurgy were abandoned in The name of “The people,” buT iT was “The people” who losT n BY AURELIO PORFIRI Two Seated Angels Making Music,

by Dutch artist Daniël George van Beuningen (1877-1955), from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

W

e know that one of the great secrets of politics is to appeal to “the people” when you want to justify certain government policies: the people want this, the people want that, the people here, the people there... Unfortunately, often for the actual people, it has nothing to do with those proposals; but politicians don’t care about that. They are interested in using that word to make believe that there is a broad consensus around their policies. And today is precisely the time for the use and abuse of the word “people”: let us think of the success of populist political movements, or of the present pontiff, who is inspired by a “theology of the people.”

In short, it seems that “the people” have been placed at the center of the story — but nothing could be further from the truth.

Real people, poor people, simple people, ordinary people, are mostly used to having things taken from them — then left to face problems that are sometimes really difficult to solve.

I don’t want to talk about politics, but I think I can present some considerations on how the Catholic Church has thrown itself into this demagoguery of “the people” in recent decades.

After all, was the reform of the liturgy not made with the intention of bringing the people closer to the sacred rites?

Mind you, the intention was certainly good at the beginning. The words pronounced by St. Pius X in his Motu Proprio of November 22, 1903, then taken almost as a motto by the liturgical movement, are certainly acceptable: “Being, in fact, Our most heartfelt desire that the true Christian spirit flourish

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

again in every way and be maintained in all the faithful, it is necessary first of all to provide for the sanctity and dignity of the temple, where precisely the faithful gather to draw this spirit from its first and indispensable source, which is active participation in the sacred mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church. And it is vain to hope that for this purpose the abundant blessing of Heaven will descend upon us, when our obedience to the Most High, instead of ascending in the odor of sweetness, puts back into the hand of the Lord the scourges, from which the Divine Redeemer once again expelled from the temple the unworthy profaners.”

I often quote this passage because it is very important for understanding the direction taken by the liturgical reform.

Now, I don’t see a big problem in what St. Pius X says.

However, I do see a problem in the way this text has been translated.

Indeed, the Latin original says “Etenim cum nihil Nobis potius sit et vehementer optemus ut virtus christianae religionis floreat et in omnibus Christifidelibus firmior sit, tempi decori provideatur oportet, ubi Christicolae congregantur ut hoc virtutis spiritu ex priore fonte fruantur, quae est participatio divinorum mysteriorum atque Ecclesiae communium et solemnium precum.”

As we can see, it speaks of “participatio,” but the word “activa” (active) does not appear. Carol Byrne had noted this in her book, Born of Revolution. It is said that it may have been the Jesuit Angelo de’ Santi who added the word “active,”

which gives a slightly different connotation to the word “participation.”

Let us be clear: it is not in question that the people should participate in the sacred mysteries; but according to the ideas of some progressive liturgists, participating is a “doing” rather than a “being.” In reality, we all know very well that participation must be both internal and external, but they care little about this.

Obviously this problem also affects sacred music, because if participating is only an external act, the traditional repertoire is almost entirely excluded. If the “people” have to sing, the choir is excluded. And yet all of this is precisely against that Second Vatican Council which it claims to obey. But haven’t they inculcated in us the notion of “God’s people,” each ordered according to different personal charisms? So are musical charisms, including those of singing, not valid? And how can one claim to find justification in the Council when one excludes the Gregorian chant and polyphony that Vatican II expressly asked to promote?

Alas, arguments against ideology are worthless: if the facts prove you wrong, as someone once said, so much the worse for the facts.

Why don’t these “populist” priests realize that the very “people” to whom they have turned all their attention are increasingly abandoning our churches? Ex-Catholics now constitute a huge group, including those who change their religion and those who simply abandon it. But the original goal was actually to overturn the order of things; it was for this reason that they made dogma subject to “pastoralism.”

DON’T JUST S U R V I V E C O L L E G E ...

TH T H RI R I VE! VE!

Now they want to save face — and their careers, because there are entire ecclesiastical careers built on the mad postconciliar ideology.

A treasure of art, music and spirituality has been destroyed which was for the people, which did not require a merely intellectual understanding but above all a spiritual one, and why?

Because, they said, the people “must” sing, because the people “must” understand, because the people “must” participate.

Don’t you find all these imperious “musts” strange in a Church that would preach the freedom of God’s children?

Something can be said about each of these “musts”: In certain moments, the people can sing, but the Council never said that everyone must sing. This also depends on the local culture; there are cultures where solo singing is more popular than choral singing (such as Italy), where men (rightly or wrongly) feel uncomfortable singing in church because they simply have not been educated to sing. We ask what is possible; we don’t force people by making them uncomfortable.

The people must understand, of course, but the most important understanding is not to understand word by word, concept by concept. The Mass is a sacred act, it is not reciting the catechism. In the Mass, one understands at a higher level.

One should of course be able to participate at Mass, but as I mentioned, this participation is at a much higher level than just keeping busy.

The poor “people,” who are forced to consume the fruits of an ideology that seems never to end! Informed lay people must take courage and remind the clergy politely, but also with firmness, of their duties to God and to His people.m

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Of Books, Art, and People

St. FranciS oF aSSiSi at London’S nationaL GaLLery n BY LUCY GORDAN Caravaggio’s St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut.

Below, Botticelli’s St. Francis of Assisi with Angels. (© The National Gallery, London)

F

rancis of Assisi (1181-1226) is the patron saint of Italy, animals, ecology and tapestry makers. Born to a prosperous silk merchant in Assisi, he was christened Giovanni, but, because his mother was French, he was nicknamed Francis (“Francesco” meaning “little Frenchman”). A debonair nature-lover and Francophile, he enjoyed the typical life of a wealthy young man, but his disillusionment with the world around him, full of its social and economic injustices, soon weighed on his conscience.

