Inside the Vatican magazine November-December 2022

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 $5 / EUR 5 / £3.30

INSIDE THE

IS WHERE FREE THOUGHT STAYS ALIVE

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VATICAN BIMONTHLY BIMONTHLY of of RELIGION-SPIRITUALITY-NEWS-COMMENTARIES-DEBATES-HISTORY...

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Our Light and Our hOpe Of SaLvatiOn

THE TRUTH on the Church’s Opposition to the Holocaust, Slavery, & CRT

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ALL ONE IN CHRIST

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POPE AND THE HOLOCAUST

A Catholic Critique of Racism and Critical Race |eory — Edward Feser

Pius XII and the Secret Vatican Archives

hat does the Church teach about racism, and what should Catholics think about Critical Race |eory, currently being widely promoted in the name of anti-racism?

Edward Feser lucidly explains the Church's clear and consistent condemnation of racism, showing that the condemnation is not a recent development but deeply rooted in centuries of papal teaching and Scholastic theology.

This book also demonstrates that Critical Race Theory, far from being a remedy for racism, is, in fact, a new and insidious form of racism that cannot be reconciled with the social teaching of the Church and the call of Christ.

Feser exhorts us to oppose Critical Race |eory—precisely because we are opposed to racial injustice.

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AOCP . . . Sewn Sovcover, $17.95

"|is dramatically illuminating book should onally put to rest the calumnies against Pius XII, whose actions saved more Jews during the Holocaust than any other person. While the book reads like a thriller, its documentation is thorough, compelling, and definitive." — Robert Reilly, Author, America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding

<|e best book I’ve read on the topic. Feser writes in accessible yet nuanced ways to demonstrate the errors of both racism and Critical Race |eory.= —Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., President, Ethics and Public Policy Center; Author, Tearing Us Apart <|ere is not a better book on the subject from a Catholic perspective. Should be required reading for any Catholic prelate, parent, or principal.= —Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University <An absolute must-have for all Catholics to be well informed about racism and Critical Race |eory.= —Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, Author, Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality

Michael Hesemann or over two decades, Pope Pius XII has been blasted in the public square as "Hitler's Pope", accused by bestselling authors of cowardice in the face of the Nazi regime.

But what if this image of the Pope is completely wrong?

Historian and archaeological researcher Hesemann has unearthed thousands of documents from across Europe to give a startling picture of Pius XII as a shrewd diplomat and a champion of the Jewish people during WWII, saving many thousands of lives. Pius demonstrated such compassion that Jewish leaders worldwide praised him, and nominated him for the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum's Righteous among the Nations award. PHP . . . Sewn Softcover, $19.95

"The definitive refutation that Pius XII didn't do enough to prevent the killing of Jews in the Holocaust. |is volume meticulously documents that close to a million Jews were, in fact, saved through the eforts of Pope Pius, at no small risk to himself."

— Russell Shaw, Author, Eight Popes and the Crisis of Modernity

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EDITORIAL

by Robert Moynihan

“Glory to God in the Highest” Our age is an age which wishes to “eliminate God, not only from the present and the future, but also from the past,” a prominent archbishop wrote last year. But fidelity to God, and His Truth, is the key to our happiness...

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.’”

—Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2, Verses 13 and 14.

“As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth.

“For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

—St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against All Heresies (Chapter 1, 10), c. 180 A.D. Irenaeus was a student of St. Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostle John. In this sense, Irenaeus was the “spiritual grandson” of St. John, author of the fourth Gospel.

“It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the succession of these men to our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like what these [heretics] rave about.”—Ibid.

“Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church [Rome], on account of its pre-eminent authority...” —Ibid.

The essential challenge we face today, and always, is to hold fast to the faith once handed down.

We in our time must strive to be one more link in a 2,000year-old chain of faith, received in the beginning from Christ Himself, handed on since then, unbroken through myriad difficulties. This is why St. Irenaeus tells us that “the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down any-

thing different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East...” In other words, the Church of his time spoke with one voice. So must the Church in our time.

The Church does not speak with a national voice, even with the voice of a great nation like Germany... or the United States... or Argentina... or Italy...

The Church may speak with a symphony of voices, all speaking in harmony about what we have come to know, that is: the perennial Catholic faith.

From the first martyrs to the great Church Fathers of the 300s and 400s, from the astonishing missionaries like Augustine of England, and Boniface, and Cyril, and Methodius, to the great teachers like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, from the great monks like St. Anthony and St. Benedict and the Venerable Bede, to the great friars like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic, to the great mystics like St. Catherine of Siena and St. Joan of Arc and St. Teresa of Avila, to the great martyrs like St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher and St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Edith Stein, up to our own time — all of them preached with their lives the truth about Jesus Christ.

On October 18, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò published an open letter which he had written to Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria, S.J., Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, with copies to Cardinals Pietro Parolin and Peter Turkson, and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia. “The Catholic Hierarchy,” Viganò wrote, “has experienced a decline in recent years that is directly proportional to the support it has accorded to the globalist ideology... But this is not the purpose for which Our Lord placed the Church on earth: she must first of all proclaim the Truth, keeping far away from dangerous inter-interests with the powerful of the earth, and even more so with those of them who are notoriously averse to the teaching of Christ and Catholic Morality. If the Hierarchy does not shake itself from this courtly enslavement, if it does not find the courage and dignity to stand up against the mentality of the world, it will be overwhelmed and fall victim to its own inability to be a stumbling block and a sign of contradiction.”

St. Irenaeus told us that Rome is the center of the Church, and “every Church should agree with this Church.” In this context, the words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans, 12:1-2, take on special importance: “I beseech you therefore, brethren... be not conformed to this world: but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God.” The central truth Christianity proposes is that each man is in the image and likeness of God, and is meant, as St. Irenaeus tells us, to give “glory to God” by becoming fully alive through the vision of God. What does this mean? It means that any humanism, any de facto “deification” of man… any worship of man, not God… will not lead the human person to true happiness or true life but, on the contrary, will lead to misery. So let us all sing (and so become), “glory to God in the Highest.” m NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CONTENTS NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

Year 30, #6

LEAD STORY SYNOD ON SYNODALITY: Should its results so far give the Vatican pause?

by Christina Deardurff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 NEWS INTERVIEW/Cardinal Müller on synodality, making the Church a “welfare organization”

by Javier Arias (InfoVaticana) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 OBITUARY/John W. O’Malley, S.J., Church historian and writer on Vatican Council II

by Jesuit Province East with ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 Year 30, #6

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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

v EDITORIAL OFFICES FOR MAIL: US: 14 West Main St. Front Royal, VA 22630 USA Tel +1.202.536.4555 Rome: Inside the Vatican via delle Mura Aurelie 7c, Rome 00165, Italy Tel: +39.06.3938.7471 Fax: +39.06.638.1316 POSTMASTER: send address changes to Inside the Vatican c/o St. Martin de Porres Lay Dominican Community New Hope, KY 40052 USA Tel: +1.800.789.9494 Fax: +1.270.325.3091 Subscriptions (USA): Inside the Vatican PO Box 57 New Hope, KY 40052 USA www.insidethevatican.com Tel. +1.800.789.9494

v INSIDE THE VATICAN (ISSN 1068-8579, 1 yr subscription: $ 49.95; 2 yrs, $94.95; 3 yrs, $129.95), provides a comprehensive, independent report on Vatican affairs published bimonthly (6 times per year) with occasional special supplements.

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

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

Copyright 2022 Robert Moynihan

4 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

BIOGRAPHY/A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: De Vitoria, early champion of human dignity

by Alberto Ferreiro, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 CHRISTMAS ART ESSAY The Nativity of Christ in the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 SPECIAL INSERT COMMUNIQUÉ: A Newsletter of Urbi et Orbi Communications Turning a new page in Lebanon; the struggle continues in Ukraine

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

CULTURE Education/The Collegium embraces Tradition, thinks innovatively to reduce costs

by Dr. Edward Schaefer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Footsteps on the Way/Journeying Toward the Face of Christ with St. Francis

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Latin/St. Ambrose and the Power of Silence

by John Byron Kuhner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Scripture/All Saints’ Day hymns remind us that Christian life is a battle

by Anthony Esolen, Ph.D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 URBI ET ORBI: CATHOLICISM AND ORTHODOXY Icon/The Second Ecumenical Council and the Creed

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 East-West Watch/The Transfer of Metropolitan Hilarion to Budapest

by Peter Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 News from the East/Hungarian P.M. awarded; Pope-Russian Patriarch meeting “still possible”; Mt. Athos exhibit travels to U.S.; “wonderworking” icon in Ukraine; “Peace Roundtable” in Tokyo

by Matthew Trojacek

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FEATURES Tradition and Beauty/The Sweet and Austere Music of Christmas

by Aurelio Porfiri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Art/Celebrating Advent: Its History and Traditions

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Lord of the World/”I suppose it is the deepest instinct”

by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Vatican Watch/A day-by-day chronicle of Vatican events: August-September 2022

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 People/Abducted nun freed; Catholic actor fights trafficking; Indian state outlaws conversion; Vietnam church opens after 200 years; King Charles open to dialog; Vatican-China deal

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Food for Thought/The History of Pumpkin Pie

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

POWERFUL CONVERSiON STORiES ◆ FROM THE SUSQUEHANNA TO THE TIBER Jeremy Christiansen ofers an intimate account of life as a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a Mormon missionary for two years, raised a young family in the Mormon Church, and served in Mormon leadership positions. But he became unsettled about the principles of Mormonism, setting him on a long search for God and truth that led him to the Roman Catholic Church. |is vivid book explores the highly unique approach to religious epistemology found in Mormonism, ofering singular insight into life within this system—its beauties and its limits.

Christiansen discovered Catholicism through the ancient writings of the Church Fathers, and through the mystical glory of her liturgy.

FSTP . . . Sewn Sovcover, $17.95 <|is theologically astute testimony is a welcome treasure. It nows with the elegance and drama of an engrossing novel.= — Steve Ray, Author, Crossing the Tiber <Writing with emotional tenderness and theological hev, Christiansen has a special way of infusing the great love God into the hearts of his readers. A heart-stirring tale.= —Tyler Blanski, Author, An Immovable Feast

◆ HOW I BECAME A MAN: A Life with Communists, Atheists, and Other Nice People |is book takes us into the heart of the Soviet Union, where Fr. Alexander Krylov grew up as an underground Catholic in the 1970s and 1980s, never even entering a church until he was a teenager. How does faith in God live on when God is outlawed? His moving story shows us, ofering glimpses at the everyday reality of Communism through the eyes of a child, with humor, irony, and a keen sense of human goodness.

Divided into short vignettes, this book challenges us to look at our own lives differently— especially with regard to freedom. How I Became a Man is a courageous, joyous, even whimsical testimony of living the Catholic faith in today9s world. HBMP . . . Sewn Sovcover, $17.95 <In an age in which young people are again attracted by Communism, this orsthand account of a child growing up in the Soviet Union serves as a timely reminder of the grim reality of life in a Communist —Joseph Pearce, Author, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile regime.= <Krylov shows how his family environment of deep Christian piety helped him persevere in his faith despite relentless exposure to state-sponsored programs of 8scientioc atheism9 and Soviet ideology.

— David Pinault, Author, |e Cruciox on Mecca's Front Porch

◆ BY STRANGE WAYS |eologians and |eir Paths to the Catholic Church |e only book that exclusively features the conversion stories of theologians, it provides a unique vantage point on the intellectual challenges faced by theologians drawn to the Catholic Church. |e people featured come from a variety of backgrounds: Agnosticism, Secularism, New Age thought, punk rock, and various stripes of Christianity. Their theological vocation had especially prompted them to question their own intellectual presuppositions once they encountered Catholicism.

Although it was the theological truth of the Catholic faith that captured their attention, each essay tells a fully human story. Not collections of arguments, but stories of grace, among the ten converts are Scott Hahn, Lawrence Feingold, Melanie Barrett, Petroc Willey, and Jef Morrow. BSWP . . . Sewn Sovcover, $19.95 <Catholicism is a matter of faith, but of reason too - not uneasy allies working independently, but friends cooperating on a common project. These stories illustrate this truth through the experiences of contemporary theologians, considered not just as minds but as flesh and blood human beings.= —Edward Feser, Author, Five Proofs of the Existence of God <|ese conversion stories are about how intellectually gived people fell in love with Christ and his Church. But because no one ever gives his life for a syllogism, the reasons for conversion are always in service of the heart, which must orst be moved by grace in order for the will to assent.= —Francis Beckwith, Philosophy Professor, Baylor University; Author, Return to Rome

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Classic Italy: Miracles of Mercy 2023 April 14 - 22, 2023 Our <Miracles of Mercy= pilgrimage seeks to bring pilgrims in contact with a few visible miracles – and also a few <miracles of the heart= which are not so visible, and yet no less compelling. On this unique and faith-olled pilgrimage, you will witness miracles like the astounding Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano. |e pilgrimage surrounds the April 16 feast of Divine Mercy, the pre-eminent feast of God’s mercy toward sinners, given in modern times as a sign of hope to this fallen world. Visit us online to learn more!

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

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Dear Friends: I’ve just received your latest issue, and even a cursory perusal reveals your usual incisive and relevant articles and stellar photography.

I also noticed, however, that it was marked <last issue= of my subscription. If possible, may I request another year’s extension?

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

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INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

John and I have enjoyed the magazine ever since our trip to Rome some years ago. John died peacefully this year at 88. I continue to appreciate the in-depth articles, the variety, the “Catholicism and Orthodoxy” — all of it! Keeps me in touch with the Church at large, knowing I am part of something bigger than my local parish!

Barbara Bonella Newark, Delaware, USA

LATIN MASS IN VERNACULAR? I am disappointed in your suggestion to change the Latin Mass into the vernacular. The whole idea of preserving the Latin Mass, in my mind, is to preserve the language, which is BEAUTIFUL! Virtually no one is incapable of learning the Missal; I did as a child. The Latin and English are side-by-side — not difficult to follow. Some words cannot be accurately translated into English: the #1 reason not to do away with Latin.

In our parish, before Pope Francis forbade the Latin Mass, it was usually the young who championed it and recognized its beauty and solemnity. And the silence that is part of that Mass allows for true contemplation of what is going on!

Carolyn Blanscet Port Orchard, Washington, USA

BLESSING SAME-SEX COUPLES A blessing is not a sacrament. But it is a sign of approval by the Church.

Thus a blessing should never be done over things not holy. It makes no sense morally. Yet, there is a desire to have the Church bless things that she has no authority to bless. The refusal by the Church to acknowledge the efficacy of same-sex relationships is supposedly

confusing to those who promote it — even bishops. Yet these bishops have no proof from Scripture or Catholic history of such things ever being done or being canonically authorized before. So who is the real father of such things?

Tom Greerty tgreerty@aol.com

SPECTACULAR BUDAPEST (Re: Moynihan Letter #114, Tuesday, October 11, 2022: Budapest) Beautiful letter, beautiful message.

My son and I were in Budapest about 5 years ago, on a cruise. It was spectacular: night-time, all lit up, was breathtaking. I look forward to each one of your letters.

Keep up the good work.

Barbara Ann Dabrowski badabrwoski@verizon.net Thanks for this update from Hungary.

We may not quit our Rosaries, “until 20 minutes after the Devil knows we’re dead” (old Irish saying).

Bob Sontrop bsontrop@gmail.com Wonderful what you wrote: how do you propose we make your idea for peace concrete? For example, could there not be a weekly Zoom call where we pray together for peace? I read the words of St. Pope Paul VI yesterday: “Satan has entered the Church” — I remember those words, as a young Focolarina years ago, and they sent a chill down my spine.

Back then I did not understand what this phrase meant; today I do. Pope Paul was trying to tell us that there was much “evil” afoot in the heart of the Vatican itself. I would imagine he was also referring to the Masons who were in there from around the 40s/50s... Is it not all part of the Third Secret of Fatima, which we have never seen? Our Blessed Mother gave us the Message then to prepare us. We don’t know exactly but we've heard bits and pieces. There is such

a need for people to actually see each other and do things together… We are living the dark night of our Church and of humanity… and we pray a nuclear war does not break out… the only answer is the Most Holy Rosary.

Maria Delgarno England

WHY PRINT? I want to congratulate you on the latest issue of ITV. It is an absolute jewel and answers the question, WHY PRINT? I could not put it down as subject after subject followed, all in excellent prose and addressing critical issues such as “Unity and Division in the Church.”

Peter J. Brock Sun City Center, Florida Anything can get deleted from the internet. A hard print copy is more durable. Yes, paper is more durable than cyber! Thank you for continuing to print.

Maryann Srbljan oklip955@cs.com

IMPORTANT WORK I wanted to thank you for the important info you shared regarding your correspondence with Archbishop Weakland (Letter #105) and the consistory (Letter #106). Brian and I quoted from both during our recent show.

I was sorry to read in Letter #107 that you are “too tired, and too sad at heart, to write anything of [your] own.” I hope this brief note will encourage and strengthen you, at least a little bit. You are doing important work and your brethren in Christ are grateful for it!

Matt Gaspers Managing Editor Catholic Family News If my Scripture memory still serves me, Christ said He came to divide, and nowhere do I remember Him saying that He came to unite. Our angst over Christian disunity makes us willing to try any compromise that is humanly possible, but not, maybe, divinely inspired.

Recently you printed Pius V’s 1570 Papal Bull Quo Primum, which spoke of the wrath of God and of the Apostles Peter and Paul if changes were made to the Mass. If Pope Benedict Emeritus is

co-equal to Pope Francis, has the Holy Ghost provided a means to rally Benedict’s supporters to his side in order to divide the True Church from the Church that metamorphosed out of Vatican II? The Church truly is in survival mode!

Tim Bratt thughbratt@gmail.com

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I am currently without funds, but would send monies as soon as I can afford it. It would be wonderful if you could include your special supplement on the Blessed Mother as well. I shall include your staff in my prayers, and I look forward to future issues with great hope.

Clyde A. Solt, #NV5120 PO Box 33028 St. Petersburg, Florida 33733, USA I let my charitable subscription to ITV lapse, and I greatly miss it, every last part of it. From the current articles to the essays on Church history and tradition, to the theological insights and art of our Church — everything within your pages edifies. You have been very generous to all of us Catholics at the Ferguson Unit, as all the back issues are still in our library and never depreciate in value. So if possible, please renew my gratis subscription. Past, present and future, the Body of Christ is very much alive.

