Inside the Vatican magazine November 2020

INSIDE THE

NOVEMBER 2020 $5 / EUR 5 / £3.30

VATICAN

THE NEW ENCYCLICAL OF POPE FRANCIS

FRATELLI TUTTI

AS THE WORLD GROANS UNDER DISEASE, QUARANTINES, LOCKDOWNS — AND A CONTESTED US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — POPE FRANCIS SETS FORTH HIS VISION FOR THE HUMAN FAMILY. A COMPLETE DOSSIER

INSPIRING New Works

AMERICA ON TRIAL Robert Reilly

CONTINENTAL ACHIEVEMENT Kevin Starr

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he Founding of America is on trial. Critics say it was a poison pill with a time-release formula and that its principles are responsible for the country's moral disintegration.

In this well-researched book, Reilly strives to prove this thesis is false by tracing the lineage of the ideas that made the USA, and its ordered liberty, possible. He argues that the bedrock of America’s founding are the beliefs in the Judaic oneness of God; the Greek rational order of the world based upon the Reason behind it; and the Christian arrival of that Reason (Logos) incarnate in Christ.

he sequel to Continental Ambitions, Starr's magisterial work on Catholics who explored, evangelized, and settled North America. This work focuses on the participation of Catholics, alongside their Protestant and Jewish fellow citizens, in the Revolutionary War and the creation and development of the Republic. With the same panoramic view and cinematic style, Starr documents how the American Revolution allowed Roman Catholics of the English colonies to earn a new and better place for themselves in the emergent Republic.

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THE POLITICS OF HEAVEN AND HELL James V. Schall, S.J.

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n invaluable contribution to the understanding of classical, medieval, and modern political philosophy while explaining the profound problem with modernity, which Schall shows to be a perversion of Christianity by trying to achieve man’s salvation in this world. It does this by politicizing everything which results in the absolute state. The best defense against this tyranny is “the adequate description of the highest things, of what is beyond politics”. Both reason and revelation are needed for this work, and they are eloquently set forth in this book. PHHP . . . Sewn Softcover, $19.95

THE NEXT POPE George Weigel

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he Catholic Church is on the verge of a transition of great consequence. Drawing on his personal discussions with John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, and his decades of experience with Catholics from every continent, Weigel examines the major challenges confronting the Church that the next pontificate must address as the Church enters new, uncharted territory. To what is the Holy Spirit calling this Church-in-transition? What are the qualities needed in the man who will lead the Church from the Chair of St. Peter?

REAL PHILOSOPHY FOR REAL PEOPLE Robert McTeigue, S.J.

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very corner of our lives brings us face to face with competing philosophies and world views claiming to tell us definitively what it means to be human. How can we know which one is right?

McTeigue gives a fun, humorous and invigorating crash course in practical logic, metaphysics, anthropology, and ethics, equipping readers with a tool kit for breaking down and evaluating the thought systems that swirl around us and even within us.

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CHRIST VS. SATAN IN OUR DAILY LIVES Robert Spitzer, S.J.

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ith his focus on the human heart, Fr. Spitzer tackles the topic of recognizing and overcoming spiritual evil. His goal is our moral and spiritual transformation, which leads to true peace and genuine happiness. He shows how to experience God's peace even during suffering and persecution. He examines the basics of the spiritual life and Christian mysticism, including the contemplative dimension. He explains the purgative, illuminative, and unitive aspects of spirituality, as well as the Lord's consolation and the passive Dark Night of the Spirit.

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EDITORIAL

by Robert Moynihan

Election and McCarrick Report I held the November issue up until the date of the US election, November 3, thinking it would be appropriate to discuss the results in this space. Now, as I close the magazine on November 15, the result is still unclear November 15, Feast of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church I held back publication of this November issue of Inside the Vatican because I thought it would be appropriate to include some mention of the results of the November 3 presidential election in the United States. I watched the election returns on the night of November 3, and watched the halting of the counting of the ballots a little after midnight, and went to sleep thinking the results would be clarified on November 4. Now it is November 15, and the result of the election still seems unclear, as there are charges of irregularities in the voting, but there is as yet no firm evidence to prove the charges.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, with whom I have been in touch throughout these past two years, is persuaded that there may very well have been irregularities in the election. Viganò was for five years the Holy See’s nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States (2011-2016, named by Pope Benedict XVI), and in that post he became quite familiar with US politics and the “culture wars” which have marked our time. Viganò therefore sent a public message on November 13 to a large gathering of pro-Trump Americans gathered in Washington D.C., saying: Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am with you at this historic moment for the future of the United States of America and the whole world. The forces of Evil have gathered in a coalition against God, against our Christian Civilization, against our beloved Country, against the family, against order and law, against the values for which our forefathers fought and gave their lives. Against all mankind, in order to subjugate it to its infernal tyranny.

As Christians, we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem; as Americans, you are citizens—under God—of this great Nation.

Be proud to courageously defend, as true patriots, the values that have made America great and which form the basis of your country’s freedom and peace, harmony and prosperity.

The children of darkness have sought to subvert the outcome of the presidential elections, through such deception and fraud as to suggest a real attack on the very foundations of human social coexistence. As lawyers and magistrates investigate the abuses and crimes committed, let us turn to the Lord, the Supreme Judge, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, our powerful Advocate. This is the “Supreme Court” to which we can and must appeal, that the Will of God may be fulfilled, and Truth may triumph over falsehood. + Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop *** At about the same time, on November 10, after more than two years of investigation, the Vatican Secretariat of State — without holding any press conference (as would be usual in such a case) — published a more than 400-page document on the results of its

investigations into the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (1930-present, now age 90). We will have a full analysis of the Report in the upcoming December issue, but here there is space for a brief summary.

Pope Francis removed McCarrick from the College of Cardinals in the summer of 2018, and in early 2019 reduced McCarrick to the lay state. These actions came after the emergence of a charge that he had sexually abused a minor in the 1970s (the statute of limitations had expired because 40 years had passed).

The archdiocese of New York said in June 2018 that it deemed the charge “credible.” In that moment, after decades of “rumors” about McCarrick and his tendency to molest his own seminarians, his career was brought to a screeching halt.

McCarrick has never been brought before any tribunal or faced any trial — indeed, he has maintained he is innocent of the charges — but Pope Francis himself decided to remove him from the College of Cardinals and reduce him to the status of a layperson on the basis of those 1970s charges.

What remained unclear after a reading of the “McCarrick Report” is who, exactly, favored McCarrick’s rise from simple priest, to auxiliary bishop, to bishop of Metuchen and then Newark, New Jersey, to Archbishop of Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, from 2000 to 2006, and then to the cardinalate in 2001. The Report attributes McCarrick’s rise primarily to his extraordinary “work ethic” (he evidently awoke at 5 a.m. and worked until 10 p.m. almost every day) and to the lack of specific, proven charges against him ever coming to the eyes of his superiors, especially Pope John Paul II. But an American Catholic researcher, Randy Engel of Pittsburgh, wrote in June 2018 that McCarrick’s career was “shepherded” by powerful ecclesiastics who together formed a type of “homosexual lobby” in the Church. Her dramatic allegation is not addressed in the Vatican’s Report, leading some to say the Report is incomplete.

McCarrick was ordained in 1958 by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York from 1939 to 1967. He then was a secretary from 1971 to 1977 to Spellman’s successor, New York’s archbishop Terence Cardinal Cooke. It was Cooke who consecrated McCarrick an auxiliary bishop in 1977. McCarrick’s successive promotions were all approved by St. John Paul II (Pope from 1978 to 2005). The Vatican’s Report seems to suggest that John Paul, and his personal secretary, Fr. Stanislaw Dziwisz (now a cardinal, and retired archbishop of Krakow, Poland), were responsible for promoting McCarrick. Archbishop Viganò, however, has suggested that Cardinal Angelo Sodano was one of the Church’s leaders who championed McCarrick’s promotion.

In the December issue, we will return to all these matters, not to dwell on scandals which are not edifying, but to attempt to discern a way forward for our Church so that She is able to reform Herself and walk courageously in the footsteps of Her Lord.m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2020

Year 28, #9

LEAD STORY New Cardinals for 2020: On November 28, 13 new cardinals will be created

by Catholic News Agency (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

NOVEMBER 2020 Year 28, #9

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright 2020 Robert Moynihan

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INSIDE THE VATICAN

NOVEMBER 2020

NEWS VATICAN/New finance head: “I link money to mission”; cases of Becciu and Pell

by Christina Deardurff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 LEBANON/Patriarch Bechara Rai proposes a “neutral Lebanon”

by Giuseppe Rusconi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 ITALY/Pope urges faithful to rediscover Dante’s Divine Comedy

by Catholic News Agency (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 DOSSIER NEW ENCYCLICAL/Fratelli tutti: An encyclical that seems to “break the mold”

by ITV Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

by Michael Pakuluk of The Catholic Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

by Fr. Raymond J. De Souza of the National Catholic Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

by Fr. Bernardo Cervellera of AsiaNews.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 by the Editorial Staff of the National Catholic Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

by Sandro Magister of Settimo Cielo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

by Prof. Salvatore Natoli, one of the leading philosophers in Italy today . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 CULTURE ANALYSIS/The Vatican’s new “global compact” on education

By Prof. Anthony Esolen, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 INTERVIEW/

by Kevin J. Symonds, M.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 EDUCATION/College and the crisis of faith

by President Christopher Ice of Ave Maria University in Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 BOOK/ Interviewed by Dr. Jan Bentz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 SCRIPTURE/

by Prof. Anthony Esolen, Magdalen College, New Hampshire, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 INTERVIEW/

by Dr. Jan Bentz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

URBI ET ORBI: CATHOLICISM AND ORTHODOXY Icon/

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 East-West Watch/

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

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 FEATURES LATIN/”He made his heart a library of Christ”: Pope Francis on St. Jerome

by John Byron Kuhner, Paideia Institute, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Art/Celebrating St. Francis, October 4, 2020 in Assisi

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

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

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

by Becky Derks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Food for Thought/Oscar Farinetti, Eataly and Serend!pity

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

Wisdom from Peter Kreeft X WISDOM FROM THE PSALMS

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he Psalms are the most popular and universally loved book in the Bible. They are hymns, songs, poems, and prayers— formal and informal, liturgical and spontaneous – and have many layers of meaning. The brilliant Kreeft focuses on a dozen of the best-known psalms and leads us through his personal explorations of this deep ocean of divinely inspired spiritual water, pulling up treasures for our soul along the way.

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“These wise, winsome, and lyrical commentaries will enthrall Christian students of Scripture with their rich insights and luminous lessons."

— Patrick Madrid, Host, The Patrick Madrid Show "Kreeft is the foremost living apologist for God's existence.

I urge you to read his perennially youthful and always fresh craft."

— Scott Hahn, from the Foreword

X PROBES: Deep Sea Diving into John’s Gospel No ordinary book, this is a set of probing questions (1,450) designed to help individuals or groups to dive deeply into John’s Gospel. No answers are provided, but the questions are phrased in such a way as to set a person in a reliable direction for finding the answers.

X HOW TO BE HOLY Using the insights and experiences of saints and great spiritual writers throughout history, Kreeft shows what holiness is and how it can be achieved. He stresses the simplicity of his approach to holiness, which focuses mainly on the virtue of love.

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X SYMBOL OR SUBSTANCE? A Dialogue on the Eucharist In this engaging fictional conversation, Kreeft gives credible voices to C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Billy Graham as they discuss one of the most contentious questions in the history of Christianity: Is Jesus symbolically or substantially present in the Holy Eucharist?

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X DOORS IN THE WALLS OF THE WORLD Signs of Transcendence in the Human Story With razor-sharp reasoning and irrepressible joy, Kreeft helps us to find the doors in the walls of the world. Drawing on history, science, psychology, philosophy, literature, and art, he invites us to welcome what lies on the other side so we can begin living the life of Heaven now.

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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

“PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” There are many in the Christian West, as well as in the Christian aboveground and underground East, who have the will and the strength of Christ by His Holy Spirit, to continue living in Him. What is seen, visually, is not always what is going on in the spirit. Many, many, are standing

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

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in Christ Jesus our Lord, His army, praying for those who are ignorant and for those who have accepted misinformation and are acting upon it, but who by the grace of God, can still be turned to Him. Willful sin has brought this present judgment upon America, our culture of selfish hedonism, our many divisions.

Jesus will keep His own, as we stay in Him. He has given us Himself. It is well to put on, pointedly, His armor upon oneself on a daily basis. We can put on: —The Helmet of Christ’s salvation: all the merits of His sufferings, His death on the Cross, and His Resurrection; —The Breastplate of His righteousness: the right standing we have before God our Father in Jesus’ Name, under His Blood, in the fullness of His sacrifice; —The Belt of His Truth: for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; —The Shoes of the Gospel of His Peace: walking only in His Word; —The Shield of His Faith: wherewith we can quench all of the firey darts and doubts of the enemy with Jesus’ complete trust and faith in God; —The Sword of the Spirit: we take up this sword, which is the Word of God, living and true, sharper than any two-edged sword to the dividing of joints and marrow, soul and spirit, laying open the thoughts and intentions of hearts and minds.

Hoping and praying for unity in the Holy Spirit for Pope Francis and all of Christ’s Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.

Claudia Person personcm@comcast.net

@

GOLD RISING, VIRTUE DECLINING (Re: Letter #19, August 4, 2020: Gold at an All-time High) Amen to every word! A timely and timeless message. Thank you for this timely reminder of timeless truth.

Julia Fogassy julia-ofh@msn.com

FR. MURR A “TERRIFIC SOURCE” My name is William and I am a 15-yearold Catholic living in the Diocese of Arlington.

I recently saw your interview with Fr. Charles Murr, and just wanted to say, I found it extremely interesting, and I thought it was a terrific source on the infiltration and its leading up to the Second Vatican Council.

Just wanted to say thanks for having him; and I hope to see more content from him in the future.

William admins@youth-apologetics.com

A SOUL’S JOURNEY: THE STORY OF DR. BERNARD NATHANSON Absolutely powerful! Thank you so much, Dr. Moynihan, for this letter (Moynihan Letters, #27, October 7, 2020: A Soul’s Journey)]! Bless you for bringing the central issue facing America today to light. I’m going to pass it along to some of my contacts in Silent No More, an American group that assists women recovering from abortion.

Perhaps one day all of America will understand the grave spiritual and moral consequences of legalized abortion, but it is obvious from this current US election, that those who support it are still hard at work.

But, as Terry Beatley and Clare Ruff point out, the baby born in a stable is still working wonders, and we pray that He will turn America around!

Suzanne Formanek suzanne.formanek@gmail.com This history of the abortion industry is fascinating. Oh, how we have been manipulated!

Debbie dlpapp@ptd.net

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INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

Thank you Robert! Concerning your Moynihan Letter #33, November 3, 2020: New World Order?, I have to say: Love that Viganò! As usual the Vatican is trying to patch up another of what I call the “gaffes” of Pope Francis, this time about the need to recognize civil unions for homosexual couples. I think these “gaffes” are deliberate, to legitimize more and more this way of thinking which many clergy — especially German, as you know — share.

Keep up the great work, blessings to you and the staff.

Alberto Ferreiro beto@spu.edu Archbishop Viganò is arguing that Vatican ll nearly destroyed the Church, but by the promise of Christ, the Church cannot, by Divine Will, ever be destroyed. I only wish our beloved warrior-hero Viganò would call out some actions without naming names of some beloved champions of faith, like Popes John Paul ll and Benedict XVl. Yes, both John Paul ll and Benedict XVl tolerated some wolves in ecclesiastical clothing. Yes, John Paul ll made a huge mistake by ever convening Assisi in 1986. But to many Catholics, Archbishop Viganò may not get a hearing because he has attacked the above beloved giants of the Church.

Looking forward to the book-length interview with Archbishop Viganò!

Jack Carter jbcarter7@aol.com

Let me express my disappointment longer. Please accept these remarks in all that Archbishop Viganò is still being charity. given such a forum in your letters. In the Kevin Rossiter past I valued your comments and still kevin.rossiter@gmail.com hope we can return to such observations and thoughts. I nowhere, by the way, see the Archbishop tracing the ‘“new world orFOR MEN + WOMEN + KIDS H O LIDAYS I BIRT H DAYS I A N Y O CC A S I O N der” concept to President Bush on September 11, 1991, but correctly to its association with Freemasonry. I was particularly surprised that you pass over in silence his repeated use of “deep church” in his piece, which echoes the craziest ideas circulating currently among political conspiracy theory nut jobs (such as QAnon) regarding the “deep state.” Isn’t it WEARABLE BLESSINGS HANDWOVEN time to take a stand WITH LOVE AND PRAYER on whether or not USE CODE VATICAN15 MYSAINTMYHERO.COM Viganò is promoting schism and whether or not he has gone off the deep end? I don’t think you can remain indifferent to those questions much

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NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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LEAD STORY

NEW CARDINALS FOR 2020 n

BY CNA

POPE FRANCIS IN OCTOBER NAMED 13 NEW CARDINALS. THEY WILL BE MADE CARDINALS ON NOVEMBER 28 IN ROME. SOME TRADITIONAL CARDINALATIAL SEES, LIKE TURIN AND VENICE, WERE AGAIN OVERLOOKED

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ope Francis said Sunday that he will create 13 new cardinals, including Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, at a consistory on November 28, the vigil of the First Sunday of Advent.

The Pope announced his intention to add to the College of Cardinals from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, after leading the Angelus October 25.

Gregory, who was appointed Archbishop of Washington in 2019, will become the first Black cardinal of the United States.

Other cardinals-designate include Maltese Bishop Mario Grech, who became secretary general of the Synod of Bishops in September, and the Italian Bishop Marcello Semeraro, who was named prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints earlier this month.

Also receiving the red hat is the Italian Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who has served as the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980. Aged 86, he will not be eligible to vote in a future conclave.

Others appointed to the College of Cardinals include Archbishop Celestino Aós Braco of Santiago, Chile; Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda; Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of Capiz, in the Philippines; and Bishop Cornelius Sim, Vicar Apostolic of Brunei.

Also elevated to the rank of cardinal are Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice, former Rome auxiliary bishop and current Archbishop of Siena-Colle di Val d’ElsaMontalcino, Italy; and Fra Mauro Gambetti, Custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi.

Alongside Cantalamessa, the Pope named three others who will receive the red hat but be unable to vote in con10 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

claves: Emeritus Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Permanent Observer Emeritus to the United Nations Office and Specialized Agencies in Geneva; and Msgr. Enrico Feroci, parish priest of Santa Maria del Divino Amore at Castel di Leva, Rome.

Cardinal-designate Gregory hit the headlines in June this year, when he strongly criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the John Paul II Shrine in Washington, D.C., amid clashes between police and protesters.

“I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree,” he said.

“St. Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front

of a place of worship and peace,” he added.

It later emerged that Gregory had been aware of Trump’s visit to the shrine days before he had initially appeared to be.

Gregory served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004. He was the archbishop of Atlanta from 2005 to 2019.

It was not clear as this issue went to press whether COVID -19 restrictions might require changes in the way the Consistory would be held.m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 11

LEAD STORY

NEW CARDINALS 2020

NEW CARDINALS COME FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE EARTH THEY COME FROM AFRICA, ASIA (BRUNEI AND THE PHILIPPINES), NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND I TALY. I N ADDITION , THERE IS A PARTICULAR ACCENT ON THE SONS OF S T. F RANCIS DURING THE YEAR IN WHICH THE E NCYCLICAL F RATELLI TUTTI WAS PUBLISHED . S HORT BIOGRAPHIES FOLLOW OF THE 13 NEW C ARDINALS P OPE F RANCIS HAS ANNOUNCED .

BISHOP MARIO GRECH GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS

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ishop Mario Grech was born in Qala (Malta), in the Diocese of Gozo on 20 February 1957. He completed primary school, high school in Gozo, followed by philosophical and theological studies at Gozo’s seminary. After priestly ordination on 26 May 1984, he pursued higher studies in Rome and obtained a licentiate at the Lateran University and a Doctorate in Canon Law at the Angelicum. After returning to Malta, he exercised his ministry in the Cathedral of Gozo, in the National Shrine of Tá-Pinu, and was pastor of the parish in Kercem. He then carried out the of-

fice of Judicial Vicar of the Diocese, member of Malta’s Metropolitan Tribunal, professor of Canon Law in the Seminary. He was also a member of the College of Consultors, the Presbyteral Council and other diocesan commissions.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Gozo on 26 November 2011 where he remained until 2 October 2019 when Pope Francis appointed him Pro-Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, of which he became Secretary General on 15 September this year.

BISHOP MARCELLO SEMERARO PREFECT OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

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ishop Semeraro was born in Lecce on 22 December 1947. He studied philosophy and theology at the Lateran University in Rome and received a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. He was appointed Bishop of Oria in 1998, Bishop of Albano in 2004.