His friends’ mockery and his father’s rage when he helped beggars and lepers, the traumatizing experience of war, a year-long imprisonment and a debilitating illness he caught in jail caused him to reassess his life.

In 1205, on his return home from his imprisonment, he stopped to pray in the ruins of the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside Assisi. The altar’s crucifix’s Christ told him, “Repair my falling house.” Francis took Christ 52 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

literally, so, he began to repair San Damiano and churches near Assisi, including the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels known as the Porziuncola, selling cloth from his father’s warehouse, eventually causing his father to disinherit his hopelessly “mad son.”

Consequently, with 11 like-minded companions, Francis dressed in a coarse brown woolen tunic and began his fervent life of poverty, wandering the countryside preaching penance, brotherly love, charity, and peace, nursing lepers and caring for the poor.

In 1209 Francis composed a simple rule for his followers, the Regula primitiva or “Primitive Rule”: “to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in His footsteps.”

He then led them to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order. In a dream the Pope envisioned Francis holding up the Lateran Basilica, so he gave his endorsement, dated traditionally to April 16, 1210.

Determined to bring the The three oldest, all on loan Gospel to all peoples, beginfrom Assisi, are a habit worn ning in 1212 Francis traveled

by St. Francis, an ivory and to Dalmatia, Spain, France, wooden horn with rods (1219and most importantly, Egypt 1350), a precious relic Francis and the Holy Land, where the brought back from Egypt, and Franciscan have been present a Vita-retable of St. Francis almost uninterruptedly since (1253).

1217.

On display from the United Another important event in States are Caravaggio’s Saint Francis’s life was his 1223 Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy Christmas visit to the town of (1595-6) and Francisco RibalGreccio, where he created a ta’s St. Francis’ Vision of the live nativity scene complete Musical Angel (1620), both on with farm animals—the preloan from the Wadsworth cursor of today’s crèche.

Atheneum Museum of Art in In 1224 he composed the Hartford, Connecticut; and Canticle of Creation, the oldSaint Clare Rescuing a Child Fra Angelico’s St. Francis Before the Sultan. est poetic text in Italian by a Mauled by a Wolf (1455-60) Below, the horn St. Francis brought back from Egypt known author, and on Septemfrom the Museum of Fine Arts ber 13 of that same year, received the in Houston; and Giuseppe Penone’s Door stigmata (the five wounds that appeared Tree-Cedar (2012) from New York’s on his body in the same places as those Gagosian and Marian Goodman Gallery. on Christ’s body during His crucifixion).

Additional masterpieces in the exhibiBesides the stigmata, Francis suffered tion’s six rooms, with a seventh dedicated from trachoma. After receiving medical to St. Clare (1194-1253), one of Francis’ care in Siena, Cortona, and Nocera, but first followers, depict Francis’ deep devoto no avail, Francis returned to Assisi. tion, his poverty, his travels, his suffering By now completely blind, he died in a and his love of nature. The earliest are the hut next to the Porziuncola on the manuscript Chronica maiora (1240-55) evening of October 3, 1226, singing with the earliest English depictions of the Psalm 141: “Voce mea ad Dominum.” saint by Matthew Paris, and Sassetta’s On July 16, 1228, Pope Gregory IX medieval painted panels of the San Sepoldeclared Francis a saint, and on the next cro Altarpiece (1437-44), one of the most day laid the foundation stone for the celebrated “visual biographies” of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Francis saint, based on Thomas of Celano’s and was buried there on May 25, 1230, under St. Bonaventure’s biographies. They conthe Lower Basilica, which Giotto decotinue with Fra Angelico’s St. Francis Berated with frescoes (1297-1300) of Franfore the Sultan (1429) and Botticelli’s St. cis’ life. His remains are still venerated Francis of Assisi with Angels (1475-80). there today.

Later spellbinding works here are El Francis’ life and his some 40 approved post-mortem Greco’s St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata (1590-5), miracles have inspired artists from Giotto to the present.

Murillo’s St. Francis Embracing the Crucified Christ The most represented saint in art history, art historians (1668-9), ending with Marvel Comics’ Disney cartoon, have estimated that c. 20,000 images of Francis, not inFrancis, Brother of the Universe (1980) by Buscema and cluding those in illuminated manuscripts, were drawn in most recently Büttner’s Beggar’s Suite (2016). the first century after his death.

Thus, the exhibition (admission free) sheds light On at London’s National Gallery until July 30, is Saint on how St. Francis captured the imagination of artists, Francis of Assisi, the first major exhibition in the United how his image evolved over the centuries, and how Kingdom to explore his life and legacy. On display are his universal appeal has transcended time, continents, some 40 works of art from European and American puband different religious traditions. The display will not lic and private collections, spanning more than seven travel, but a beautifully illustrated catalog is available centuries. on the internet for 20 British pounds.m JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN 53

Of Books, Art, and People

Celebrating the PaPaCy of Urban Viii (1623-44) n BY LUCY GORDAN

T

Museums, Staatliche Museen zu o celebrate the 400th anniverBerlin, The British Museum, Lonsary of Maffeo Barberini’s don’s National Gallery and Victopapal election as Pope Urban ria and Albert Museum, the Prado, VIII in 1623, on until July 30 at the the Louvre, the Albertina, the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Kunsthistorisches Museum in ViRome’s Palazzo Barberini is The enna, the Cleveland Museum of Sovereign Image: Urban VIII and Art, the Minneapolis Institute of the Barberini.