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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

9

LEAD STORY

SYNOD EXTENDED ONE MORE YEAR BUT SHOULD ITS RESULTS THUS FAR GIVE THE HOLY SEE PAUSE? n BY CHRISTINA DEARDURFF

O

n October 16, during his Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis, in a surprise decision, announced that the scheduled 2023 Synod on Synodality would be extended for an additional year. The Synod will thus begin in Rome in October 2023, but then continue for an addtional year of reflection and conclude only with another-month-long session in October of 2024. The announcement came as the Vatican’s second phase of preparations for the 2023 Synod seemed to be ending, as the last episcopal conferences from around the world submit the results of their “listening sessions” conducted with their responding faithful.

The next stage is the “Continental Stage” — meetings of regional epis10

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

copal federations, intended to, according to the Vatican, “deepen our discernment of what has emerged from the previous phases of local and national listening.”

A few themes seem to be recurring, especially among those of the “developed” world, and virtually all of them have to do with sex and gender: more ecclesial “power” for women, an end to priestly celibacy, official approval of homosexuality, recognition of transgenderism, and acceptance of artificial contraception. On the heels of these themes are calls for a general empowerment of the laity, in tandem with the eradication of “clericalism,” often cited as the root cause of clergy sexual abuse.

Why is sexuality and its attendant

phenomenon, gender, of such prime importance to those offering their opinions about today’s Catholic Church? The most obvious answer is that these are the themes preoccupying the world — at least the western, and westernized, cultures where the influence of the internet is pervasive.

These are the themes vying for people’s attention every day, and other themes like the salvation of one’s soul, combatting the effects of sin, the increase of sanctifying grace among the faithful and spreading it to the entire world — themes that once were assumed to be the special province of the Catholic Church — seem, if the “listening sessions’” responses are accurate, to be absent from the average Catholic’s radar.

(Of course, this is a gross generalization: the African churches, for example, do not seem to share the enthusiasm of the more developed nations for embracing modern sexual mores.) So, does this preoccupation with sex really reflect what is in the minds and hearts of average Catholics? And is it a good thing for the Church?

Darrick Taylor, American Catholic commentator and history professor, doubts the former. Commenting recently on the Synodal “synthesis” document produced by the U.S. bishops, he noted: “Combing through a document rife with clichés drawn from the language of secular politics and psychology — bromides warning of ‘polarization,’ the need for ‘dialogue,’ and the importance of ‘lived experience’ — followed by completely unironic assertions about ‘clear, concise, and consistent communication as key to the strong desire for appropriate transparency,’ is enough to erode one’s confidence in

the ability of the language to convey meaning. [...] There is something larger at work here in the synthesis and the whole Synod itself. Perhaps you have seen the pictures of the ‘synodal experts’ in Rome floating around the internet. They witness to the generational divide in the Church between an aging, ‘progressive’ Church officialdom and its younger, more conservative seminarians, priests, and laity. The ‘synodal process’ is a celebration for the former, one last chance to remake the Church in their own, graying image. The U.S. synthesis admits as much toward the end of the document: ‘Through participation in the diocesan phase of the Synod, the People of God have already begun to build the Church for which they hope.’” (See Crisis magazine.com) The participation rate of the U.S. laity in the “listening sessions” was in fact a dismal 1% (although higher than in many other countries) — so the numbers themselves cast into doubt that the document accurately represents the laity at large.

But even if we were to concede that the concerns expressed in the synthesis represent most Catholics’ views, what happens when the Church turns toward the cultural legacy of the Sexual Revolution as a guiding star?

One thing that happens is that people come to resent the Church’s unchangeable moral teachings and its presumption of competence to present them. According to a USCCB synthesis document, “The synodal consultations mentioned several areas where there existed a tension between how to walk with people while remaining faithful to the teachings of the Church: ‘for many, the perception is that the blanket application of rules and policies is used as a

means of wielding power or acting as a gatekeeper.’ As one synodal consultation described, ‘People noted that the Church seems to prioritize doctrine over people, rules and regulations over lived reality.’”

Apparently, Catholics do not seem to have any understanding of what moral doctrine is and how, because it is an expression of God’s design for man, in accordance with the nature He gave us, it actually fosters, rather than hinders, human happiness and flourishing.

And there is no area of Catholic moral teaching that is more contested than sexuality. This is not surprising, because sexuality is the one moral area in which western (and formerly Christian) culture has done an almost complete about-face in the past several decades.

And a Catholic populace which has been indifferently, if not poorly, catechized seems unable to resist the tide of sexuality virtually unmoored from morality (“consent” being the last, feeble shred of any moral scruple in contemporary sexual attitudes).

Thus the “Catholic” pro-homosexuality organization New Ways Ministries gleefully lists on its website a number of national Synodal “listening session” reports which include calls for “welcoming” and “inclusion” of “LGBT+ persons” as well as co-habitating couples, samesex couples and those divorced and remarried outside the Church.

The Archdiocese of Luxembourg, it notes, “issued a 16-page report drawn from nearly 4,600 respondents which, among other calls for reform, seeks a change in Church teaching on homosexuality carried out by the universal Church. Notably, the archdiocese’s head, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, withdrew from the process because of his role as the upcoming synod’s relator general — though he has spoken previously in support of developing the Church’s sexuality teachings.”

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LEAD STORY

SYnOD On SYnODALiTY picking up SpEED

ness of secularism, emancipaIn Switzerland, the SynCARDINAL ARINZE’S tion from the moral law, the odal process has yielded the KEY SEPT. 24TH STATEMENT defection of priests and also of judgment of the synthesis that ON SAME-SEX BLESSINGS ‘the faithful who are no longer Church teachings on gender t is reported that Flemish Bishworried about being unfaithand sexuality are “perceived ops in Belgium, on or around 20 ful.’ In short the Pope puts foras derogatory and exclusionSeptember, 2022, published ward the idea that Christianity ary,” and there is a call for a rewhat they called a liturgical is superfluous, and that the evaluation of such teachings blessing for homosexual couples. They, it is said, regarded modern world could be emptied in “synodal dialogue with the this step as “being pastorally of all religion: one might call it experiences of the people and close to homosexual persons, the advent of ‘man the miniin reception of scientific and for a welcoming Church that god.’” empirical research.” excluded no one.”

Indeed, the view Amerio The report from Australia Even if the aim is to be pastorally helpful to homosexlamented in 1974 has turned out said, “In some instances, the ual couples, this is an error on the part of the Bishops. to be the view of the Church Church was seen as placing Holy Scripture presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity (cf. Gen 19:1-29; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 held today by a significant porbarriers of exclusion by its Tim 1:10).

Tradition, says The Catechism of the Catholic tion of even her clergy. A recent teachings and the application Church, n. 2357, “has always declared that homosexual commentary on the priesthood of those teachings…” acts are intrinsically disordered.” in Settimana News, published Since the words “incluWhile persons with homosexual inclinations are to be by the Priests of the Sacred sion” and “welcoming” often respected and not unjustly discriminated against, they, Heart of Jesus in Bologna, Italy, appear in tandem with referlike every Christian and indeed every human being, are called to chastity (cf CCC, 2358, 2359). The Lord Jesus for example, explains, “The ences to the need to “develop” said to his followers: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as task of the minister is to train and, less ambiguously, your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). That is why the the Christian to take a position “change” Church doctrine, it CCC says: “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. on the problems of the world becomes clear that the thrust By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freewith the power of the Gospel: of the overall Synodal reports dom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, Christians who are influential delivered to the Vatican will by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection” in their own sphere of life, not be, at least from the West, (CCC, 2359). because they are zealous reheavily biased toward urging This explains why the Congregation for the Doctrine peaters of the sermon they have the official embrace of secular of the Faith on 15 March 2021 answered that the Church heard in the church, but because sexual norms. does not have the power to give a blessing to unions of they are capable of serious and Never mind that by virtualpersons of the same sex. pertinent pronouncements on ly every metric of wellbeing, This is what the Flemish Bishops, and indeed all Bishops and priests, should be teaching. They should be problems that arise in society.” those who embrace these secblessing, not homosexual couples, but properly married There is nary a word about ular norms in their lives fall unions of one man and one woman. Human beings have the power of the sacraments, of short of those who strive to no power to change the order established by God the Cresanctifying grace, of prayer, or live according to Catholic ator. The Church is sent by Christ to all people “teaching even the need for these things; teaching, with higher rates of them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt Christians are apparently selfdepression, loneliness, anxi28:20). This includes calling people to repentance, sacrifice, chastity and perfection. —Francis Cardinal Arinze n sufficient to accomplish their ety, suicide, abortion, divorce, own salvation and the purpose negative health outcomes, and Pope Paul VI lamented that the of the Church is actually to lend its below-average life spans.

At root is the question of how Church had seemed to be losing her weight to movements for peace, for those in positions of authority in the own self-understanding, as Romano the environment, for human rights, Church understand the Church her- Amerio noted in his 1996 book Iota etc.

But the fact is, the Church is not self. Is the Church, although populat- Unum: “The Pope (Paul VI) wonders whether the world still needs the really necessary for any of these ed by very imperfect, sinful people, still tasked by her Founder and Head Church to teach the values of charity, things; hence, this view, as Pope Paul to teach the unchanging truth of sin respect for rights, or solidarity, given observed, renders the Church disposand redemption for the salvation of that, ‘the world does all this, and it able.

We can only pray that the Synod every human being? Is the Church would seem, does it better’ and that its success in doing so seems to justify on Synodality does not prove to be competent to do this, or not?

Back in 1974, in two astonishing the abandonment of religious prac- the self-inflicted blow to the Church speeches of September 11 and 18, tice by whole peoples, the irreligious- that its preparation augurs.m

I

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INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

INTERVIEW

Cardinal Gerhard Müller: “Their Goal is The TransforMaTion of The ChurCh inTo a welfare orGanizaTion” n BY JAVIER ARIAS (INFOVATICANA)

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erman Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave an interview in September to the Spanish-language website InfoVaticana.

In the interview, published on September 23, the cardinal addressed in frank language questions on the recent consistory of cardinals held in Rome at the end of August, and on the dramatic situation of the Church in Germany.

A few weeks ago you participated in the Consistory of Cardinals in Rome. What were your feelings at the end of the Consistory?

Cardinal Gerhard Müller: First of all, I thanked the Holy Father for having reconvened a consistory after a pause of many years, so that the car-

dinals could discuss with him the situation of the Church in the world today. But the topic was limited to the discussion of the document already published, Praedicate Evangelium, on the reform of the curia and on the Holy Year 2025.

Some cardinals regret not having been able to speak as much as they would have liked. Was there an opportunity for the cardinals to express their concerns to the Pope?

Cardinal Müller: There was no opportunity to discuss the hottest issues, such as the frontal attack on the Christian image of man by the ideologies of posthumanism and gender madness or the crisis of the Church in Europe (there are no more priestly vocations, churches are empty on Sundays, etc.). The critical contributions referred to the theory of the

papacy as unlimited power of divine right over the whole Church, as if the Pope were a Deus in terris (“God on earth”). Cardinal Ghirlanda, SJ, just named the Pope’s most important advisor for the reform of the curia, believes that everything that the Popes have said or done in the course of the history of the Church is dogma or law de jure divino (“by divine right”). This contradicts the entire Catholic tradition, and in particular the Second Vatican Council: the idea that bishops and priests have the authority only to perform sacramental acts, while the Pope is in exclusive possession of all jurisdiction, which he can delegate at will to the clergy or laity.

In reality, in the sacrament of Holy Orders, Christ confers on the bishop (or priest) the authority to preach, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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INTERVIEW CaRdINal GERhaRd MüllER sanctify and govern (even to administer justice). The Pope does not confer jurisdiction on a bishop, but only assigns a specific diocese to a bishop, who is not a representative of the papacy, but of Jesus Christ (Lumen Gentium 27). In an ecumenical council, consecrated bishops exercise their part in the jurisdiction of the universal episcopate not as delegates of the Pope, but by virtue of the authority conferred on them by Christ. The theory of the Pope as autocrat, taken from the Jesuit theology of the 19th century, not only contradicts the Second Vatican Council, but undermines the credibility of the Church with this caricature of the Petrine ministry.

The promise of an ecumenical mediation of the Pope’s Catholic doctrine (cf. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint) as “the perpetual and visible principle of the unity of the Church in the truth of Christ” (cf. Lumen gentium 18; 23) becomes frankly ridiculous.

What are the issues currently of greatest importance in the Vatican?

Cardinal Müller: By “Vatican” we mean the accidental institutions of the Holy See. But I am speaking here of the ministry of the Roman Church, that is, of the Pope with the college of cardinals (and the institutions of the Roman curia) for the communion and unity of all the local Churches in the truth of divine revelation and in the sacramental mission of bringing all men to the knowledge of Christ, the Son of God and the only mediator of salvation.

A somewhat controversial question: why does the Church talk more and more about ecology, the planet and other issues, and less and less about Jesus Christ and his teachings?

Cardinal Müller: In a world where the meaning and purpose of the human 14

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

being are materially limited to temporal and transitory contents (such as the acquisition of power, prestige, money, luxury, pleasurable satisfaction), it is easier to become interested in being agents of this program of a “New World Order without God” (according to capitalist or communist readings).

“What good is it for a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” If we want to be disciples of Jesus, we must also obey his word: “Rather seek his kingdom and the rest will be given to you in addition” (Lk 12:31). There is no rigid opposition between the eternal/spiritual goods and the tempo-

CaRdINal MüllER: The German Synodal Way: “one Would noT knoW WheTher To Speak of TraGedy or comedy”

ral/perishable necessities of life. But first let us ask God, our Father, for His Kingdom to come and for His holy will to be done in heaven as on earth. And we also ask for our daily bread, the forgiveness of our sins as we forgive those who offend us, and salvation from all evils that result from our sinful separation from God, the origin and goal of every human being.

In his succession to St. Peter, the Pope unites the whole Church daily in the confession of Jesus: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). And Christ builds His Church on Peter, the rock, giving him

and the bishops the authority to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, to administer the sacraments and, as good shepherds, to lead Christ’s flock to the good pasture of the Word and Grace.

The whole Church is following the steps of the German “Synodal Way” with attention and concern.

What do you think of the decisions of the fourth assembly of the German Synodal Way? Cardinal Müller: In theatrical language, one would not know exactly whether to speak of tragedy or comedy about this event. All the texts, very abundant but not very profound, do not concern the renewal of Catholics in Christ, but rather the surrender to a world without God. The only theme among all the themes is sexuality. However, it is not understood as a gift from God given to human beings as created persons (in our masculine and feminine natures), hence the responsibility to participate as father and mother in God’s work of creation and in the universal will of salvation for one’s offspring, but rather as a kind of drug to put the basic nihilistic feeling to sleep with the utmost satisfaction of pleasure.

Both Cardinal Marx and Bishop Georg Bätzing have supported texts asking the Pope to change sexual morality, the ordination of women and the vision of homosexuality: what do you think?

Cardinal Müller: There are two errors in this that only theologically ignorant people can make: 1) the Pope does not have the authority to change the teaching of the Church, which is rooted in the revelation of God. By doing so, he would exalt himself as a man to be above God. 2) The apostles can teach and order only what Jesus has commanded them to teach (Mt 28:19). It is precisely the bishops, as well as their next

August 27, 2022, Vatican City. Ordinary Public Consistory for the creation of 20 new cardinals presided over by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s (Photo/Grzegorz Galazka)

successors, who are called to the “teaching of the apostles” (Acts 2:42) in Sacred Scripture, in the Apostolic Tradition and in the accurate doctrinal definitions of previous decisions from the papal chair, or in ecumenical councils. “The Roman Pontiff and the Bishops […] do not accept any new public revelation as belonging to the divine deposit of faith” (Lumen gentium 25; cfr. Dei verbum 10).

Did you have the opportunity to speak with any of the bishops in Germany who hold these offices?

Cardinal Müller: According to the logic of power, which shuns the truth as the devil shuns holy water, it makes no sense for them to talk to the former prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. But even [German] Cardinal [Walter] Kasper, who once was celebrated as an ally on the question of Communion for the divorced and remarried, is silenced by them after his critical statements on the synodal path.

In your opinion, what is the reason for trying to reform the Church by changing all morals, principles, teachings and traditions?

Cardinal Müller: Many well-paid officials of the “German Church” establishment (the largest employer in Germany) suffer from the fact that the Church’s teaching on marriage and the 6th and 9th commandments of the Decalogue contradicts the mainstream of society because of the sexual revolution of 1968. They cannot bear the contradiction with the will of God in their personal behavior and the derisive comments of their contemporaries on the “Catholic world of faith and morals left behind in the Middle Ages.” For this reason they also want to project themselves as modern and follow the vanguard of the sciences of psychology and sociology. They want to be of the present

and not be considered outsiders (a “sordid son of the nation,” as the bishop of Aachen complained).

Do you think that the Church in Germany risks starting a schism with Rome?

Cardinal Müller: In their blind arrogance, they do not think of division, but of taking over the universal Church. Germany is too small an arena for them to exercise their governing ideology in; they claim a leading role in the universal Church. Their purpose is none other than to impress the whole world with their wisdom and to free backward and uneducated

Cardinal Müller: “The PoPe does noT have The church Teaching”

auThoriTy To change

Catholics and their bishops in other countries, including the Pope, from the burden of divine revelation and commandments.

Their goal is the transformation of the Church of the Triune God into a worldly welfare organization (an NGO). Then we would finally have arrived at the “religion of universal brotherhood,” that is, a religion without the God of revelation in Christ, without a Truth that goes beyond finite reason, without Dogmas and Sacraments as means of Grace necessary for salvation — all as described by the great Russian philosopher of

religion Vladimir Soloviev in his book A Brief History of the Antichrist (1899). In it, the world ruler of Godless universal philanthropy is contradicted by “Pope Peter II,” who makes the following confession to the Antichrist who has installed himself on the throne of God: “Our only Lord is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.” What do you think the future holds for the Catholic Church at the universal level?