He was appointed the Secretary of the Council of Cardinals in 2013. This past 15 October, Pope Francis appointed him as Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

ARCHBISHOP ANTOINE KAMBANDA ARCHBISHOP OF KIGALI (RWANDA)

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rchbishop Kambanda was born in the Archdiocese of Kigali in 1958 and was ordained a priest in 1990 by Blessed John Paul II on the occasion of his pastoral visit to Rwanda. All of the members of his family were killed during the war in 1994, except one brother who lives in Italy. Since his ordination he has served in several academic, pastoral, and administrative roles, including: director of Caritas in the Diocese of Kigali; director of the Diocesan Commission on 12 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

Justice and Peace; professor of Moral Theology in the Major Seminary of Nyakibanda, Butare; and spiritual director of the Major Seminary of Rutongo, Kigali. Beginning in 2006 he has served as rector of the St. Charles of Nyakibanda Major Seminary in the Diocese of Butare. He was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Kibungo un 7 May 2013 and was subsequently appointed Archbishop of Kilgali on 19 November 2018.

ARCHBISHOP WILTON DANIEL GREGORY ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON, DC (USA)

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he archbishop-elect was born on 7 December 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, in the archdiocese of the same name, was ordained a priest on 9 May 1973 for the archdiocese of Chicago. He studied philosophy at Niles College and theology at Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, and holds a doctorate in liturgy from the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm in Rome (1980). After ordination, he held the following positions: parish vicar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish at Glenview; student in Rome (1976-1979); professor of liturgy at the Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, member of the arch-

diocesan Office for the Liturgy and master of ceremonies for Cardinals Cody and Bernardin (1980-1983). He was appointed titular bishop of Oliva and auxiliary of Chicago on 18 October 1983, and was consecrated the following 13 December. He was transferred to Belleville, Illinois, on 29 December 1993 and took possession of the see on 10 February 1994. He was appointed as metropolitan archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia, on 9 December 2004, and took office on 17 January 2005. On 4 April 2019, Pope Francis appointed him the Archbishop of Washington, DC.

ARCHBISHOP JOSE FUERTE ADVINCULA ARCHBISHOP OF CAPIZ, PHILIPPINES

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rchbishop Advincula was born in Dumalag on 30 March 1952. He undertook philosophical studies at St Pius X Seminary in Roxas City before completing studies in theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Capiz on 14 April 1976 and become spiritual director of the St Pius X Seminary as well as a Professor and Dean of Studies. Subsequently he pursued higher studies in Psychology at De la Salle University in Manila and Canon Law at the University of Santo Tomas and at the Angelicum in Rome. In 1995 he be-

came Rector of St Pius X Seminary in Capiz, as well as Defender of the Bond, Promoter of Justice and Judicial Vicar of Capiz. In 1999 he became pastor of St Thomas Villanova in Dao. On 15 July 2001 he was appointed Bishop of San Carlos, and on 9 November 2011 was appointed Archbishop of Capiz. He has been a member of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the Commission for Indigenous Populations.

ARCHBISHOP CELESTINO AÓS BRACO, O.F.M. CAP. ARCHBISHOP OF SANTIAGO, CHILE

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.E. Msgr. Celestino Aós Braco, O.F.M. Cap., was born in Artaiz, archdiocese of Pamplona, Spain, on 6 April 1945. He carried out his philosophical studies in Zaragoza and his theological studies in Pamplona. He obtained a licentiate in psychology from the University of Barcelona, Spain. He gave his temporal religious vows as a Franciscan Capuchin on 15 August 1964 in Sangüesa and his perpetual profession on 16 September 1967 in Pamplona. He was ordained a priest in Pamplona on 30 March 1968. As a priest he subsequently held the following roles: in Spain, professor in LecarozNavarra, vicar in Tudela, professor in Pamplona and vicar in Zaragoza. In 1983 he was sent to Chile, where he served as parish vicar in the parish of Longavi, superior of the Community in Los Ángeles, parish priest of the parish of San Miguel in Viña del Mar, superior of the

Community of Recreo, episcopal vicar for consecrated life for the diocese of Valparaiso, and since 2008, parish vicar of the parish of San Francisco de Asís in Los Ángeles, diocese of Santa María de Los Ángeles. H.E. Msgr. Aós Braco was also provincial bursar for the Capuchins in Chile, promoter of justice of the ecclesiastical tribunal of Valparaiso, judge of the tribunal of the archdiocese of Concepción and treasurer of the Chilean association of canon law.

He was appointed as bishop of Copiapó on 25 July 2014, and received episcopal ordination on the following 18 October. On 23 March 2019 he was nominated Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile to which he was subsequently appointed Archbishop on 27 December 2019.

NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 13

DOSSIER

NEW CARDINALS 2020

BISHOP CORNELIUS SIM APOSTOLIC VICAR OF BRUNEI

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ishop Sim was born in Seria (Brunei) on 16 September 1951. He pursued a degree in engineering at Dundee University in Scotland followed by a Masters in theology at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, USA. He was ordained a priest on 26 November 1989. After exercising the priestly min-

istry in various parishes, he was appointed Vicar General of Brunei in 1995 and subsequently Apostolic Prefect on 21 November 1997. On 20 October 2004, St John Paul II elevated the territory to an Apostolic Vicariate and appointed him its first Apostolic Vicar.

ARCHBISHOP AUGUSTO PAOLO LOJUDICE ARCHBISHOP OF SIENA-COLLE VAL D’ELSA-MONTALCINO

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he bishop-elect was born in Rome in 1964, and was ordained a priest in 1989. He holds a licentiate in theology, with a specialization in fundamental theology. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar and parish priest, spiritual father of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, secretary of the Episcopal

Commission for Migrations of the Italian Episcopal Conference. He was appointed as titular bishop of Alba Marittima in 2015. He has served as Secretary for the Italian Bishops’ Conference Commission for Migration. He became the Archbishop of Siena on 6 May 2019.

FATHER MAURO GAMBETTI, O.F.M. CONV. GUARDIAN OF THE SACRO CONVENTO IN ASSISI

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ather Gambetti was born in Castel San Pietro Terme (Bologna), in 1965 and pursued studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Bologna. He entered the Conventual Franciscans in 1992 and was ordained a priest in 2000. He exercised various ministries in Longiano, Emilia-Romagna. He became Provincial of the

Conventual Franciscans of Emilia-Romagna in 2009 and subsequently became the Guardian of the Sacro Convento of St Francis in Assisi in 2013. He was elected President of the Intermediterranean Federation of Provincial Ministers of the Conventual Friars Minor in September 2017.

BISHOP FELIPE ARIZMENDI ESQUIVEL BISHOP EMERITUS OF SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS

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ishop Esquivel was born on 1 May 1940 in Chiltepec (Mexico). He pursued philosophical and theological studies at the Seminary in Toluca and the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain and received a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology. He was ordained a priest on 25 August 1963. On 7 February 1991 he was appointed

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Bishop of Tapachula. During his time as Bishop of Tapachula, he also served as Secretary General of CELAM. Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas on 31 March, 2000 where he remained until he resigned on 3 November 2017.

ARCHBISHOP SILVANO M. TOMASI NUNCIO AND PERMANENT OBSERVER EMERITUS TO THE UNITED NATIONS Archbishop Tomasi was born on 12 October 1940 in Casoni di Mussolente (Italy). He studied both in Italy and in the United States where he was ordained on 31 May 1965 as a Scalabrinian Father. He received a Doctorate in Sociology from Fordham University in New York. He served as Provincial Superior of the Scalabrinians as well. From 1983 to 1987 he served as Director of the Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees of the United States Bishop’s Conference. From 1989 to 1996 he was Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Mi-

grants and Refugees. He became the Apostolic Nuncio of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Observer to the African Union in 1996, Apostolic Nuncio in Giubuti in 1999, and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Specialized Agencies in Geneva in 2003, an office he carried out until 13 February 2016.

On 9 April 2016, Pope Francis appointed him a member of the former Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace which is now the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

FATHER RANIERO CANTALAMESSA, O.F.M. CAP. PREACHER OF THE PAPAL HOUSEHOLD Father Raniero Cantalamessa is a Franciscan Capuchin Catholic Priest. Born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, 22 July 1934, ordained priest in 1958. Divinity Doctor (Fribourg 1962) and Doctor in classical literature (Milan 1966). Former Ordinary Professor of History of Ancient Christianity and Director of the Department of Religious Sciences at the Catholic University of Milan. Member of the International Theological Commission (1975-1981) and for 12 years member of the Catholic Delegation for the dialogue with the Pentecostal Churches. In 1979 he resigned his teaching position to become a full time preacher of the Gospel. In 1980 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II Preacher to the Papal Household and confirmed in that position by pope Benedict XVI in 2005, and by Pope Francis in 2013. In this capacity he preaches a weekly sermon

in Advent and Lent in the presence of the Pope, the cardinals, bishops an prelates of the Roman Curia and the general superiors of religious orders. He is also frequently invited to speak in many countries around the world, both to Catholic and Protestant audiences.

He has received an Honorary degree in Laws from Notre Dame University (Indiana), in Sciences of communication from the University of Macerata (Italy) and in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio). In addition to his early scholar books on patristic Christology, Easter in the Ancient Church and other topics he has published numerous books on spirituality fruit of his preaching to the papal Household, translated in more than twenty foreign languages.

MSGR. ENRICO FEROCI RECTOR OF THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF DIVINE LOVE IN CASTEL DI LEVA Msgr. Feroci was born on 27 August 1940 in Pizzoli (Italy). He entered the Minor Seminary in Rome at the age of 11 years and was ordained a priest in 1965.

He became vice-rector of the Minor Seminary in 1968.

He then carried various ministries in the Diocese of Rome. He became a Chaplain of His Holiness, or a Monsignor, in 1995. He also served as a Consultor for

the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees. In 2017 Rome’s Cardinal Vicar appointed Msgr. Feroci the President of the Public Clerical Association associated with the Shrine of the Madonna of Divine Love, and a Canon of the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran.

In 2019 he was appointed pastor of the Parish of Our Lady of Divine Love in Castel di Leva.

NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 15

NEWS VATICAN

NEW FINANCE HEAD: “I LINK MONEY TO MISSION” CONFUSION CONTINUES REGARDING VATICAN FINANCES AS ONE CARDINAL (BECCIU) IS SACKED, ANOTHER (PELL) RETURNS TO ROME, A NEW REPORT ON THE HOLY SEE’S FINANCES APPEARS, AND A VATICAN CONSULTANT IS ARRESTED n BY CHRISTINA DEARDURFF

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu and one of his “consultants,” 39-year-old Italian Cecilia Marogna, who was arrested on October 13

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he Roman Curia of the Catholic Church released, for the first time in years, a relatively detailed 12-page report on its finances October 1.

The release of the report coincided with an interview

by Andrea Tornielli of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication with the Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy of the Holy See, Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves.

Fr. Guerrero emphasized that the report covers only the Holy See, and not the Vatican as a whole, which would include the Vatican city-state, the employees’ pension fund and the so-called “Vatican Bank” (the IOR, or Institute for the Works of Religion).

The report states that the Holy See took in 307 million euros last year, but it had 318 million euros of expenditures, resulting in a shortfall of 11 million euros — a modest one compared to the previous year’s shortfall of 75 million euros.

Fr. Guerrero also pointed out that if the entire economy of the Vatican were taken into account, the overall patrimony would amount to 4 billion euros and there would be no deficit.

Where does the Holy See get its money? More than half of its 307million-euro income last year came from financial instruments and real estate, generated by assets of around 1.4 billion euros. The rest came from what are called “Commercial Services,” like charges for visits to the Catacombs and income from the Vat-

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ican Publishing House and the Dicastery for Communication, followed by a small amount from other services (4%), as well as contributions from other sections of the Vatican (14%) and donations from dioceses and the faithful (18%).

In his interview with Tornielli, Fr. Guerrero said, “What we have presented to the Council for the Economy is the Balance Sheet of the Roman Curia, that is, of the Holy See in the strict sense: sixty institutions at the service of the Pope in his mission of leadership of the Church, in his service of unity in charity, that is, evangelization, communication, promotion of integral human development, education, aid to Churches in difficulty, formation of the clergy, et cetera.”

He went on to explain, “I link money to mission. What is it for? That is why in the presentation of the budget we try to explain how the resources are used, for what purpose, for what mission. The Holy See does not function as a company or a state, it does not seek profits or surpluses. It is therefore normal that it is in deficit,” he

said. In keeping with the spirit of “mission,” he emphasized, “sometimes we must give more than we have in order to fulfil our mission: we must have the boldness of mission. What we must take care of is whether the deficit is sustainable or adequately financed in the long term.”

“As Pope Francis wrote in his last message to the Pontifical Mission Societies,” said Fr. Guerrero, “the Church ‘has always continued to go ahead also thanks to the oblation of the widow, to the contribution of all those countless people who feel healed and consoled by Jesus and who for this reason, overflowing with gratitude, give what they have.’ Our duty is to manage their gift with the honesty, prudence and foresight of the good family father.”

Tornielli also brought up the troubling matter of investment losses in London linked directly to the former sostituto at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, operating as a manager of the Secretariat’s daily operations.

During his tenure there, in 2014, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, until his September 25 resignation the head of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, authorized a property investment using Church funds which sank $200 million into a large office building being converted into luxury apartments in the Chelsea district of London, in a deal involving Italian former banker Raffaele Mincione. That investment caused large

Cardinal George Pell, former head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, returned September 30 to Rome from his native Australia after being freed following 13 months in prison. In the circle, Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy of the Holy See

losses. A London-based businessman, Gianluigi Torzi, was arrested by the Vatican authorities and charged with “extortion, embezzlement, aggravated fraud and self laundering” for payments made to him for his role as a middleman in the purchase. The Italian, who was released from custody, denies wrongdoing.

The Vatican made the surprise announcement that Pope Francis had asked Cardinal Becciu to relinquish his rights as a cardinal on the evening of September 24. In a press conference the next day, Becciu said the Pope had made no mention of the London property deal when he asked him to resign.

“Yesterday until 6:02 pm I felt like a friend of the Pope, the Pope’s faithful executor,” he said.

“Then the Pope says that he no longer has confidence in me because he was told by the magistrates that I had committed acts of embezzlement. I have not made my family rich; I am ready to sue.”

Last year Vatican police seized documents linked to the London investment, and suspended a number of staff who had worked in the secretariat, including Cardinal Becciu’s former secretary.

Against this background, Cardinal George Pell, former head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, returned September 30 to Rome from his native Australia after being freed from 13 months of prison after final acquittal on sex abuse charges — charges he has linked to his efforts to clean up financial corruption at the Vatican. He was greeted by Pope Francis in an October 12 meeting with the Pontiff’s words: “Thank you for your testimony.”

According to CNA’s Ed Condon: The former head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, Cardi-

nal George Pell, frequently found his efforts thwarted by Becciu. A source told CNA that on one occasion Becciu gave Pell – his superior – a formal “reprimand” for his attempts to bring transparency to the Secretariat of State. On another occasion, Becciu countermanded an audit of all Vatican finances ordered by Pell.

Since his vindication on sex abuse charges by the Australian High Court, Cardinal Pell had not commented on his former role, or the various financial scandals which have led to, from, and through Becciu’s office.

But after Thursday’s announcement that Becciu had “resigned,” Pell issued a rare public statement, congratulating Pope Francis on what was in fact a summary sacking.

“The Holy Father was elected to clean up Vatican finances,” Pell said.

“He plays a long game and is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments.”

Pell’s five-year term as the head of the Secretariat for the Economy ended last year. Before that, Pope Francis had kept Cardinal Pell’s job open for two years after his arrest, awaiting the final outcome of his trials. The cardinal, 79, has expressed his intention to return to Sydney permanently.

Then, another chapter in the story was opened when a “consultant” to Cardinal Becciu, the 39-year-old Cecilia Marogna, was arrested Octo-

ber 13 on an international warrant issued by the Vatican. According to AP’s Nicole Winfield: Vatican prosecutors have accused Marogna of embezzling some 500,000 euros ($590,000) in Vatican money for intelligence consulting she never really performed, working out of a Slovenian front company and using at least half the money instead to buy merchandise from Prada, Chanel and other fancy brands, Italian news reports said.

According to Vatican documents published in Italian newspapers and shown on investigative television shows this week, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the onetime No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, wired the funds to Marogna’s Logsic firm, purportedly for humanitarian operations in Africa and Asia.

Marogna has told Italian media she was a political analyst and intelligence expert who reached out to Becciu in 2015 with concerns about security for Vatican embassies in hot spots and was quickly brought into the cardinal’s inner circle.

Marogna told Milan’s Corriere della Sera that over four years, Becciu wired her 500,000 euros as compensation, travel reimbursements and consultancy fees after she pitched herself as having “a network of relationships in Africa and the Middle East to protect nunciatures and missions from environmental and terrorist risks.”

Marogna, who also comes from Cardinal Becciu’s native Sardinia, denied any wrongdoing.

But the incident also served to point up not only possible criminal activity, but also the sloppy accounting practiced by Vatican officials — Marogna said she never provided receipts for work or expenses — which Cardinal Pell first came to Rome to clean up.m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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NEWS LEBANON

PATRIARCH PROPOSES A NEUTRAL LEBANON THE VATICAN IS REPORTEDLY WEIGHING CARDINAL PATRIARCH BÈCHARA RAÏ’S PROPOSAL n BY GIUSEPPE RUSCONI

(ROSSOPORPORA.ORG) In the circle, Lebanese Cardinal Patriarch Béchara Raï. In the main photo, a fire in Beirut’s harbor

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ittle reassuring news continues to arrive from Lebanon on the country’s strength. After the resignation of the Sunni government of Hassan Diab on August 10, due to strong popular protests following the serious explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, the government of the Prime Minister in charge, the Sunni diplomat Mustapha Adib, also threw in the towel on the 26th of September, considering themselves unable to form a government of “technical” reformers. The failure was particularly affected by the determination of the Shiites of Hezbollah and Amal in claiming the very precious Ministry of Finance. Up to now the appeals, even the last ones, by Cardinal Patriarch Béchara Raï for the political class to overcome divisions in order to

try to guarantee a future for the Land of the Cedars, have been useless.

In this sense, the proposal of the Maronite patriarch (announced on August 17, 2020) for Lebanon to be internationally recognized as a state in “active neutrality” does not appear to be of secondary importance. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin became acquainted with it in his visit to Beirut on September 3-4.

Now the proposal is being examined in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, which, thanks to its widespread diplomatic network, will try to ensure that it is realized. Which, of course, is anything but easy.

It is evident that an in-depth reform of the Lebanese political system would not make much sense if the country were not recognized as neutral and continued to remain enveloped in the Middle Eastern dispute between Sunnis and Shiites, a battleground between large and medium powers by proxy.

Not only that: one can think that the recognition of Lebanon as a neutral state cannot ignore the disarmament of those actors in the Lebanese political debate who have instead constituted real militias competing against the national army. In concrete terms:

NEWS VATICAN

First sexual abuse trial within the Vatican itself begins Accused abuser acted while a student at an Opera Don Folchi seminary

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priest at Vatican City’s St. Pius X seminary for youth ages 12-18 stands accused, in a trial which opened October 14, of sexually abusing a younger seminarian when he himself was a seminarian there from 2007 to 2012.

The former rector of the seminary, Fr. Enrico Radice, is also charged with covering up for the seminarian, now priest, Fr. Gabriele Martinelli, by heading off investigators, telling them that he knew of no sexual misconduct at the seminary and that the victim’s accusations were unfounded.

According to the Associated Press, “The charges suggested that Radice’s

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alleged cover-up went beyond what was previously known and put into question Martinelli’s very ordination.

Prosecutors said that Radice not only helped Martinelli evade investigators in the years prior to becoming a priest, but also falsified a letter from the

Como bishop announcing Martinelli’s imminent ordination.”

It is the first time sexual abuse allegations have led to arrest and trial within the walls of the Vatican, in its criminal tribunal.

The seminary is run by a small, Como, Italy-based association, the Opera Don Folchi.

Another seminarian, Polish-born Kamil Jarzembowski, was dismissed from the seminary after reporting his observation of sexual misconduct, and accompanying threats and violence, to the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.

—ITV staff

REACHING OUT TO SUFFERING LEBANON INSIDE THE VATICAN’S NEW INITIATIVE TO HELP THE HOMELESS AND HELPLESS

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ebanese Young Talents is a group of young Leban ese volunteers whose goal is to help families who have been affected by the August 4 explosion at the port in Beirut, a tragedy which has left a third of a million people with damaged or destroyed homes, neighborhoods, businesses and livelihoods, not to mention the 200 who lost their lives and 6,500 who were injured. The youths began a campaign to go door-to-door to assess the needs of those left living amidst the rubble — families with children, as well as the elderly, some living alone, with no place to go and no one to help them find food, clean water and other necessities of life.

Inside the Vatican has partnered with Lebanese Young Talents in our new “Friends of Lebanon” initiative to help bring awareness of the dire need existing in Beirut, especially among Christians, as the area most affected by the blast was one inhabited mainly by Christians in this majorityMuslim city and country.