Art, the Metropolitan, the “This exhibition reconstructs,” Philadelphia Museum of Art, the said Flaminia Gennari Santori, St. Louis Art Museum, and New director of the Museum and coYork’s Cathedral of St. John the curator of the exhibition, at the Divine. press preview, “the cultural and Also on display are several volpolitical profile of the Pope who, umes from Urban VIII’s personal more than any other, had an imlibrary of some 4,000 titles as well pact on philosophical thought, scias three (one for each subject) of entific knowledge and the arts in the 12 spectacular tapestries the 17th century. It aims to illuswhich once decorated St. Peter’s trate the ways in which the pontiff Basilica, illustrating episodes of favored cultural hegemony as a Caravaggio’s portrait of Maffeo Barberini before he became Pope.

Christ’s, the Emperor Constanfunction of political and governBelow, Pietro da Cortona’s ceiling showing the tapestry tine’s, and Urban VIII’s lives. mental action. of Constantine fighting a lion These were produced by the Bar“Urban VIII (r. 1623-44), toberini Tapestry Workshop, promoted by the pontiff’s gether with his nephews, Cardinals Francesco and Antonephew Francesco in 1625 and here juxtaposed for the nio and Prince Taddeo Barberini, tenaciously pursued an first time with their preparatory sketches. ambitious political-cultural project that pervaded all areas Displayed in chronological order in 12 sections, the exof knowledge and artistic and cultural production. A new hibition proceeds from the Exhibition Space on the ground style was imposed, which immediately spread like wildfloor to the emblematic spaces of the museum which were fire not only in Rome and Italy, but throughout Europe; once the family residence, such as the monumental rooms the Baroque was born in Rome under the Barberinis.” on the piano nobile: The Pietro da Cortona Room with its For the first time, more than 80 works of art collected immense ceiling fresco Allegory of Divine Providence and

by Urban VIII, 70 of which are on loan from over 40 Barberini Power, the Throne museums and private collecRoom, and the Landscape Room. tions worldwide, will be gathSection One, “Pleasure, Good ered in the family’s sumptuous Fortune, and Strategy” focuses on residence commissioned by Urthe figure of Maffeo Barberini ban VIII and designed by the with a series of portraits and a greatest architects of his time: number of artworks he collected Maderno, Borromini and Berniwhen he was still a cardinal. Two, ni, one of Urban VIII’s favorite “Imagining the Dynasty,” preartists along with Pietro da Corsents his nephews, the other protona, Valentin de Boulogne, and tagonists of his papacy; Three, Nicolas Poussin. Among the “The Factory of Saints,” illusloaners are: the Uffizi, Brera, trates Urban’s effort to reaffirm The Capitoline, Capodimonte, the universalism of the Catholic Galleria Borghese, Vatican

54 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

Church through his canonization policy strategy; and Twelve,” “The Theater and via Propaganda Fide, his evangeof Amazements” recounts the scenolization of continents outside Europe. graphic dimension of Palazzo BarFour, “Hic Domus,” showcases the berini, which was originally used for masterpieces of his art collection which political ceremonies and theatrical include Poussin’s Death of Germanicus performances. On display here are two on loan from Minneapolis, one of the large canvases restored especially for French painter’s most famous works the exhibition, executed by Andrea Cacommissioned by the pope’s nephew massei, Taddeo Barberini’s favorite Francesco in 1626; and Andrea Sacpainter and one of the greatest and most chi’s Portrait of Marc’Antonio Pasquaassiduous interpreters of the family’s lini with Apollo and Marsyas (from The patronage strategies: The Massacre of Metropolitan). Five, “Family Enterprises,” the Niobids and The Rest of Diana. explains his symbolic and allegorical Outside the Palazzo Barberini, universe dominated by the sun, bees, other Urban VIII (the only Barberini and laurel. Six, “Ancient Culture,” his Pope and the last named Urban) comactivities to recover ancient art; Seven, missions include his tomb, the cathe“Modern Science,” his promotion of dra and the baldacchino in St. Peter’s science which showcases Tlamachayatl Basilica, the Bee Fountain and the (1534), one of the rare examples of Triton Fountain in Piazza Barberini, Mesoamerican feathered textiles The tapestry of Christ’s baptism on loan from all designed by Bernini, and the glass known today, on loan from the Muse- New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine window with the bee coat of arms in um of Civilizations in Rome; Eight, “Weaving the Weft,” the counter-façade of Santa Maria d’Aracoeli. The fact The Barberini Tapestry Workshop; Nine, “Rhetoric and that massive bronze girders were pillaged from the portiPoetry,” his love of literature; Ten, Le Api Munifiche, conco of the Pantheon to make the baldacchino led to the cerns the art commissioned by his nephews and then sent well-known lampoon: Quod non fecerunt barbari, feas diplomatic gifts to the courts of Paris, Madrid, London, cerunt Barbarini, “What the barbarians did not do, the and Vienna; Eleven, “Around the Beehive,” his collecting Barberini did.”m

JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN 55

THE END EXCERPTS FROM LORD OF THE WORLD

“The Greatest Danger: Indiscreet Zeal” MORE THAN A CENTURY AGO, MONSIGNOR ROBERT HUGH BENSON FORESAW THE RISE OF SECULAR HUMANISM, THE CONTRACTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND THE COMING OF THE ANTICHRIST... 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) Book II, The Encounter, Chapter V, Section II (Note: The hero of the story, a young English priest, Fr. Percy Franklin, has gone to Rome to report to the Pope on what he has seen in England: the arrival of a leader proposing global harmony leaving aside Christ. Hearing this, the Pope summons the Curia to establish a new “Order of Christ Crucified.” He then makes Percy the Cardinal Protector of England. The scene shifts to England and the creation of... a new liturgy.. then shifts back again to Rome...)