Cardinal Müller: When one sees the megalomania of our politicians and ideologues, from Beijing to Moscow and from Brussels to Washington, one cannot expect much good for the future of humanity. A true future for every human being in life and in death can only be expected of God, who out of love gave his Son for the salvation of the world (cf. Jn 3:16). In a world where men presume to be God, to create and redeem themselves (cf. the main advisor of the New World Order: Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus), we Christians are left with only the testimony of the Word and, if necessary, of the blood, that only the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior, because he has conquered the world, its arrogance and its sin, and death as the price for sin. Only when we do not worship the “beast” of the abyss (ungodliness), his statue and his false prophet, do we gain life and dominion with Christ, who embraces our temporal and eternal future. Because temporal and eternal death no longer have power over us (cf. Rev 20:6). We have peace of heart in the Son of God, who says to his disciples: “In the world you will have your struggles, but take courage: I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).

This interview originally appeared in Spanish on the website InfoVaticana.com; English translation by Inside the Vatican.m NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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OBITUARY John W. O’Malley, SJ In Memoriam: Church historian, Vatican II scholar A DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR FOR SIX DECADES, HE WROTE A VALUABLE HISTORY OF VATICAN II n BY JESUIT PROVINCE EAST/ITV STAFF

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ev. John W. O’Malley, Professor Myron P. Gilmore, SJ, was the only child one of the leading lights in the of Charles and Elizahistory of the Italian Renaisbeth Gallagher O’Malley. He sance. was born on June 11, 1927, After two years on the Harand grew up in the small town vard campus, Fr. O’Malley finof Tiltonsville, Ohio. He ished his course work and was attended the public high fortunate to have won a twoschool, graduated in 1945, and year fellowship at the Amerifelt a call to the priesthood – can Academy in Rome to work but not as a parish priest. on his dissertation. Just before Learning of the Jesuits and leaving for the Academy, he their work as educators and pronounced his final vows on missionaries, he applied to the August 15, 1963, in the small Jesuit seminary but was inichapel at Saint Andrew Bobola tially turned down because of House in Boston. his public school education Life at the Academy was a and inadequate Latin prepara- Rev. O’Malley joined the Theology Department of Georgetown in transforming experience. Es2006. He passed away on September 11 at the age of 95 tion. After completing an pecially over meals, Fr. O’Malintensive semester of Latin at John Carroll University in ley engaged in conversation with scholars in every branch Cleveland, Ohio, he was then accepted into what was at of the Humanities, particularly art historians. The experithat time the Chicago Province, entering the novitiate at ence helped to give his scholarship an interdisciplinary Milford on February 10, 1946. reach.

After his juniorate at Milford, Fr. O’Malley studied Another experience while he was in Rome had a deep philosophy for three years at West Baden College, West effect on him: Vatican Council II was in session, and he Baden Springs, Indiana. He was then assigned to teach was able to slip into the council’s afternoon press briefhistory at Saint lgnatius High School in Chicago (now ings, which gave him an insider’s grasp of the council.

Saint lgnatius College Prep). In 1956, he returned to West Within a few years, he was writing almost as much on the Baden for theology, and was ordained a priest there on council as on the Italian Renaissance.

June 14, 1959.

In 1965, Fr. O’Malley finished his dissertation on an Fr. O’Malley’s interest in Jesuit history had grown important but forgotten figure of the Renaissance in strong, and he was now focused on the German Counter Rome—Giles of Viterbo (Egidio da Viterbo), which was Reformation and the role played in it by the Society of soon published as his first book. Meanwhile, he was Jesus. He left West Baden in 1960 to begin his tertianship assigned to teach history at the University of Detroit (now in Austria, where he perfected his German and prepared the University of Detroit-Mercy). He served first in the for a future in German history. But upon leaving Austria, History Department and then in the Religious Studies he spent a week sight-seeing in Italy that changed his life.

Department, where he acted as chair from 1976 to 1979.

He was stunned by the natural and artistic beauty of the After 14 good years at Detroit, Fr. O’Malley departed country and by its gastronomic delights. “I will never forto teach at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, get the moment my eye caught Giotto’s polychrome marMassachusetts (later the Weston Jesuit School of Theoloble bell,” he wrote in his 2021 memoir The Education of gy). While there, he served as acting dean for a year and a Historian. “It took my breath away.” then acting president for seven months. Fr. O’Malley On the spot, he gave up German history in favor of Italloved his time at Weston. He had superb colleagues on the ian, a decision he never regretted. That fall, he entered the faculty and good students, both Jesuit and non-Jesuit. The doctoral program in history at Harvard University, where Jesuit student-body began to become ever more internahe pursued his passion for Italy under the mentorship of tional. Toward the end of his time there, Fr. O’Malley was

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the only American in the small Jesuit commuFr. O’Malley remained at Georgetown nity of nine members, which he enjoyed until June of 2020, when he moved to the immensely.

Saint Claude de la Colombiére Jesuit comWhile at Weston, he was elected by his munity in Baltimore, Maryland. He died province as a member of General Congregapeacefully after a brief battle with cancer on tions Thirty-two (1974-75) and Thirty-three September 11, 2022, at the age of 95.

(1983). These experiences reawakened his “John provided his students with a way interest in Jesuit history and led to his book, into the big, deep theological questions: The First Jesuits, published in 1993. It won What is church? How can we capture that two best-book prizes and is now available in which is mysterious and transcendent in twelve languages. After 27 years at Weston, words and communities?” Dr. Brenna he joined the Theology Department of Moore, a professor of theology at Fordham Georgetown University in 2006 as a professor University who had Father O’Malley as a of Church history. While there, he published professor at Weston, told the Jesuit America four books on ecumenical councils, including The cover of O’Malley’s book magazine. “John showed me it was possible to on the Council, What his best-known book on the Second Vatican study something that sounds so serious Happened at Vatican II Council, What Happened at Vatican II. (‘church history’) with warmth, vitality, love During his publishing career, Fr. O’Malley received and humor.” many academic honors from both Catholic and secular Dr. Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Vilinstitutions. Among them were three lifetime achievelanova University, stressed the importance of Father ment awards from the Society for Italian Historical Study, O’Malley’s scholarship on current understandings of conthe Renaissance Society of America, and the American temporary Catholic history. “In What Happened at VatiCatholic Historical Association. While at Georgetown, he can II, O’Malley’s emphasis on Vatican II as a ‘language also received the prestigious Centennial Medal, bestowed event’ revived the interest in the Council from a historical in June 2016 by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and cultural perspective in a deeply changed ecclesial and of Harvard University. global situation,” he said.m

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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characterS

Francisco de Vitoria a “Voice crying in the Wilderness” needing to be heard in our time n BY DR. ALBERTO FERREIRO

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Dominicans preaching the Gospel, detail from a mural by Diego Rivera in Mexico City, Mexico. Below, statue of Francisco de Vitoria at the Dominican San Esteban Monastery, named after St. Stephen the Martyr, in Salamanca, Spain

I

want to begin this essay on Francisco de Vitoria (1483-1546) on a personal note to explain how I became acquainted with him. Also, how I eventually reached the conclusion that he was one of the most important people of his era and that his legacy is of immense relevance today. In 1989 I founded a summer Spanish Language and Culture program to take university students to the University of Salamanca. I did so for 30 years (1989-2019); 900 students participated. One of the major monuments there is the historic Dominican San Esteban Monastery, named after St. Stephen the Martyr. Francisco de Vitoria lived there and is buried inside in the “Cemetery of the Theologians.”

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Year after year, taking students for visits, I became more acquainted with Francisco, which prompted me to read his works and books about him. Since then, in other venues I have lectured on him. This is the first time I am writing to reach a wider audience.

Francisco is unknown in narratives about Western civilization. I have taught a Western civilization class for 35 years at a university. The textbooks for that class have always been large tomes of five to six hundred pages or more. Searching the indexes you will not find a single mention of Francisco or the School of Salamanca. Yet, there are glimmers of recognition here and there. For example, in a hall in the United Nations in New York there is bust of Francisco de Vitoria donated

Below, Pope Clement VII and Emperor Charles V, by Jacopo Ligozzi, c. 1580.

In the round circles: Domingo de Soto (1494-1560) and Melchior Cano (1509-1560)

Francisco de Vitoria — His liFe and times

D

e Vitoria was born in Burgos, Spain, in 1483, likely on October 4, and died in Salamanca on August 12, 1546. He spent some time in Paris studying; his main work, however, transpired in Salamanca, in what is now Castilla-León. He was a canon lawyer, theologian, philosopher, renowned lecturer, and above all, brave defender of the rights of the indigenous people of the Americas.

Francisco was born into a noble family that had Jewish roots; they were conversos. In 1504 he entered the Dominican monastery of St. Paul in Burgos.

He taught theology at the University of Paris starting in 1516; there he obtained his doctorate in sacred theology.

He left Paris in 1523 for Valladolid to teach theology at the renowned St. Gregory College. In 1526 he was given the prestigious Chair of Theology at the University of Salamanca, where he remained until his death in the Dominican San Esteban Monastery in 1546. Francisco was an adviser to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain), who even

by King Juan Carlos I of Spain that acknowledges his work for indigenous rights.

At the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland, a room bears his name, and added to that, another bust was placed at the Organization of American States in Washington D.C. There is even a private University of Francisco de Vitoria in Spain.

Overall, however, Francisco lies in obscurity — mainly in the English speaking world. In light of the current growing hostility to anything Western and Christian, it will be a

attended one of his classes in 1534. They did not always see eye to eye, but that did not lead to a break in their cordial relationship.

In 1539 the Emperor wrote to Francisco to inquire about the possibility of sending 12 learned and pious friars to Mexico to found a university.

In 1545 Prince Philip (later Philip II of Spain) wrote on his father’s behalf to invite Francisco to the Council of Trent. He declined because he was already too ill to travel, and he died the next year at age 60.

Over the course of Francisco’s teaching career, it is estimated that he taught nearly 5,000 students. Twenty-four of them managed departments of letters or theology at the University of Salamanca.

In 1548 two occupied the Chair of Thomas Aquinas in the University of Alcalá de Henares.

Francisco lived a full life marked by many notable lasting accomplishments (Ramón Hernández, Francisco de Vitoria, pp. 9-40). n

tough uphill battle to give him the recognition that he deserves. It was he, not the French philosophes led by Voltaire and John Locke, who first proposed ideas that contributed to the development of universal human rights and international law. Although they deserve recognition on this front, these groundbreaking teachings originated with Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo de Soto (1494–1560), and Melchior Cano (1509–1560) in Salamanca (see Mauricio Beuchot, Filosofía y Política en Bartolomé de las Casas, pp.

22-23).m

Francisco de Vitoria — His intellectual acHieVement

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rancisco de Vitoria is considered a leading voice among the Dominicans, who in the early 1500s raised his voice to denounce the abuses committed by his fellow Spaniards in the Americas. The other major opponents were Antón Montesinos (born in Seville in 1485; died in Venezuela in 1540) whose fiery sermon on the Fourth Sunday of Advent on December 21, 1511 for the Feast of John the Baptist, in which he excoriated the exploiters, triggered an intense debate about the abuses. Antón was a student at the University of Salamanca and was ordained in the Dominican San Esteban Monastery, the same one where Francisco de Vitoria made his mark (Ramón Hernández, et al, El Grito y su Eco. El Sermón de Montesino. San Esteban, Salamanca, 2011).

The other Dominican luminary was Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566) who wrote the famous A Short

Account of the Destruction of the Indies and was active in the intense debates that took place regarding the fate of the Indians in the Americas. Bartolomé spent time in Salamanca where he received a licentiate in canon law.

Unlike Antón and Bartolomé, Francisco never set foot in the Americas. He nevertheless had an immense sway on both. Bartolomé and Francisco never met in person, but the former was deeply influenced by Francisco’s views, which helped him to successfully defend, in the great debates, the rights of the indigenous peoples.

Another Dominican in San Esteban in Salamanca who deserves mention and was close to Francisco was Domingo de Soto. He had direct contact with Bartolomé (Ramón Hernández, Francisco de Vitoria, pp.

79, 82); Mauricio Beuchot, Filosofía y Política en Bartolomé de las Casas, pp. 17-18). Together they became NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CHARACTERS

FRAnCiSCo dE ViToRiA

a formidable front to oppose the exploitation of the indigenous peoples and provoke open debates to reverse the exploitative policies in the new Spanish colonies; no similar debates had ever occurred anywhere up to that time about the morality of slavery.

Another major accomplishment of Francisco was the founding of what has been called the School of Salamanca, not to be understood as a literal institution.

Rather, it was formed as a group of likeminded theologian/philosophers, whose core was Francisco, Domingo, and Melchior, all from Dominican San Esteban Monastery in Salamanca, where they are all buried.

There were others who were part of this intellectual movement elsewhere, notably in the College of Saint Gregory in Valladolid.

They rehabilitated Thomism, which had been declining for some time; this made the University of Salamanca the center of this revival of a new Thomistic Scholasticism. They used Thomism to address the many challenges of the new evangelization in the Americas and the burning question of whether slavery was rightfully legal or moral (Benjamin Durham, Bartolomé de Las Casas, p. 7).

What is amazing about Francisco is that he did not write any books on these topics in the normal sense of the word. His extensive lectures survived only in the notes that his students took. There was also the practice that he annually delivered summaries of the courses for that year; these were mandatory to attend. He gave a large number in Salamanca and they became the most important. These lecture summaries are called the Recapitulations, which he rewrote and edited to refine them. These were edited and published later in Antwerp in 1604; from that point onward their diffusion well beyond Spain was guaranteed. They came eventually into the hands of Hugo Grothius in the Netherlands, who extensively quoted the Recapitulations in his De Iure Belli et Pacis (“On the Law of War and Peace”), a seminal work published in 1625 that shaped John Locke and others in the 1600s.

These ideas of Francisco and the School of Salamanca found their way to the French Enlightenment thinkers, who used them to confront the slavery of their day. Francisco and his fellow Dominicans by then were long gone and received no credit as the originators of this cutting-edge thinking. The main teachings from Francisco’s Recapitulations can be summarized as fol20

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

lows, keeping in mind that there are many more (Ramón Hernández, Los Derechos Humanos, pp. 179196): l Man was created in freedom and so, according to Natural Law, is free. l Man is by nature social and civil. l All men are equal; none is superior, by Natural Law, with respect to others l The Indians are entitled to their customs and no coercion with violence should be used to stop them, except for inhuman laws and customs such as human sacrifice or cannibalism, which violate Natural and Divine Law. l The Indians have the right to their properties, domains, laws, judges, and industries and businesses. The Indians are true masters of their things, like Christians of theirs. l The Indians have the right to stay in their religion and no one should use force to make them Christians. l Christians by divine right have the right to preach the Gospel in the provinces of the Indians l Indians are free to change sovereignty with the consent of the majority and without duress. l All colonization or protectorate is by nature temporary and as soon as possible should be prepared to emancipate the colonized country. l The Pope has no claim to temporal authority to rule over the New World. l The Pope has no authority to give European rulers dominion over primitive peoples; the most he can do is grant spheres for missionary work l No one is born to become a slave to someone else.

The Recapitulations discarded several of Aristotle’s teaching on slavery, including that: Some humans were born to be slaves and others to be masters.

Those born to be slaves have inferior souls and defective minds.

They are useful only for physical labor (Aristotle, Politics, 1, 3-7).

In fact, Aristotle’s teachings on slavery were wholly rejected as contrary to Natural Law and the Holy Scriptures (Thomas E. Woods, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, pp. 133-151).

A fair question to ask is, what impact did these teachings have on Spain’s colonization policy and on the indigenous in the colonies? One answer is that the

Opposite page, Antón Montesinos (1485-1540) and Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566).

Below, Franciscan evangelizers in the wake of the Spanish conquistadors

Spanish monarchy ordered that the encomiendas should be dismantled. These were the equivalent of the slave plantations in America’s Confederate South. It took time and persistence to make this decree a reality; the Dominicans became the eyes and ears that insisted that the order be implemented.

Also, as a result of the great debates that ensued over slavery in Spain, laws against slavery were crafted in Burgos (1512-1513) and in Valladolid (1542). The papacy fully backed the anti-slavery legislation; Pope Paul III declared slavery a mortal sin in 1537. Any Catholic involved in any shape or form in slavery was

pronounced excommunicated.

Spain was in fact the first colonizing empire to hold these debates and to rule against slavery. It was not a rapid and perfect eradication — the abuses continued, and offenders were plenty. In the long run, however, institutional slavery became a thing of the past in the Spanish colonies. (It is telling that there are no Indian reservations south of the modern border of the United States; the indigenous population was and still is the majority population in Mexico and in Central and South America.)

There was another factor that contributed to this demographic reality: the Spanish Crown and the colonial authorities never prohibited interracial marriages.

Indeed, it was encouraged, in part with the hope that it would make conversion to Catholicism easier. Spain, moreover, had a long history of mixed marriages long before Columbus stumbled on the Americas.

Northern Europeans, mainly English and French, and the Muslim caliphates became the greatest purveyors of

slavery, far exceeding by any measure the Spanish and Portuguese. The English and French eventually had their own Francisco, Domingo, Antón, and Bartolomé in the persons of John Newton, Quakers, Methodists, Universalists, Catholics, and the philosophes of the Enlightenment who helped to dismantle their slave empires.

There was unfortunately enormous irreparable damage; whole tribes were wiped out and those left were herded into reservations. So they became near-invisible minorities even to this day in the USA and Canada. But the situation south of the USA is a far different situation today for the descendants of the indigenous tribes.

The contributions of Francisco de Vitoria, the School of Salamanca, and the Dominicans were profound. Their contributions to the development of International Law and Human Rights are well documented.

The more-celebrated early modern champions of liberty took a page, directly or through intermediaries, from the thought of the sages of Salamanca.

We are living in a time of unprecedented, rampant factory slave labor, sex trafficking of people of all ages, foreign policies that exploit, threats to surviving indigenous peoples (as in the Amazon), and so many more destructive institutions, ideologies, and policies.

If ever there was time again to hear Francisco’s voice in the current chaotic wilderness that we are living in, it is now: Sancte Francisce, ora pro nobis.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Benjamin Durham, “Bartolomé de Las Casas and the School of Salamanca: In defence of the Amerindians and in opposition to the Encomienda,” Academia, On-line, pp. 1-15.