In fact, one young volunteer told ITV, many of the young Christians who are left in Beirut are getting out — leaving for other countries to start a new life, leaving behind an everdwindling number of followers of Jesus in a country that was once home, in the mid-20th-century, to a thriving Christian majority, but has shrunk to just a third of the former population.

ITV holds a monthly Zoom video meeting with our Lebanese friends, who provide us with the latest “on the ground” news, both social and political, and stories of those whose lives they touch every day.

Join ITV’s “Friends of Lebanon” and donate to our efforts to help the struggling people of Lebanon — a country where Jesus Christ Himself once walked, when He travelled to its southern parts near Tyre and, Scripture tells us, cured a possessed Canaanite child.

Jesus said of His followers, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples: that you love one another.” Please consider making a donation to this effort.

Be a “Friend of Lebanon”: https://insidethevatican.com/donatemaronitechurch/ Hezbollah must accept its disarmament. At the moment, realistically, this possibility is difficult to implement.

Vatican diplomacy, however, should not be discouraged and, although very committed to other “dossiers” of primary importance, such as in China and the Caucasus, they should not drop the far-sighted proposal of Patriarch Raï.

Moreover, from Lebanon, at least

one piece of news was good as it was surprising (but much is happening in the Middle East). The news arrived on September 30: President Aoun (a Christian) and the President of Parliament (Berri, a Shiite) gave their consent to the start of negotiations with Israel — promoted by the United States under the aegis of the UN — for the definition of the maritime and land bor-

ders (“Shebaa farms,” about one square kilometer) between the two states, technically still at war with each other.

Negotiations stared in mid-October, focusing on 860 square kilometers of sea-floor rich in hydrocarbons. If an agreement is reached, both Lebanon and Israel could exploit the gas fields in the area now in dispute.m

NEWS ITALY

Pope urges faithful to rediscover Dante’s Divine Comedy Teenagers, he said, feel a “surprising resonance” with the masterpiece

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ope Francis said October 10 that the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri should inspire people to rediscover the Italian poet’s Divine Comedy.

The Pope made the remark in an address to a delegation from the Italian Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia, in which he announced that he was preparing “a more extensive reflection” on the leading poet of the late Middle Ages to be released next year.

Dante died in exile in Ravenna, northern Italy, in 1321, after complet-

ing the Divine Comedy, a long poem which describes the poet’s journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven.

The Pope noted that “Teenagers, for instance — even those of today — if they have the opportunity to encounter Dante’s poetry in a way that is accessi-

ble to them, find on the one hand, inevitably, a great distance from the author and his world, and yet, on the other, they perceive a surprising resonance.”

He continued: “This happens especially where allegory leaves space for the symbol, where the human being appears most evident and exposed, where civil passion vibrates most intensely, where the fascination of that which is true, beautiful, and good, ultimately the fascination of God, makes its powerful attraction felt.”

—CNA NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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FRATELLI TUTTI: A NEW ENCYCLICAL THAT SEEMS TO “BREAK THE MOLD” BBYYITV ITVSTAFF STAFF Donation of the Mantle, fresco by Giotto, c. 1300, Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi, Italy

INTERPRETING POPE FRANCIS’ NEWEST ENCYCLICAL ON “SOCIAL FRIENDSHIP”

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ope Francis repeatedly makes it clear, in his documents and his talks, his recorded remarks at secular events and interviews with atheist journalists, that he is a Pope for the whole world. “Jesus did not come to earth just for Catholics,” he seems to say, “and I must attend to all God’s children” — though of course we also know him as our “Papa” in a unique way.

So it should not, perhaps, surprise us that he has once again chosen to “break the mold,” depart a bit, as Francis often does, from tradition. How? By writing an encyclical addressed not primarily to the Faithful, or to the Church, or even to Christians, but, clearly and explicitly, to the entire world, believers and nonbelievers alike.

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Francis here takes, once again, inspiration from St. Francis of Assisi, who, he says, “transcended differences of origin, nationality, color or religion.”

“St. Francis,” the Pope says of his namesake, “did not wage a war of words aimed at imposing doctrines; he simply spread the love of God.” And this is what Francis seeks to do in his 43,000-word encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, issued October 3.

In it, the Pope attempts to take stock of the state of brotherly love in the world, to analyze some of the causes of its obvious failures, and to prescribe a way of fraternity, as exemplified by St. Francis — and by the parable of the Good Samaritan.

“So this encounter of mercy between a Samaritan and a Jew [in Christ’s Parable of the Good Samaritan],” Pope Francis says, “is highly provocative; it leaves no room for ideological manipulation and challenges us to expand our frontiers. It gives a universal dimension to our call to love, one that transcends all prejudices, all historical and cultural barriers, all petty interests.”

It is this “universal dimension” that the Pope focuses on, and thus he is led to consider a variety of topics, like economics and government, culture and religion, conflict and peace, that are “universal” to all men in the world.

It is not a document that teaches or reinforces Christian doctrine, in the strict sense, nor is it mainly a spiritual exhortation; indeed, it barely mentions God or Christ.

It is, instead, a kind of “call” to the world of men, a

practical call, to love. Still, its implications as a document coming from the hand of the Vicar of Christ, have seemed problematic to some readers (see the texts below).

The document has provoked a variety of reactions, both “pro” or “con,” following mostly “liberal/conservative” identity lines; but not all the reactions have been predictable. Here we present a sampling of excerpts of some of the more thoughtful and incisive commentary, in an attempt to understand the encyclical and its value — as the Holy Father intends — as a gift to the world, in which we are “fratelli tutti” — “all brothers.” Fratelli Tutti is available in its entirety on the Vatican’s website at: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclicafratelli-tutti.html.m

MICHAEL PAKULAK ON THE CATHOLIC THING WEBSITE

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s a Professor of Ethics and Social Philosophy in a Catholic university, I find fascinating the encyclical’s use of the language throughout of “social friendship” (amistad social, in Spanish), rather than the familiar “social justice.” There is not a single mention of “social friendship” in the Catechism that I could find, or the Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine.

Here if anywhere in the encyclical is the significant development of the tradition of social thought.

Justice is insufficient for social unity, because of its emphasis on impartiality, which becomes “autonomy” and “individuality” in our culture, also, because of the attention it gives to past wrongs, and the encouragement it gives to anger.

Talk of “social justice,” too, does not adequately ask us to consider the cultures and institutions that are subsidiary to political society, as talk of social friendship does. Pope Francis already points in that direction in the encyclical, with its concern for the “local” and its incisive critique of abuses of social media.

Moreover, mere “social justice” leaves unanswered the question of motivation: how apart from anger, feelings of crisis, and peer pressure (political correctness) are people motivated to effect “social justice”?

So on all these counts, social justice is insufficient.

But if man looks for love and friendship, must he not find Christ?m

FR. RAYMOND J. DE SOUZA IN THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER

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ndeed, a distinctive character of Fratelli Tutti, not unlike Laudato Si’ before it, is that it is more a political encyclical than a social encyclical. The social vision of Leo XIII was very much that man’s common life comprises many different social realities — marriage, family and Church, for example, coming prior to the state.

This “sociability” of society was the theological basis for the Church’s bold anti-totalitarian teaching, more fully developed by Pope Pius XI in the 1930s. John Paul would later call this the “subjectivity of society,” meaning that society was made up not only of individuals but many social groups that were subjects capable of action

in their own right; the state’s role was to assist these groups to flourish, not to supplant them.

In Fratelli Tutti, that rich “sociability” of society takes a backseat to state action. Certainly the Holy Father calls Christians to live out their discipleship in personal encounters with others, especially the afflicted and vulnerable, but for the most part social action is construed as state action. Hence the emphasis in Fratelli Tutti on “political love” — given the prominence of politics in the Pope’s social vision, it is important that politics be imbued with charity.m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 21

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BERNARDO CERVELLERA ON ASIANEWS.IT

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hat the pontiff asks is not a sentimental and generous impulse, but a true conversion to “truth” (a word that goes hand in hand with “charity,” par. 184). This request is made not so much — or not only — to members of religions who, having a common divine origin, are more open to “fraternity,” but also to the world of money and finance, which lives off the dictatorship of an unethical market (par.109); of politics, which drowns in “declarationist nominalism” (par. 187); of the “strong countries” that bleed the cultures of poor countries (par. 51).

In the text there is the condemnation of “populism,” so fashionable today (par. 155-ff); but also the condemnation of “relativism,” so loved by the “politically correct” (par. 206-ff).

Francis urgently expresses this request because “the piecemeal third world war” of which he has often spoken, is spreading ceaselessly and enveloping more countries.

“In our world,” he says, “now there are not only ‘pieces’ of war in one country or another, but we are experiencing a ‘piecemeal World War,’ because the fates of countries are strongly connected to each other in the world scenario” (n. 259).

Another element that pushes us to urgency is that ideologies, and those who manage them, have abandoned “all modesty,” unleashing oppression, invasion, kidnapping, human rights violations in an unprecedented fashion: “Things that until a few years ago could not be said by anyone without risking the loss of universal respect can now be said with impunity, and in the crudest of terms, even by some political figures”(par. 45).

Pope Francis’ “dream” leads to the suggestion that human rights are truly universal (par.

206-ff), and that every man can live in a world without borders (par. 124). There is also a request for a reform of the UN, in which even the poorest nations count on an equal footing with the others (par. 173); a forgiveness of the foreign debt of the poorest countries (par. 126); the end of the arms trade, especially in nuclear weapons (par. 262).

All this is based on the commitment of the international community, but is prepared and amplified by personal and group commitment to a culture of dialogue and peace, which is crafted above all by peoples, the Pope writes (par. 217).m

THE EDITORIAL STAFF AT THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER

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uch of the coverage of Pope Francis’ expansive encyclical Fratelli Tutti, released October 4, focused on its feel-good themes of unity, dialogue and peace. Who can argue against the notion that we are “brothers and sisters all?”

But this document, the Ppope’s third encyclical and clearly a summary of his papacy so far, is no rote call for prayers and best wishes in the face of the pandemic. It is, foundationally, a pointed critique of nationalistic populism, of economic systems that exploit the poor, and indeed, of democracy itself, at least as it seems to be evolving at the beginning of the 21st century.

We agree, and appreciate the pontiff’s bold condemnations of neofascist ideas about nation and race, trickle-down economics, unbridled free-market capitalism, 22 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

income and wealth inequality, and a libertarianism that merely dresses up selfishness for more palatable consumption.

These — along with an excessive individualism and “feverish consumerism” — prevent a “better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good,” the Pope says.

There can be no mistaking the Pope’s words: The neoliberal establishment is not compatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“The marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith,” Pope Francis writes. “Whatever the challenge, this impoverished and repetitive school of thought always offers the same recipes.”m

ITALIAN VATICANIST SANDRO MAGISTER IN HIS “SETTIMO CIELO” (“SEVENTH HEAVEN”) COLUMN ON L’ESPRESSO’S WEBSITE

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few days after its pubbut his training and interlication, the encyclical ests have always focused Fratelli tutti has already his attention on the border been shelved, given the between faith and reason, absence in it of the slightbent on the Catholic est hint of innovation in Church. comparison with the previIn December of 2009, ous and well-known adthe committee for the dresses of Pope Francis on “cultural project” of the the same issues.

Italian Church, headed by But what if precisely this Cardinal Camillo Ruini, orrambling Franciscan homiganized in Rome an imly on “fraternity” were to pressive international give birth to a “different conference on the crucial Christianity,” in which “Jetheme: “God today: With sus were nothing but a Him or without Him man?” [Note: That is, a “huchanges everything,” Namanistic” Christianity, in toli was one of the three which the transcendent philosophers invited to (divine) element is respeak, together with the moved.]

German Robert Spaemann and the Englishman This is the very serious “dilemma” in which the Roger Scruton. philosopher Salvatore Natoli sees the Church That conference was not a muster of juxtaplunged today, with the pontificate of Jorge posed opinions, but aimed straight at what for Mario Bergoglio. then-Pope Benedict XVI was the “overriding priNatoli writes and argues this in a book by a vaority” more than ever before, at a time “when in riety of commentators on Fratelli tutti, edited by vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of the bishop and theologian Bruno Forte, released dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel.” today in Rome and Italy.

That is, the priority, as the Pope had written that The scholars commenting on the encyclical same year in his March 10 letter to the bishops, are of the first order in their respective fields: bib“of making God present in this world and giving lical scholar Piero Stefani, men access to God. Not to “What if Francis were the last Pope of Hebraist Massimo Giuliani, any sort of god, but to that the Roman Catholic tradition, and a differIslamologist Massimo God who spoke on Sinai, ent Christianity were being born?” This Campanini, historian of to that God whose face we question, from philosopher Salvatore NaChristianity Roberto Rusrecognize in love driven to toli, coincides with the one that historian coni, medievalist Chiara the very end, in Jesus cruRoberto Pertici set as the title of his imporFrugoni, historian of educified and risen.” tant contribution on Settimo Cielo: “The cation Fulvio De Giorgi, There is no trace of this End of Roman Catholicism?” epistemologist Mauro dramatic urgency in the The philosopher and the historian, from Ceruti, pedagogist Pier Ce130 pages of Fratelli tutti. their respective corners of observation, sare Rivoltella, poet and But let’s leave the judghave grasped in the pontificate of Francis writer Arnoldo Mosca ment to the philosopher the beginning of the same momentous pivMondadori.

Natoli, in the following ot.

This is a convergence of views not to be Natoli is one of the leadmoving excerpt from his underestimated. ing Italian philosophers. commentary on the enHe says he is a nonbeliever, cyclical.n NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 23

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SALVATORE NATOLI: “WHAT IF JESUS WERE NOTHING BUT A MAN?” (EXCERPTED)

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odernity has strenuously debated the existence of God; just think of the evaluation of the proofs of God’s existence from Descartes to Kant: can His exisetence be demonstrated, can it not be demonstrated? Well, the conflict over the existence of God clearly demonstrated that God was the central question of that culture, both for the deniers and for those who upheld Him. It was the dominant theme, one could not be silent about it.

But at a certain point God vanished, He no longer constituted a problem because He was no longer seen as necessary.

Today, reasoning about the existence of God is a problem nobody has, not even Christians.

What characterizes Christianity more and more is the dimension of “caritas,” and less and less that of Transcendence.

Fratelli tutti, it appears to me, demonstrates this at every turn.

And this is a great dilemma within Christianity, which Pope Francis presents “in actu exercito” (“in real practice”). Transcendence is not denied, but is increasingly ignored.

There is no need for explicit denial if the matter becomes irrelevant. “Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum” (“And I look for the resurrection of the dead”) is a statement from the Roman Missal ever more marginal in the Christian vocabulary. “Advancing in the company of men” — an expression that summarizes Fratelli tutti (cf. par. 113) — has always been present, but was simply a step toward a much more radical outcome: definitive redemption from suffering and death. One dimension supported the other.

But today we can see a singular shift: Christianity is increasingly and simply turning into “Christus caritas.” Isn’t this the Christ of Fratelli tutti? A Christ who not by chance — see paragraphs 1-2 and 286 — has the face of St. Francis of Assisi, the Christian saint who speaks most to believers of other religions and to nonbelievers. Is this move — I ask Christians — reversible or irreversible? What if Francis — I dare to conjecture — were the last Pope of the Roman Catholic tradition, and a different Christianity were being born? A Christianity that has justice and mercy at its center, and less and less the resurrection of the flesh?

Fellowship in suffering is not the same thing as ultimate deliverance from evil. The Christian promise was: “there will be no more pain or death, there will be no more evil”; while now Christianity seems to assume that suffering will always accompany men and that being Christian means supporting 24 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

one another. I emphasize this aspect of the encyclical because to me it seems entirely in keeping with the nobler aims of secular modernity, albeit in terms of altruism and solidarity and without any reference to a definitive redemption, otherwise known as “salvation.” [...]

I do not know how much importance Christians still attach to faith in the advent of a world without pain and death, and moreover — to me this seemed decisive — in a settling of the score by which men will be compensated for all pain suffered. But I say more: how much do they still believe in a blessed eternity, in an eternal present where there will be nothing more to wait for, but the past will be completely redeemed? [...]

In any case, those who are Christians care a great deal about “Christus caritas.” “Ubi caritas et amor, ibi Deus est.

Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor” (“Where there is charity and love, there is God. The love of Christ gathers us into one,” again from the Roman Missal): this is all to the good for men.

What if Christ were by no means God incarnate but instead the incarnation represented the beginning of the death of God? What if Jesus were nothing but a man who nonetheless showed men that only in their mutual self-giving do they have the possibility of becoming “gods,” albeit in the manner of Spinoza: “homo homini Deus” “(“man to man is a kind of God”)? No longer, therefore, “you come down from the stars,” but rather “supporting one another” in order to dwell happily on the earth.

The promise of a definitive liberation from pain and death may be only a myth, but in any case it is not in the power of those whom the Greeks called “mortals.” Mutual aid, on the contrary, is in men’s power and Christianity, recognized and adopted in the form of the good Samaritan, can truly make us fully human. If this is the case, as Benedetto Croce would say we cannot help but call ourselves Christians. This is a dilemma that I as a nonbeliever pose to believers, to Catholics. In fact, as a nonbeliever, I am in perfect agreement, word for word, with what the encyclical says in the second chapter, commenting on the parable of the good Samaritan.

This is what we need to be doing! From this point of view, Jesus expresses something men are able to do. But rising from the dead is something only God can do, supposing there is one.m

ROBERTO PERTICI: BERGOGLIO’S REFORM WAS WRITTEN BEFORE... BY MARTIN LUTHER (EXCERPTED) THE END OF “ROMAN CATHOLICISM?” 1. At this point in the pontificate of Francis, I believe it can be reasonably maintained that this marks the twilight of that imposing historical reality which can be defined as “Roman Catholicism.”

This does not mean, properly understood, that the Catholic Church is coming to an end, but that what is fading is the way in which it has historically structured and represented itself in recent centuries.

It seems evident to me, in fact, that this is the plan being deliberately pursued by the “brain trust” that has clustered around Francis: a plan understood both as an extreme response to the crisis in relations between the Church and the modern world, and as a precondition for a renewed ecumenical course together with the other Christian confessions, especially the Protestant.

2. By “Roman Catholicism” I mean that grand historical, theological, and juridical construction which has its origin in the Hellenization (in terms of the “philosophical aspect”) and Romanization (in terms of the political-juridical aspect) of primitive Christianity, and is based on the primacy of the successors of Peter, as emerges from the crisis of the late ancient world and from the theoretical systematization of the Gregorian age (“Dictatus Papae”).

Over the subsequent centuries, the Church also established its own internal legal system, canon law, looking to Roman law as its model. And this juridical element contributed to gradually shaping a complex hierarchical organization with precise internal norms that regulate the life both of the “bureaucracy of celibates” (an expression of Carl Schmitt, 1888-1985) that manages it and of the laity who are part of it.

The other decisive moment of formation of “Roman Catholicism” is, finally, the ecclesiology elaborated by the Council of Trent, which reiterates the centrality of ecclesiastical mediation in view of salvation — in contrast with the Lutheran theses of the “universal priesthood” — and therefore established the hierarchical, united, and centralized character of the Church; its right to supervise and, if need be, to condemn positions that are in contrast with the orthodox formulation of the truths of faith; its role in the admin-

istration of the sacraments. This ecclesiology finds its seal in the dogma of pontifical infallibility proclaimed by Vatican Council I, put to the test 80 years later in the dogmatic affirmation of the Assumption of Mary into heaven (1950), which together with the previous dogmatic proclamation of her Immaculate Conception (1854) also reiterates the centrality of Marian devotion.

It would be reductive, however, if we were to limit ourselves to what has been said so far. Because there also exists — or better, existed — a widespread “Catholic mindset,” made up of the following: • a cultural attitude based on a sometimes disenchanted [Note: pragmatic] realism about human nature that is willing to “understand all” as a precondition for “forgiving all”; • a non-ascetic spirituality that is understanding toward certain material aspects of life, and not inclined to disdain them; • engagement in everyday charity toward the humble and needy, without the need to idealize them or almost make new idols of them; • a willingness also to represent itself in its own magnificence, and therefore not deaf to the evidence of beauty and of the arts, as testimony to a supreme Beauty toward which the Christian must tend; • a subtle examination of the most inward movements of the heart, of the interior struggle between good and evil, of the dialectic between “temptations” and the response of conscience.

It could therefore be said that in what I call “Roman Catholicism” there are interwoven three aspects, obviously in addition to that of religion: the aesthetical, the juridical, the political. This is a matter of a rational vision of the world that makes of itself a visible and solid institution and fatally enters into conflict with the idea of representation that emerged in modernity, based on individualism and on a conception of power that, rising from the bottom up, ends up bringing into question the principle of authority.