Percy’s intuitive faculties were keen by nature and had been vastly increased by cultivation. He had never forgotten Father Blackmore’s shrewd remarks of a year ago; and one of his first acts as Cardinal-Protector had been to appoint that priest on the list of English correspondents. Hitherto he had received some dozen letters, and not one of them had been without its grain of gold. Especially he had noticed that one warning ran through them all, namely, that sooner or later there would be some overt act of provocation on the part of English Catholics; and it was the memory of this that had inspired his vehement entreaties to the Pope this morning. As in the Roman and African persecutions of the first three centuries, so now, the greatest danger to the Catholic community lay not in the unjust measures of the Government but in the indiscreet zeal of the faithful themselves. The world desired nothing better than a handle to its blade. The scabbard was already cast away.

When the young man had brought the four closely written sheets, dated from Westminster, the previous evening, Percy turned at once to the last paragraph before the usual Recommendations.

“Mr. Brand’s late secretary, Mr. Phillips, whom your Eminence commended to me, has been to see me two or three times. He is in a curious state. He has no faith; yet, intellectually, he sees no hope anywhere but in the Catholic Church. He has even begged for admission to the Order of Christ Crucified, which of course is 56

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

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.

impossible. But there is no doubt he is sincere; otherwise he would have professed Catholicism. I have introduced him to many Catholics in the hope that they may help him. I should much wish your Eminence to see him.”

Before leaving England, Percy had followed up the acquaintance he had made so strangely over Mrs. Brand’s reconciliation to God, and, scarcely knowing why, had commended him to the priest. He had not been particularly impressed by Mr. Phillips; he had thought him a timid, undecided creature, yet he had been struck by the extremely unselfish action by which the man had forfeited his position. There must surely be a good deal behind.

And now the impulse had come to send for him. Perhaps the spiritual atmosphere of Rome would precipitate faith. In any case, the conversation of Mr. Brand’s late secretary might be instructive.

He struck the bell again. “Mr. Brent,” he said, “in your next letter to Father Blackmore, tell him that I wish to see the man whom he proposed to send—Mr. Phillips.”

“Yes, Eminence.”

“There is no hurry. He can send him at his leisure.”

“Yes, Eminence.”

“But he must not come till January. That will be time enough, unless there is urgent reason.”

“Yes, Eminence.” ***** The development of the Order of Christ Crucified had gone forward with almost miraculous success. The appeal issued by the Holy Father throughout Christendom had been as fire among stubble. It seemed as if the Christian world had reached exactly that point of tension at which a new organisation of this nature was needed, and the response had startled even the most sanguine.

Practically the whole of Rome with its suburbs—three millions in all—had run to the enrolling stations in St. Peter’s as starving men run to food, and desperate to the storming of a breach. For day after day the Pope himself had sat enthroned below the Altar of the Chair, a glorious, radiant figure, growing ever white and weary towards evening, imparting his Blessing with a silent sign to each individual of the vast crowd that swarmed up between the barriers,

God as seen by the British poet William Blake as the Architect of the world in his 1794 watercolor etching Ancient of Days, now held in the British Museum, London. The name “Ancient of Days” is a name for God used by the prophet Daniel: “I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool....” (Daniel 7:9)

fresh from fast and Communion, to kneel before his new Superior and kiss the Pontifical ring. The requirements had been as stringent as circumstances allowed. Each postulant was obliged to go to confession to a specially authorised priest, who examined sharply into motives and sincerity, and only one-third of the applicants had been accepted. This, the authorities pointed out to the scornful, was not an excessive proportion; for it was to be remembered that most of those who had presented themselves had already undergone a sifting fierce as fire. Of the three millions in Rome, two millions at least were exiles for their faith, preferring to live obscure and despised in the shadow of God rather than in the desolate glare of their own infidel countries.

On the fifth evening of the enrolment of novices an astonishing incident had taken place. The old King of Spain (Queen Victoria’s second son), already on the edge of the grave, had just risen and tottered before his Ruler; it seemed for an instant as if he would fall, when the Pope himself, by a sudden movement, had risen, caught him in his arms and kissed him; and then, still standing, had spread his arms abroad and delivered a fervorino such as never had been heard before in the history of the basilica.

“Benedictus Dominus!” he cried, with upraised face and shining eyes. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people. I, John, Vicar of Christ, Servant of Servants, and sinner among sinners, bid you be of good courage in the Name of God. By Him Who hung on the Cross, I promise eternal life to all who persevere in His Order. He Himself has said it. To him that overcometh I will give a crown of life.

“Little children; fear not him that killeth the body. There is no more that he can do.

God and His Mother are amongst us….”

So his voice had poured on, telling the enormous awe-stricken crowd of the blood that already had been shed on the place where they stood, of the body of the Apostle that lay scarcely fifty yards away, urging, encouraging, inspiring. They had vowed themselves to death, if that were God’s Will; and if not, the intention would be taken for the deed. They were under obedience now; their wills were no longer theirs but God’s; under chastity—for their bodies were bought with a price; under poverty, and theirs was the kingdom of heaven.

He had ended by a great silent Benediction of the City and the World: and there were not wanting a half-dozen of the faithful who had seen, they thought, a white shape in the form of a bird that hung in the air while he spoke white as a mist, translucent as water….