Mauricio Beuchot, Filosofía y Política en Bartolomé de las Casas. San Esteban, Salamanca, 2013.

Ramón Hernández, et al, El Grito y su Eco. El Sermón de Montesino. San Esteban, Salamanca, 2011.

Ramón Hernández, Francisco de Vitoria. Salamanca, 2011.

Ramón Hernández, Los Derechos Humanos. Francisco de Vitoria. San Esteban, Salamanca, 2003.

Thomas E. Woods. How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Regnery Publishing, Washington D.C., 2005.

* Dr. Alberto Ferreiro is Professor Emeritus of History at Seattle Pacific University, and the author of 11 books and more than 100 scholarly articles.

He can be reached at beto@spu.edu.m NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

21

CHRISTMAS ESSAY

The Nativity of Jesus in the Summa of St. thomaS aquinaS “And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata . . . out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to be the ruler in Israel.”

— Micah 5:2

S

t. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the Church’s “Angelic Doctor,” wrote with remarkable breadth and detailed insight on thousands of questions pertaining to God, man and the Catholic faith.

In his Summa Theologiae, he speaks of the significance of the details of the Nativity story — details with which we are all familiar, yet have, perhaps, never considered in the way St. Thomas does.

Adoration of the Lord with Saints Francis and Jerome,

by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1483-1561), Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, France 22 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN 23

Announcement of Christ’s Birth to Shepherds, by Carl Bloch (1834-1890) 24 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

CHRISTMAS ESSAY

He was born during the reign of Augustus Caesar “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”

– Galatians 4:4

C

hrist came in order to bring us back from a state of bondage to a state of liberty. And therefore, as He took our mortal nature in order to restore us to life, so, as Bede says (Luke 2:4-5), “He deigned to take flesh at such a time that, shortly after His birth, He would be enrolled in Caesar’s census, and thus submit Himself to bondage for the sake of our liberty.”

Moreover, at that time, when the whole world lived under one ruler, peace abounded on the earth. Therefore it was a fitting time for the birth of Christ, for “He is our peace, who hath made both one,” as it is written (Ephesians 2:14). Wherefore Jerome says in Isaiah 2:4: “If we search the page of ancient history, we shall find that throughout the whole world there was discord until the 28th year of Augustus Caesar: but when our Lord was born, all war ceased”; according to Isaiah 2:4: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.”

– Summa Theologiae, Third Part, Question 35, Article 7 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN 25

CHRISTMAS ESSAY

He was born in Bethlehem “Like the lily, it shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise.”

— Isaiah 35:1-2

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hrist willed to be born in Bethlehem for two reasons. First, because “He was made . . . of the seed of David according to the flesh,” as it is written (Romans 1:3); to whom also was a special promise made concerning Christ. According to 2 Samuel 23:1: “The man to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob . . . said.”

Therefore He willed to be born at Bethlehem, where David was born, in order that by the very birthplace the promise made to David might be shown to be fulfilled. The Evangelist points this out by saying: “Because He was of the house and of the family of David.” Secondly, because, as Gregory says (Hom. viii in Evang.): “Bethlehem is interpreted ‘the house of bread.’

It is Christ Himself who said, ‘I am the living Bread which came down from heaven.’”

– Summa Theologiae, Third Part, Question 35, Article 7

Adoration of the Shepherds, by Dutch painter Matthias Stomer, c. 1640-1645, Palazzo Madama, Turin 26 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN 27

The Adoration of the Magi,

by Eugenio Cajés, c. 1625, Prado Museum, Madrid 28 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

CHRISTMAS ESSAY

He is our Light and our Hope of Salvation “The people walking in darkness have seen a great Light” – Isaiah 9:2

A

s says the author of the book De Qq. Nov. et Vet. Test. (Questions on the Old and New Testaments), “Christ wished to be born, when the light of day begins to increase in length,” so as to show that He came in order that man might come nearer to the Divine Light, according to Luke 1:79: “To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

In like manner He chose to be born in the rough winter season, that He might begin from then to suffer in body for us.

– Summa Theologiae, Third Part, Question 35, Article 8

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN 29

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Fall 2022

Issue 4

UNITAS: Bringing Help and Hope to Christians in Lebanon DEAR FRIENDS, The last time I wrote in the pages of Communiqué, we were planning a Unitas: Come, Rebuild My Church pilgrimage to Lebanon with a few of our friends and supporters. As I write today, on October 19, the pilgrimage has already occurred, and it was a resounding success.

In Lebanon, we visited several places which held the great natural beauty for which Lebanon is famous: the stunning heights and cliffs of the Qadisha Valley (the Holy Valley), with its rock-hewn grottos and centuries-old monasteries; the monastery and tomb of the simple, holy 19th century Maronite monk St. Charbel (1828-1898), to whose intercession more than 29,000 miracles have now been attributed. We met with the head of Lebanon’s Maronites, Béchara Boutros Cardinal Raï, who is Patriarch of Antioch, but resides in Bkerke, Lebanon, not far outside of Beirut. We were able to meet with him at the end of a Sunday evening Rosary at his summer residence in the Qadisha Valley.

We also saw scenes of suffering and deprivation: the aftermath of the devastating August 4, 2020 explosion that rocked the port of Beirut — so large, it was felt in several neighboring countries — with thousands of people, two years later, still living in half-ruined houses, among decimated commercial districts, with no jobs, few resources and little hope.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, our Unitas initiative is helping some of these people, with water purification devices, groceries and educational funding for their children. Still, many thousands of educated Lebanese with the means to leave the country have done so, leaving an intellectually and financially impoverished society, especially among the Christian population.

We cannot sit idly by and let this hemorrhage of talent and treasure from a land where Christ Himself once walked, taught and performed miracles, continue. Lebanon is a land which for 2,000 years has nurtured the Christian faith, and we are committed to doing all we can to see that it continues to do so.

Besides Israel, Lebanon is, at present, the only Middle Eastern country where Christianity can be practiced with complete freedom. However, Christians, a century ago comprising 78% of the Lebanese population, are now only 34% — barely a third. And more Christians are leaving each year.

Perhaps the high point of our pilgrimage was a meeting with leading members of Orthodox Churches in Lebanon.

During a wonderful dinner of traditional Lebanese food, we spoke about building bridges of collaboration between Lebanese Catholics and Orthodox to assist the Christians of the country. We have tentatively agreed to work together to put on a special day focused on Lebanon and the Christian presence in the country in September 2023.

We were privileged to meet with Cardinal Bechara Boutros Raï, the Lebanese Catholic Patriarch of the Lebanese Maronite Church. He welcomed us with open arms and explained to us some of the challenges he and his flock are facing. “We are grateful for the support you are giving to our people,” the Patriarch told me. “The fact that you have come here in person to visit with us and see our situation means a great deal to all of us.” And so I pass on the words of Patriarch Raï, who has led the Lebanese Church for more than 11 years, and we ask for your prayers, and, if possible, for your support. In Christ, Editor, Inside the Vatican

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Unitas fall Pilgrimage to lebanon “Extraordinary on SEvEral diffErEnt lEvElS” n BY CHRISTOPHER HART-MOYNIHAN During a visit to Lebanon in September, Urbi et Orbi’s “Friends of Lebanon” delegation was received by Patriarch Bechara Poutros Raï, the head of the Catholic Maronites in Lebanon. In the photos, Patriarch Raï greets Joseph Raguso of Cleveland, Ohio, one of our “Friends of Lebanon” members, in the presence of Tony Assaf, who was born in Lebanon and is one of the group’s advisors

D

uring the second half of September 2022, Urbi et Orbi Communications carried out our first pilgrimage to Lebanon. We brought 10 “Friends of Lebanon” from the United States to the land of the Tall Cedars from September 17 to 25 as a part of our Unitas: Friends of Lebanon initiative.

The pilgrimage to Lebanon was conceived with several goals in mind. We wanted to give our pilgrims a sense of the work that Friends of Lebanon has been doing in this country, which has experienced profound tragedy and suffering over the past several years.

We also wanted the pilgrims to get an idea of the social, political, and economic challenges Lebanon is facing — the continued coexistence of Christians and Muslims within the country being one of the most significant of these.

Finally, and most importantly, we wanted to offer all of the pilgrims an opportunity to go on a spiritual journey through visits to ancient sites of Christian pilgrimage such as the Qadisha Valley, places of Biblical significance such as the Cedars of Lebanon, and sites of popular devotion such as the tomb of St. Charbel.

By all three measures, the pilgrimage was a great success.

Perhaps the thing that most stood out for all who were present was the kindness of the Lebanese people. It is difficult to put into words the openness, hospitality, and generosity that we experienced during our time in Lebanon. As we were welcomed into people’s homes and into their lives, we began to understand the “Lebanese spirit” — a 2

spirit present in the towns and villages where Christians, Muslims and Druze have lived side by side for centuries, in the Qadisha Valley cave monasteries where Maronite monks fled to escape Ottoman oppression, and in the city of Beirut, where bullet holes from the country’s civil war of the 1970s and 1980s dot the facades of historic buildings and fashionable hotels, and where cafes use back-up generators to keep the lights on during daily blackouts.

After a first afternoon and evening in Beirut, and an early morning Maronite-rite Mass, we drove up to the Qadisha Valley in northern Lebanon, where we stayed for three nights. “Qadisha” is a word meaning “holy” in Aramaic, which was the lingua franca of the Near East for many centuries, and the language Jesus knew and spoke.

On our first night in the north, we were able to attend a Rosary service at the summer residence of the Maronite Catholic Patriarch, Cardinal Boutros Bechara Raï, in Dimane. At the end of the service, the pilgrims met Patriarch Raï and we gave him a short update on our work to support Christians in Lebanon over the past several years.

He told us, “Thank you very much and please continue.

This work is very important.”

The following day, we drove down into the valley, a massive, imposing geological wonder that has served as a place of refuge for generations of Maronite Catholic faithful. At the St. Elisha Monastery, we saw a small room, carved out of the rock, where several Maronite Patriarchs lived during the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Church

in Lebanon was being persecuted by the Ottoman Empire.

The son of the illustrious Charles Malik, who served as The next day, we toured the Kahlil Gibran museum in the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations town of Bsharri and visited the Cedars of God, which grow and participated in the drafting of the Universal Declarahigh on the slopes of the mountains above the valley. tion of Human Rights in 1948, the younger Malik gave us The awe-inspiring landscapes of the Qadisha Valley his thoughts on the future of Lebanon and told us he would and the surrounding area gave us a new understanding of be happy to mark the 75th anniversary of the drafting of the and appreciation for the Maronite Church, which was Universal Declaration with us at next year’s Unitas event. based in and around the valley for so many centuries, and We hope you can make plans to join us in September whose saints and hermits have 2023 in Lebanon for this gathtruly made this a “holy” valley. ering.

The second phase of our pilOn the final day of our pilgrimage was centered on Beirut grimage, Fr. Jim O’Neal, one of and holy sites in the surroundour pilgrims, celebrated Mass at ing area. Before we entered the tomb of St. Charbel, perhaps Beirut, we stopped at the Orthothe holiest site in Lebanon, after dox Monastery of Our Lady of an illuminating and unexpected Nourieh (Our Lady of the encounter with Fr. Louis Matar, Light), a popular Orthodox pilthe priest who has registered the grimage site overlooking the many thousands of miracles Mediterranean Sea, followed attributed over the years to by lunch in the ancient seaside St.Charbel’s intercession. city of Byblos. The following Meeting in the home of a Lebanese family, and, below, a dinner What stayed with us, and day was focused on visits to with our pilgrims, were these discussion in Beirut, Lebanon recipients of the “short-term unexpected things: an offer of help” that Unitas: Friends of sharing a meal in the officer’s Lebanon had provided followclub of the Lebanese Army next ing the August 4, 2020 Beirut to the Cedars of Lebanon; being port explosion. This help was in invited to share tea in a family’s the form of food boxes, basic home in Byblos, and meet their necessities and water purichildren (they gave us a gift of fiers, which recipients told us honeycomb from their farm in had made a huge difference in their home village, and hometheir daily lives. made Lebanese cake for Hearing the testimonies of dessert); meeting a father and people who continue to strugson, both doctors, who have gle, month after month, to probeen running a hospital in vide basic necessities for their families and to send their northern Lebanon for the past 20 years, and learning about children to school was eye-opening and greatly moving for the importance of healthcare in Lebanon during the current all who were present. Seeing the great need that ordinary crisis. people are still finding themselves in reinforced our comMultiple pilgrims highlighted these “encounters” as the mitment to continue the work of supporting Lebanon. most remarkable part of the time in Lebanon, and all 10 of Another concrete way for us to support Lebanon, and them have now become advisors to the Friends of Lebanon the Christian community there, presented itself that project. One pilgrim wrote: “The people and their country evening, at a dinner held with the Guardians of the Holy have left deep impressions in my heart and mind. TrouFire, a gathering of lay Orthodox leaders in Lebanon. At bling sights of areas severely impacted by the explosion this meeting, the Guardians proposed a collaboration — two years ago lie in contrast to the magnificent beauty of an event in September 2023, to raise awareness about the the hills and the blue sea surrounding much of Lebanon. traditions of the ancient Christian Churches in Lebanon The history of people of faith was almost palpable in and the rest of the Middle East. We agreed to hold such an monasteries we visited. As the days move further along, I event as a Unitas gathering, where Catholics and recall moments, visits and human exchanges that hold Orthodox will come together and discuss critical issues. great meaning. Faces and places come to mind and I am Also speaking at this event will be Habib Malik, an moved to prayer. The pilgrimage may have actively ended, Associate Professor at American Lebanese University, but the journey in prayer and faith with unforgettable peowith whom our group had dinner the subsequent evening. ple still lives.”l 3

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*

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e opened the doors of Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum (The Collegium of the Holy Angels, called The Collegium for short) in the fall of 2021 in historic Hagerstown, Maryland, on the eastern coast of the United States.

We are a classical liberal arts undergraduate college, founded to meet some of the major issues facing higher education today.

THE CHALLENGES The challenges facing higher education today are numerous. I will focus on three.

• First, there is a declining pool of students. Birthrates in the United States have been falling for years, and this decline is now offering colleges, which are largely built on a financial model of perpetual growth, fewer students to feed that growth.

• Second, there is the spiraling cost of college. The average tuition today at a four-year, private college is almost $33,000/year. This does not include housing, meals, and additional costs such as books and travel. The full cost is over $45,000/year.

• Third, with regard to Catholic institutions, the data show that a high percentage of young Catholic adults stop practicing their faith either during their college years or shortly thereafter. (Pew foundation studies put this percentage at about 80%. Some studies put it as high as 93%.) Whatever is happening in Catholic colleges, it does not appear to be helping young Catholic men and women strengthen their 36

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

Left, Collegium President Edward Schaefer at an orientation day for students and parents. Below, students in class and a moment of common prayer

faith or preparing them to live lives of virtue that will get them to heaven. What is worse, families are paying exorbitant costs for this.

THE COLLEGIUM The Collegium was founded to address these issues: directly, relating to cost and the kind of faith formation that young people receive in college; and indirectly, relating to declining birth rates by preparing young Catholic adults to live truly Catholic lives, in which they come to see that the primary purpose of marriage is to cooperate with God in His work of procreation.

First, let’s discuss the issue of cost. One of the areas where costs have exploded in colleges is that of middle management: deans, associate deans, directors of this and that.

While colleges have added these positions with good intentions, generally to keep faculty from having to take on more and more administrative work — often created by government — the result has been a large number of positions that add to the cost of running the institution but have little or nothing to do with creating income. In addition, colleges have invested in large infrastructures with many amenities to attract students. These amenities come at great cost, and none of them “pay for themselves,” except for housing, if all the housing units are filled. The Collegium is addressing the area of cost in four ways: WE HAVE ALMOST NO POSITIONS THAT ARE EXCLUSIVELY ADMINISTRATIVE. All administrators teach, and all faculty

members have administrative responsibilities. The only earthly successes, this is not our primary goal. (For what exceptions to this are in the offices of development and doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer admissions, because these positions are income-producing the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? Mt 16:26) positions.

To this end, we schedule prayer as a regular part of each WE HAVE NO OWNED FACILITIES, EXCEPT FOR AN day, with no conflicts. We sing Lauds and Vespers daily. We INCOME-PRODUCING PROPERTY. We lease what we need, and sing the Angelus and grace before and after meals. We pray we collaborate with existing entities to serve our students’ the rosary daily, Mass is offered daily, and confessions are needs. For example, we lease classroom space. As we available regularly. expand, we lease more; when we contract, we lease less. Our IN ADDITION, WE EMBRACE TRADITION; WE DO NOT MEREstudents can participate in theatre, art, symphony, hockey, ballet, casual basketball, and more, all in existing organizaLY ACCOMMODATE IT. This makes us unique, and it bears tions downtown. Often, in these organizaexplanation. To be clear, we do not criticize tions, students get to work with people in the the novus ordo Missae. Our Masses are held community who have more theatrical, artisat the local parish, and students are not tic, musical, etc. experience than typical bound to attend one form of Mass or another. undergraduates, and The Collegium does not However, we do believe in the particular benefits of praying the traditional Latin have to build an enormous infrastructure to Mass and practicing traditional methods of support such activities.

EVERY STUDENT WORKS AS PART OF THE Catholic piety: First, in a classical curriculum that focusCOLLEGIUM EXPERIENCE. Students work in es on the teachings of the Church Fathers, downtown businesses, which are many and Doctors, and the great saints of the Church, varied. Yes, some of the jobs are more interesting than others – just like most part-time it only makes sense that the spiritual formation also focus on the Mass that formed and jobs that college students take. However, the nurtured the minds and souls of these great jobs help keep the cost down, as the businessteachers. es pay The Collegium. In addition, the posiEdward Schaefer, founder and tions give all the students work experience, Second, when we examine the studies president of The Collegium mentioned above that say less than 20% of and, perhaps most importantly, this experiyoung Catholic adults attend Mass regularly ence reinforces the spiritual benefits of work. and we filter the data for those young adults (Indeed, every week when the new students attached to the traditional Latin Mass, then take over the internal kitchen duties for the coming week, we pray at Lauds in thanksgivthe regular attendance jumps to 98%. Yes, that is 98%! ing for the students who have finished their If our mission is to save souls, and if we week and for blessings upon the students takbelieve that staying close to the Church and, ing over the duties for the coming week. See at least, attending Mass regularly is an the Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 35.) important part of one’s journey toward salWE HAVE ENGAGED IN AUXILIARY, INvation, then — regardless of what any of us thinks personCOME-PRODUCING ENTERPRISES, in order to relieve pressure on tuition and development. To date, we have a coffee busially — the data tell us that we must embrace tradition. And, ness (www.heavenly roast coffee.com) and a laundromat, so, we do. which generate about 5% of our operating revenue. Eventually, we will have auxiliary businesses that will generate * Edward Schaefer, founder and president of The Col15% of our operating revenue and give our students more legium, holds four degrees in music. His particular expertise is Carolingian chant, which he honed with study at the Conwork opportunities.