3. This conflict has been considered in different ways, often opposing, by those who have analyzed it. Carl Schmitt looked with admiration to the “resistance” of “Roman Catholicism,” considered the last force capable of reining in the dissipatory forces of modernity. Others have made NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 25

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tough criticisms of him: in this struggle, the Catholic Catholicism could tomorrow become the stronger [Note: Church is seen as having ruinously emphasized its juridii.e., predominant] one.” cal-hierarchical, authoritarian, external traits. *** Beyond these opposing evaluations, it is certain that in 4. It is well known how the successors of Paul VI rerecent centuries “Roman Catholicism” has been pushed onsponded to this situation: by combining change and contito the defensive. What has gradually brought its social presnuity; effecting — on certain questions — the appropriate ence into question has been above all the birth of industrial corrections (memorable, from this point of view, was the society and the consequent process of modernization, condemnation of “liberation theology”); and by seeking a which has opened a series of anthropological mutations that dialogue with modernity that would be at the same time a are still underway. Almost as if “Roman Catholicism” were challenge on the issues of life, the rationality of man, reli“organic” (to say it the old Marxist way) to a society that gious freedom. is agrarian, hierarchical, static, based on penury and fear, Benedict XVI, in what was the true agenda-setting text and instead could not find relevance in a society that is “afof his pontificate (the address to the pontifical curia of Defluent,” dynamic, characterized by social mobility. cember 22, 2005), then reiterated a firm point: that the great A first response to this situation of decisions of Vatican II were to be read crisis was given by the ecumenical counand interpreted in the light of the precedcil Vatican II (1962-1965), which, acing tradition of the Church, and therecording to the intentions of Pope John fore also of the ecclesiology that XXIII (1958-1963), who had convened emerged from the Council of Trent and it, was to effect a “pastoral updating,” from Vatican II. Even for the simple realooking with new optimism at the modson that one cannot effect a formal reern world, which meant finally letting cantation of the faith believed and lived the guard down: no longer carrying on by generations and generations, without with an age-old duel, but opening a diintroducing an irreparable “vulnus” alogue and effecting an encounter. (“wound”) in the self-representation and The world was swept up during those widespread perception of an institution years in extraordinary changes and in an like the Catholic Church. unprecedented economic development: It is also known how this stance probably the most sensational, rapid, caused a widespread rejection not only Paul VI at Vatican II. Below, Paul’s friend, and profound revolution in the human French philosopher Jean Guitton, defender of “extra ecclesiam” (“outside of the condition of which there is any trace in Church”) where it manifested itself in an the encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968) history (Eric J. Hobsbawm). The event aggression against Benedict XVI in the of the Council contributed to this mutation, but was media and in intellectual circles that was absolutely in its turn engulfed by it: the rhythm of the “updatunprecedented, but — in the manner of Nicodeings” — fostered also by the dizzying transformamus and the murmuring that are congenital in the tions in the surroundings and by the general conclerical world — also in the ecclesiastical body, viction, sung by Bob Dylan, that “the times they are which essentially left that Pope alone in the most a-changin’” — got out of hand for the hierarchy, or critical moments of his pontificate. This led, I beat least for that part of it which wanted to effect a relieve, to his resignation in February of 2013, which — form, not a revolution. apart from the reassuring interpretations — appears as an Thus between 1967 and 1968 one witnessed the “waterepochal event, the reasons and long-term implications of shed” of Paul VI, which expressed itself in the preoccupied which still remain entirely to be explored. analysis of the turbulence of ’68 and then of the “sexual revolution” contained in the encyclical Humanae Vitae of July 5. This was the situation inherited by Pope Francis. I limit 1968. So great was the pessimism to which that great pontiff myself only to pointing out the biographical and cultural ascame in the 1970s that, conversing with the philosopher pects that in part made Jorge Mario Bergoglio “ab initio” Jean Guitton, he wondered to himself and asked him, echo(“from the beginning”) an outsider to what I have called ing a disquieting passage from the Gospel of Luke: “When “Roman Catholicism”: the Son of Man returns, will he still find faith upon the • the peripheral character of his formation, profoundly earth?” rooted in the Latin American world, which makes it difficult And Paul added: “What strikes me, when I consider the for him to embody the universality of the Church, or at least Catholic world, is that within Catholicism there sometimes drives him to live it in a new way, pushing to the side Euseems to predominate a type of thinking that is not Catholic, ropean and North American civilization; and it could happen that this non-Catholic thinking within • his membership in an order, like the Society of Jesus, 26 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

that over the past half century has effected one of the most proper ecclesiology. The systematic elaboration of ecclesisensational political-cultural repositionings ever heard of, ology would take place only in controversial theology, as moving from a “reactionary” position to one that is variousan antithesis to the polemics of the Reformation against the ly “revolutionary” and thus giving proof of a pragmatism papacy. The papacy thus became, in a way unknown until that in many of its aspects is worthy of reflection; then, the distinguishing mark of Catholicism. The respec• his estrangement from the aesthetic dimension that is tive confessional theses and antitheses influenced and improper to “Roman Catholicism,” his showy renunciation of peded each other.” any representation of dignity of office (the pontifical apartOne must therefore proceed today — according to the ments, the red mozzetta and the usual pontifical trappings, overall meaning of Kasper’s argumentation — with a like the papal summer palace in Castel Gandolfo) and what “deconfessionalization” of both the Reformed confeshe calls “customs of a Renaissance prince” (starting with sions [Note: i.e., Lutheranism] and of the Catholic being late for and then absent from a concert of classical muChurch, in spite of the fact that this never portrayed itself sic in his honor at the beginning of the pontificate). as a “confession,” but as the universal Church. One must I would rather seek to emphasize what could be in my return to something like the situation that preceded the opinion the unifying element of the outbreak of the religious conflicts in many mutations that Pope Francis is inthe 16th century. troducing in Catholic tradition. I do so While in the Lutheran camp this “debasing myself on a little book by an emconfessionalization” has already been inent Churchman, who is generally conwidely achieved (with the aggressive sidered the theologian of reference for secularization of those societies, for the current pontificate, eloquently cited which the problems that were at the

by Francis as early as his first Angelus, foundation of the confessional controon March 17, 2013, when he said: “In the versies became irrelevant for the overpast few days I have been reading a book whelming majority of “Reformed” by a Cardinal — Cardinal (Walter) Christians), in the Catholic camp, inKasper, a clever theologian, a good thestead, there is still much to be done, ologian — on mercy. And that book did precisely because of the survival of asme a lot of good, but do not think I am pects and structures of what I have promoting my cardinals’ books! Not at called “Roman Catholicism.” It is of the characteristically less “ecclesial” all! Yet it has done me so much good, so One therefore above all to the Catholic gestures of Pope Francis’ pontificate and, much good.” world that the invitation to “deconfesbelow, German Cardinal Walter Kasper The book by Walter Kasper to which sionalization” is addressed. Kasper inI am referring is entitled: Martin Luther: An Ecuvokes this as a “rediscovery of original catholicity, menical Perspective, and it is the reworked and exnot restricted to a confessional point of view.” panded version of a talk Kasper gave on January To this end, it would therefore be necessary to 18, 2016, in Berlin. The chapter to which I would bring to completion the surmounting of Tridentine like to call attention is the sixth: “The ecumenical ecclesiology and that of Vatican I. According to relevance of Martin Luther.”

Kasper, Vatican II opened the way, but its reception The whole chapter is built on a binary argumentahas been controversial and anything but straightfortion, according to which Luther was led to deepen the rupward. ture with Rome primarily because of the refusal of the This brings us to the role of the current pontiff: “Pope Popes and the bishops to proceed with a reform. It was only Francis has inaugurated a new phase in this process of rein the face of Rome’s deafness, Kasper writes, that the Gerception. He emphasizes the ecclesiology of the People of man reformer, “on the basis of his understanding of the uniGod, the People of God on the journey, the sense of faith versal priesthood, had to content himself with an emergency of the People of God, the synodal structure of the Church, organization. He continued, however, to trust in the fact that and for the comprehension of unity is putting an interesting the truth of the Gospel would assert itself on its own, and new approach into play. He no longer describes ecumenical he therefore left the door fundamentally open for a possible unity with the image of concentric circles around the center, future agreement.” but with the image of the polyhedron, a multifaceted reality, But also on the Catholic side, at the beginning of the 16th not a ‘puzzle’ put together from the outside, but a whole, century, many doors remained open, and in short there was and, since this is a matter of a precious stone, a whole that a fluid situation. Kasper writes: “There was no harmoniousreflects the light that strikes it in a marvelously multiple ly structured Catholic ecclesiology, but only approaches way. Reconnecting with Oscar Cullmann, Pope Francis borthat were more a doctrine on the hierarchy than a real and rows the concept of diversity reconciled.”

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6. if we briefly reconsider in this light the behaviors of Francis that have raised the biggest sensation, we better understand their unifying logic: • his emphasis, right from the day of the election, of his office as bishop of Rome, rather than as pontiff of the universal Church; • his destructuring of the canonical figure of the Roman pontiff (the famous “who am I to judge?”), at the basis of which — therefore — are not only the factors of character mentioned above, but a deeper reason, of a theological nature; • the practical downgrading of some of the most characteristic sacraments of the “Catholic mindset” (auricular confession, indissoluble marriage, the Eucharist), realized for pastoral reasons of “mercy” and “welcome”; • the exaltation of “parrhesìa” [“bold truth telling”] within the Church, of presumedly creative confusion, to which is added a vision of the Church almost as a federation of local Churches, each endowed with extensive disciplinary, liturgical and even doctrinal powers.

There are those who feel scandalized by the fact that in Poland an interpretation of Amoris Laetitia will go into effect that is different from the one that will be realized in Germany or in Argentina, concerning communion for the divorced and remarried.

But Francis could respond that this is a matter of different sides of that polyhedron which is the Catholic Church, to which could also be added sooner or later — why not? — the post-Lutheran Reformed Churches, precisely in a spirit of “diversity reconciled.”

On this path, it is easy to foresee that the next steps will be a rethinking of catechesis and of the liturgy in an ecumenical sense, here too with the journey facing the Catholic side being much more demanding than the one facing the “Protestant” side, considering the different points of departure, as also a downgrading of the sacred order in its most “Catholic” aspect, meaning in ecclesiastical celibacy, with the result that the Catholic hierarchy will even cease to be the Schmittian “bureaucracy of celibates.” One understands better, then, the genuine exaltation of the figure and work of Luther that was produced at the top of the Catholic Church on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of 1517 [i.e., in 2017] all the way to the controversial stamp dedicated to him by the Vatican post office, with Luther and his associate, Melanchthon, at the feet of Jesus on the cross.

Personally I have no doubt that Luther is one of the giants of “universal history,” as it used to be commonly called, but “est modus in rebus” [Note: Latin for “there is a proper measure in things”]: above all the institutions must have a sort 28 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

of modesty in carrying out upheavals in these dimensions, on pain of ridicule: the same sort with which we were assailed in the 20th century, when we saw the communists back then rehabilitating in unison and by command the “heretics” that they had strenuously condemned and fought until the day before: the “Counterorder, comrades!” of the cartoons by Giovannino Guareschi [Note: i.e., Europe’s communists some decades ago attempted to reconcile various “heretical” communist factions, leading some to ridicule them for saying, “You are out! No, now you are back in!”; so the Church, if she wishes to “reconcile” “heretical groups” must act “modestly,” or risk ridicule.]

7. So if yesterday “Roman Catholicism” was perceived as a foreign body by modernity, a foreignness for which it was not pardoned, it is natural that its twilight should now be hailed with joy by the “modern world” in its political, media, and cultural institutions, and that therefore the current pontiff should be seen as the one who is healing that fracture between the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the world of information, of international organizations and “think tanks,” which — opened in 1968 with Humanae Vitae — had become deeper during the subsequent pontificates.

And it is also natural that ecclesiastical groups and circles that already in the 1970s were hoping for the surpassing of the Tridentine Church and interpreted Vatican II in this perspective, after having lived under wraps over the prior 40 years, have today come out into the open and with their lay and ecclesiastical heirs should figure among the components of that “brain trust” which was mentioned at the beginning. [Note: i.e., the “progressives” have come forward to fill the “brain trust” circle around Pope Francis — a phenomenon he suggests is “natural.”]

There remain open, however, several questions that would impose further reflections that are not easy. Will the operation carried forward by Pope Francis and by his “entourage” see lasting success, or will it end up encountering resistance within the hierarchy and what remains of the Catholic people, greater than the decidedly marginal forms that have emerged so far? More in general: what consequences could this have on the overall cultural, political, religious cohesion of the Western world, which, in spite of having reached an elevated level of secularization, has long had one of its load-bearing structures precisely in “Roman Catholicism”? But it is preferable that historians would not make prophecies and would content themselves with understanding something, if they are able, about the processes underway. (Translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.)m

INTERVIEW

“BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM” INTERVIEW ON VATICAN SECRETS WITH FATHER CHARLES THEODORE MURR / PART 2 n BY KEVIN J. SYMONDS, M.A.

Mother Pascalina, the lifelong assistant of Pope Pius XII (19391958) at the ordination of Father Murr on May 13, 1977

Fr. Charles T. Murr sat down for an interview for the October 2020 issue of Inside the Vatican about his book The Godmother (2017). Interested readers may want to read that interview first in order to gain more understanding of the context for the present one. In the previous interview, Fr. Murr told us about his friendship with Mother Pascalina Lehnert, the “right hand” of Pope Pius XII for several decades. In addition to this discussion, Fr. Murr made some notable revelations about what was going on at the Vatican in the 1960s and 1970s. The interview below follows up on these revelations with the theme of “Where do we go from here?” play a major role in my life, his good friend, ArchITV: Thank you, Fr. Murr, for sitting bishop Edouard Gagnon (1918-2007). Gagnon down again with Inside the Vatican. In our and Marini were respected friends and confidants previous interview, you spoke of your assoof Archbishop Giovanni Benelli (Sostituto of the ciation with Cardinal Edouard Gagnon and Secretary of State). I was not part of that inner cirMsgr. Mario Marini. These two men worked cle. I knew Benelli, of course, and spoke with him closely with the Sostituto of the Secretariat of many times, but I knew my place. Once, on Lago State, Cardinal Benelli, in the 1970s. You di Bracciano, I was at table with him and Monyourself, however, did not enjoy the same signors [Guillermo] Zanoni and Marini. I association with Cardinal Benelli... remember talking as little as possible. With FR. CHARLES MURR: I was 24 years old when I met and became friends with the newly The Godmother: Mother Pascalina. Benelli, I knew my place and kept it.

A Feminine Tour de Force Why did you think of your relationappointed minutante in the Vatican Secby Fr. Charles Theodore Murr, retariat of State, Monsignor Mario Mari- is available through Amazon. It was ship with Benelli in this way? also recently translated into Italian MURR: To begin with, Giovanni Benelli ni. Soon after, Marini introduced me to and Spanish. Those editions are also was Giovanni Benelli! He was one of the another extraordinary man who would available on Amazon 30

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Top left, Edouard Gagnon and next to him, Alice von Hildebrand. Bottom left, Giovanni Benelli and next to him, Hilarion Capucci

most powerful men on earth; brilliant, a strategizer and deal-maker par excellence, the #1 Vatican diplomat, a man on familiar terms with Popes and Princes, Patriarchs and Presidents, world leaders of all sorts. I, on the other hand, was a greenhorn American student of philosophy; absolutely no one of consequence. Those special times that I was privileged to be in Benelli’s company were times I knew I was in the presence of greatness.

Why did Pope St. Paul VI in 1973 appoint then-Archbishop Gagnon to be the Apostolic Visitator to the Roman Curia?

MURR: This was Archbishop Benelli’s call. Paul VI was convinced that “the smoke of Satan” had entered the Church (as he said publicly in June of 1972). In 1973, he called for an investigation of the entire Roman Curia. Benelli assured the Pope that he had just the man for the job: Edouard Gagnon.

And as soon as Gagnon accepted the awesome responsibility, he “hit the ground running,” as the expression goes. At the Pope’s insistence, the in-depth investigation of the Roman Curia — no small assignment, let me assure you — was to be Gagnon’s full-time job, start to finish.

Other people helped Gagnon with the Visitation, yourself included. Could you name a few of these people and how they were involved?

MURR: Gagnon was assisted by several people during the three-year investigation. Most important among them was his trusted friend and compatriot, Msgr. Robert Tremblay. (I believe the good man has already gone to God). When Gagnon needed a second opinion on this or that legal matter, he called upon Msgr. Giuseppi Lobina, Professor of Law at the Lateran University. The archbishop was also assisted by a very competent and dedicated Italian secretary, a laywoman, whose name I simply cannot recall. I am ashamed for not remembering it; I knew her and her husband in Rome and she visited me in New York. She typed up every word of Gagnon’s investigation and prepared it for the Pope to read.

Of all these people, are you the last living member of this association?

MURR: To the best of my knowledge, yes.

Could you tell us a little more about your personal association with Gagnon?

MURR: Following my [1977] ordination to priesthood — I was ordained by Cardinal Pericle Felici and Arch-

bishop Gagnon — Marini and I moved into the Lebanese Residence for Priests on Monteverde Vecchio — just off the Janiculum Hill. Archbishop Gagnon soon joined us — mainly for security reasons. Because of his investigation, threats had been made on his life and his quarters at the Pontifical Canadian College had been broken into and ransacked more than once.

That last fact is particularly interesting. In 2001, the renowned philosopher Dr. Alice von Hildebrand spoke about Gagnon’s Visitation of the Roman Curia.1 She revealed that the dossier that he submitted to the Holy Father had been stolen out of a safe in a Vatican office. What do you know about this story and can you say anything about it?

MURR: As always, Dr. von Hildebrand is correct. The dossier was stolen from a safe that was broken into at the Congregation for the Clergy. That was not the first or last time someone attempted to steal the explosive package of information.

As I mentioned earlier, Gagnon’s private rooms at the Pontifical Canadian College were broken into and so was his office at San Callisto [in Trastevere]. This was why he moved into the Lebanese Residence on Monte Verde Vecchio with Mario Marini and me. After Archbishop Hilarion Capucci arrived and took the suite right down the hall from us, we three — Gagnon, Marini and myself — found ourselves in the most secure spot in all of Rome. No one could get close to Gagnon or his private documents there. No one.

What made this the “most secure spot in all of Rome”?

MURR: Archbishop Hilarion Capucci’s presence in our residence made it one of the most secure places — not only in Rome, but I dare say, in the entire world.

Capucci was a very high profile Syrian prelate; the Melkite Archbishop of Jerusalem. He had been imprisoned in the mid-1970s by the Israelis, charged with smuggling arms to the Palestinians. The Israelis released him to the Vatican on one condition: that he never again return to the Middle East. From the day he arrived at our residence, the day of his release, there were two surveillance vans parked outside the front gates of our house, 24/7; one with armed Israeli agents; the other with armed Syrian agents. No one, but no one, came within a hundred meters of the Lebanese Residence undetected. Often enough, visitors to the house were stopped, questioned, NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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had to show identification, and were frisked for weapons. attempted to steal the dossier wanted to know its contents No doubt about it: Archbishop Gagnon lived in the and so empower themselves with information they could safest, most secure place in all of Rome! He continued use to blackmail political enemies and further their own his work freely, knowing that the possibility of being pathetic careers — not necessarily to destroy it. murdered or robbed, or both, was now, thanks to our dear Would you say then that people feared Gagnon? friend Archbishop Capucci, non-existent. I wrote a book MURR: In Rome, in those times, whenever Edouard based on one of my more extraordinary experiences with Gagnon’s name was mentioned (where two or more were His Excellency.2 The last time I visited Archbishop gathered), invariably someone would add: “The two who Capucci was in 2014, at Santa Marta, in the Vatican. He know all; the Holy Ghost and Edouard Gagnon!” In was a man I came to respect greatly. answer to your question: yes, Cardinal Gagnon was Why do you think the dossier was stolen in the feared — by those who had reason to fear him; those first place? [Editorial note: According to reports, guilty of grave misconduct. He was respected and Gagnon delivered the dossier, admired by those who had no reaentitled “Nessun Dorma” (“No son to fear him. one sleeps”) to the CongregaYou have spoken highly of tion for the Clergy offices on Msgr. Mario Marini. He worked May 30, 1974. The Congregaat the Secretariat of State as well tion was then headed by the as the Pontifical Commission American, John Joseph Ecclesia Dei.3 Some Vatican docWright. The dossier was handuments bear his name as Undered over to Monsignor Istvan secretary.4 The Archbishop of Mester for safekeeping. On the Seattle, Paul D. Etienne, was morning of June 2, 1974, friends with him.5 He also wrote Annibale Bugnini, Sebastiano Baggio Mester “opened the door to this a book with meditations about room and found books scatJesus with a foreword by Carditered on the floor, papers in dis- “... ARCHBISHOP BUGNINI (WHO, AMONG nal Marc Ouellet.6 Could you tell array, and boxes opened...” us more about Msgr. Marini?