The consequent scenes in the city and suburbs had been unparalleled, for thousands of families had with one consent dissolved human ties. Husbands had found their way to the huge houses on the Quirinal set apart for them; wives to the Aventine; while the children, as confident as their parents, had swarmed over to the Sisters of St. Vincent who had received at the Pope’s orders the gift of three streets to shelter them in. Everywhere the smoke of burning went up in the squares where household property, rendered useless by the vows of poverty, were consumed by their late owners; and

daily long trains moved out from the station outside the walls carrying jubilant loads of those who were despatched by the Pope’s delegates to be the salt of men, consumed in their function, and leaven plunged in the vast measures of the infidel world. And that infidel world welcomed their coming with bitter laughter.

From the rest of Christendom had poured in news of success.

The same precautions had been observed as in Rome, for the directions issued were precise and searching; and day after day came in the long rolls of the new Religious drawn up by the diocesan superiors.

Within the last few days, too, other lists had arrived, more glorious than all. Not only did reports stream in that already the Order was beginning its work and that already broken communications were being re-established, that devoted missioners were in process of organising themselves, and that hope was once more rising in the most desperate hearts; but better than all this was the tidings of victory in another sphere. In Paris forty of the new-born Order had been burned alive in one day in the Latin quarter, before the Government intervened. From Spain, Holland, Russia had come in other names. In Dusseldorf eighteen men and boys, surprised at their singing of Prime in the church of Saint Laurence, had been cast down one by one into the city-sewer, each chanting as he vanished: “Christi Fili Dei vivi miserere nobis” [“Christ Son of the Living God have mercy on us”] and from the darkness had come up the same broken song till it was silenced with stones. Meanwhile, the German prisons were thronged with the first batches of recusants. The world shrugged its shoulders, and declared that they had brought it on themselves, while yet it deprecated mob-violence, and requested the attention of the authorities and the decisive repression of this new conspiracy of superstition. And within St. Peter’s Church the workmen were busy at the long rows of new altars, affixing to the stone diptychs the brass-forged names of those who had already fulfilled their vows and gained their crowns.

It was the first word of God’s reply to the world’s challenge. ***** As Christmas drew on it was announced that the Sovereign pontiff would sing mass on the last day of the year, at the papal altar of Saint Peter’s, on behalf of the Order; and preparations began to be made.

It was to be a kind of public inauguration of the new enterprise; and, to the astonishment of all, a special summons was issued to all members of the Sacred College throughout the world to be present, unless hindered by sickness. It seemed as if the Pope were determined that the world should understand that war was declared; for, although the command would not involve the absence of any Cardinal from his province for more than five days, yet many inconveniences must surely result. However, it had been said, and it was to be done. ***** (To be continued) m INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

57

VATICAN WATCH

By Matthew Trojacek

APRIL THURSDAY 18

DICASTERY FOR CULTURE AND EDUCATION WILL TAKE PART IN THE 18TH INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION The presentation of the Holy See Pavilion “Social Friendship: Meeting in the Garden” at the 18th edition of the Venice Biennale Architecture 2023, taking place from May 20 to November 26, 2023 was live-streamed today from the Vatican press room.

The Curator, the architect Roberto Cremascoli, has chosen these words to synthesize the teachings of Pope Francis in his encyclicals Laudato si’ (2015) and Fratelli tutti (2020) which in turn serve as a guide to the exhibition’s itinerary.

The Commissioner, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, and the Curator have invited the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza (Pritzker Prize 1992) — an international figure in the world of art and architecture — to display his work at the Pavilion of the Holy See together with the Italian Collective Studio Albori (Emanuele Almagioni, Giacomo Borella, Francesca Riva).

The group integrates architectural activities with “participative and ecological processes.” (Exaudi)

The initiative revives the 18th-century Pontifical Art Studio, which trained craftspeople at night and on holidays for eventual employment as “Sampietrini.”

Students who complete the course will receive a certificate but no guarantee of future employment at the Vatican. (AssociatedPress) MONDAY 24

PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE RESPONDS TO OUTCRY OVER ARCHBISHOP PAGLIA ASSISTED SUICIDE COMMENTS On April 24, the Pontifical Academy for Life said its president is against assisted suicide but thinks it is possible to have a “legal initiative” that would allow it to be decriminalized in Italy under “specific and particular conditions.”

The statement was issued following an outcry over a speech in which Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia defended legalizing medically assisted suicide in Italy.

The archbishop called it a “feasible” approach to the issue in Italian society, despite the Catholic Church’s clear teachings against it.

“Personally, I would not practice suicide assistance, but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in,” Paglia said in a speech on April 19 during the International Journalism Festival in PeFRIDAY 19 rugia, Italy.

ARTISAN APPRENTICE SCHOOL The statement by the Vatican Academy Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy INAUGURATED FOR VATICAN said Paglia “reiterates his ‘no’ towards eufor Life (Photo Grzegorz Galazka) BASILICA thanasia and assisted suicide, in full adherThe Vatican on April 19 inaugurated a new arts and ence to the magisterium.” crafts academy inside St. Peter’s Basilica, which revives The Academy added that the president’s comments a centuries-old apprentice system that trained stonemawere about a ruling in the Italian Constitutional Court and sons, carpenters, and artisans to care for the treasures in “the specific Italian situation.” (CNA) the world’s largest Catholic church.

The ceremony came as the first 20 students in the MAY academy are halfway through what amounts to a sixmonth unpaid internship. They attend lectures, participate in hands-on workshops and learn various trades and techWEDNESDAY 10 nical skills under the guidance of the basilica’s famed POPE FRANCIS HOLDS “Sampietrini,” the small army of workers who maintain GENERAL AUDIENCE WITH TAWADROS II the building.