The recent acceleration of inflation has put pressure on servatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de us, and our tuition will be increasing. Even so, we remain Paris and with chant scholars around the world. one of the lowest cost private institutions in the country. Our Dr. Schaefer conducted the choirs at Gonzaga University tuition/room/board for 2022-2023 is $16,800. in Spokane, Washington, which received numerous regional and national honors, for 20 years. After his tenure there, he MORE IMPORTANT THAN COST, HOWEVER, IS THE MISwas associate dean in the College of the Arts at the UniverSION OF THE COLLEGIUM TO SAVE SOULS. We are unamsity of Florida and a faculty member in its School of Music. biguous that our primary goal is to give young men and In observance of The Collegium policy that all adminiswomen the education and the formation they need to trators teach, Dr. Schaefer teaches Latin and Music. Dr. strengthen their faith and live lives of virtue that will get Schaefer is also a Benedictine oblate of the monastery of them to heaven. It turns out that this kind of education and Our Lady of Clear Creek, Oklahoma, USA. formation also prepares students to live productive lives in Contact The Collegium at the-collegium.org.m earthly endeavors, too, and while we applaud our students’ NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

37

FOOTSTEPS On ThE WAY

Journeying Toward The face of chrisT The “Poor Man of assisi” can helP us fix our gaze uPon The crucified one n BY ITV STAFF

S

t. Francis of Assisi is one of the most well-known of Catholic saints, founder of one of the largest and oldest religious orders in the world, a figure immediately reacognizable in his brown robes and tonsured head, even among non-Catholics.

Yet, do we know him as well as we should?

Francis lived 700 years ago, and yet his influence continues to be felt throughout the global Church today; even our current Pope took his name to honor the saint, and express his desire to imitate him, his poverty and humility, in his papacy.

Francis of Assisi was a rich boy who voluntarily became a poor man — Il Poverello— leaving behind the luxuries and the pleasures of the world in order to serve his Lord. It was that Lord who looked lovingly upon Francis as the poor man of Assisi gazed up at the crucifix, and He said to him, “Francis, come, rebuild my Church.”

From that moment on, Francis never averted his inward gaze from the Crucified One. He cared for animals and children, yes, but also the poor and the ignorant and the suffering of every age and class – and encouraged a band of brothers, and later sisters, to join him — all in the name of his beloved Jesus.

Christ tells us that we must give up all that is more important to us than Him, take up our cross and follow Him. But how did Francis manage to do this so completely, so beautifully, so lovingly?

Come to Assisi and find out for yourself: walk the paths trodden by St. Francis and his spiritual companion, St. Clare, immerse yourself in Holy Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis, hear words of inspiration from the Franciscan Friars there who today live the same charism that St. Francis himself lived 800 years ago.

You will encounter not only the stones that make up the churches and shrines we visit, but also those “living stones” who are the souls we will meet along our pilgrim way.

We will encounter these living stones not only in Assisi, but also in Rome, the center of the Church Jesus founded upon “the Rock”; Norcia, where a new Benedictine monastery flourishes despite centuries of persecution, neglect and natural disaster; Lanciano, where a Eucharistic Miracle 13 centuries old is on display for all to see; and Manoppello, where a face — some say it is the Face of Christ — is literally revealed to our eyes, in all its mysterious beauty, on an ancient cloth.

How can we learn to imitate St. Francis in our personal quest to come closer to Our Lord? Join us, and perhaps you will find some answers to this question, answers that will lift up your own spirit and help you to focus your own gaze more clearly on the adorable Face of Christ.

Come with us as we journey toward the Face of Christ.m

JOIN INSIDE THE VATICAN PILGRIMAGES on our upcoming Classic Pilgrimage:

ITALY: JOURNEY TOWARD THE FACE OF CHRIST l JUNE 3-13, 2023 From the ancient rooms where St. Peter lived for seven years, to the bishop’s residence in Assisi; from the treasure trove of art and faith at the Vatican Museum, to the Benedictine monastery of Norcia; we will encounter some of the “living stones” of our Church as we journey toward the Face of Christ — both spiritually and physically in the form of the miraculous Face of Manoppello.

Go to: InsideTheVaticanPilgrimages.com — Email us at Pilgrimage@InsideTheVatican.com Call us at +1.202.536.4555 38

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

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LATIN

sT. ambrose and The power of sIlence “The law says, ‘hear, Israel’... IT dId noT say, ‘speak’” n BY JOHN BYRON KUHNER

I

f you were to write an ethical guide for life, where would you start? What do you think would be the starting place for understanding how to live a moral life? The philosopher Aristotle began his Nicomachean Ethics by discussing what the ultimate end of human life is. Cicero the orator, in his De Officiis (“On Duties”) started by attempting to give a definition for moral duty. St. Ambrose, the great doctor of the Church, started in a completely different way. He believed that the starting place for the Christian ethical life is silence.

Quid aliud prae ceteris debemus discere quam tacere? Ambrose says after a brief preface in his own De Officiis. “Before the rest, what thing should we learn, other than to be silent?” He reiterates his point

over and over, providing the later Church with an arsenal of one-liners about the place of silence in the Christian life. Sapiens est qui novit tacere. “The wise man is he who knows how to be silent.” Sancti

Domini... amabant tacere.

“The saints of the Lord were in love with silence.” He quotes the Law: Lex dicit: ‘Audi, Israel, Dominum Deum tuum.’

Non dixit, ‘Loquere,’ sed ‘audi.’ “The Law says: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord your God.’ It did not say, ‘Speak,’ but ‘hear.’” He quotes the Psalms: Dixi, ‘Custodiam vias meas, ut non delinquam in lingua mea.’

“I have said, ‘I will have custody of my ways, that I may not fall by my tongue.’” He sums it up: Prima vox Dei dicit tibi: ‘Audi.’... Tace ergo prius, et audi. “The first voice of the Lord says to you: ‘Hear.’” …

Therefore be silent, and hear.”

He refines this later, and notes that there is a time to speak as well (quoting the famous “a time to” passage from Ecclesiastes), but

Above, Sts. Augustine and Ambrose, by Filippo Lippi, Albertina Academy of Fine Arts, Turin, Italy.

Bottom, Plato and Aristotle in The School of Athens by Raphael (left) and Cicero during his oration against Catiline for conspiracy against the Roman Republic (right)

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INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

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tem vidimus tacite, et aliter numquam, sedentesque in diuturno silentio – quis enim tam intento esse oneri auderet? – discedebamus.

“But when he read, his eyes were led along the page and his heart would search out the meaning, but his voice and tongue were silent. Often, when we were present – no one was prohibited from coming to see him, nor was it his custom to have visitors announced – we saw him reading silently; we never saw him reading otherwise, and sitting in long silence – for who would dare to be a burden to a person so intent? – we would leave.”

The passage has elicited much comment. Did Augustine mean to say that he had never seen anyone read silently before? Was all reading done aloud at the time? The passage seems to suggest this.

However one may interpret it, there was something particularly majestic about Ambrose’s silence.

His silence meant something; there was a presence in it. It awed Augustine; he was unwilling to break such a silence with his words.

St. Ambrose’s feast is December 7, not the day of his birth nor that of his death, but of his ordination as bishop of Milan. His particular place in Church history is as a bishop. Indeed, in the Western Church, he is in certain ways the archetypal bishop. In that role, he is known for his openness to people, his constant work, and his great generosity to the poor. Yet he is also known for a kind of majesty, a greatness in his role that made him the equal of Roman emperors.

I have no doubt that he told us the key to this majesty: that he had first long practiced the art of silence.

When I meet people of great spiritual power, their silence has this kind of majesty. It should be the first thing we look for in a bishop, from the smallest see to the See of St. Peter himself.m

E

there is no doubt that Ambrose is expressing an entirely different kind of worldview from Aristotle and Cicero. They believed in expertise, and wanted their students to intellectually grasp the entirety of a defined subject known as ethics. Ambrose is naming silence as the first step in a spiritual practice, rooted not in expertise but in awakening the richness of the inner life by first stilling the endless torrent of words.

Ambrose writes in Latin, but the inner life of his prose is not like Cicero’s and not like Aristotle’s.

Possessio tua mens tua est, aurum tuum cor tuum est, he writes.

“Your inheritance is your mind, your gold is your heart,” he writes.

Cicero never wrote like this. Custodi interiorem hominem tuum.

Noli eum quasi vilem negligere ac fastidire, quia pretiosa possessio est. Et merito pretiosa, cuius fructus non caducus et temporalis, sed stabilis atque aeternae salutis est.

Cole ergo possessionem tuam, ut sint tibi agri. “Guard your inner person. Do not neglect it like a mean thing and despise it, for it is an inheritance of great price. And justly is it of great price, whose fruit is not fleeting and temporal, but lasting and of eternal salvation.

Cultivate, therefore, your inheritance, as it were your fields.”

Interestingly enough, we have an eyewitness account of St. Ambrose, and the thing which the witness describes as the most striking thing about him is... his silence!

The witness was none other than St. Augustine, who saw St. Ambrose as an important figure in his conversion, and had the chance to meet the great bishop of Milan: Sed cum legebat, oculi ducebantur per paginas et cor intellectum rimabatur, vox autem et lingua quiescebant. Saepe, cum adessemus – non enim vetabatur quisquam ingredi aut ei venientem nuntiari mos erat – sic eum legen-

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SCRIPTURE

marking all saints’ day in song Hymns tHat remind us tHe CHristian life is a battle to be won n BY ANTHONY ESOLEN Armed Angels of Guariento di Arpo, Civic Museums, Padua, Italy

A

ll Saints’ Day is upon us, and that means that Catholics in Englishspeaking countries may well be singing the mighty “For All the Saints,” the only hymn most of us have all year long that refers to the Christian life as a battle. The absence is striking. In every hymnal I own that was printed before 1960, but in no Catholic hymnal that I know of since then, you will find around 20 or 30 hymns, out of the typical 600 or so, that are meant to rouse up Christian courage, and naturally most of these are of a markedly masculine character.

My favorite may be Charles Wesley’s “Soldiers of Christ, Arise,” sung to a sprightly march, called “Silver Street”: Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put your armor on, Strong in the strength which God supplies Through his eternal Son. So armed, we need not fear, and we can say, with the psalmist, that we go “from strength to strength” (Ps. 84:7), we can “tread down the wicked” (Mal. 4:3), and we can win what Saint Paul won, who “fought the good fight,” and finished the race, and kept the faith, as he wrote to Timothy, the old veteran to the young colonel (2 Tim. 4:7): From strength to strength go on, Wrestle, and fight, and pray: Tread all the powers of darkness down And win the well-fought day.

For a venerable ancient hymn to encourage the fighting Christian, a hymn with a most unusual structure and text, go to “Christian, Dost Thou See Them.”

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INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

It is best sung to the melody Saint Andrew of Crete, named for the saint (660-732) to whom the original Greek is attributed. That melody was composed by the hymnodist John B. Dykes specifically for the English translation, and it works brilliantly. In each of the first three stanzas, the opening lines, sung in a minor key, are a question addressed to the Christian, and in fact the first two lines have only one note, eleven times in a row, strange and menacing. But the final lines burst through in a major key, and answer the challenge: Christian, dost thou see them On the holy ground, How the powers of darkness Rage thy steps around?

Christian, up and smite them, Counting gain but loss, In the strength that cometh By the holy cross.

That surely gives us a rush of encouragement, and we might expect the whole poem to go on in that way.

But the final stanza departs from the pattern, and it is like no other I am aware of, in any hymn. It does not begin with a question. It is a straight address to us, from Christ Himself – printed in the hymnals with quotation marks, so that we do not pretend to be singing Christ’s words as if they were ours: “Well I know thy trouble, O my servant true; Thou art very weary, I was weary too.”

So simple, almost childlike! Imagine, to hear those

Below, Choir of Angels by Paolo Veneziano, National Museum of the Palace of Venice, Italy

words from Christ’s lips. Imagine it, in your dark nights, when friends are far away, or they have forgotten you, when all you set your hand to seems to fail, and you hear the snickering of the demons as they tempt you to give up, to be despondent, to lie down on the path and never rise. Imagine, it is Christ speaking, and he does know our trouble, because he bore it on his shoulders, and he knows what it is to be weary, because he climbed that dreadful hill of the Skull, carrying the cross, the weight of all men’s folly and darkness and sin. But he does not cast it in our teeth. All he says here, with infinite understatement, is, “I was weary, too.”

And then in the major key comes the promise: “But that toil shall make thee Someday all mine own, And the end of sorrow Shall be near my throne.”

Why should such hymns feel strange to us? Have we not been forewarned? Warfare is the Christian’s calling – not to slay other people, an obsession for the fanatic and a diversion for the hedonist, but to enter the lists for the truth, for “we are contending not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). So we must put on the whole armor of God, says Saint Paul.

The Greek word is panoplia, whence we derive the English word panoply, a bit misleading if we so translate it here, because we now think of panoply as a lot of fancy regalia, all fuss and feathers. But panoplia refers to the full armor of a Greek hoplites, a foot-soldier – in modern Greek, an infantryman. The soldier usually carried a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left, to protect the man to his left as they marched in orderly ranks. If you could afford it, you wore a bronze breastplate, a helmet, and greaves to protect your feet. So when Paul imagines someone wearing the panoply of God, he can enumerate each of the items, and what he says would surely bring many a sharp image and clear memory to those who heard him: “Stand therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:14-17).

What need we fear, then? Our countenances may well be bright. “Be of good cheer,” says Jesus; “I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). The Greek there is nenikeka – I have gotten the nikē, the victory. Well then, why should we not sing a perfectly cheerful song of Christian warfare?

The jauntiest and boldest of all these hymns is, to my ear, “He Who Would Valiant Be,” an intelligent adaptation of one of the little poems from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, this one describing the firm confidence of Mr. Valiant-for-the-Truth. Ralph Vaughn Williams set the poem to an English sailor-song he discovered in a Wessex village (Monks Gate); it’s the same Vaughn Williams who composed the grand melody Sine Nomine for our beloved “For All the Saints,” though most of our editors have mangled that poem’s grammar and emasculated its imagery, leaving it a bloody mess. The editors of the hymnal that Vaughn Williams himself worked on, however, knew what they were doing, poetically, musically, and Scripturally, and here is what they did for Bunyan’s poem. I will end with these words.

I can’t improve on them, and they need no commentary. But I do urge you to sing it out: He who would valiant be ‘Gainst all disaster, Let him in constancy Follow the Master.

There’s no discouragement Shall make him once relent His first avowed intent, To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round With dismal stories, Do but themselves confound; His strength the more is.

No foes shall stay his might, Though he with giants fight; He will make good his right To be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, thou dost defend Us with thy Spirit, We know we at the end Shall life inherit.

Then fancies flee away!

I’ll fear not what men say, I’ll labor night and day To be a pilgrim.m NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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

The Message of the Icon

BY ROBERT WIESNER

THE SECOND ECUMENICAL COUNCIL AND THE CREED

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rianism was dealt a death blow at Nicaea, but as is common with such heresies, it took some time before its demise was completely recognized. Arius himself did not die until around 336, more than ten years after Nicaea. In fact, he died just at the time he was convinced that he had won the day with his twisted theology. Emperor Constantine himself directed Patriarch Alexander of Constantinople to receive Arius in his church to receive him into Communion. The Patriarch prayed that he might die before being placed in the position of extending the Eucharist to a heretic; God ordained otherwise. On the way to the church, the story goes, Arius felt himself overcome by the call of nature.

He stepped into a public latrine, from which he never emerged. When his followers investigated they found Arius lying on the floor amid his intestines, having expired due to a prolapsed rectum! There is some reason to doubt this tale; the exact same end is recounted of several other heretics. There is also a good possibility that some of Arius’ opponents had him poisoned, a rather more plausible scenario. Sometimes even orthodox churchmen don’t fool around when combating heresy! In any event, Patriarch Alexander was spared the necessity of obeying the Emperor to the detriment of his soul.

Arius was dead, but his heresy continued to cause division in the empire; it even spawned at least two other heretical movements. Macedonianism, proposed by Patriarch Macedonius of Constantinople, denied divinity and personhood to the Holy Spirit; his thinking essentially did to the Holy Spirit what Arius did to the Son. Apollinarianism, introduced by Apollinaris of Laodicea, held that Jesus Christ was somehow not really a unified God-Man, but that instead He had a human body and sensitive soul, but a divine mind rather than a human rational

mind. Given the stubborn refusal of Arianism to completely die out and the rise of these similar heretical movements, unrest and violence continued to upset the peace of the empire. Finally, Emperor Theodosius I decided to call another council to definitively resolve the endless theological debates. Thus, one hundred fifty bishops convened at Constantinople in 381 under the leadership of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the great Cappadocian Father who was Patriarch in Constantinople at the time.

In dealing with the last remnants of Arianism and the new offshoots of the heresy, Macedonianism and Apollinarianism, the Council Fathers found it expedient to revisit the Creed laid down at Nicaea in 325. Several articles of the original Creed were refined and clarified regarding the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, mostly dealing with the true divinity and true humanity of Jesus Christ. Thus the heretical positions of the Apollinarians were put to rest; this particular form of Arianism died out quickly after the Council.

Macedonianism posed a rather larger problem. The original Creed of 325 simply confined itself to a simple “We believe... in the Holy Spirit.” There was no elaboration on the theology of the Third Person, an oversight the Council Fathers corrected by a major addition to the Creed: “And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, Who spoke through the prophets.” So was laid to rest the error of Macedonius. This heresy also disappeared shortly after the Council.