OTHER MISDEEDS, REDESIGNED THE The lock on the chest in which MURR: To call Mario Marini the dossier had been placed on CATHOLIC MASS) AND CARDINAL BAGGIO “extraordinary” would be a tre(WHO, AMONG HIS OTHER MISDEEDS, May 30 “had been ripped off.” mendous understatement. PersonL’Osservatore Romano reportally speaking, Mario was the man RECONSTRUCTED, OR SHOULD I SAY ed: “It is a case of true and ‘DECONSTRUCTED,’ NEARLY THE ENTIRE who had the greatest impact on my shameful robbery. Unknown life. Fourteen years my senior, he CATHOLIC EPISCOPACY) COULD BE thieves entered the office of a was strong-willed but patient, FREEMASONS” prelate and stole files from a knowledgeable on almost any subsolid chest with a double lock. ject, and good-humored. He was a This is a true scandal.” Although Gagnon was told man’s man; toughened by what life threw his way. His not to write a new report, he “secretly put together mother and father, and even his grandparents, were coma replacement for the stolen one.” That new report mitted Marxists and, as such, extremely anticlerical. The was finally brought to Pope Paul VI just weeks day he completed his doctorate in civil engineering, he before the latter’s death in 1978. informed his parents that the following morning he MURR: That’s simple. The results of Gagnon’s inveswould be leaving for the seminary in Milan. His mother tigation contained damning evidence against several slapped him hard across the face and shouted at him: major figures in the Roman Curia; Cardinal Sebastiano “Better a whore for a daughter than a priest for a son!”

Baggio of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and When he was ordained and offered his first Mass in Bishop Paul Marcinkus, President of the (so-called) VatRavenna, the church was only a stone’s throw from the ican Bank, to name but two of the more infamous. There Marini family home but his parents did not attend. Mario were any number of people who wanted to see if the Marini knew the cost of loving Christ and His Church. dossier contained information detrimental to their perOnce inside the Vatican, Mario never looked for persons and/or their “all-important” careers. sonal fame. I cannot emphasize enough how different Was the dossier preserved or does its theft mean this made him from the majority of those who make up that it was permanently lost? the Roman Curia. He remained faithful to God, to his MURR: Archbishop Gagnon knew to make a duplicate calling, to the Church and to the Pope, and was happy in copy for himself. He was of the opinion that those who his role as one of the “powers behind the throne.” You 32

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never found him at a papal ceremony, at any public There are reports that Marini died a couple of affairs of State or Church, or in any too public place. He months later. In its obituary, the blog Rorate Caeli worked tirelessly and very quietly for the good of the referred to Marini as a “true friend of Tradition.”9 Church. He was a great friend and confidant of many carCan you tell us anything about his death? dinals, but Giovanni Cardinal Benelli was the man he MURR: As soon as I learned of Mario’s death, I conmost admired. Benelli was my mentor’s mentor. tacted a mutual friend of ours at the Congregation for the Can you tell us how Msgr. Mario Marini came to Doctrine of the Faith [CDF]. He confirmed the news and work for the Holy See? explained that the cause of death was cancer of the liver.

MURR: While Cardinal Montini was Archbishop of It seems Mario told no one just how serious his condition Milan (1954-1963), he paid for Mario’s seminary trainwas. ing given the Marini family’s blatant anticlericalism.

Your book The Godmother centers on the story of Later, in 1963, when Montini became Pope [Paul VI], he true Christian friendship. This theme shines through invited Marini to work for him in the very clearly with respect to your Secretariat of State. John Paul II relationship with Mother Pasquali(1978-2005) admired him and sought na. What would you say of its applihis opinion on many important matcation to your relationship with ters. Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013) Gagnon and Marini? counted on him for counsel and supMURR: Well, almost immediately, port. In fact, since many who read this Marini, Gagnon and I became friends. interview probably share your interest The mutual spark of “simpatico,” was in matters liturgical, let me share a there. Each of us loved Christ Jesus, story that Marini shared with me possessed an integral and orthodox shortly before his death. He had just Catholic faith, and had a special love been named Secretary for the Sacred for Christ’s Bride and our mother, the Congregation for Worship and the Church. We were also keenly aware Sacraments when Pope Benedict conthat the present state of that Church gratulated him personally and told the was somewhere between lamentable man who held a doctorate in civil and alarming. engineering before entering the Milan The Godmother also references Seminary and who later took a second how some people would be more doctorate in Sacred Theology, that it attracted to the more “sensational” Fr. Murr’s ordination day. was refreshing to know that no profes- Above, with Marini, and, below, with Gagnon elements in the book. What would sional liturgists were among the you say to those people who are Divine Worship department heads. The pontiff felt greatinterested only in the “sensational” aspects of your ly relieved that he could now speak and deal rationally book? with all involved. I am reminded of the old joke about the MURR: While the “sensational” can certainly grab and difference between a liturgist and a terrorist: you can hold your attention, it has no real, no substantial saving negotiate with a terrorist! Evidently, Pope Benedict felt graces. Amicitia [friendship] is saving grace. It is prethe same way. cisely what God calls us to when He tells us through His What became of your friendship with Marini?

Son: “Vos autem dixi amicos” [“I have called you MURR: In 1985, Mario and I had a falling out and friends”]. didn’t really communicate for years. I detailed the story For the sake of clarity, I would like to turn to some of what happened between us in my book The Society of of those more sensational revelations. As the likely Judas.7 Though Mario and I reconciled when I suffered last-living associate of Gagnon from the time of his a heart attack in Rome (2005)8 — imagine, from a hosVisitation, your testimony regarding the evidence pital bed in the Policlinico Gemelli, opening your eyes to that Archbishop Annibale Bugnini was a Freemason see the man who called you to priesthood standing at is as provocative as it is authoritative. Were you your side, administering the last rites! — I was shocked aware of the impact your testimony might have upon when in March of 2009, I received a sort of “out-of-thethe Catholic world, especially to liturgical scholars? blue” phone call from him and listened to his apology. He MURR: Well, yes and no. At the risk of sounding cynasked me to come to Rome so that we could speak in perical, I don’t expect to change the mind of anyone who son and really renew our friendship. I readily agreed, of finds it too conspiratorial to consider that someone like course... I had no idea that would be the last time we Archbishop Bugnini (who, among other misdeeds, would speak on this side of the divide. redesigned the Catholic Mass) or Cardinal Baggio (who, NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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among his other misdeeds reconstructed, or should I say in Freemasonry. So, what do you believe are the “deconstructed,” nearly the entire Catholic episcopacy) “practical results” of Bugnini’s work? could be a Freemason. Nor do I expect the average man MURR: Sadly, I refer to the “Mass as sacrifice” being to believe that Propaganda Due, the organization that set replaced by the “Mass as get-together.” This, of course, out to destroy the Vatican’s financial base and bring and tragically, results in the appalling lack of belief in the Catholicism’s central government to her knees, was a True Presence of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and lodge of Italian Freemasons. Nonetheless, I do find it Divinity, and the lack of reverence for the Mass and rather compelling that each Freemason involved in this Blessed Sacrament, and the watered-down importance of dastardly plot was found guilty by the Italian courts and the seven Sacraments in general. While many may not be ended up murdered, committed suicide, or died in prison. able to accept Bugnini’s Masonic kinship, how can anyTo a great degree, I sympathize with those who don’t, one not accept the Masonic results of his labors? “Igitur who can’t, believe such things. For twenty-seven years, I ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos” [“By their fruits numbered among them. therefore you shall know them”], Furthermore, given the modthe Lord reminds us. If Bugnini’s ernist chaos presently rampant liturgical reform — in particular within the Roman Catholic that most sacred mystery of our Church, even if the majority of Catholic Faith, the Holy Sacrifice liturgical scholars, theologians, of the Mass — does not loudly philosophers and, as you say, “the and clearly cry out: “Liberté, larger Catholic world” would Egalité, Fraternité,” then what come to see, beyond the shadow of does it cry out?! a doubt, that men like Bugnini and In The Godmother, you Baggio were high-ranking Freemamake reference in Chapter 19 sons, I doubt it would bother them in that the idea to “promote” the least.

Archbishop Annibale Bugnini Why do you believe the majto Pro-Nuncio to Iran was Monsignor Michael Heinrich Weninger, chaplain to three ority would not be bothered?

Msgr.

Marini’s idea. Is this Masonic Lodges in Austria, author of Lodge and Altar: MURR: Because from 1965 to On The Reconciliation of the Catholic Church accurate and if so, could you and Regular Freemasonry the present, the majority of elaborate?

Catholics — and by “majority” I MURR: Perhaps it would be “... WHILE MANY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO mean the majority of the minority better to say that Marini made a ACCEPT BUGNINI’S MASONIC KINSHIP, who haven’t already left the major contribution to the planHOW CAN ANYONE NOT ACCEPT THE Church — faithfully followed their ning and execution of the idea. priests and bishops who, themMario understood better than MASONIC RESULTS OF HIS LABORS?” selves, happily followed — some most the age-old “promoveatur et of them even surpassed — Archbishop Bugnini. The amoveatur” [“let him be promoted so as to be removed” result is that the “majority of that Catholic minority” are, — promote someone to get rid of him] concept. The Vatfor all intents and purposes, the third Protestantized genican actually raised this adage to an art form. eration of Catholics. One wonders the degree of delight In fact, Marini, my friend, never accepted a promotion it would have given Bishop Bugnini to see the practical to bishop — which was offered to him, twice and personresults of his new Mass. Besides, I just learned — and ally, by his mortal enemy Sebastiano Cardinal Baggio, in this is public knowledge — that Papa Bergoglio appointthe frantic hope of getting rid of him for good! At any ed a priest and a Freemason to a Vatican position. Monrate, Mario, Giovanni Benelli’s right-hand man in such signor Michael Heinrich Weninger, chaplain to three things, had to wait not only for the correct opening for Masonic Lodges in Austria, is a member of the Pontifical Bugnini to fill (i.e., to be exiled to), but also to make sure Commission for Interreligious Dialogue.10 Monsignor the one or two Bugnini supporters on the planning comWeninger is also the author of Lodge and Altar: On The mission would be absent from the meeting that decided Reconciliation of the Catholic Church and Regular Bugnini’s fate. I’m not sure whether it was the [1976] Freemasonry.11 Therefore, why would it be hard to Annibale Bugnini “promotion” to Nuncio to Iran or the believe that the likes of Bugnini and Baggio helped pave [1977] Mario Pio Gaspari “promotion” from Apostolic the way for him and others so free-thinkingly inclined?

Delegate to Mexico to Nuncio to Japan, perhaps it was in God help us! both cases, since both men were Cardinal Baggio proIndeed, one has to wonder how Weninger could tegés — but for the planned promotion to succeed, Carbelieve himself safe to declare openly his membership dinal Baggio had to be absent from the committee meet34

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ing in the secretariat or he would have blocked the proWhile Pope Pius XII was working on his plans for a Secmotion(s). In one of the cases, I remember that Baggio ond Vatican Council — studies, investigations and had to be sent (by order of the Secretariat of State) to repschemas that, ultimately, he felt obliged to abandon since resent the Holy See at some historical commemoration he came to the conclusion that the world’s bishops event in Northern Italy, so that he would be absent from “lacked the maturity to bring it [the Council] to fruition” the afternoon secretariat meeting and the “promotional” — he actually considered approving vernacular translavote would be successful. This and other such tactics tions in certain parts of the Mass. As I understood it, the were how Marini (and the Benelli Boys) got around Holy Father considered allowing the Scripture readings Freemasonic attempts at blocking at Mass and the Mass Propers — in progress. “Fight fire with fire,” other words, the “variables” of the Mario liked to say.

Mass — to be proclaimed and The revelation about Bugnini prayed in the vernacular. The Ordibeing involved with the Freemanary of the Mass — that is, the sons casts a non-negligible shadunchangeable parts of the Mass ow on the liturgical reforms, as (i.e., the Prayers at the Foot of the we talked about in our previous Altar, the Offertory, and above all interview. The obvious question else, the Roman Canon, etc.) — arises: “Where do we go from would remain untouched and in the here?” official, ancient and unifying lanMURR: There are differing ways guage of the Western Church: to look at this question. Some peoLatin. ple have proposed a quick and simFrom the moment Mother Pasple solution: Bugnini’s membercalina shared this, it seemed obviship in Freemasonry means we ous to me that these were all the should hit the reset button on modifications that might have Above, Pius XII during a celebration of Holy Mass. everything that happened from the helped the Holy Sacrifice of the Below, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who has called publication of Sacrosanctum ConMass to be better understood and for a new assessment of Vatican II cilium to the present. True, as a appreciated by modern men and Freemason, Bugnini would be persona non grata women. Of course, turning the priest around to to many people, dare I say a reprobate and a face the congregants and give his back to God, prime candidate to be excommunicado, and was so absurd as to never have been considthere is reason to question his authority. The ered. problem here is that Paul VI lent his authority Such simple modifications would have to the changes—a fact that Bugnini was rather required no wrecking crews smashing our altars keen to emphasize in his book The Reform of the to smithereens, demolishing our sanctuaries, Liturgy (1948-1975).12 Thus, papal authority is hauling away dumpsters filled with sacred reliquarbound up with this question and we have to be mindful ies and statuary. They would not have required senseless of that. liturgical committees producing endless opinions on Another idea presently circulating is that Bugnini’s matters on which they had no right to opine, no Eucharis“reforms” extend back to the Pian Holy Week reforms of tic sacrileges clamoring to heaven for vengeance, no the mid-1950s. Therefore, those reforms are similarly blasphemies and no heresies. The Holy Sacrifice of the under scrutiny. This belief is mistaken. Mother PasqualiMass would have been preserved intact as, God willing, na herself refuted the idea that it was Bugnini who “masone day soon again, it shall be. terminded” those particular reforms. I spoke about this in Simply put: what “Bugnini & Brothers Wrecking Chapters 15 and 21 of The Godmother. In short, her Company” did to our Mass and Sacraments was far more answer was that those reforms were all the Holy Father’s than disrespectful, disgraceful and inorganically con[Pius XII] doing. She emphatically denounced Bugnini ceived. It was anti-Catholic to the core. taking credit for them.

In 2005, the liturgical scholar Dom Alcuin Reid What, then, do you believe should happen with the published a book about the organic development of Latin liturgy? the Liturgy.13 Why is this organic nature of the LiturMURR: In its present lamentable state, the Latin liturgy gy an important consideration? cries out to be restored. I am no great authority on matters MURR: Because that is how, after 2,000 years, we liturgical; however, since you ask my opinion, let me came to receive the Mass and the Sacraments from repeat what Sister Pascalina Lehnert told me c. 1975. their very liturgical beginnings. Pope Benedict XVI, NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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FR. CHARLES THEODORE MURR / PART 2

as Cardinal Ratzinger, began to address this problem in end up. This “renewed interest” in Sacred Scripture was his book The Spirit of the Liturgy and, step by little step, heavily influenced by modern Protestant advances in throughout his later pontificate. (ancient) linguistic studies, archaeology, hermeneutics Others have posited that we ought to look at what and the like. It seemed that everyone and his secondthe Council Fathers actually intended to do with the cousin were studying, or planning to study, German. reforms as stated in Sacrosanctum Concilium. What To many, the liturgy itself — especially the Mass — would you say to this idea? stood in dire need of much more Scripture, much less MURR: Well, since most of the Council Fathers are no systematic theology, and absolutely no philosophy! In longer with us, to look at what they “actually intended” those days, the mention of St. Thomas Aquinas got about to do with the reforms (as stated in Sacrosanctum Conthe same reaction as mentioning the devil himself! How cilium) would be to risk yet insane things become when other misinterpretations, logic is thrown out the window! would it not? We might look What’s more, as anyone who instead to Archbishop Carlo could see, the Catholic Mass, Viganò and his suggestion that we from beginning to end, is reconsider the “non-dogmatic” Sacred Scripture!

Second Vatican Council. When Virgilio Cardinal Noè, I first read Archbishop Paul VI’s former papal masVigano’s statement that the ter of ceremonies, said in Council, in essence, be de2008 that Pope St. Paul VI’s clared a “mis-Council,” my statement about the “smoke eyes widened in surprise — of Satan” entering the about as much as they did when Church pertained to abuses I first read Pope Benedict with the liturgy.14 This claim XVI’s claim that the (Tridenindicates that Paul VI was Paul VI with Virgilio Cardinal Noè, former papal master of tine) Latin Mass had never concerned with liturgical ceremonies been abolished or forbidden to abuses after the Council had be offered, as I distinctly ended. Why, then, would he “NO DOUBT POPE PAUL’S ‘SMOKE OF SATAN’ remember it being otherwise.

REMARK (1972) INCLUDED LITURGICAL ABUSES” not have followed through Don’t get me wrong: I don’t with such a concern after completely disagree with Archbishop Vigano, I was just learning about Bugnini? very surprised by the forwardness of his suggestion.

MURR: While no doubt Pope Paul’s “smoke of Satan” Many a Churchman (high and low) has been thinking remark included liturgical abuses — the Vatican was such thoughts — some for more than 50 years — but no being inundated with reports of the most outlandish, sacone dared speak it aloud until Carlo Maria Viganò prorilegious and even blasphemous liturgical abuses from nounced it recently! Truly incredible. The man is fearall around the world — Msgr. Noè’s answer seems susless; a miraculous breath of fresh air! You’ve got to love piciously self-serving. him! I believe, however, that now, with more than half a How “self-serving”? century passed since the conclusion of the Second VatiBy 1972, tens of thousands of priests were “hanging up can Council, it is time to reconsider the entire matter, the cassock,” hundreds of thousands of nuns had abancalmly, intelligently, patiently. doned their apostolates and then their vows — by 1975 I’m smiling, remembering Cardinal Gagnon’s perthat number had grown to half a million ex-nuns. Catholic sonal rebuff when, only half-jokingly, I suggested that a theologians and seminary and college professors were “Vatican III” be convoked to figure out and deal with Vatopenly critical of the Magisterium and of the Pope himican II! “Bah!” the cardinal huffed, “and give those self, particularly of his 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae. scoundrels a second chance at destroying what they In other words, the billowing over-abundance of smoke failed to destroy the first time? God forbid! Never!” could hardly be limited to liturgical abuses. The Church In other words, let the Council speak for itself, was dealing with actual apostasy, as defined by St. without interpreters on every side of every issue?

Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae.15 Besides, MURR: In Rome, in the aftermath of Vatican II, there from the time Virgilio Noè became undersecretary of the was much renewed enthusiasm for Sacred Scripture. The Congregation for Divine Worship in 1975, and then, in Biblicum was the place to begin your studies (if you had 1982, became secretary of the same, liturgical abuses did the brains and talents it took to be admitted), and not diminish; in fact, many in the Roman Curia accused Jerusalem (L’École Biblique) was where you wanted to Noè himself of encouraging some of them.

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Are you at liberty to mention any names of Noè’s sent the report to the new Holy Father? If so, what accusers? can you tell us of this event?

MURR: It was being said by quite a few men I knew in MURR: Within days of Luciani’s election to the See of the Curia that there seemed little (if any) difference Peter, Archbishop Gagnon was summoned to a private between Noè and the “dearly departed” Bugnini. Ed audience with him. This meeting was at Cardinal BenelPetty (later, Msgr. Petty) and I were two of Noè’s favorite li’s insistence with the new Pope. John Paul I had already acolytes for papal ceremonies in the mid-1970s. In May decided to rid himself of Paul VI’s Secretary of State, of 1977, Noè also showed up at my ordination — just to Jean Cardinal Villot, and replace him with Giovanni Carsee who was there. I talked about this in Chapter 29 of dinal Benelli. Most unfortunately for the new Pope, his The Godmother. Noè’s ready answer to anything he himtiming was off. The correct moment to have made that self did not like or want done was always the same: “Il major change in government was toward the end of the Santo Padre non piace” [“The Holy Father doesn’t like Conclave that elected him; right after receiving obeiit”]. He hid behind Pope Paul VI — avoided taking persance from each of his electors. That would have been the sonal responsibility for his decisions. perfect time for the new pontiff to have summoned four However, when Pope John Paul II came along, and burly Swiss Guards and ordered them to escort the forpaid Noè no heed (almost pushing him out of his way on mer Secretary of State back to France. However, Pope occasion) and went to mingle with the crowds after difJohn Paul I — a total outsider when it came to underferent liturgical events, many standing and dealing with the a priest, bishop and cardinal Roman Curia — rather than nodded and smiled in agreepresent Giovanni Cardinal ment with the new papal attiBenelli as his new Secretary of tude toward the master of cerState, his “right-hand man,” emonies. actually reinstated, “for the Speaking of Paul VI, let time being,” every member of us return to the topic of the Roman Curia in his post! A Archbishop Gagnon and fatal mistake. the Apostolic Visitation that Why was it a “fatal mishe conducted. What haptake?” What was so bad pened when he presented about Villot? the dossier to the Holy MURR: Throughout the Father?