Pope Francis and the head of the Coptic Orthodox The academy is free to the students and is open to high Church of Alexandria in Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, led the school graduates. Organizers said the current students, 12 General Audience at the Vatican on May 10. men and eight women, hail from Italy, Peru, Germany, In a change from the usual pattern of Pope Francis’ and Belarus. Some are in a gap period between high weekly public audience, the two leaders sat together on school and college, some are already studying certain the platform in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. The gathtrades in college, while others are unemployed or have ering opened with a speech by Tawadros II in Arabic, part-time jobs, according to a statement. followed by Pope Francis’ own greeting to the Coptic 58 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

Rome, May 12, 2023. His Holiness Pope Francis with President of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni at the “General State of the Birthrate” conference, held at the Conciliazione Auditorium near the Vatican (Photo Italian Government)

Orthodox leader.

Tawadros II’s visit to Rome marked the anniversary of a historic encounter between St. Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria in 1973.

The meeting 50 years ago this year marked a renewal in relations between the Catholic and Coptic Orthodox Churches. (CNA) FRIDAY 12

POPE FRANCIS: HIGHER BIRTH RATE GIVES MORE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE The Pope shared the stage on May 12 with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a two-day conference on “The General State of the Birth Rate,” held at Conciliazione Auditorium close to the Vatican.

“The birth of children, in fact, is the main indicator for measuring the hope of a people,” Pope Francis said. “If few are born it means there is little hope. And this not only has repercussions from an economic and social point of view, but also undermines confidence in the future.”

“The General State of the Birthrate” is a conference for Italian political, business, and organization leaders to reflect on Italy’s demographic crisis, caused by one of the lowest birth rates in Europe: 1.25 births per woman.

Italy hit a historic low number of births in 2022, with only around 393,000 children born in the country. The same year, the country saw 700,000 deaths, marking a dangerous decline in population.

In what appeared to be a reference not only to welcoming the birth of children, but to welcoming migrants, Pope Francis also said “a happy community naturally develops desires to generate and integrate, to welcome, while an unhappy society is reduced to a sum of individuals trying to defend what they have at all costs.”

(NCRegister) VATICAN ASSURES CARITAS THAT PAPAL FIRINGS WERE NECESSARY, NOT A CRITICISM OF WORK On May 12, a top Vatican cardinal defended Pope Francis’ “drastic” leadership firings at the Holy See’s preeminent charity, saying that they were necessary for the wellbeing of staff at Caritas Internationalis and not a condemnation of its work.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, whose development office is responsible for Caritas, sought to explain Francis’ extraordinary decision last November to fire the elected Caritas leadership, appoint a temporary administrator, and overhaul the Caritas statutes.

The move shocked Caritas, which is one of the most visible aid groups around the world.

Czerny told the audience, according to his prepared re-

marks, “The appointment of a temporary administrator was an act of love and care, not a denunciation … It was a necessary call to repair and fine-tune a body that is essential for the whole church.” (ABCNews) SATURDAY 13

POPE FRANCIS REFORMS VATICAN CITY STATE’S CONSTITUTION In order to “respond to the needs of our times” and to “render operational” situations that stem from the international commitments undertaken by the Apostolic See, the Pope on May 13, the liturgical Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, issued a new Fundamental Law of Vatican City State.

The Pope thus replaced the “Constitution” of Vatican City State dated November 26, 2000, issued by St. John Paul II, which in turn succeeded the one issued on June 7, 1929 by Pius XI. As provided for in the “Constitution” of 2000, the Pope confirms “the fullness of authority” of the Supreme Pontiff “which includes the fullness of legislative, executive and judicial powers.”

The Pope also confirms the legislative function of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, until now composed of a Cardinal President (who is also the President of the Governorate) and other cardinals.

With the new Fundamental Law, the Commission will also include “other members” appointed by the Pope for five-year terms.

Therefore, laymen and laywomen will also be able to take part. (VaticanNews)

JUNE FRIDAY 8

POPE IN HOSPITAL, UNDERGOES OPERATION Francis is “in good general condition, alert and breathing naturally” one day after his three-hour surgery June 7 to treat an incisional hernia.

Pope Francis was expected to remain for several days in Gemelli University Hospital, located atop Monte Mario, the highest hill in Rome.

The Vatican canceled all of the Pope’s scheduled audiences through June 18.

Pope Francis has been treated at the Gemelli Hospital three times in the past two years.

The 86-year-old pope was hospitalized for four days in March for a lung infection and has also dealt this year with a recurrence of diverticulitis, a painful inflammation of bulges in the large intestine following his colon surgery in July 2021. The Pope was still in the hospital after almost a week, as of this writing on June 13. n JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

59

PEOPLE B M Y

ATTHEW TROJACEK with G. Galazka, CNA and CNS photos

n TOKYO ARCHBISHOP ELECTED CARITAS INTERNATIONALIS PRESIDENT Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, 65, has been elected the new president of Caritas Internationalis, the global confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations.

He becomes the 13th president of the body with a four-year mandate to oversee the operations of Caritas in up to 200 countries and territories around the world.

In a message to Caritas members, Kikuchi said he was “surprised” and that he would do his best to “respond to the call of the people all over the world who are in a difficult situation right now.” (UCANews)

FIVE FRENCH PRIESTS MARTYRED IN ANTI-CATHOLIC UPRISING OF 1871 BEATIFIED Five French priests who were executed by an anticlerical insurrectionist government in Paris in 1871 were beatified as martyrs on April 22 in a Mass in which increased security precautions were taken in light of recent political unrest.