The other major change made to the original Creed was the deletion of the strong condemnation of Arianism which closed the Creed of 325. By that date Arianism itself was limited to only a few remote areas of the Empire and the need for such language was past.m

INSIDE THE VATICAN PILGRIMAGES is now planning to bring small groups of pilgrims to Budapest for a Christmas concert in December 2022, and to Italy during 2023, for week-long pilgrimages and retreats which will provide an opportunity to study the lives and message of St. Francis and St. Clare in great tranquility. For more information, write pilgrimages@insidethevatican.com page 46

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East-West Watch

BY PETER ANDERSON

THE TRANSFER OF METROPOLITAN HILARION TO BUDAPEST

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n June 7, 2022, the Holy Synod of the Russian the decision may have been ordered by an authority Orthodox Church, chaired by Patriarch Kirill, outside of the Church. made a startling decision. It removed Metropolitan Unlike Patriarch Kirill, who has made strong Hilarion (Alfeyev) from his position as Chairman of statements favoring Russia in the war in Ukraine, the Department of External Church Relations, the Metropolitan Hilarion had remained silent about the second most important position in the Church after war except for statements relating to relief for the Patriarch. Metropolitan Hilarion also lost his porefugees and other humanitarian help. On January sition as a permanent member of the Holy Synod.

29, Hilarion had been asked in an interview about Metropolitan Hilarion had held these positions since “rumors of a possible war between Russia and 2009. He was replaced by Ukraine.” He responded, Metropolitan Anthony of “I am deeply convinced Korsun, age 37, who had that war is not a method to been responsible for the Orsolve pent-up political thodox Church’s parishes in problems.” The fact that Western Europe.

Metropolitan Hilarion Metropolitan Hilarion’s failed to endorse Russia’s new assignment is to be the war in Ukraine may well administrator of the Church’s be the reason why he was diocese of Budapest-Hunremoved from his highgary. The diocese only has a profile position. total of 11 active priests and Metropolitan Hilarion four deacons. Very early in has now assumed his new Metropolitan Hilarion’s new assignment is to be his career, Metropolitan Hiposition in Budapest. Howthe administrator of the Church’s diocese larion had been responsible ever, in his exile, he has not of Budapest-Hungary for all of the Russian Orthobeen silent but has used the dox parishes in Austria and Hungary, so he has some Internet extensively to speak on strictly religious familiarity with the area. He is also a good friend of subjects. To do this, he has used primarily the webCardinal Péter Erdő, the Catholic primate of Hunsite Jesus Portal (https://jesus-portal.ru/) which he gary. However, the transfer can only be viewed as a founded a number of years ago. On July 26 the Jesus humiliating demotion. For Hilarion, the Synod’s dePortal posted on YouTube a 5-minute video in which cision did not even include the usual expression of the Metropolitan describes his new life in Budapest. gratitude for his 13 years of service in his previous The YouTube website records that there have been assignment. over 188,000 views of this video and also shows over In addition to his major responsibilities, Hilarion 1,000 favorable comments in regard to the video. was also the pastor of a Moscow parish, named One comment, typical of many, is: “We hope that Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow.” In saying your sermons will continue to nourish us spiritually. farewell to his parishioners on June 13, he stated that Your place of stay is not important for us at all, the he had been informed that his transfer was not conmain thing is that the Lord is with you.” nected with any shortcomings in the activities of the Although in exile, Metropolitan Hilarion is still Department of External Church Relations, but rather only 56 years old, and one cannot say that his importhe transfer was “required by the current socio-polittant role in the Church is over. Recall that Saint ical situation.” Presumably, this was a reference to Athanasius of Alexandria was exiled on five different Ukraine. It appears that the decision to transfer Hioccasions! One must wait and see what Our Lord larion was made very suddenly – an indication that plans next for Metropolitan Hilarion.m InsideTheVatican.com t UrbietOrbiCommunications.com

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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

NEWS from the EAST

BY MATTHEW TROJACEK

Orthodox-Catholic and interreligious relations, the situation PATRIARCHAL AWARD IS PRESENTED TO DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF HUNGARY in the world, and challenges facing society. (Mospat) On September 13, in the building of the Government of RUSSIAN ORTHODOX METROPOLITAN: Hungary, Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary presented the Order of Glory and Honor, 2nd class, to Zsolt POPE FRANCIS AND PATRIARCH KIRILL MEETING STILL POSSIBLE AT FUTURE DATE Semjén, the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Christian Democratic Party.

Pope Francis met September 14 with the head of the RussThe politician was honored with this high award by Russian Orthodox delegation in Kazakhstan, who said that a secian Patriarch Kirill in consideration of his ond papal meeting with Patriarch Kirill assistance to the Budapest-Hungarian of Moscow is still on the table. diocese and in connection with his 60th Metropolitan Anthony of Volokobirthday. lamsk, who is in charge of foreign relaWhile congratulating Mr. Semjén, tions for the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion said: told a pool of Vatican journalists that a “You are going strong on this remarksecond meeting between the patriarch and the Pope would require significant able day, full of energy. You are a longtime assistant to Prime Minister Viktor preparation.

The metropolitan insisted that this Orbán and the leader of the Christian Democratic People’s Party of Hungary. meeting “needs to be well prepared” and should produce an appeal at the end, In alliance with the Fidesz Party you have been bringing a weighty contribution to similar to that signed by Pope Francis Pope Francis in September met in Kazakhstan’s capital the upbuilding of Hungary, caring for the Nur-Sultan with hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Kirill in the first-ever meeting bepreservation of Christian religious values tween a Pope and a Russian patriarch in but not with Patrirach Kirill, who did not attend Havana, Cuba, in 2016. as a basis for national development and people’s welfare.”

“We are very convinced that the meeting between the Pope and the patriarch is very important, so the importance of this As Metropolitan Hilarion was presenting the Order to the Deputy Prime Minister, he said: meeting means that it must be prepared … not just a meeting while you have a coffee,” he said.

“This is a well-deserved award. It is an expression of The interreligious summit in Nur-Sultan was initially exthankfulness for your attention to the needs of the Budapestpected to serve as a meeting spot for the Pope and Kirill until Hungarian diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and the patriarch backed out at the end of August. (NCR) recognition of your distinguished services to the stability and prosperity of Hungary.”

POPE DECRIES SAVAGERY, MONSTROSITIES The Deputy Prime Minister expressed his heartfelt gratiAGAINST PEOPLE IN UKRAINE tude to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and unHighlighting the “terrible situation” unfolding in Ukraine, derscored that he considers his work for the benefit of his Pope Francis again called for prayers for the nation’s “noble country as a service to Christ. (Mospat) and martyred” people.

DELEGATION OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE The Pope said his envoy there “told me about the pain of MEETS WITH POPE FRANCIS these people, the savagery, the monstrosities, the tortured On September 14, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, corpses they find.” Pope Francis was relaying the news he said Pope Francis, met in Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, with he received September 20 by telephone from Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, whom the Pope has sent to hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate who, with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, attended the Seventh Congress of Leaders Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid and comfort in his name. of World and Traditional Religions.

Speaking to those gathered for his general audience in St. Participating in the meeting were Metropolitan Anthony of Peter’s Square September 21, the Pope asked that people pray Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External and unite with “these people who are so noble and martyred.”

Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Cardinal Krajewski was making his fourth visit to Ukraine Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch for All Besince the war began and traveled to Odessa and surrounding larus; Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, and areas.

Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan. In the course of In an interview with Vatican News published September the meeting, the participants discussed a number of aspects of 19, the cardinal said he could only pray when he was standing

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near a mass grave site in eastern Ukraine and seeing the delicate and solemn removal of bodies.

“I knew I would find so many dead, but I met men who showed the beauty that is sometimes hidden in our hearts,” Cardinal Krajewski said after visiting the mass grave in the northeastern city of Izium.

“They showed a human beauty in a place where there could have only been revenge. Instead, there wasn’t,” he said.

(CNS)

Porphyrogenita. At the turn of the 11th century, the icon was placed in the newly-built Cathedral of the Mother of God in Chełm.

The Icon of the Mother of God currently located in the Church of St. John Theologian in Chełm is a copy of the original from the mid-19th century. It’s placed in the iconostasis above the icon of the Last Supper and lowered to the analoy during molebens. (OrthoChristian)

A RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH REPRESENTATIVE TAKES PART IN PEACE TRAVELING MT. ATHOS EXHIBITION COMES TO AMERICA, OPENS ROUNDTABLE IN TOKYO On September 21-23, a Multireligious Peace Roundtable AT HOLY CROSS SEMINARY A new exhibition dedicated to the Holy Mountain will be “Beyond War and Towards Reconciliation” took place in Tokyo, Japan, on the initiative of the World Conference of traveling throughout America in the coming months.

The display, “Mount Athos: The Ark Religions for Peace (WCRP). Attending the meeting were representatives of of Orthodoxy,” opened at the Maliotis world religions from Burkina Faso, Center at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese’s Hellenic College-Holy Cross Ethiopia, Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and other countries.

Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts, Discussed at the Roundtable were on September 13. conflicts in various regions and The exhibition presents a reflection prospects for the participation of reliof a day on Mt. Athos, featuring one panel dedicated to each of the 20 ruling gious communities in the search for their peaceful resolution. monasteries, and additional panels presenting the history and institutions, art, In his address to the participants, Mr. Vakhtang V. Kipshidze, vice-chairman architecture, natural environment, and Polish and Ukrainian Orthodox together at the spiritual life of the Holy Mountain, reof the Russian Orthodox Synodal DeCathedral of St. John the Theologian in Chełm partment for Church Relations with Soports the National Herald.

Photo: zhytomyr-eparchy.org (OrthoChristian) ciety and Mass Media, welcomed the initiative, and reminded the participants POLISH AND UKRAINIAN HIERARCHS that the Russian Orthodox Church saw this conflict as a CELEBRATE WONDERWORKING ICON OF tragedy and fratricidal division.

MOTHER OF GOD He said that the Russian Orthodox Church has been prayFor the Orthodox Church of Poland, the feast of the Naing for peace in Ukraine since 2014. (Mospat) tivity of the Most Holy Theotokos is a double celebration, combined with the commemoration of the wonderworking RELICS OF ROYAL ROMANIAN MARTYRS AND Chełm Icon of the Mother of God. ST. NICHOLAS ARRIVE IN U.S. In honor of the occasion, Archbishop Abel of Lublin and The Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Chicago, Illinois, Chełm extended an invitation to Metropolitan Nikodim of had the great joy of hosting the relics of several saints Zhytomyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. that are currently visiting the U.S. The services for the double-feast were celebrated Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the at the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian in Chełm, Holy Brâncoveanu Martyrs arrived at the cathedral reports the Zhytomyr Diocese of the UOC. on Monday, September 26, where they remained The hierarchs concelebrated the All-Night Vigil until the next day. on the evening of September 18, and the Divine The relics are being carried on a pilgrimage Liturgy on the following morning, with Metropolitan throughout the U.S. by Father Emil Nedelea Nikodim offering a homily following the reading of the Cărămizaru, the rector of the Church of St. George in Gospel.

Bucharest, where the relics are usually kept, reports the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas.

Special prayers for peace in Ukraine were also offered during the service.

St. Constantin Brâncoveanu was ruler of Wallachia from August 15, 1654 to August 15, 1714, when he was dethroned Ukrainian hierarchs have also recently concelebrated with hierarchs and clergy of other Local Churches in Slovakia, Serand captured by the Ottomans and transported to Istanbul tobia, and America. The Chełm Icon is one of the oldest icons gether with his four sons, Constantin, Stephan, Radu, and Matei. of the Mother of God, painted, according to tradition, by St. Luke the Evangelist.

There he was tortured and eventually executed by decapitation together with his sons and his treasurer Ianache Like many other icons, it was gifted by the Greeks to St. Vacarescu. (OrthoChristian)m Vladimir after his baptism and his marriage to Princess Anna InsideTheVatican.com t UrbietOrbiCommunications.com

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TradiTion and BeauTy

the sweet And Austere music of christmAs n BY AURELIO PORFIRI Nativity by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Vatican Museums

Introitus, Puer natus est (“A child is born”), medieval Gradual from the Poor Clare Monastery in Bamberg, Germany

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hen the time of the Christmas season approaches, we are often taken by the consumerist frenzy that pushes us to buy a certain food or certain decorations to make the celebration more heartfelt.

Christmas has now become mainly a celebration of being with family, losing much of its true meaning – that of welcoming Emmanuel, “God with us.”

If you think about it, Christmas is apparently a simpler feast than Easter. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of a child; what could be more natural and familiar? At Easter we are faced with the unheard-of claim of a man who rises from the dead; it is a little more difficult to digest. And yet, looking deeper, even Christmas asks us for an important act of faith, because He who is born is not a child like any other, but the Savior.

We all know that music is such a fundamental part of the Christmas season. How many Christmas songs are there, residing in the memories of all of us? Yet I believe that even in this, we have lost a lot. For example, the popular Adeste Fideles is a song that is often

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sung in, at best, questionable translations (e.g., “O Come, All Ye Faithful”), and which, in my opinion, is much more beautiful and significant in the nobility of the Latin version.

But let us also think of Gregorian chant, ousted from the Christmas celebrations in the name of the Second Vatican Council, which in reality had called it the proper song of the Roman liturgy. Isn’t that strange?

Other Christmas songs come to mind, like Puer natus in Bethlehem, austere and noble, with the beautiful refrain with an ascending melody: “With joy in our hearts, let us adore the born Christ, with a new song.” This beautiful song and the austerity it transmits tells us that Christian joy is not the superficial joy that shines through in so many songs used in the liturgy today. It is, rather, like a fire that smolders.

The well-known Italian writer Camillo Langone, reviewing one of my volumes on liturgical chant in 2013, said: “St. Cecilia, pray for Aurelio Porfiri who, being a Roman musician faithful to the Holy Roman

Below, top, Catholic composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594).

Below, Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci (1917-2013) and Perry Como’s Christmas album containing his piece Christus est

Church, lives and works in Macau. In Il canto dei secoli (Marcianum Press) he obviously writes about sacred music but presents valid criteria for judging the catholicity of any other artistic language, including painting and architecture. The Church, says Porfiri, must be ’self-contained’ and not a ‘receptacle’: for example, the organ is the sound of the ‘self-contained Church’ (being intrinsic to the sacred); the guitar, an instrument of a ‘receptacle-Church’ (being intrinsic to profane music and thrown into the liturgy from the outside).

“But my favorite page is number 80, where objectivity also becomes subjectivity, even taste. Porfiri is against a liturgical music that always gives a ‘representation of life as joy.’ For me also, joyful music in church makes me nervous. St. Cecilia, pray for us little-loved lovers of austere, severe, even sad liturgical music, we who in church seek the reason for pain, because the reasons for pleasure are found everywhere.” They seem very beautiful words to me.

But returning to Christmas, let us think of the Introit of the Mass of the day, Puer natus est nobis, with that opening on the fifth interval that almost seems like a trumpet blast announcing an event that will change the history of humanity.

The musicologist and expert in Gregorian chant, Fulvio Rampi, speaking of this Introit, says: “And finally, in the Mass of the day, the Son generated by the Father, new Light that shines on us, takes shape in the ‘Puer natus.’ It is always Isaiah 9 that offers the text to this Introit, where the prophet announces the birth of a ‘child’: this is a correct translation of the term ‘puer,’ which immediately resounds in all its strength, but which requires that it be enriched with meaning. The messianic imprint of that ‘puer’ in fact invites us to expand our understanding towards a far broader perspective than the atmosphere of the crib. The same ‘child’ is immediately understood as a ‘servant,’ called to carry out the saving plan of the Father and on whose shoulders – as the second sentence of the same Introit warns – all power has been placed.”

Unfortunately, today we do not understand the exegetical importance that Gregorian chant has, as it is a contemplative meditation on liturgical texts, not simply music arranged using a given text.

But in addition to Gregorian chant, we cannot forget the musical treasures of polyphony for Christmas time.

I am thinking, for example, of the Hodie Christus natus est by the greatest of all Catholic composers, Giovanni

Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), of which there are two versions, one for double choir (from 1575) and one for four voices, always with the beautiful acclamation “Noè, noè” which derives from the French “Noel.”

Examples could really be made by the thousands, all treasures of sacred music (to be preserved, according to Vatican II) which instead have been thrown away without a backward glance.

I would like to mention one more piece very dear to me: Christus est by Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci (1917-2013), who was master of the Sistine Chapel for almost 40 years and who was also my teacher. I have often sung this beautiful piece under his direction, at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. It is a piece that immediately introduces you into the atmosphere of Christmas. Then, it is also probably his piece best known on American soil thanks to… commercial music! Yes, commercial music.

From what he told us, it seems that an American producer listened to this piece and decided that it could work commercially if it was turned into a popular Christmas song. He then asked Ray Charles to write a text for this Christmas motet in English, and “Christ is Born” was born, made famous

by Perry Como and also the Carpenters. Maestro Bartolucci jokingly told us that he had earned more with this Christmas song than with all his other compositions, of which there were many.

Why does sacred music – even for Christmas – seem so impoverished today?

Obviously, it suffers from the general crisis of the liturgy, and of Christianity. A crisis that is mentioned within the Church, but without too much attention paid to it.

A crisis that is believed to be resolved not by converting the world, but by converting to the world, allowing oneself to be crushed by its mortal embrace. A crisis that attempts to hide behind the blaming of “traditionalists,” these dangerous Catholics who must be absolutely canceled because otherwise, someone might realize that in the liturgy that is served up to us something has gone really wrong… that much of what is sung in church is actually unworthy and offensive to God, and is completely misleading and detrimental to the faithful. In a time when the Church is apologizing for everything, when will it apologize for the liturgical and musical abuses that have alienated so many faithful and attracted others for the wrong reasons?