1970s, there were voices in the MURR: When Archbishop loggia whispering that Jean John Paul on the day of his 1978 election, with Paul VI’s Secretary of Gagnon presented Pope Paul Villot was a French FreemaState, Jean Cardinal Villot, later confirmed by the new Pope VI with the final report of his son. For the record, however, three-year investigation, the Pope pushed the results off no such thing was ever proven — and by “proven” I mean to one side of his desk and told Gagnon that he simply that, to the best of my knowledge, no concrete evidence wasn’t up to reading it; that he would leave it and its exeever confirmed this. The whispers remain just rumors. cution to his successor. Paul VI died some 50 days later That said, Jean Cardinal Villot was an ally and supporter (on August 6, 1978). of Sebastiano Cardinal Baggio. (In the 1978 papal elecWhy would Paul VI treat the results in such a mantion, Villot lent his full support to Baggio. “Qui se ner when it was he who had commissioned it in the ressemble s’assemble” [“Birds of a feather flock togethfirst place? er”], as the French say. Both Villot and Baggio were well MURR: Age. Fatigue. Weariness. Feebleness. Anxiety established enemies of Giovanni Cardinal Benelli. Thus, over the proximity of death. Perhaps the profound disilwhen the newly-elected Pope John Paul I confirmed Villusionment of having started a pontificate with so much lot as his Secretary of State, “for the time being,” this was hope and ending it in such a state of despair. Of course, a grave mistake.

I’m playing the psychologist here — only guessing at Remember Friday, January 20, 2017? The President what might have motivated him… still, I think it’s a of the United States, Donald Trump, has just been sworn rather educated guess. Gagnon saw it this way, as well. into office. Imagine, if you can, Donald John Trump turnNaturally the archbishop was unhappy with the papal ing to Hillary Rodham Clinton and, in front of God and response — but he understood the Pope, all the same. the whole world, asking her to continue on as his SecrePaul VI died and Papa Luciani [John Paul I] was tary of State — “for the time being.” Hard to imagine, elected to succeed him. The short-lived pontificate of you say? Do I hear, “Impossible”? Well, essentially, that John Paul I is well-known. Was Gagnon able to preis what Papa Luciani did upon his election as Pope!

NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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INTERVIEW

FR. CHARLES THEODORE MURR / PART 2

Fair enough. How then did the meeting go between speak with John Paul II about the report? If so, what Gagnon and John Paul I? happened?

MURR: Gagnon met with the new pontiff, Pope John MURR: Indeed, Gagnon did speak with Pope John Paul Paul I, and — as advised by Benelli (as if he needed II. Pope John Paul II summoned Archbishop Gagnon to advising) — Gagnon took with him the completed study a private audience in October 1978 to discuss the results of his investigation and a much-redacted dossier thereof. of the Papal Visitation to the Roman Curia. In that OctoThat redacted version consisted of several typewritten ber meeting, Archbishop Gagnon detected much less pages of urgently needed changes in the Roman Curia; enthusiasm on the part of the new pontiff. John Paul II some long overdue transfers, and some new, strongly was already preparing to travel. To Mexico, if I’m not suggested appointments. Gagnon left the papal audience mistaken. And, like his rather imprudent, very shortcompletely satisfied. “He will act quickly,” he told me. I lived predecessor, the new Pope also reconfirmed every can still see his face; there was no member of the Roman Curia in smile on it; rather, after making his position — first and forethat matter-of-fact statement, he most, the Secretary of State, Jean concluded with the word: Cardinal Villot. Suffice it to say, “Done.” His expression was reforming the Roman Curia was stonelike, serious. After three the furthest thing from the Polish years of intense and challenging Pope’s mind. work, dangerous interviews, How exactly did Gagnon room and office break-ins and advise John Paul II to act? physical threats to his life, MURR: Based on the results of Edouard Gagnon had accomhis investigation, Gagnon urplished what by papal decree he gently insisted that the Pope: 1) had been commissioned to do. The newly-elected John Paul I receives the congratulations of remove Sebastian Cardinal BagChange, much and desperately Archbishop Karol Wojtyla (a month later, Pope John Paul II). gio from his position as Prefect needed change was about to Below, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, between Pope John Paul II for the Sacred Congregation for and his private secretary, Msgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz come to the Church, to the PeoBishops and replace him with a ple of God — like rain to a strong and believing Catholic parched earth. who would give the Catholic So there was some hope and Church the good bishops she so enthusiasm over what was to urgently required, 2) remove and result from the Visitation replace Cardinal Jean Villot as report under the new Holy Secretary of State, 3) remove and Father? replace Bishop Paul Marcinkus MURR: To be sure. Later that as President of the Instituto per night, the three of us [Gagnon, le Opere di Religione [i.e., the Marini and I] went to dinner at Vatican Bank].

Lo Scarpone [“The Big Shoe”] Gagnon warned him that if and, as always, we took our fardrastic measures were not taken in-the-corner table where we to reform the Church’s central could speak more freely. Marini was elated with Edouard government, he, the Pope, would be responsible and Gagnon’s description of the papal briefing on the Visitawould greatly suffer the consequences. tion — that is, with what Gagnon felt he was able to Gagnon relayed this stern warning to the Pope, “Not share. And though Gagnon did not come right out and say to act swiftly and decisively, Holy Father, will cause it, we knew that Giovanni Benelli was on his way back much more harm to the Church — and could cost you from Florence to Rome to take control of the Secretariat your life, as well.” of State. Personally speaking, I felt that the years of Given how the events of the Holy Father’s life later uncertainty [1965-1978] were over. There would finally played out with the 1981 assassination attempt, that be a straightforward, Catholic direction in the Church. last warning is especially grave. What was John Paul John Paul I and Benelli might even become a second II’s response to these warnings and recommendaSarto/Merry-del-Val team! tions in 1978?

But it wasn’t meant to be. Pope John Paul I died MURR: He did not disagree with the recommendashortly after his election... He was succeeded by Karol tions, but he did not see the urgency of implementing Wojtyla, Pope St. John Paul II. Did Gagnon also them so soon. Besides, the new Pope had already decided 38

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on a new direction, a new role for the papacy. He himself, to Colombia and—holy priest that he was — to recomthe Vicar of Christ on earth, would carry Christ’s Gospel mence his work there among the poor. to the ends of the earth, to a world much in need of the Two and a half years later, May 13, 1981, was the Good News. This was Pope John Paul II’s goal; not the assassination attempt on John Paul II’s life. Was this reform of the Church’s government. Naturally, every attempt connected to Gagnon’s warning to the Holy member of the Roman Curia — above all, Jean Villot, Father back in 1978? If so, what did John Paul II do Sebastiano Baggio and Paul Marcinkus — was elated now that Gagnon’s warning had come to pass? with the Polish Pope’s fresh evangelical ideals! PractiMURR: Yes, it was connected to Gagnon’s warning to cally every member of the Roman Curia applauded the the Pope — and that certainly seems to be how the Pope announcement of every new trip! And, of course, the himself took it. Mind you, I wasn’t there to hear this with mice played and played while the cat remained away, and my own two ears, but it was reported by many people in further and further away! the know that from his Policlinco Gemelli hospital bed, With someone like Baggio when he regained consciousselecting the bishops, would ness, Pope John Paul II’s first you think it fair to say that words to his private secretary, there were some questionable Msgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz, were: characters put into positions “Find Gagnon.” The word went of authority? out and the search for Gagnon MURR: You’d be very safe in was on. It was Cardinal Casaroli assuming more than a few who finally located Archbishop “questionable characters” made Gagnon and communicated the it to positions of ecclesiatical Holy Father’s express desire that authority, back then. And he return to Rome at once and remember: they are bishops for take up some very unsettled matlife. As Marini used to remind: Above, Cardinal Baggio (left) with Cardinal Agostino Casaroli. ters.

Below, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II “Whether heaven or hell be their Except to say that Gagnon on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope survived final destination, they will be in obeyed the Pope, returned to heaven or hell, for all eternity, as Rome and was made a cardinal, bishops.”

I don’t wish to comment any furHow did Gagnon respond to ther on the matter. I will save the Holy Father’s reaction? that commentary and a few MURR: Let me start by saying more surprising revelations for that Archbishop Edouard my upcoming novel, the workGagnon was a scholar and a ing title of which is Of Rats And saint; a lawyer, a theologian, a Men. I will say this much now: practical and no-nonsense man only after the May 13, 1981 and, most importantly, nobody’s assassination attempt did the fool. The morning after Polish Pontiff call Giovanni Gagnon’s private audience with Benelli to be his right-hand as John Paul II, I accompanied him Secretary of State. Benelli died to Cortile San Damaso at the Vatican. Gagnon waited in of a massive heart attack two weeks prior to beginning the car and sent me upstairs to the Secretariat of State. I that new job. Another Roman “mystery.” was to hand deliver his resignation from all things VatiDo you mean to imply that there was something can to the Pope, through his reconfirmed Secretary of suspicious about Benelli’s death?

State, Jean Cardinal Villot. To put it mildly, when Villot MURR: I mean to say that I find it highly suspect for a finished reading the short but not-so-sweet missive, he healthy, 61-year-old, powerhouse of a man like Giovanni was outraged. One does not simply “resign” from a papal Cardinal Benelli to suddenly drop dead of a heart attack appointment in the Vatican; protocol forbade it; it was just days after agreeing to become Pope John Paul II’s unheard of. Villot insisted that Gagnon present himself in new Vatican Secretary of State, and just days before actuthe Secretariat immediately. I informed the Secretary of ally tackling the tremendous challenge of restoring order State that the archbishop would not, and bid him a good in an out-of-control Church. I’m saying that I consider it day. I returned to the car and drove Archbishop Gagnon highly suspect that that same man, Giovanni Cardinal straight to Leonardo Da Vinci Airport. He left Rome, Benelli — whose first and foremost piece of business as intent on never returning. His fervent desire was to return Secretary of State would most assuredly have been the NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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INTERVIEW

FR. CHARLES THEODORE MURR / PART 2

unceremonious removal of Sebastian Cardinal Baggio from the Congregation for Bishops — should die before his first Roman day on the job.

You mentioned Paul Marcinkus earlier. He is sometimes referred to as the “unofficial bodyguard” of Paul VI who thwarted an assassination attempt on Paul VI’s life in Manila, Philippines in 1970. Later, Marcinkus was under indictment before Italy’s Supreme Court on financial charges. When the statute of limitations ran out, he showed up — leaving Vatican City. Did you know him?

MURR: Everyone I knew in Vatican circles considered Paul Marcinkus — how shall I put this? — not a man of extraordinary intellect. In fact, he was seen as the epitome of American naïveté. At the risk of sounding exaggerated, permit me to describe the brief 1975 meeting between Marcinkus and my dear avuncular friend, John S. Lloyd, City Attorney of Miami, Florida. I accompanied Lloyd to Marcinkus’ office in the “Vatican Bank” and knocked on his half-opened office door. I could hear that the bishop bank-president was in the middle of a phone call; nonetheless, he called out a loud “Avanti!” for us to enter.

When I opened the door fully he waved us in and pointed that we should take to the two chairs facing his desk.

Marcinkus continued his English conversation. The big man was dressed in a black suit and Roman collar; his two feet crossed at the ankles and resting on the desktop; a lit cigar in his right hand. He was “Yankee Imperialism” incarnate. Frankly, I was embarrassed that John Lloyd, a convert to the Faith, had a front row center seat to such a ridiculous, cartoonish, bombastic display of crass Americana. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Marcinkus was the Yankee fool whom the Italian Freemasons, with the greatest of ease and very little flattery, took for a ride. When it was finally discovered just how he had been played and utilized by Propaganda Due — the Freemasonic Lodge that orchestrated the Vatican Bank scandal — Marcinkus remained inside the Vatican walls to escape Italian prison walls. During his confinement, he lamented that, deprived of a golf course, his golf game was bound to suffer! The point is, Marcinkus was

more foolish than evil. Villot and Baggio, who defended Marcinkus as president of the bank, knew much better than he what the endgame was. For all intents and purposes, Marcinkus was — as they say today — “clueless.”

Within this drama you have laid out, decisions were made that have had a lasting effect upon the average person in the pews. What would you say to the average layperson trying to make sense of the malaise and desolation that has happened in the Church over the past 50 or so years?

MURR: As difficult — perhaps even as “impossible” —as this may sound: these present times call for the Catholic faithful, the laity, to know and love Jesus Christ and His Church extraordinarily well, and to become even more outstanding men and women of prayer. To those who, in great numbers, are finally waking up to the harsh reality of what has been plaguing our Church for half a century and continues, with diabolical force, to plague her today, I say: be strong and stay the course. We are in the battle of our lives and what is at stake is the salvation of our own souls and the very soul of humanity.

One final question: Why do you feel it is important to make all of these revelations now?

MURR: The day in 1958 that His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, died, though I was just a boy, is etched forever in my memory. One thought came to me that October night just before I fell asleep. I remember thinking, “If that [death] could happen to the Holy Father, the Pope of Rome — with the entire world praying for him — it very likely could happen to me, as well!”

What I strongly suspected could happen, even to me, back in 1958, at age eight, I am now convinced, in 2020, at age 70, will happen to me — and much sooner rather than later! Before I go to God, I want those who will be trying to understand the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (for generations to come) to know a few things about some of the major players in those crucial times for the Church and the world. I hope I have shed some light on a few dark spots.m

NOTES 1 <http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/articles/articles_2001_su_hildebran.html>.

10 <https://insidethevatican.com/magazine/new-openings-to-make-masonic-

2 <https://www.amazon.com/Syrian-Hilarion-Capucci-Pricelss-

membership-permissible/>.

11 <https://katholisches.info/2020/02/27/der-fall-weninger-ex-diplomatpriester-kurialer-freimaurer/>; English translation here: <http://www.theeponymousflower.com/2020/05/the-case-of-vaticanemployee-msgr.html>.

12<https://www.amazon.com/Reform-Liturgy-1948-1975-AnnibaleBugnini/dp/0814615716>.

13 <https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Development-Liturgy-PrinciplesTwentieth-Century/dp/1586171062>.

14 <https://wdtprs.com/2008/05/petrus-amazing-interview-with-card-noe-paulvis-smoke-of-satan-remark-concerned-liturgy/>.

15 ST II-II Q, 12m a, 1.

Ransom/dp/1731067364>.

3 <http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_15046_l3.htm>.

4 <https://wdtprs.com/2010/03/whereing-fr-z-rants-about-sand-in-holy-waterfonts-dont/>.

5 <https://www.archbishopetienne.com/friendship>; <https://www.archbishopetienne.com/rome-update-ii>.

6 <http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_9047_l3.htm>.

7 <https://www.amazon.com/Society-Judas-Charles-Theodore-Murr/dp/1481125907>.

8 In the previous interview, Fr. Murr misspoke. He reconciled with Msgr.

Marini in 2005, not 2009--KJS. 9 <https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2009/05/monsignor-mario-marini.html>.

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EDUCATION

COLLEGE AND THE CRISIS OF FAITH

REVERSING A TERRIBLE TREND WITH FIDELITY TO JOHN PAUL II’S EX CORDE ECCLESIAE n BY CHRISTOPHER ICE* In the center of the campus of Ave Maria University in Florida rises the lovely college chapel. Below, the school’s new president since August 24, Christopher Ice

W

e are in a crisis. It’s a crisis most Catholics overlook. Given our times, you might think it’s the upcoming U.S. presidential election, COVID-19, or the economy. While these are certainly critical issues, they pale in comparison to the crisis to which I am referring. It’s this: 85% of Catholic students lose their faith while in college.

A key factor in this decline can be traced to the summer of 1967, in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, when a number of University presidents met to discuss the future of Catholic higher education. These presidents drafted and signed a declaration of independence from “authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.” This led to numerous Catholic colleges and universities shedding any traditional ties to the Catholic Church, eventually embracing relativism and pushing radical notions of academic freedom.

Just over two decades later, St. John Paul II published the apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae refuting the Land O’Lakes declaration.

Ex Corde Ecclesiae gave the general norms governing Catholic colleges and universities. As a lay person, I have been appalled at the disregard of this constitution by most colleges and universities claiming to be Catholic. In the document, St. John Paul II emphasizes it is the responsibility of every Catholic university to “consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth.” He goes on to outline the general characteristics and mission of a Catholic higher education institution, dividing Ex Corde Ecclesiae into two parts: 1. The Catholic identity and mission of service of a Catholic university 2. The General Norms which address how Ex Corde Ecclesiae is to be applied St John Paul II explains there are “essential characteristics” of a Catholic university and while he explicitly affirms proper academic freedom, he presents this freedom in concert with fidelity to the Christian message as it comes

to us through the Church.

This is critical in order for a university to be called Catholic. If the sacraments are not readily available or if professors are teaching things contrary to the faith, the university sets itself on a course for ceasing to be identified as Catholic.

St. John Paul II was clear in stipulating that “all teachers at a Catholic university are to be faithful to and respect Catholic doctrine and morals in their research and teaching.” He goes on, “Catholic theologians have a mandate from the Church to be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church.”

If the top-level university authorities do not take responsibility for the fulfillment of this mandate, they risk losing their identity — and the souls of those who seek their instruction. It is a clear mandate I fulfilled at Ave Maria University by taking the Oath of Fidelity on August 24, 2020; every theology professor at Ave Maria University took the same oath.

I talk with many faithful Catholic parents who sent their children to state schools with hopes they would engage with the local Newman Center. Unfortunately, these parents were sorely disappointed. It wasn’t until later that they learned of the constant assault the Catholic faith encounters in secular classrooms. Even worse are the stories of parents who sent their child to a prestigious college bearing a Catholic name, only to find the Church assailed daily under the guise of academic freedom. This is why the Cardinal Newman Guide has become such a critical tool for Catholic families.

In a recent survey conducted among the Ave Maria University 2020 graduating class, I am proud to say that 90% said they were still practicing their Catholic faith upon graduation. This is almost the direct inverse of the statistic I shared at the beginning of this article. When the entire faculty and staff are on board with the mission of a Catholic university, faith flourishes. Students at Ave Maria University hear Catholic morality and ethics in the sciences, arts, business, nursing, campus ministry, residence halls, and athletic programs. We run to our Catholic faith, not from it! *President, Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida.m INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

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BOOK

WHO WILL THE NEXT POPE BE? A VETERAN VATICANIST GIVES THE FAITHFUL — AND VOTING CARDINALS — PROFILES OF THE MOST LIKELY “PAPABILI” (THOSE “CAPABLE OF BEING ELECTED POPE”) n BY JAN BENTZ The cover of the new book by Edward Pentin, The Next Pope, and, in the circle, Pentin himself. Pentin is a British journalist who has covered the Vatican with courage and distinction for many years now for the National Catholic Register

I

n a new book, the veteran Vatican analyst Edward Pentin speaks about the next Pope, what the conclave of Cardinals must look for and who are eligible and probable candidates for the role of Vicar of Christ on earth. In an exclusive interview with Inside the Vatican, Pentin explains why his new book is so crucial.

ITV: Mr. Pentin, you have recently published a book called The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates. What compelled you to write this book?

EDWARD PENTIN: First of all, I should say that this book is the work of a number of people, two of whom had the idea for it a few years ago, and I essentially helped pull it together and fill in a number of gaps. The basic premise for it was the relatively unknown fact that not only do most of the faithful not know who the leading candidates are to be Pope, but neither do many of the cardinals themselves. At the last conclave in 2013, some cardinals complained about a confusing process and a dearth of information on who they were voting for. Often they had to rely on others’ recommendations which were not always reliable. This problem has been made more acute as Pope Francis has ceased holding meetings of the College of Cardinals before cardinal-making consistories since 2016. Those gatherings were traditionally a good opportunity for cardinals to meet and get to know one another. This book is therefore primarily aimed at equipping cardinals so they better know whom to vote for — or not vote for — as the case may be. But it’s also meant as a resource for the faithful, to give them a detailed knowledge of some of the cardinals most likely to be elected Pope and therefore also to know whom, and what issues, to pray for.

Cardinals have little time to get to know one another: how can they choose the right person to lead the Church? What danger does this dynamic bring about?

PENTIN: This is also a key motive behind the book: the statutory time between the death or resignation of a Pope and a conclave is only three weeks, which gives the cardinals very little time to get to know who might be a 42

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

prospective candidate. This makes them vulnerable to lobbies and interest groups who can more easily “sell” a candidate, playing on the ignorance of their brother cardinals. The book, therefore, tries to at least partially eliminate that danger. It is totally fact-based and written in an objective manner, allowing readers of whatever persuasion to make up their own minds whether each candidate has what it takes to be Pope. We don’t handicap any of the candidates, they’re just listed in alphabetical order.

What were the criteria you utilized to analyze the “leading cardinal candidates?”

PENTIN: We chose them on the basis of their backgrounds, reputations for leadership, sanctity, governance, teaching and general favorability rankings in the Church.

Each cardinal’s profile is presented in accordance with their offices as bishop, priest, prophet and king — so their sanctifying office, teaching office, and governing office — enabling the reader to ascertain how they came to be considered leading cardinal candidates. Of course, as the old Roman saying goes, “Chi entra papa in conclave, ne esce cardinale” (whoever enters a conclave as Pope, leaves it as a cardinal), so it’s naturally possible the next Pope will be none of these, just as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was not included on most papabili lists in 2013 — but naturally we believe these 19 stand the best chance of being elected for the reasons I’ve described.