“As pastors inspired by apostolic zeal, the priests were united in their witness to the faith to the point of martyrdom, which they suffered in Paris in 1871 during the so-called Paris ‘Commune,’” Pope Francis said the day after the beatification Mass — Sunday, April 23 — after his Regina Caeli address. “A round of applause for the new Blesseds!”

The five priests beatified as martyrs, recognized by the Vatican as dying because of “hatred of their faith,” were Father Henri Planchat of the Congregation of Saint Vincent de Paul and four priests who were part of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary: Father Ladislas Radigue, Father Polycarpe Tuffier, Father Marcellin Rouchouze, and Father Frézal Tardieu.

The priests were executed by firing squad on May 26, 1871, during the Haxo Street massacre that took place at the end of the two-month reign of the Paris Commune, the revolutionary and anti-Catholic movement that controlled Paris from March 18-May 28, 1871. The insurrection was defeated by French troops in a “Bloody Week” that saw as many as 20,000 killed. (CNA)

n KNIGHTS OF MALTA MAKE HISTORY, ELECT A “COMMONER” AS THEIR GRAND MASTER Fra’ John Dunlap, a 66-year-old Canadianborn lawyer who has lived most of his adult life in New York, has become the first non-European and first man without a title of nobility to be elected Grand Master of the 12th century Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Dunlap, whom Pope Francis appointed as the Order’s lieutenant and temporary leader last June, was elected on May 3 at the group’s Villa Magistrale in Rome. It was the first gathering of the Order of Malta’s Complete Council of State since last September when the Pope promulgated a new constitution that opened the possibility for a “commoner” to be elected Grand Master.

The Complete Council of State, which is the Order’s highest body, voted by an absolute majority to elect for a 10-year term, while under the previous constitution the Grand Master served for life. (LaCroix) n THE DEBATE OVER GERMANY’S DEPARTED FAITHFUL Preaching in Cologne’s cathedral on April 23, auxiliary Bishop Ansgar Puff questioned whether the Church was doing enough to accompany baptized Catholics who leave the Church, in many cases to avoid paying a mandatory Church tax.

German Catholics who take the step are informed that they are no longer entitled to receive the sacraments.

60 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

“Is it right to no longer invite them to our table?” Puff asked. “Have they lost their faith? Mostly not. And if the Eucharist, as Pope Francis once said, is the medicine for the weary and weak, would Jesus then say: ‘Yes, but not you. You have gone, after all’? I ask myself these questions very seriously.”

Every person in Germany — foreigners included — who declares a Catholic identity on an official registration form is required to pay an 8-9% surcharge on top of their income tax liability, depending on the region in which they live.

Catholic media reported in 2022 that the German bishops’ pastoral commission was working on a “new concept” for handling Church exits, offering more guidance for local clergy on how to reach out to former members.

In an interview published in January this year, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode said that the form letter approach had “backfired” and the Church’s pastoral commission now offered general advice to local officials about how to compose a more sensitive letter.

“First of all, the decision of the person who has left must be taken seriously. But those who come for Communion are not turned away,” he said, adding that the Church should also be “very generous” regarding funerals for former members. (The Pillar)

n NIGERIA: SUSPECTED FULANI MILITIA KILL 100 IN ATTACKS Violent attacks which began late on the night of May 15 have killed more than 100 people in nine northern Nigerian communities. And a coordinated terrorist blitz against villages in northern Nigeria has continued, sources on the ground have told The Pillar.

The killings come amid years of violence in northern and central Nigeria, and are perpetrated by Muslim Fulani herding communities and Islamist terrorist groups; the victims are mostly Christian farming villages in the agricultural Middle Belt of north-central Nigeria.

In a statement after the May 16 attack, Solomon Maren, a lawmaker in Nigeria’s National Assembly, explained that most of those who died in the violence were women and children.

Maren urged Nigeria’s federal government to take seriously requests for increased security in the region.

“I urge the president to order the security agencies to move into the area with immediate effect to curb the killings, as well as for the National Emergency Management Authority and other well-spirited organizations to also move in with relief materials for the wounded and survivors of the dastardly act,” he said. (The Pillar)

n CHINA DEMANDS “TOTAL LOYALTY” FROM CHURCHES Leaders of two pro-government Christian groups in southeast China organized a conference with the aim to strengthen the re-evaluation of state-controlled churches and control of religious clergy on annual inspection and license renewal for the clergy.

The conference in mid-April insisted that activities by church groups and clergy be based on social principles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and direction by President Xi Jinping, ChinaAid reported on May 10.

In recent years, government-controlled Christian groups across China have organized annual inspections, reviews, and license renewals of religious clergy, ChinaAid reported. Before the annual inspection, assessment, and certificate renewal, the religious clergy needs training lectures, self-assessments, and examinations.

Recently, the training courses for religious clergy incorporated Xi Jinping’s thoughts, such as “love the motherland, love the Communist Party of China, and love socialism.” ChinaAid reported that the primary aim of the annual inspection is “to reinforce their [CCP] ideology on religious clergy to better serve Communism.”

(UCANews)

CATHOLICS IN CHINA FOLLOW PAPAL TEACHINGS Catholics in China know how to treasure papal teachings, said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

With “love, affection and immediacy,” Chinese Catholics “follow the suggestions and pastoral indications that come to them from the church of Rome and its bishop,” the Pope, said the cardinal, who is pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s section for “the first evangelization and new particular churches,” that is, the church’s mission territories.

The cardinal, whose maternal grandfather migrated to the Philippines from China, spoke May 13 at the Rome headquarters of the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica for the presentation of a book in Chinese by Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, the journal’s director.