This has been one of the greatest devastations of the last few decades. May God give our children and grandchildren a Christmas more liturgically and musically dignified than most of us have had!m NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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Celebrating advent: its History and traditions n BY LUCY GORDAN

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lthough Advent falls at the order to differentiend of our Gregorian calenate the spirit of Addar year, it marks the bevent from that of ginning of the liturgical year in Lent, emphasized that Western Christianity. The term Advent was a season of “Advent” derives from the Latin hope—the promise of Christ’s Secadventus, meaning “coming” or ond Coming. “arrival.” Thus it’s a time of waitThe Catholic Encyclopedia reing and preparation, filled with joy ports a variation on the origin of but also with repentance and Advent, saying that it was a time of penance. It anticipates the “coming fasting and preparation for of Christ” from three different perEpiphany rather than of the anticispectives: the nativity in Bethlepation of Christmas, because early hem, Christ’s reception in the heart converts to Christianity were bapof the believer, and the return of tized on the Sunday after Epiphany, Christ at His Second Coming. the day that commemorates Christ’s The first liturgically elaborated Advent wreath Advent begins on the fourth baptism. Thus, early-on, Advent was the idea of Johann Hinrich Wichern.

Sunday before Christmas Day or lasted 40 days like Lent.

Bottom, a Christingle, in the home version, attributed to Moravian Bishop Johannes de Watteville the Sunday which falls closest to Today’s traditions during Advent November 30 (thus always beare both religious and secular. Some tween November 27 and Decemoriginated as religious and have beber 3), and lasts through Christcome less so, and most began in mas Eve. This year it begins on Lutheran areas of Germany. The traNovember 27. In the Catholic ditions include praying an AdventChurch’s Roman Rite, the readthemed daily devotional (a book of ings of Mass on the four Advent Bible verses and prayers for each Sundays have distinct themes: on the day of the season), lighting an Adfirst (Advent Sunday), the anticipation of vent wreath, lighting a Christingle, Christ’s Second Coming; on the second, St. John performing seasonal music, keeping the Baptist’s preaching; on the third, (Gaudete an Advent calendar, and of course Sunday), the joy of Christ’s upcoming arrival; and erecting a Christmas tree. on the fourth, the events involving Mary and It seems that the first Advent Joseph leading up to the Nativity. wreath dates to 1839 and was the It’s not known exactly when Advent was first idea of Johann Hinrich Wichern celebrated, but it certainly existed from about 480.

(1808-1881), a Protestant pastor in For, according to the historian/bishop St. Gregory Hamburg and a pioneer in urban of Tours, the celebration of Advent had begun in the fifth mission work among the poor. Today during Mass on each century when the Bishop Perpetuus of Tours, who died in Advent Sunday, but also at home, candles of different col490, ordered that the faithful fast three times a week from ors are lit on a wreath: the first is purple and called the St. Martin’s Day, November 11th, until Christmas Day. Prophecy Candle or Candle of Hope; the second, also purThis rule’s degree of strictness changed several times ple, is the Bethlehem Candle or Candle of Preparation; the over the centuries. Finally the Second Vatican Council, in third is pink and called the Shepherd Candle or Candle of 52 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

Joy; the fourth, again purMy memories of the ple, is the Angel Candle or Christmas season as a child Candle of Peace. A fifth in New York City and later candle or Christmas Candle, as an adult in Rome after I this time white, is lit on married my Abruzzese husChristmas Day. band in 1971, have always Instead, a Christingle, ofincluded an Advent calendar ten homemade, consists of an and a Christmas tree, both of orange representing the world.

German Lutheran origin. My A candle, today replaced by a childhood calendars were glow stick for safety, is pushed made of paper and imported into the center of the orange and from Germany. Their “winA page of the O Key of David antiphon from the Latin Catholic liturgy and a collection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach then lit. It represents Jesus dows” opened either onto relifor Christmas celebrations Christ as the “Light of the gious scenes or featured images World.” of toys, angels, musical instruments, or sweets. The numA red ribbon wrapped around the orange represents the bers for each day were placed arbitrarily so that part of blood of Christ. In addition, dried fruits and other sweets the fun was finding the appropriate day. When I moved to are often skewered into the orange, representing the fruits Rome, the most special presents I could bring from New of the earth and the four seasons. The Christingle can be York to my Italian nephews were Advent calendars, traced back to the Moravian Bishop Johannes de Watwhich oddly didn’t exist yet in Rome. teville (1718-88), who started this tradition in Germany in From the early 19th century, German Protestants be1747. gan to mark the days of Advent either by burning a candle Except for the O Antiphons, also known as the Great each day or by marking walls or doors with a line of chalk Advent antiphons or Great Os, sung at Vespers on the last each morning. Somewhat later came the practice of hangseven days of Advent (O Wisdom on December 17, O ing a devotional image each day until the first known Lord on December 18, O Root of Jesse on December 19, handmade wooden Advent calendar was created in 1851.

O Key of David on December The first printed calendars The Little Town,1946, original reprint, German Advent calendar.

Bottom, a Gerhard Lang Advent calendar 20, O Dayspring on December date to the first decade of the 21, O King of the Nations on 20th century. Since the length December 22, and O With Us of Advent is different every is God on December 23) which year, to avoid confusion, the probably date to sixth-century calendars customarily begin Italy, much of Advent’s musion December 1 and end on cal repertoire is German. The Christmas Eve. German-born most famous compositions are Gerhard Lang is considered to Handel’s Messiah (1741) and be the first printer of Advent several Bach (1685-1750) cantatas, calendars with “windows,” but he which he composed while living in closed his business when cardboard Weimar in 1703 and from 1708-1717 and paper were rationed just before the (Nun komm, der heiden Heiland BWV outbreak of World War II. In 1943 the 61 and Herz und Mund und Tat und Nazis attempted to change Christmas Leben BWV 147a for examples). He from a religious holiday to a political composed only one more (BWV 62, a one, an occasion to praise the Fatherreworking of BWV 61) in Leipzig where land because Jesus’ Jewish origins he lived the longest, from 1723 until his grated against the Nazis’ racist ideolodeath, because there Advent was a silent gy. Latching onto the Advent calendar time which allowed no cantata music except as a way of inculcating loyalty into children, on the first of Advent’s four Sundays. the Third Reich produced a full-color booklet calenDuring Advent the Gloria is omitted from dar with swastikas and other Nazi symbols which was Mass, so that only Masses written especially for distributed free to German mothers.

Advent, such as Missa tempora Quadragesimae in D MiAfter the war in 1946 Richard Sellmar of Stuttgart renor (1794) for choir and organ by Johann Michael Haydn, ceived a permit from US officials to begin printing and the younger brother of the much more famous Franz selling the calendars again, and his company is still their Joseph, which has no Gloria, was thus suitable. biggest producer today. His first, called “The Little NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN 53

Of Books, Art and People Town,” pictures a winter scene.

As for the Christmas tree, President Eisenhower (whose when I first lived in Italy and at ancestors hailed from Heidelleast for a decade afterwards, berg, hence the Allies never there were no Christmas trees in bombed that city), is credited public squares or private homes, with popularizing the calendars only crèches. The Catholic in the United States after Church resisted this Lutheran Newsweek published a cover custom, and the first Vatican photograph of him in 1953 Christmas tree wasn’t erected in opening “windows” with his St. Peter’s Square until 1982. grandchildren.

Since then, the Vatican trees In 1958 Cadbury, the British have been donated by many rechocolate company, added samgions of Italy, Slovenia, GerThe Christmas tree, of Lutheran origin, wasn’t erected ples in the “windows” and since many, the Ukraine, Belgium, in St. Peter’s Square until 1982 then many companies worldAustria, Croatia, and Romania. wide—Godiva, Diptyque scents, Sephora and Occitane In the United States the Christmas tree became combeauty products, Bonne Maman jams and honeys, for exmon in the early 19th century. Several cities with German ample—have followed suit. Not a bad marketing move, connections lay claim to the first public American Christbecause, if customers like the sample, they’ll be inclined mas tree: Windsor Locks, Connecticut maintains that the to buy the full-size version.

Hessian soldier Hendrick Roddemore, who was captured In today’s digital world it’s also possible to download after the Battle of Bennington, put up a Christmas tree virtual Advent calendars with different music, games, there in 1777 while a POW at the Noden-Reed House, toquizzes, videos or recipes every day. You can also click day a museum. Other claims are Easton, Pennsylvania on instructions for making your unique one.

(1816) and Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1821).m

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THE END EXCERPTS FROM LORD OF THE WORLD

“I suppose it is the deepest instinct” 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 II, Part IV, Section II (Note: The hero of the story, a young English priest named Fr. Percy Franklin, has just gone to Rome to report directly to the Pope on what he has seen in England: the emergence of a popular political figure who seems to be entirely humanistic, and so to have one of the characteristics of the anti-Christ. Now the scene shifts back to England, where this new political figure is about to enter Parliament and call for a new humanistic religion...)

Section II Mabel, seated in the gallery that evening behind the President’s chair, had already glanced at her watch half-a-dozen times in the last hour, hoping each time that twenty-one o’clock was nearer than she feared. She knew well enough by now that the President of Europe would not be half-a-minute either before or after his time. His supreme punctuality was famous all over the continent.

He had said Twenty-One, so it was to be twenty-one.

A sharp bell-note impinged from beneath, and in a moment the drawling voice of the speaker stopped. Once more she lifted her wrist, saw that it wanted five minutes of the hour; then she leaned forward from her corner and stared down into the House.

A great change had passed over it at the metallic noise. All down the long brown seats members were shifting and arranging themselves more decorously, uncrossing their legs, slipping their hats beneath the leather fringes. As she looked, too, she saw the President of the House coming down the three steps from his chair, for Another would need it in a few moments.

The house was full from end to end; a late comer ran in from the twilight of the south door and looked distractedly about him in the full light before he saw his vacant place. The galleries at the lower end were occupied too, down there, where she had failed to obtain a seat. Yet from all the crowded interior there was no sound but a sibilant whispering; from the passages behind she could hear 56

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

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.

again the quick bell-note repeat itself as the lobbies were cleared; and from Parliament Square outside once more came the heavy murmur of the crowd that had been inaudible for the last twenty minutes. When that ceased she would know that he was come.

How strange and wonderful it was to be here—on this night of all, when the President was to speak! A month ago he had assented to a similar Bill in Germany, and had delivered a speech on the same subject at Turin. To-morrow he was to be in Spain.

No one knew where he had been during the past week. A rumour had spread that his volor had been seen passing over Lake Como, and had been instantly contradicted. No one knew either what he would say to-night. It might be three words or twenty thousand.

There were a few clauses in the Bill—notably those bearing on the point as to when the new worship was to be made compulsory on all subjects over the age of seven—it might be he would object and veto these. In that case all must be done again, and the Bill repassed, unless the House accepted his amendment instantly by acclamation.

Mabel herself was inclined to these clauses. They provided that, although worship was to be offered in every parish church of England on the ensuing first day of October, this was not to be compulsory on all subjects till the New Year; whereas, Germany, who had passed the Bill only a month before, had caused it to come into full force immediately, thus compelling all her Catholic subjects either to leave the country without delay or suffer the penalties.

These penalties were not vindictive: on a first offence a week’s detention only was to be given; on the second, one month’s imprisonment; on the third, one year’s; and on the fourth, perpetual imprisonment until the criminal yielded.

These were merciful terms, it seemed; for even imprisonment itself meant no more than reasonable confinement and employment on Government works. There were no mediaeval horrors here; and the act of worship demanded was so little, too; it consisted of no more than bodily presence in the church or cathedral on the four new festivals of Maternity, Life, Sustenance and Paternity, celebrated on the first day of each quarter. Sunday worship was to be purely voluntary.

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

She could not understand how any man could refuse this homage. These four things were facts—they were the manifestations of what she called the Spirit of the World—and if others called that Power God, yet surely these ought to be considered as His functions. Where then was the difficulty? It was not as if Christian worship were not permitted, under the usual regulations. Catholics could still go to Mass. And yet appalling things were threatened in Germany: not less than 12,000 persons had already left for Rome; and it was rumoured that 40,000 would refuse this simple act of homage a few days hence. It bewildered and angered her to think of it.

For herself the new worship was a crowning sign of the triumph of Humanity. Her heart had yearned for some such thing as this— some public corporate profession of what all now believed. She had so resented the dulness of folk who were content with action and never considered its springs. Surely this instinct within her was a true one; she desired to stand with her fellows in some solemn place, consecrated not by priests but by the will of man; to have as her inspirers sweet singing and the peal of organs; to utter her sorrow with thousands beside her at her own feebleness of immolation before the Spirit of all; to sing aloud her praise of the glory of life, and to offer by sacrifice and incense an emblematic homage to That from which she drew her being, and to whom one day she must render it again. Ah! these Christians had understood human nature, she had told herself a hundred times: it was true that they had degraded it, darkened light, poisoned thought, misinterpreted instinct; but they had understood that man must worship — must worship or sink.

For herself she intended to go at least once a week to the little old church half-amile away from her home, to kneel there before the sunlit sanctuary, to meditate on sweet mysteries, to present herself to That which she was yearning to love, and to drink, it might be, new draughts of life and power.

Ah! but the Bill must pass first…. She clenched her hands on the rail, and stared steadily before her on the ranks of heads, the open gangways, the great mace on the table, and heard, above the murmur of the crowd outside and the dying whispers within, her own heart beat.

She could not see Him, she knew. He would come in from beneath through the door that none but He might use, straight into the seat beneath the canopy. But she would hear His voice—that must be joy enough for her….

Ah! there was silence now outside; the soft roar had died. He had come then. And through swimming eyes she saw the long ridges of heads rise beneath her, and through drumming ears heard the murmur of many feet. All faces looked this way; and she watched them as a mirror to see the reflected light of His presence.

There was a gentle sobbing somewhere in the air—was it her own or another’s? … the click of a door; a great mellow booming overhead, shock after shock, as the huge tenor bells tolled their three strokes; and, in an instant, over the white faces passed a ripple, as

if some breeze of passion shook the souls within; there was a swaying here and there; and a passionless voice spoke half a dozen words in Esperanto, out of sight: “Englishmen, I assent to the Bill of Worship.”

III It was not until mid-day breakfast on the following morning that husband and wife met again. Oliver had slept in town and telephoned about eleven o'clock that he would be home immediately, bringing a guest with him: and shortly before noon she heard their voices in the hall. Mr. Francis, who was presently introduced to her, seemed a harmless kind of man, she thought, not interesting, though he seemed in earnest about this Bill. It was not until breakfast was nearly over that she understood who he was.

“Don’t go, Mabel,” said her husband, as she made a movement to rise. “You will like to hear about this, I expect. My wife knows all that I know,” he added.

Mr. Francis smiled and bowed.

“I may tell her about you, sir?” said Oliver again.

“Why, certainly.”

Then she heard that he had been a Catholic priest a few months before, and that Mr. Snowford was in consultation with him as to the ceremonies in the Abbey. She was conscious of a sudden interest as she heard this.

“Oh! do talk,” she said. “I want to hear everything.”

It seemed that Mr. Francis had seen the new Minister of Public Worship that morning, and had received a definite commission from him to take charge of the ceremonies on the first of October. Two dozen of his colleagues, too, were to be enrolled among the ceremoniarii, at least temporarily—and after the event they were to be sent on a lecturing tour to organise the national worship throughout the country.

Of course things would be somewhat sloppy at first, said Mr. Francis; but by the New Year it was hoped that all would be in order, at least in the cathedrals and principal towns.

“It is important,” he said, “that this should be done as soon as possible. It is very necessary to make a good impression. There are thousands who have the instinct of worship, without knowing how to satisfy it.”

“That is perfectly true,” said Oliver. “I have felt that for a long time. I suppose it is the deepest instinct in man.”

“As to the ceremonies—” went on the other, with a slightly important air. His eyes roved round a moment; then he dived into his breast-pocket, and drew out a thin red-covered book.

“Here is the Order of Worship for the Feast of Paternity,” he said. “I have had it interleaved, and have made a few notes.”

He began to turn the pages, and Mabel, with considerable excitement, drew her chair a little closer to listen.

“That is right, sir,” said the other. “Now give us a little lecture.”

Mr. Francis closed the book on his finger, pushed his plate aside, and began to discourse... (To be continued) m INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

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VATICAN WATCH

By Matthew Trojacek with CNA Reports - Grzegorz Galazka and CNA photos

AUGUST WEDNESDAY 3 POPE FRANCIS: CANADA IS “WRITING A NEW PAGE” IN CHURCH’S RELATIONSHIP WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Pope Francis said on August 3 that Canada is in the process of “writing a new page” in the relationship between the Catholic Church and indigenous peoples.

Speaking during his general audience in Vatican City, the Pope said that his pastoral visit to Canada in late July was “a different journey” from the other 36 international trips of his pontificate.

“There were many joyful moments, but the sense and tone, on the whole, was one of reflection, repentance, and reconciliation,” he reflected.

The Pope told the crowd that his main motivation for the July 24-29 trip to Edmonton, Québec, and Iqaluit was to be close to the indigenous peoples and “to ask for forgiveness … for the harm done to them by those Christians, including many Catholics, who in the past collaborated in the forced assimilation and enfranchisement policies of the governments of the time.” (CUA) THURSDAY 4 POPE FRANCIS APPOINTS MALE NURSE AS HIS “PERSONAL HEALTH CARE ASSISTANT” The Vatican announced on August 4 that Pope Francis has appointed a “personal health care assistant.”

Pope Francis has selected Massimiliano Strappetti, a Vatican nurse whom the Pope has credited with saving his life, to provide additional assistance as the 85-year-old Pope faces mobility problems.

“A nurse, a man with a lot of experience, saved my life,” Pope Francis told Spanish COPE radio after his colon surgery last summer.

Strappetti advised Pope Francis to undergo tests after he had his first flare-up of diverticulitis in February 2021, according to La Repubblica. He, along with the Pope’s other medical staff, recommended that the Pope have an operation to keep the problem from becoming worse. (CUA) WEDNESDAY 24 SIX MONTHS INTO UKRAINE WAR, POPE FRANCIS ASKS MARY TO BRING PEACE Pope Francis made a special appeal for peace between Ukraine and Russia at the end of his general audience on August 24.

“Today in a special way, six months from the start of the war, we think of Ukraine and Russia, both countries I have con58 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

secrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” he said. “May she, as Mother, turn her gaze on these two beloved countries: see Ukraine, see Russia and bring us peace,” he prayed. “We need peace.” (CUA) SUNDAY 28 POPE FRANCIS FIRST POPE IN MORE THAN 700 YEARS TO OPEN THE HOLY DOOR IN L’AQUILA Pope Francis became the first Pope in 728 years to open the Holy Door of a 13th-century basilica in L’Aquila, Italy, on August 28.