Pope Francis has chosen the majority of the Cardinals currently in the Church who are eligible to vote for the next Pope. Will a “Bergoglio-majority” of cardinals have an effect on the next election?

PENTIN: This is quite possible, but it’s by no means inevitable. Note that most, if not all, the cardinal electors who elected Pope St. John XXIII and Pope St. Paul VI, both widely reputed to be more liberal than Pius XII, were chosen by Pope Pius and his predecessor, Pius XI. This could also work in the opposite direction, and given Francis’ preference to choose cardinals from the “peripheries” — that is, mostly from the generally more “conservative” global

The current prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and, in the circle, a leading American Vaticanist, John Allen

south — it’s quite possible that his successor will be more “conservative.”

Do you think that there is a chance for a more “conservative” Pope (for lack of a better word)?

PENTIN: I do think there’s a good chance of this happening, not only for the reasons I’ve just mentioned, but also because of considerable concern in the College of Cardinals about the direction of this pontificate and the turmoil that has characterized it.

Another Roman saying holds “a fat Pope follows a thin one” (“Un Papa grasso ne segue uno magro”), meaning that a Pope quite different from his predecessor, either with respect to doctrine or personal character, tends to be elected. Again, these don’t always hold true, but all in all, this leads me to think that it’s more likely than not that the cardinals will choose someone at least seen as more predictable, a “safe pair of hands,” unlikely to spring too many surprises or rock the boat.

Whoever they choose, God willing, they will listen closely to the Holy Spirit, and hopefully consult this book, and elect someone best suited to shepherd souls and lead the Church in whatever times we’re in.

Many Catholics hope for the current Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Robert Sarah, to be the successor of Pope Francis...

PENTIN: If a candidate were chosen by the sensus fidelium — the sense of the faithful — then I would say yes. In my experience, few candidates are so frequently described by laity and clergy alike as someone who could be Pope, and also a great Pope. That needs to be qualified by the fact that I tend to hear mostly from more orthodox practicing faithful, but the fact is that those who are well catechized, take their faith seriously, and recognize that the Church did not begin in 1965 but has a long and great Tradition, tend to be very supportive of him as someone who could lead the Church.

Some argue, such as my colleague John Allen, that electing Cardinal Sarah would be tantamount to a repudiation of Francis’ pontificate, given some of their disagreements, but I disagree. I think he is seen not so much as an opponent of Francis as a cardinal of great holiness, deeply held beliefs, who has a prophetic voice that resonates with many of the faithful today. But to get a better idea of his suitability and come to an independent and informed decision for yourself, I recommend reading the book!m

NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

43

SCRIPTURE

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH He is the great Vindicator, who pays our ransom “skin for skin” n BY ANTHONY ESOLEN The resurrection of the dead in a detail from Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel

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few nights ago, when my wife’s beloved father lay in the hospital, comfortable and at peace, I searched my Breviarium Romanum for fitting prayers from the old Latin rite. There my eyes fell upon the Office for the Dead. I didn’t know what to do, so I prayed Matins, in three nocturns, and was struck by the wisdom and power of the nine readings from the Book of Job and the verses between them. Those verses cry out, begging God for pardon and laying no oil of flattery upon the soul. “Lord,” we plead after the third lesson, “when you come to judge the earth, where shall I hide from the wrath of your countenance? For I have sinned exceedingly in my life.” Nor do we cease from sinning, as we confess after the seventh lesson: “The fear of death troubles me, as I sin every day and do not repent.”

Yet in the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us. So the Church encloses our pleas and our fears within the promise. The ninth and final response calls upon the Lord who has “smashed the brazen gates” of hell, and visited the netherworld to give light to those who endured the pains of darkness. They cry out, “You have come, our Redeemer!” That brings to fulfillment the hope expressed in the first response, adapted from Job 19:25-27: 44

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

I believe that my Redeemer liveth, and that on the last day I shall rise up from the earth. * And in my flesh I shall see God my Savior. * Whom I myself shall see, and no other; and my own eyes shall behold him. * And in my flesh I shall see God my Savior.

Hebrew is terse and taut, and the Book of Job is poetry of a tremendously concentrated sort, employing words and forms that do not appear in the prose of the historical books. Scholars must tread with care, then, especially when they see, as in the lines above, a flash of hope beyond the hope of Moses and the Law. Many commentators say that the Redeemer here is an imaginary avenger of blood (cf. Num. 35:17-28), a Vindicator: the noun built from the Hebrew verb ga’al, to play the part of a kinsman, that is, to redeem a kinsman from bondage, to vindicate his good name, or to avenge a wrongful death. So Boaz called upon his kin to redeem the widow Ruth, one of their kin by marriage (Rt. 4:4-6). And Job does need a vindicator. Recall that he has been stricken by the Accuser, Satan, who had sneered before God, suggesting that Job was righteous only because God had favored him. From that slanderer the poet turns to others, the three friends who say that somehow Job has deserved his misery, even

The God-fearing Job, by Gyula Kardos, Hungarian National Gallery.

The Triumph of Job, by Guido Reni, Paris, Notre-Dame

going so far as to invent charges against him (22:6-11). So, some say, what Job really wants is a good attorney. He wants his name again.

But that interpretation does not do justice to the intense drama of the moment. Job wants more than a verdict of “not guilty.” The Hebrew ga’al is also used of God as a personal redeemer. This is true especially in Hebrew poetry. No fewer than twelve times does the word refer to God the Redeemer ransoming the soul from death. God “redeems your life from the pit,” says the Psalmist (103:4).

“Thou hast redeemed my life,” says Jeremiah, weeping over the ruins of Jerusalem (Lam. 3:58). Here too in Job, redemption and life are inseparable: go’eli chai, says Job: My Redeemer lives. Who or what can ever be said to live, simply, in himself? Not some man or other in years to come. It is God, El chai, as the Psalmist says, the God who is life, the living God (Ps. 42:3).

Job does not ask that God will save his life. What, after all, is there left to save, as far as he can tell? The man has lost his children and his goods. His wife tells him to curse God and die. His body is covered with open ulcers, which he scrapes with the shard of a pot. He sits on a dunghill. His friends are cruel.

Instead of life, then, he seeks Life: he seeks God. We are on the verge of a great mystery. We should not finesse it away in abstractions. Nor should we reduce it to the mundane. The verb that the poet uses, echezeh, I shall see, means not just to see but to behold, as in a vision of the divine. It too is a word you will hardly ever find in the Bible outside of poetry. So did the vision come to the prophet Isaiah (Is. 1:1; chazon). So does David beg for one thing only, to “dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple” (Ps. 27:4; chazoth). Can that mean merely to go up to Jerusalem and pray inside the great edifice that Solomon built? Can it mean merely to have some idea, some notion, some spiritual perception of the divine? Only a flight of poetic fancy?

No to all those questions. The Lord’s throne is in heaven, says David, whence his eyes “behold, his eyelids test,

the children of men” (Ps. 11:4; yechezu). Fire and brimstone will be the cup for the wicked, but the Lord who loves righteous deeds will reward the upright, who “shall behold his face” (11:7; yechezu, the same verb in the same form).

Somehow – the faithful do not yet know how, because God has revealed it hitherto only in shadows – the righteous will be in that same temple, to behold the God who beholds them.

This God has a face: He is a person, not a notion. Other peoples did not long to behold the faces of their gods.

They saw them all the time, in graven images everywhere; you could hardly go to relieve yourself without coming across the face of some deity or other. But the Jews were protected from that familiarity and error and contempt. They were not permitted to make images of God, and that caused them to long to behold the face of God all the more devoutly.

Job looks past the time when his “skin has been thus destroyed” (19:26), as the poet echoes the scornful words of Satan, “Skin for skin!”

(2:4). Satan had said that Job, who passed the first test in the loss of his children and his goods, would curse God for the affliction of his body.

This skin, Hebrew ‘or, is like the hide of an animal, or leather. Let it be destroyed, Job says. But immediately he says that in his own flesh he shall see God, he and no other. That word first appears in Scripture when God closes over the place of Adam’s rib with flesh, and Adam sees the first woman and cries out in gratitude, “This at least is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:21, 23). But it also appears in the great Messianic vision of Isaiah, when “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Is. 40:5).

We do not have here the full teaching of the resurrection of the flesh, raised from death to life by our great Vindicator, he who pleads on our behalf, who pays our ransom by giving skin for skin. But it is the light before the dawn.

And the words were a comfort for me. My father-inlaw — my second father and my friend — passed away three hours later. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

45

FAITH AND CULTURE

CHURCH NEEDS TO PREPARE HERSELF TO BECOME A “DIASPORA CHURCH” FR. MICHAŁ PALUCH, O.P., PRESENTS A NEW INSTITUTE OF CULTURE TO SHARE THE LEGACY OF ST. JOHN PAUL II AND SPREAD THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE n BY JAN BENTZ A poster presenting the new Institute in Rome, and, in the small circle above, Fr. Michał Paluch, O.P.

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ope, saint, spiritual father to millions. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his May18,1920 birthday on May 18 this year, John Paul II received a special post-mortem birthday gift: a new center for culture in his name, opened at the Angelicum University in Rome.

John Paul II’s epochal papacy embraced all dimensions of human life: the value of human nature; the special attention to the genius of women; the pro-life struggle; fighting injustice and poverty; his attention to the family, art, and culture in general. His message is a witness and fearless testimony of Christian life.

Inside the Vatican had the chance to interview the rector of the Dominican university in Rome, the Angelicum, Fr. Michał Paluch O.P., on the occasion of the opening of this center earlier this year.

ITV: The new Institute of John Paul II... What is it?

What is its mission?

FR. MICHAL PALUCH: This is a new project which was realized quickly, within six months. The institute will be incorporated into the faculty of philosophy. It is crucial to invite St. John Paul II’s legacy to enter into conversation with the contemporary world. The key to the contemporary world is culture.

This theme has been a little bit neglected during the last decades. The family and life values are all necessary, but we should also go a step further and think about how our relationships, how our communities, can help us to live our Christian lives or be an obstacle to it. Culture has been always in the center of John Paul II’s legacy. Not just because he was an artist, wrote poems, and tried to be an actor in his youth, but mostly because he was deeply con46

INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

vinced from the very beginning that the right program for the modern world is the proper anthropology. The study of man. Anthropology and culture — together.

In a couple of days we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his famous speech at the UNESCO headquarters in 1980.

He was the first Pope who addressed that assembly in person. He understood his own talk as a crucial feature of his pontificate. In his book Memory and Identity he speaks about this speech and its importance for him.

What was the most central feature of culture for John Paul II? PALUCH: The main direction of his pontificate was given in the famous phrase, repeated often: “You cannot understand man without Christ,” which he said first in 1979. We have to understand the whole pontificate of John Paul II under this theme. What does this theme mean?

On the one hand, it means to be a witness. On the other hand it means to be in discussion with other people.

What does it mean to be human today? I would say, as we understand the modern world, it would be a good way of dealing with the contemporary world. We are invited to be witnesses of Christ, but on the other hand we have to be open to listen to those who may not share our values.

Their concerns and their inquiries into Christ. John Paul’s approach is balanced: he is ready to be a witness — as he was at the UNESCO — where the people are not Christian, but also ready to be respectful to the non-Christian cultures.

The issue is not so much about content, but rather about the right attitude: the attitude of being part of the contemporary world, engaging it, but with a solid backbone that will not break.

An idea dear to JPII was the “culture of life.” Do you think his criticism of the “culture of death” is still valid today, as well as his solution, that is, a “culture of life”?

PALUCH: Absolutely, yes. I think Christianity is always about this conflict of two different cultures. Sometimes, perhaps, we have a description of one or the other which is a little bit too simplistic. The truth is that our culture of life is part of our hearts and not just a political “game.” It is something personal, that we should be aware of and humble to recognize. It is absolutely the right direction and is very topical today.

What seems crucial to me is the invitation to live our identity as a strong identity. Because of this strong and converted identity we can approach the other. This does not mean that in order to create space for the others, we have to reduce our own space to leave some space to the others.

This is wrong. It is because of our identity that we should be able to make some space for the other.

In Europe today we have to recognize that we will have to become a diaspora Church, even if we do not like it. This may not be the biggest catastrophe. It has been like this in moments of the past. I do not think the most important thing we have to maintain is our voice in all fields of society and secular organizations. When I think about Christianity in Europe — which is becoming more secular every day — we are too focused not losing our foothold and wasting our energy in frustration rather than using our energy to be creative in evangelization, the understandings that are in our reach.

Instead of being bitter and frustrated, let’s try to look for creativity in order to present the Christian message in the most powerful, attractive, and beautiful way. People are in great need of Christianity.

What was the most memorable moment of the inauguration ceremony?

PALUCH: I liked Professor Rémi Brague’s speech a lot. I think his comparison of two recent Popes was quite interesting. He said that John Paul II’s vision for Europe was not a vision for Europe alone but something he intended as “trans-European.”

He understood Europe as the place where this idea — that you cannot understand man without Christ — was born. But in general this call was an offer to the whole world.

Benedict XVI was centered on Europe, then Pope Francis followed him. For Francis Europe is not so important right now.

Maybe providence gives us one and then the other, both based on the universal vision of John Paul II. Both visions of the Church have to be connected into a synthesis, not as in a competition but as a unity.

Can you tell us about one fruit that you are working on with the Institute?

PALUCH: There will be philosophical and theological workshops. But then we will also work on a theater play. Our students will be prepared to stage a play by John Paul II on jobs. We will invite people to discuss it but then also stage this play. I am very happy about this. This is what we need; education is not just for the head, but also for the heart.m

You’re Y oou’re Invited!

IIn nvited!

Join us for the last Live Conversat ions of the yea r!

Nov o ember

bert M Mooynihan, Ph Ph.D.

D e ce m be r

Paul K Keengor, P Phh.D.

e t he V Vaatican is br ing ing you some of the world ’s most informed and ht f u l Cat hol ic w r iters... in person! s for a LIV E “ Wr iter’s Chat ” inter v iew w ith one of IT V ’s fe f e at u r e d rs and questions from on l ine pa r ticipants.

Visit ou r webpage, Insidet heVaat ica n.com /w r iterschat, to see ou r upcoming fe feat u red w r iters and schedu le. Reg ister there to pa r t icipate in ou r on l ine ZOOM meet ing and even submit you r ow n question!

We lloook ffoor ward ttoo seeing you at our next W Wrriter’s Chat!

NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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

The Message of the Icon

BY ROBERT WIESNER

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SAMUEL ANOINTS DAVID

he story of the Prophet Samuel anointing David as king of Israel is well-known; after examining all the sons of Jesse, he was aware that he had not yet found the one to be named king. The youngest son was out tending sheep and, of course, no one was convinced that such a callow youth could be the one Samuel sought. But, in God’s own inimitable fashion, the least likely candidate of all was exactly the one designated by God to lead Israel to greatness. The pattern continues to this day; who would have thought that an obscure young teenage computer genius might exhibit great sanctity to the world?

Yet Carlos Acutis, aged only fifteen, perhaps around the same age as David, was just beatified in October in Assisi, Italy.

But the point of this image is not a rehashing of Samuel’s career in ancient Israel or even the details of David’s reign, but rather the source of the image. The pattern of the art is very similar to later iconography, albeit in a rather more primitive style. Yet, this is not, strictly speaking, a Christian image. This painting was found on the walls of a second century synagogue! The synagogue art of Dura Europos in Syria has astounded scholars; it seems to be the oldest existing example of theological art representing the post-Temple rabbinical period of Jewish history.

A great many people, primarily of the Protestant persuasion, labor under the impression that ancient Jews rejected all image-making, taking much too seriously the injunction in the Law against making graven images. Of course, the injunction was specifically applied to the making of idols. The golden calf was out, but the images of angels on the Ark of the Covenant were directly commanded by God Himself. Later, the history of the kings of Israel reveals that the throne room of Solomon was richly decorated with tapestries depicting

plants and animals in lush profusion. Solomon’s throne sported the images of lions as his armrests. What can we conclude by the historical record and the archaeology of Dura Europos?

Idols of the more benign sort, harvest gods, perhaps, were an expression of the imagination struggling to make sense of the natural order of things. Such “gods” did not actually exist save in the human mind. Other pagan deities (Moloch immediately comes to mind) were anything but benign, demanding, among other enormities, the sacrifice of infants to appease the wrath of the gods. It is difficult to believe that such “gods” had any origin other than the demonic. There may well have been some horrific manifestation to a hapless pagan at some point promising dire consequences unless certain destructive practices were devoutly followed. In short, there may well have been a reality behind such gods, but it was clearly a reality which would much better have remained unexpressed!

By way of contrast, Jewish art, and by extension its Christian successor, was limited to depicting reality, and only that reality serving to glorify the True God. The angels on the Ark were not idols nor objects of worship, but an expression of a known fact. Angels had dealt with human beings in Hebrew history and thus could be safely fashioned. Plants, animals and lions on the throne were known realities; there was no danger of mistaking them for God. This brings us to the reality depicted by iconography: the coming of the Messiah widened the dimensions of known reality to include supernatural reality, too! And so, the holy images were so fashioned to reveal the reality of those who, like Carlos Acutis, have achieved the super-charged spiritual reality of Heaven.m

INSIDE THE VATICAN PILGRIMAGES made a special pilgrimage to Russia, and then to Rome, to take part in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the murder of Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their five children on July 18, 1918. Contact us at insidethevaticanpilgrimages.com for information about joining us for upcoming special pilgrimages like this one. page 48

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East-West Watch

BY PETER ANDERSON

WHY DIFFERENT CALENDARS?

I

t is generally well known that Catholic and Orthodox Easters usually fall on different Sundays and that Christmas is celebrated in certain Orthodox countries, such as Russia, on January 7, not on December 25. However, for many centuries before 1582, Catholics and Orthodox celebrated the major feast days on the same day. That is because both Churches used the same Julian calendar.

The Julian calendar, decreed by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, made every fourth year a leap year. With respect to Easter, the first Council of Nicaea decided in 325 that it would be observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Several centuries later, a table, called the Paschalion, was developed to determine when the paschal full moon would occur in future years. Using both the Julian calendar and a lunar calendar, it was an excellent effort to predict the actual dates of the equinox and full moons, but it was not exact. For centuries, both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches used the Paschalion to determine the dates of the equinox and the paschal full moon as opposed to using physical observations of the sun and moon.

By 1582, the errors of the Julian calendar had caused the Paschalion to be wrong by 10 days with respect to the date of the equinox and wrong by approximately four days for the phases of the moon. To correct these errors, Pope Gregory XIII decreed that 10 days would be eliminated in October 1582 and that a limited exception would be made to the leap year rule of the Julian calendar. Under the exception, the leap year would not be observed in centennial years (divisible by 100) but that centennial years divisible by 600 would remain leap years. It was also discovered that this new “Gregorian calendar” did not work with the Paschalion, and it was necessary for the Catholic

Church to develop a new and different Easter table (“computus”).

For several centuries thereafter, the Orthodox Church completely rejected these papal changes with respect to determining the dates of its own feast days – resulting in Catholics and Orthodox celebrating major feasts on different days. However, in 1923 a “pan-Orthodox” conference (with only some of the Local Orthodox Churches represented) was called by Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios IV to discuss the calendar issue. They decided to adopt a “Revised Julian Calendar” for feast days always falling on a fixed date (such as Christmas). This new calendar is exactly the same as the Gregorian calendar except that instead of centennial years divisible by 600 remaining leap years, centennial years with remainders of 200 or 600 when divided by 900 remain leap years. The dates on the Revised Julian and the Gregorian calendars remain the same until the 28th century.

Since 1923, the various Local Orthodox Churches have, over the years, gradually adopted the Revised Julian Calendar for fixed feast days, except for the Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Moscow, Serbia and Georgia, and the Church of Poland. However, with respect to calculating the date of Pascha (Easter), all of the Local Orthodox Churches continue to use the original Julian calendar and the Paschalion, except in Finland.

For the five Local Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar for fixed feast days, a fixed feast is now 13 days later than the Gregorian feast day, but this will become 14 days in 2100.

Hopefully, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will find a way to resolve the present confusing situation. The most important challenge is finding a common date for Easter. Various suggestions have been made. Let’s pray for a solution.m

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

NEWS from the EAST

BY BECKY DERKS

RUSSIA’S CATHOLIC CHURCH WARNS AGAINST PROPOSED CURBS ON CLERGY Catholic Church officials in Russia have criticized planned religious law changes that will require all clergy who studied abroad to retrain in a Russian college.

“Like other confessions, we find it absurd to talk of recertifying priests who are already in service and of having to send our archbishop back to seminary for a course in Russian history and spirituality,” said Father Kirill Gorbunov, vicar general of the Moscow Catholic Archdiocese.