The book, titled The Magisterium of Pope Francis: A Guide to Reading His Encyclicals and Apostolic Exhortations, is a collection of reflections on Pope Francis’ three encyclicals and five apostolic exhortations. It can be downloaded for free from the website of the Chinese edition of La Civiltà Cattolica at gjwm.org. (UCANews)

n INDIAN CATHOLIC LEADER UNDERSCORES RISE IN CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION A Catholic lay leader in India’s national capital, Delhi, has pointed to a marked rise in the persecution of Christians as the federal government rejected a US State Department report citing deteriorating religious freedom in the country.

India’s federal Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on May 17 called the US State Department’s 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom (USIRF) “flawed, motivated and biased.”

However, A.C. Michael, president of the Federation of Catholic Associations of Archdiocese of Delhi told UCA News, “I personally do not believe in another country interfering in our internal matters, but one cannot deny that well-orchestrated and pre-planned incidents of violence against Christians have increased drastically from 147 incidents in 2014 to 599 in 2022.” (UCANews)m JULY-AUGUST 2023 INSIDE THE VATICAN

61

Food FoR THoUGHT n BY MOTHER MARTHA The Cinzano family began their ermouth is an aromatized forproduction of sweet white vermouth tified wine, flavored with varin 1757 in Turin. Seven years later, ious roots, barks, flowers, Martini & Rossi was founded. Today seeds, herbs and spices. The most it’s the top-selling international usual herbs are yarrow, chamomile, brand of vermouth, producing both hyssop, marjoram, sage, and thyme; dry and sweet vermouths, but is best the spices: cloves, cinnamon, carknown for its Rosso. damom, coriander, nutmeg, juniper, ginger, and labdanum. A Cinzano and Martini & Rossi both also produce rosé versimilar drink dates to the Chinese Shang and Western Zhou dymouths, which are mainly distributed in Italy and France. nasties (1250-1000 BC), so vermouth is probably the oldest alAnother early Piemontese manufacturer was Antonio coholic beverage in the world except for ancient Egyptian beer.

Benedetto Carpano who in 1786 decided to aromatize Moscato In Europe, vermouth’s earliest recipes date from about 400 with an infusion of spices and wormwood. (This ingredient was BC in ancient Greece. Its most popular original ingredient was prohibited in the early 20th century, but is still and remained until the 18th century wormwood, sometimes included in artisan products.) Today believed to be an effective treatment for stomCarpano’s descendants still produce brands inach disorders and intestinal parasites. cluding Punt e Mes, a deep red vermouth with Commonly imbibed in Hungary and Gersweet and bitter flavors, and the Antica Forumany during the 15th and 16th centuries, the mula Brand, a bitter, fuller-flavored version. In name “vermouth” is the French pronunciation of 1982, Distillerie Fratelli Branca of Milan the German word Wermut or wormwood. Also bought 50% of the Giuseppe B. Carpano Comduring the 16th century, an Italian merchant pany and the whole company in 2001. named D’Alessio began producing a similar In 2019, the Consorzio del Vermouth di Tori“wormwood wine” with additional botanical inno was established to protect, promote and valgredients from Piemonte competing with brands orize local vermouths. Today its members count developed shortly thereafter in nearby south34 producers, who produce annually some 6 eastern France and still rivals today. million bottles sold in some 82 countries worldModern versions of vermouth were first prowide, with Italy as its largest client, followed by duced in the mid-to-late-18th-century in Turin, the United States, the United Kingdom, and first as pharmaceutical digestive remedies, but The Grand Book of Vermouth South America, in particular, Argentina, besoon served in the city’s fashionable cafés as an di Torino by Giusi Mainardi cause of the number of Piemontesi immigrants. aperitivo or appetite stimulator. Although still Each brand uses c. 30 herbs, 60% of which come from all over imbibed unaccompanied in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, the world, so vermouth is torinese, but also international. in the late 19th century it became popular with bartenders as a Beginning in January 2023 until December 31, 2025, the key ingredient for cocktails — especially the martini, a favorite Consorzio is sponsoring L’Ora del Vermouth di Torino. More of Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart and the fictional information can be found on www.turismotorino.org.

James Bond.

The Consorzio’s 2023 plans include creating a glass perfectVermouths are almost always made with a white wine base ly designed for a vermouth aperitivo; promotional events in (originally Moscato and Cortese), with an added high-alcohol Toronto, Brooklyn, New Orleans, London, Berlin, and Athens; liquid, like brandy. So they are usually about 75% white wine and in June La Settimana del Vermouth di Torino, a kind of semand herbs, but average a hefty 17% to 22% ABV (Alcohol By inar in Turin for barmen from around the world. In 2025 it will Volume). open a Vermouth Museum in Asti.

They can be extra dry white, dry white, sweet white, red, At home, the Consorzio advises, vermouth should be kept in amber, and rosé or bitter, depending on the amounts of sugar, althe refrigerator and served cold. Once the bottle is opened, it cohol, and other ingredients. should be consumed within three months.

The production process has five steps: 1) infusion of the inFor a detailed history of vermouth, purchase The Grand gredients (alcohol, herbs, wine, and sugar for 15 to 20 days; Book of Vermouth di Torino by Giusi Mainardi and Pierstefano 2) mixing these ingredients; 3) the mixture must age in steel Berta. 50 euros.m barrels for several months and then be 4) filtered and 5) bottled.

V

TURIN: THE VERMOUTH CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

From left: Artemisia absinthium; a display of vermouths; Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour; and a Vermouth production procedure chart

62 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2023

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