During a visit to the Italian city located about 70 miles northeast of Rome, the Pope participated in a centuries-old tradition, the Celestinian Forgiveness, known in Italian as the “Perdonanza Celestiniana.”

The opening of the Holy Door marked a key moment in the annual celebration established by Pope Celestine V in 1294.

“For centuries L’Aquila has kept alive the gift that Pope Celestine V left it. It is the privilege of reminding everyone that with mercy, and only with it, the life of every man and woman can be lived with joy,” Pope Francis said in his homily during Mass at L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. (CUA)

SEPTEMBER THURSDAY 1 POPE FRANCIS PRAISES KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS’ MOTHER TERESA DOCUMENTARY Pope Francis has sent the Knights of Columbus a letter thanking the fraternal order for its new documentary about Mother Teresa.

“Thank you for all the efforts made to capture the life of this saint whose life and testimony have borne much fruit,” the Holy Father wrote in the letter, addressed to Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly. Pope Francis added that he hoped the documentary “will do much good to all those who watch it and arouse the desire for holiness.”

The film, Mother Teresa: No Greater Love, had its world premiere this week at the North American College seminary in Rome on August 29 and the Vatican Film Library on August 31.

(CUA) SUNDAY 1 POPE CALLS ON PEOPLE TO MODIFY THEIR LIFESTYLES Humanity can no longer ignore the cries of the earth that is suffering due to greed and the excessive consumption of its resources, Pope Francis said.

Opposite, Pope Francis meets with members of the indigenous community at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada.

On this page, here, Pope Francis at Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Below, Pope Francis talks with Portuguese Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, who has been named prefect of the new Dicastery for Culture and Education (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

In his message for the World Day of Prayer for Creation, the Pope said the current climate crisis is a call for men and women, especially Christians, to “repent and modify our lifestyles and destructive systems.”

“The present state of decay of our common home merits the same attention as other global challenges such as grave health crises and wars. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience,” he wrote in his message, released by the Vatican July 21.

The theme of the World Day of Prayer for Creation, celebrated September 1, is “Listen to the voice of creation.”

The Pope said the earth has fallen “prey to our consumerist excesses” and to a “tyrannical anthropocentrism,” an attitude in which people think they are the center of the universe. Such an attitude is at odds “with Christ’s centrality in the work of creation.” (CNS) MONDAY 5 VATICAN “SHOULD NOT SACRIFICE CARDINAL ZEN FOR CHINA” German Cardinal Gerhard Müller has expressed dismay over the Vatican’s silence on China’s abuses and an imminent “unfair” trial against Hong Kong’s outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen during the recent consistory.

Cardinal Müller, 75, a theologian and former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, made the remarks on the apparent lack of support from the Church hierarchy for the 90-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong in an interview with the Italian-language newspaper Il Messengero.

“Cardinal Zen was absent in Rome because he is under house arrest for raising his voice against Beijing, defending human rights both in Hong Kong and China,” said Cardinal Müller, referring to the August 29-30 consistory that reflected on the Apostolic Constitution that seeks to reform the Roman Curia.

About 200 out of a total of 226 members of the College of Cardinals attended the meeting, dubbed the largest during the pontificate of Pope Francis. (UCANews) THURSDAY 15 POPE FRANCIS: “THE WEST HAS TAKEN THE WRONG PATHS” On his return flight from Kazakhstan to Italy on September 15, Pope Francis discussed the moral degradation of the West, particularly concerning the advance of legal euthanasia.

Pope Francis said the region has taken the wrong path and that killing should be left “to the animals.”

“It is true that the West degenerates,” the Pope said during his in-flight press conference in response to a question about the loss of values in the West, and in particular to the push for

legal euthanasia in France, Italy, and Belgium.

“It is not, at this moment, at the highest level of exemplariness … The West has taken the wrong paths,” the Pope said.

Pressed on the problem of euthanasia, Pope Francis said: “To kill is not human, period. If you kill — with motivation yes — in the end you will kill more. It’s not human. Let’s leave killing to the animals.” (CNA) MONDAY 26 POPE FRANCIS NAMES NEW HEAD OF VATICAN DICASTERY FOR CULTURE AND EDUCATION Pope Francis has appointed a Portuguese cardinal as the head of the newly formed Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education.

The Vatican announced on September 26 that the Pope appointed Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça as the prefect of the dicastery. Mendonça most recently served as the head of the Vatican library and archives, where he oversaw the digitization of historic manuscripts and created a new space for housing temporary exhibitions.

The 56-year-old cardinal, originally from the Portuguese island of Madeira, is an expert in the relationship between literature and theology, according to the Vatican. He has published poetry as well as academic theological articles. (CUA) SCIENCE NEEDS ETHICISTS, MORE OPEN DEBATE, SOME SAY AT VATICAN CONFERENCE Biological engineering, such as gene therapy for treating human disease, is making such swift advancements that the public’s knowledge and understanding of what is happening and what ethical and legal guidelines are needed are lagging too far behind, said speakers at a Vatican conference.

“This science is rolling; the train is moving. But instead of lamenting over this, we need to take the initiative and hop on that train, intervene and, if needed, divert it onto another track,” said Ralf Stutzki, head of ethics at Molecular Systems Engineering at the National Center of Competence in Research at the University of Basel, Switzerland.

“We will indeed have to lead a consequentialist debate, weigh the prospective good and bad outcomes and make brave decisions,” he said September 26 at the first international conference on “Ethics of Engineering Life.”

The September 26-27 conference was jointly organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life, Molecular Systems Engineering and the Bambino Gesù children’s hospital in Rome. To address the ethical aspects of “engineering” molecules, cells and cellular functions, the academy said, the conference invited scientists and stakeholders involved in developing and applying approaches that “edit and control” biological systems; ethicists; philosophers; communicators; and others. (CNS) NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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BY MATTHEW TROJACEK with G. Galazka, CNA and CNS photos

n ABDUCTED NUN NEW CARDINALS FREED AFTER FIVE AND POPE FRANCIS MONTHS IN BURKINA PAY VISIT TO POPE EMERITUS FASO BENEDICT XVI Marianite Sister Suellen Pope Francis and the new cardiTennyson, who was kidnals he had just created visited Pope napped from the conEmeritus Benedict XVI at the Mater vent of her educational Ecclesiae Monastery after the consisand medical mission in tory held on August 27 at St. Peter’s Yalgo, Burkina Faso, in Basilica. early April, has been In the brief but emotional meeting, found alive and is safe after nearly five Pope Francis greeted Benedict XVI with great affection and made the sign of months of captivity, a congregational the cross on his forehead. Then the new cardinals introduced themselves one leader of the Marianites said August by one to exchange brief messages.

30.

The Holy See Press Office reported that “after having received their bless“She is safe,” Marianite Sister ing, together with that of Pope Francis and having prayed the Salve Regina toAnn Lacour said. “She is on Amerigether, the new Cardinals went to the Apostolic Palace or the Paul VI Hall for can soil, but not in America. She is courtesy visits.” (CNA) safe.” She said Sister Suellen was reCathedral in Gwangju. The participants thanked God for the covered August 29 and the sisters in the congregation have life of Archbishop Yoon, prayed for his good health and spoken to her. “She eventually will get back to the United promised to follow the great example of his life.

States,” she added. (UCANews) At the Mass, a video on the life of Archbishop Yoon was played that documented his life from an early age to today. n HOW EDUARDO VERÁSTEGUI’S LATEST (UCANews) FILM INSPIRED HIM TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING n VIETNAM’S FIRST NATIVE FEMALE ORDER Catholic actor Eduardo Verástegui has MARKS 350 YEARS launched a national campaign in Mexico to Nuns from Vietnam’s first native female religious concombat human trafficking. gregation founded by a French missionary The producer and actor is bishop have marked their 350th annivercurrently touring 32 states in sary with a gathering in Thailand this year.

Mexico with his organization, Movimiento The Lovers of the Holy Cross (LHC) Viva Mexico, in an effort to partner with nuns gathered from all over Thailand and local government leaders, educators, law other Asian countries at St. Joseph’s enforcement, and foundations to prevent Church in Ayutthaya, a historic city north child exploitation. In an interview shortly of the Thai capital Bangkok, on September after the actor met with Pope Francis on 3 to celebrate the jubilee.

September 1 in the Casina Pio IV in the Following a synod in Ayutthaya in Vatican Gardens for an event reflecting on 1664, Bishop Pierre Lambert de la hope and beauty, Verástegui said that it’s FRANCIS BEATIFIES Motte established the his goal to start a “movement to end child JOHN PAUL I, POPE FOR diocesan congregation at trafficking.” (CNA) 33 DAYS IN 1978 Kiên Lao in northern Pope Francis beatified John Vietnam in 1672. n SOUTH KOREA’S 99Paul I, who reigned as Pope for The Vatican’s ConYEAR-OLD only 33 days, amid a thundergregation for the PropaARCHBISHOP KEEPS storm in St. Peter’s Square on gation of Faith recogGOING STRONG September 4. nized the congregation Some 24 South Korean In his homily for the rainy on August 28, 1678. bishops joined priests, relibeatification Mass, Pope Francis The jubilee gathering was themed gious, and laypeople to send said that John Paul I “embodied “Looking at the past with gratitude, living good wishes in advance to Archbishop the poverty of a disciple” today with enthusiasm, going into the fuVictorinus Yoon Gong-hi, the former through his “victory over the ture with hope, and walking together in archbishop of Gwangju and the country’s temptation to put oneself at the faith and love.” eldest bishop, who turns 99 in November. center, to seek one’s own glory.”

Sister Siriporn Jankarn, a Thai memA special Mass and thanksgiving cereOften called “the smiling ber of the congregation, said the meeting mony was held at Yeomju-dong Cathedral Pope,” John Paul I died unexwas an opportunity for the members “to in Gwangju on August 27, reported pectedly on September 28, meditate on their charism, their origins, Catholic Times of Korea.

1978, a month after the conclave and the treasure given to them by the Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong that elected him. (CNA) founding father.” (UCANews) concelebrated the Mass at Yeomju-dong 60 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

n CHRISTIANS WARY AS INDIAN STATE OUTLAWS CONVERSION Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore had a guarded response a day after the provincial government in India’s southern state of Karnataka gave its final seal of approval to a law criminalizing religious conversions.

The state’s Legislative Council or upper house passed the contentious Karnataka Right to Freedom of Religion Bill with a majority vote on September 15.

The anti-conversion law was already in force after the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules the state, promulgated an ordinance on May 17 with the signature of the state governor after it failed to muster enough support in the Legislative Council, whose final sanction is a must for any law to come into force.

The law was passed by the state Legislative Assembly last December but the BJP was one seat short of a majority in the 75-member upper house.

Having mustered up enough numbers now, it went ahead in what is perceived as a well-planned political strategy. (UCANews) n

CARDINAL PRAYS AT QUEEN’S FUNERAL, SIGNALING CHARLES’ OPENNESS TO DIALOGUE

An English cardinal took part in the September 19 funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in an indication of openness of the British Royal family to ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.

Some observers believe the involvement of Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster represents the first time for possibly hundreds of years that a Catholic cardinal or bishop has taken a role in a royal funeral.

Cardinal Nichols, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was one of a number of nonAnglican Christian leaders asked to lead the congregation in prayers for the queen during the September 19 state funeral in Westminster Abbey.

The cardinal expressed thanks for the monarch’s “commitment to the Commonwealth throughout her reign” and prayed for a “spirit of mutual honor and respect” and that figures in authority “may promote justice and the common good.” (CNS)

VIETNAM CATHOLICS OPEN NEW CHURCH AFTER TWO CENTURIES On September 18, Archbishop Joseph Vu Van Thien of Hanoi and Bishop Joseph Chau Ngoc Tri of Lang Son Cao Bang concelebrated a special Mass to inaugurate St. Joseph Church in Hoang Ha parish based in Kim Dong district of Hung Yen province, a northern province of Vietnam. Some 100 priests joined the Mass attended by a thousand people.

“We are greatly delighted to enter this new church to meet God and one another and improve our faith life,” Archbishop Thien said, adding that the Gothic-style church has been a cherished dream of local people for a long time.

The prelate also announced the establishment of the new parish of Hoang Ha from the Hoang Ha sub-parish established over 200 years ago.

“This is a positive sign of the evangelization history of the local faithful community who are expected to be in har-

mony and united to foster their faith life and willingly tell Christ’s story to other people,” he said. (UCANews) n EDITOR HINTS AT RENEWAL OF CHINA-VATICAN DEAL In an editorial published September 22, Gianni Valente, who was appointed earlier in the month as editor of Fides News Agency, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, said the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with the communist Chinese government has been instrumental in allowing Catholics to practice their faith openly and in communion with the Church.

He also said recent statements by Pope Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, “hinted at a positive intention on the part of the Holy See to continue the process of negotiation.”

The 2-year 2018 agreement, he wrote, allowed Chinese Catholics to “experience the adventure of confession of faith in Christ in today’s China as it is, without privileges, without being pointed at and perceived as a foreign body, as exotic guests or representatives of distant cultures.” The agreement was renewed in 2020.

The provisional agreement, the text of which has never been made public, outlines procedures for ensuring Catholic bishops are elected by the Catholic community in China and approved by the Pope before their ordinations and installations, according to news reports at the time. (UCANews)

n BELGIUM BISHOPS AUTHORIZE PRAYER FOR COMMITTED GAY COUPLES The Flemish-speaking bishops of Belgium have appointed a contact person for ministry to and with gay Catholics and have authorized prayer for committed gay couples on the condition it is clear that it is not equivalent to a wedding blessing.

The document, “Being pastorally close to homosexual persons: For a welcoming church that excludes no one,” was dated September 20 and posted on the website of the Belgian bishops. The Flemish bishops include Cardinal Josef De Kesel of Mechelen-Brussels, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Bishop Lodewijk Aerts of Bruges, Bishop Lode Van Hecke of Ghent and Bishop Patrick Hoogmartens of Hasselt. The Holy See has not yet commented on the document. (UCANews)m NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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Stefano Navarrini illustration

n BY MOTHER MARTHA

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umpkin pie, an international symbol of harvest time, is a favorite dessert, especially in the United States and Canada, but also in Northern Italy, between Halloween and Christmas. Its custardy filling flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, the pie, topped with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, is especially popular on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas, voted National Pumpkin Pie Day. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the name “pumpkin” originates from the Greek word for a large melon: “pepon.” The French changed “pepon” to “pompon” and the English to “pumpion” or “pompion.” An alternative derivation, which includes the letter k, is “pôhpukun meaning “grows forth round.” This term was probably used by the Wampanoag people who spoke the Wôpanâak dialect of Massachusetts. It was almost certainly this Native American tribe, which introduced pumpkins to the English pilgrims at Plymouth, although pumpkins, like other squash, originated in northeastern Mexico and in the southern United States.

The oldest evidence of pumpkin fragments was found in Mexico and dates to between 7,000 and 5,500 BC. It also seems that pumpkins were one of the earliest foods that the first Spanish explorers brought back to Europe, where edible orange gourds were first mentioned in 1536 and, after a few decades, were grown regularly in England. However, there is no documentation that the Pilgrim Fathers were familiar with pumpkins before they sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, but they might have been.

Thus, what we do know for certain is that the first pumpkin pies, including those of our Pilgrim Fathers during the three-day harvest celebration in 1621, had no crusts. The pumpkins were either stewed like a savory soup or their hollowed-out shell was filled with “the stew,” milk, honey and spices, and everything then baked under hot ashes.

The first recipe for pumpkin pie with a crust called “tourte de pumpkin” was published in 1651 by the famous French chef François Pierre de la Varenne (1618-78) and author of one of the most important French cookbooks of the 17th century, Le Vrai Cuisinier (The True French Cook). It was translated and published in England as The French Cook two years later. By the 1670s recipes for “pumpion pie” with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves began to appear in English cookbooks like Hannah Wool-

ley’s The Gentlewoman’s Companion (1765). Often their recipes added apples, raisins or currants to the filling. Finally in 1796 the first American cookbook with recipes for many foods native to the United States entitled American Cookery by an American Orphan named Amelia Simmons included recipes for pumpkin puddings with a crust, very similar to our present day pumpkin pies.

It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that pumpkin pie took on a political significance, injected into the nation’s tumultuous debate over slavery. Many of the staunchest abolitionists from New England glorified pumpkin pie as their favorite dessert and it was soon mentioned in novels, poems, and broadsides. According to the website www.history.com/news/the-history-of-pumpkin-pie, “Sarah Josepha Hale, an abolitionist who worked for decades to have Thanksgiving proclaimed a national holiday, featured the pie in her 1827 anti-slavery novel, Norwood, describing a Thanksgiving table laden with desserts of every name and description — yet the pumpkin pie occupied the most distinguished niche.” In 1842, another abolitionist, Lydia Maria Child, wrote her famous poem about a New England Thanksgiving that began, “Over the river, and through the wood,” and ended with a shout, “Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.”

So it’s no wonder that, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, in spite of Confederate protests that it was a move to impose Yankee traditions on the south, where a sweet potato pie was the tradition.

The world’s largest pumpkin pie was made on September 25, 2010, in New Bremen, Ohio, during the New Bremen Pumpkinfest. The pie consisted of 1,212 pounds of canned pumpkin, 109 gallons of evaporated milk, 2,796 eggs, 7 pounds of salt, 14.5 pounds of cinnamon, and 525 pounds of sugar. The pie weighed 3,699 pounds and measured 20 feet in diameter.

Other pumpkin facts: The Pumpkin Capital of the World is Morton, Illinois, the state that grows the most pumpkins, harvesting about 12,300 acres annually. The latest US record (2019) for the largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 2,517.5 pounds in Clarence Center, New York.

As for Italy, in Reggio Emilia a version of pumpkin pie is prepared with amaretti (macaroons) and raisins and in Piemonte with Carpendù apples and other non-sweet fruits. Although not a pie, in Mantua and Brescia the local specialty are tortelli alla zucca (ravioli with pumpkin filling).m

THE HISTORY OF PUMPKIN PIE

The First Thanksgiving; the frontispiece of Le Vrai Cuisinier; a current pumpkin pie; Sarah Josepha Hale and Lydia Maria Child

62 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

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