“Of course, Catholic priests coming here from Poland, Italy or Spain need some kind of acculturation, and we don’t always have the opportunity to provide this. But this shouldn’t be regulated by the state,” Father Gorbunov told Catholic News Service on October 1.

Church officials’ concerns stem from draft amendments to Russia’s 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations, which would bar “clergy who receive religious education abroad” from ministering unless they obtain “recertification within a Russian religious organization” and “receive additional professional education.”

“The motives behind this bill are obvious. Government and state feel a necessity to control the religious landscape,” Fr. Gorbunov said.

“But until we break some kind of law, responsibility for educating our clergy should rest with our church, not government officials,” he added.

Submitted to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, by the government of President Vladimir Putin, the bill would bar “persons without citizenship” or listed as “extremists” and “terrorists” from participating in a religious group, and would require Churches to submit membership data to the Justice Ministry annually.

An accompanying document explained that the aim was to prevent foreign-educated clergy from “spreading religious extremist ideology.” page 50

The country’s predominant Russian Orthodox Church has backed the bill, which follows constitutional amendments introduced in July that confirm the priority of Russian law over international norms, as well as protect “traditional family values” and establish “belief in God” as a core Russian value.

However, in a late September statement, the head of the Orthodox Church’s legal department, Ksenia Chernega, proposed modifying the retraining requirement to cover only clergy educated abroad after the bill’s adoption, which is expected in October.

(Catholic Herald) ANCIENT CHURCH DISCOVERED UNDER TURKISH LAKE The remains of a 1,500-year-old basilica constructed in honor of St. Neophytos have now emerged after water levels in Lake Iznik in the province of Bursa had dropped recently, the newspaper Daily Sabah reports.

The basilica in northwest Turkey, hidden underwater for centuries and believed to be dating back to the 4th or 5th century AD, was discovered after aerial photographs of the lake were taken, revealing the submerged ruins of the Byzantine church, only 20 meters from the banks of the lake.

The area, including the city of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed was agreed upon in the First Ecumenical Council, served as an important religious and cultural center during the Byzantine and early Christian periods. Experts say that the basilica is an example of early Christian architecture.

It is estimated that the church was submerged into the lake during an earthquake in the year 740. The church is believed to be dedicated to St. Neophytos, a saint martyred in Nice (in today’s France) when he refused to make a sacrifice to the pagan gods under the orders of the governor.

It was built on the site of St. Neophytos’ grave, as it was common to construct churches atop the graves of martyrs, and worshippers wanted their own graves one day to be close to that of a saint.

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According to the report, Dr. Sahin believes that the building the basilica sits upon may have been a pagan temple dedicated to the ancient Greek god Apollo.

(Greek Reporter) BELARUSIAN CATHOLICS DENY INFO ON U.S. INTERFERENCE IN RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN COUNTRY Bishop Yury Kosobutsky, vicar general of the Minsk-Mogilev Archdiocese, who is in charge of the media in the Belarusian Catholic episcopate, has denied the information that the Roman Catholic Church is allegedly being used by external forces to achieve political goals.

“The Roman Catholic Church in Belarus now tells the truth about the situation in the country, it speaks against violence and calls on people to have solidarity, unity, accord, peace and forgiveness,” Kosobutsky was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the website of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus on September 30.

Therefore, the information “on some provocations, that the United States, the CIA and other organizations are trying to use the Catholic Church to undermine the state system” in Belarus is not true, he said.

“This information should be treated with some irony,” Kosobutsky said.

Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), earlier accused the U.S. of interference in the religious situation in Belarus.

“According to available data, the U.S. has also been interfering unceremoniously in the religious situation in Belarus, seeking to make representatives of the Orthodox and Catholic branches of Christianity clash with

one another. By trying to draw the Vatican, which has so far exercised restraint, into Belarusian affairs, the Americans are working to get Catholic priests more actively involved in anti-government protests,” Naryshkin said in a statement released by the SVR press service on September 29. (Interfax) RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH RECOMMENDS VACCINATION; PATRIARCH REFUSES Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, adopted an open stance regarding Russia’s proposed coronavirus vaccine.

Specifically, Metropolitan Hilarion, as reported by the Russian media, advised the faithful to be vaccinated as soon as possible against COVID-19.

He was obviously referring to the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, which was registered on August 11 as the first vaccine against COVID-19 worldwide.

However, serious reservations have been expressed by the international medical community as to side effects or its effectiveness in general, as clinical trials have not been completed.

Particularly striking is the fact that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has refused, as it became known on September 4, to be vaccinated before all clinical trials are completed.

“If they ask me if I should be vaccinated or wait, I say it is better to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” said Metropolitan Hilarion in an interview with a Russian channel.

Today, despite the fact that the vaccine is administered in Moscow, very few people have decided to be vaccinated. (Orthodox Times)m

The Christian Churches, the communities of the disciples of Christ, were intended to be united as one; Pope John Paul II proclaimed, “The Church must breathe with Her two lungs!” Unfortunately, the Churches are not united.

This is a great scandal, an impediment to the witness of the Church. Since unity was desired by Christ Himself, we must work to end this disunity and accomplish the will of the Lord.

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page 51

LATIN

“HE MADE HIS HEART A LIBRARY OF CHRIST”: POPE FRANCIS APPRECIATING ST. JEROME n BY JOHN BYRON KUHNER St. Jerome Writing by Caravaggio, Galleria Borghese, Rome

F

or this month’s column I am pleased to be able to share some of the world’s newest Latin, straight from the Vatican’s Latin Office: on September 30, for the Feast of St. Jerome, Pope Francis issued his apostolic letter Scripturae Sacrae Affectus. As I sit myself down to write this, I’m literally looking at a Latin text that is only a few days old — not something we normally associate with Latin reading.

For Latinists, this is a welcome pontifical communiqué. The letter is a long celebration of Jerome, and for the right reasons. Jerome has figured largely in Catholic life as an image of scholarly devotion to God. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he replied (to use Jerome’s wording): Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et in tota anima tua, et in tota mente tua. “You will love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and in your whole soul, and in your whole mind.” (Interestingly, Jerome’s Latin here differs a bit from the original Greek, which uses the preposition en three times: “in” your whole heart, soul, and mind).

St. Jerome has served as the Western emblem of the latter third of this commandment: loving God with one’s whole mind. In our age where education and study seem to be associated more with irreligion than religion, Jerome is a fine figure to try to reclaim.

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Here is something of the modern problem we are facing (this is Francis writing in his letter): In hac re saepe cogitamus de experientia quam nostro tempore facere potest quidam iuvenis ingrediens aliquam librariam suae urbis, vel paginam interretis, et quaerens ibi partem librorum religiosorum. Est pars quae, si exstat, saepenumero non solum est neglecta, sed carens operibus valentibus. Perquirens illa plutea, vel illas paginas interretis, difficulter iuvenis potuerit intellegere quomodo religiosa inquisitio possit ardentem eventum efficere qui coniungit mentem et cor; quomodo sitis Dei accenderit egregias mentes cuncta per saecula usque ad hodie; quomodo vitae spiritualis maturatio contagio infecerit theologos et philosophos, cultores artium et poëtas, historicos et doctos viros.

And here is the English version, which differs from the Latin in a point or two but is actually a bit more elegant: “In this regard, I often think of the experience a young person can have today entering a bookshop in his or her city, or visiting an Internet site, to look for the section on religious books. In most cases, this section, when it exists, is not only marginal but poorly stocked with works of substance. Looking at those bookshelves or webpages, it is difficult for a young person to understand

Below, Doctors of the Church (from left: Ambrose, Gregory, Jerome and Augustine), by Pier Francesco Sacchi, Louvre, Paris

how the quest of religious truth can be a passionate adventure that unites heart and mind; how the thirst for God has inflamed great minds throughout the centuries up to the present time; how growth in the spiritual life has influenced theologians and philosophers, artists and poets, historians and scientists.”

Using the term “eventus” for “adventure” is rather unusual, though I do get it – using a more active meaning (“a coming out”) in place of its usual, more factual, meaning (“an outcome”). But the sentiment is very good: a modern bookstore, most of whose contents (including in the religion section) have been written in the past thirty years or so, offers very little to make anyone interested in, much less inspired by, religion. And one good solution is to insist on a course of study that takes you deep into the centuries.

Just recently I have been reading Aeschylus (who also happened to be Bobby Kennedy’s favorite poet), and Aeschylus shows that same passionate desire for religious knowledge that characterized the older world, though he was a pagan. Indeed the “Classics” that we have today may well have been copied and recopied through the centuries not because they were accurately representative of Greco-Roman pagan culture, but because Christian copyists found them particularly relevant to their religious lives. This is probably one of the reasons why a healthy Church has always engaged in a robust study of the Latin and Greek Classics. I know that in my Latin studies with Fr. Reginald Foster, the Vatican Latinist, we have always been able to go from pagan to Christian authors without any sense of conflict. Jerome himself, though he never found himself completely comfortable with the idea of it, was deeply learned in the Classics and, of course, his great life-work was not to abandon Latin for the Scriptures, but to bring the Scriptures into the Latin language.

One good way to start a course of study taking you deeper into the centuries is to start thinking about your own bookshelves. As Pope Francis notes: Hieronymus non pepercit conatibus ut locupletaret suam bibliothecam, in qua semper vidit officinam necessariam ad fidem intellegendam vitamque spiritualem colendam.

“Jerome spared no effort in expanding his own library, which he always viewed as an indispensable workshop for understanding the faith and the spiritual life.”

We need to read more old books, and get away from the provincialism of the present. When you really try to give yourself to reading St. Francis’s actual works – not a modern writer’s version of them, but his actual works – or Augustine’s or Paul’s or Sophocles’s, you get an experience of another human being’s spiritual quest, which affects you. It changes the way you think. And the Bible is best of all for this – one of the oldest, and most spiritually broad of all the books available to us. St. Jerome certainly thought so – look at what he says about the sacramental nature of reading: Legimus sanctas Scripturas.

Ego corpus Iesu Evangelium puto; sanctas Scripturas puto doctrinam eius. Et quando dicit: Qui non comederit carnem meam et biberit sanguinem meum, licet et in Mysterio [eucharistico] possit intellegi, tamen vere corpus Christi et sanguis eius sermo Scripturarum est, doctrina divina est.

“We are reading the sacred Scriptures. For me, the Gospel is the body of Christ; for me, the holy Scriptures are his teaching. And when he says: whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood (Jn 6:53), even though these words can also be understood of the [Eucharistic] Mystery, Christ’s body and blood are really the word of Scripture, God’s teaching.”

This sacred approach to reading can transform your life; and since we always have to live our way into a new way of thinking, you start simply by reading better, more edifying books. The end result is what St. Jerome beautifully says about his friend Nepotianus: Lectione adsidua et meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam fecerat Christi.

“By constant reading and long contemplation he had made his heart a library of Christ.”

To make one’s heart a library of Christ – what a glorious proposition. With those words of Jerome we can understand why he is almost always pictured reading, and why his friend Postumianus said of him (in beautiful Latin): Totus semper in lectione, totus in libris est; non die neque nocte requiescit: aut legit aliquid semper aut scribit.

“He is always absorbed in his reading, always absorbed in his books; he does not stop day or night; he is always either reading or writing something.”m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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Of Books, Art and People

CELEBRATING ST. FRANCIS n BY LUCY GORDAN

O

Below left, Pope Francis signing Fratelli Tutti on the altar of the tomb of the saint in Assisi (Photo credit: Vatican Media). Below right, a view of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Below center: St. Francis by Jusepe de Ribera (Photo credit: Uffizi)

ctober 4 is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of Italy, ecology, animals, and tapestry makers. This year the celebrations were particularly significant and festive. Pope Francis went to Assisi on his first official trip outside Rome since the lockdown in March, to sign his third encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, at his namesake’s tomb in the Franciscan Basilica’s crypt. The text was originally written in Spanish and in part before the COVID emergency, but it was immediately translated into Arabic, French, English, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, German and Latin. Its eight chapters and 287 points present Pope Francis’ vision for a post-COVID world: its universal need for increased fraternity, dialogue, and solidarity, all for the common good. The pontiff emphasizes that the world can no longer afford to continue its “globalization of indifference.” To build a peaceful world, he continues, we must eliminate the injustices of the global economy, the nuclear arms race, capital punishment, and wars, now an anachronism. Not surprisingly, he advocates tolerance for immigrants and for the believers of other religions, especially Islam, citing five times his 2019 appeal with the grand imam of Egypt Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam. (In 1219, St. Francis traveled to the Holy Land to meet with the Sultan Melek-al-Kamal in an attempt to convert him.)

Like his second encyclical, Laudato Si’ (“Praised be to you,” subtitled “On care for our common home”), 54 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

officially published on June 18, 2015, Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers) was inspired by the teachings of St. Francis.

Laudato Si’ is a critique of consumerism, irresponsible “development,” environmental degradation and global warming. The words are the opening of each verse of St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures, written in 1224.

Instead, the phrase “All Brothers” is the phrase with which St. Francis began his Admonitions, 28 short and deeply spiritual exhortations written by the saint throughout his lifetime to encourage and guide his Franciscan brothers in their vocation.

The title’s short-sighted critics should be reminded that Bergoglio’s first words as Pope from St. Peter’s balcony were, “Fratelli e sorelle, buona sera.” (“Brothers and Sisters, good evening.”)

Three other recent events are connected to St. Francis.

In chronological order: • the release in English last month of the 1 hour and 22 minute cartoon for kids, Saint Francis of Assisi. It is viewable on YouTube like the cartoons about the lives of St. Catherine of Siena (2018) and St. Anthony of Padua (2019).

• the publication by Mondadori on September 29th of La tunica e la tonaca: due vite straordinarie, due messaggi indelebili, (The Tunic and the Tonic: Two Extraordinary Lives, Two Indelible Messages)

by Father Enzo Fortunato, which juxtaposes the lives of

Jesus and His disciple St. Francis. Forrence, one online and one in situ. Since tunato points out that Jesus was denudthe beginning of the lockdown, Direced and ridiculed by His Roman soldier tor Eike Schmidt and his staff have jailers who cast lots for His clothes, added many virtual tours of the musewhereas St. Francis, the son of a um’s collections to its website. The wealthy cloth merchant, undressed and most recent, released on October 3, is exchanged his expensive garments for entitled Il Francesco Fratello Univera beggar’s grimy garb. sale—vita e culto del poverello d’AsSo St. Francis’ robe had first besisi (Universal Brother Francis—the longed to a castaway, while Jesus, not life and cult of the poor man from AsHis clothes, was the castaway. Perhaps sisi) (www.uffizi.it/mostre-virtuali/sanunknowingly, the book’s message is francesco). similar to Tutti Fratelli.

Even if Giotto’s frescoes of St. FranFor both Pope Francis and Father cis’ life on the walls of Assisi’s Basilica Enzo, St. Francis’ torn robe symbolizes Eike Schmidt and Antonio Godoli, the are the most famous depictions of the architect/restorer at the Uffizi in front of the the sick and disoriented state of our saint, the Uffizi’s tour is worth a click. column with St. Francis. (Photo credit: Uffizi). world today. Just as St. Clare had Its 29 artworks dating from 1240 to The cover of Fr. Enzo’s latest book, La Tunica e la Tonaca mended St. Francis’s robe, we must re1925 include paintings, etchings, and pair the world. The pandemic has clearly given us this opsculptures of or with the saint or of locations important in portunity. We must put aside our personal differences his life. With the exception of Filippo Lippi, El Greco, through dialogue, improve international relations, and diand Jusepe de Ribera, however, none are by householdminish economic inequality. With the lives of Jesus and name artists. Also on October 3, after extensive restoraSt. Francis as our compass, our goal must be to create a tion lasting almost 20 years, the Uffizi reopened on its just and peaceful world. Spokesperson for the Franciscan ground floor an area that had been long off-limits except Friary in Assisi, Father Enzo is the author of sevwith special permission. Finally, once again it’s eral other books about St. Francis, all available on the museum’s tourist itinerary. on the internet.

When the Renaissance architect, painter, As for the robes worn by Christ, one tradition and art historian Giorgio Vasari built the Uffizi says that the seamless tunic of Christ was in c.1560, he incorporated this area, which brought to Trier in Germany by St. Helena, the once had been part of the site of an important Emperor Constantine’s mother. It was first men11th-century church, San Pietro in Scheraggio, tioned in the 11th century, but has been docuitself built on the site of a pre-existing church. mented as being in the east choir of Trier’s Vasari reduced the size of the church and incathedral since May 1, 1196. corporated some of the church’s columns in the Another tradition places the robe, said to Uffizi’s walls. have been worn by Jesus during or shortly before His Painted on one such column is a fresco of St. crucifixion, in Argenteuil’s Basilica Saint-Denys, near Francis with his stigmata and wearing his brown habit Paris in France. The Byzantine Empress Irene supposedly belted with a cord. At the column’s base to the left of St. gave it to Charlemagne around 800 AD and he gave it to Francis are pictorial traces of the fresco’s lady sponsor. his daughter Theocrate, the Abbess of Argenteuil. Only During the Middle Ages, San Pietro in Scheraggio four pieces have survived. Still other traditions claim the (meaning St. Peter Above the Sewers) was a large buildrobe is in various Eastern Orthodox churches, notably in ing with three naves, a crypt and a cemetery.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, Georgia.

Besides its religious obligations, it had an important As for St. Francis’ robe, four Franciscan churches in role in the Florentine government’s administration during central Italy claim they each have one. One is Assisi’s those times.

Basilica; a second is in the Sanctuary of La Verna near The solemn swearing-in ceremony of the Priori delle Arezzo in Tuscany; a third in the Basilica of the Holy Arti, a kind of 6-member city council or guild, took place Cross (Santa Croce) in Florence, and a fourth in the in the church, as did its subsequent meetings. It is docuBasilica of Cortona, also near Arezzo. Accelerator Mass mented that Dante served from June 15 to August 25, Spectrometry (AMS) tests have shown that the robe in 1300, and took his oath here.

Florence is 100 years too young to have belonged to St. The restorers’ installation of a transparent floor in the Francis; the other three date to St. Francis’ lifetime. one nave incorporated by Vasari has made it possible to • There are two new installations at the Uffizi in Floadmire the church’s medieval remains below.m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 55

THE END EXCERPTS FROM LORD OF THE WORLD

“All languages seem the same to him” 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 I I (continued) What remains is to work out this new lesson, to bring every action, word and thought to the bar of Love and Justice; and this will be, no doubt, the task of years. Every code must be reversed; every barrier thrown down; party must unite with party, country with country, and continent with continent. There is no longer the fear of fear, the dread of the hereafter, or the paralysis of strife. Man has groaned long enough in the travails of birth; his blood has been poured out like water through his own foolishness; but at length he understands himself and is at peace.

“Let it be seen at least that England is not behind the nations in this work of reformation; let no national isolation, pride of race, or drunkenness of wealth hold her hands back from this enormous work. The responsibility is incalculable, but the victory certain. Let us go softly, humbled by the knowledge of our crimes in the past, confident in the hope of our achievements in the future, towards that reward which is in sight at last—the reward hidden so long by the selfishness of men, the darkness of religion, and the strife of tongues—the reward promised by one who knew not what he said and denied what he asserted—Blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful, for they shall inherit the earth, be named the children of God, and find mercy.” ***** Oliver, white to the lips, with his wife kneeling now beside him, turned the page and read one more short paragraph, marked as being the latest news.

“It is understood that the Government is in communication with Mr. Felsenburgh.”

II “Ah! it is journalese,” said Oliver, at last, leaning back. “Tawdry stuff! But—but the thing!”

Mabel got up, passed across to the window-seat, and sat down.

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INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

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

Her lips opened once or twice, but she said nothing.

“My darling,” cried the man, “have you nothing to say?”

She looked at him tremulously a moment.

“Say!” she said. “As you said, What is the use of words?”

“Tell me again,” said Oliver. “How do I know it is not a dream?”

“A dream,” she said. “Was there ever a dream like this?”

Again she got up restlessly, came across the floor, and knelt down by her husband once more, taking his hands in hers.

“My dear,” she said, “I tell you it is not a dream. It is reality at last. I was there too—do you not remember? You waited for me when all was over—when He was gone out—we saw Him together, you and I. We heard Him—you on the platform and I in the gallery.

We saw Him again pass up the Embankment as we stood in the crowd. Then we came home and we found the priest.”

Her face was transfigured as she spoke. It was as of one who saw a Divine Vision. She spoke very quietly, without excitement or hysteria.

Oliver stared at her a moment; then he bent forward and kissed her gently.

“Yes, my darling; it is true. But I want to hear it again and again.

Tell me again what you saw.”

“I saw the Son of Man,” she said. “Oh! there is no other phrase.

The Saviour of the world, as that paper says. I knew Him in my heart as soon as I saw Him—as we all did—as soon as He stood there holding the rail. It was like a glory round his head. I understand it all now. It was He for whom we have waited so long; and He has come, bringing Peace and Goodwill in His hands. When He spoke, I knew it again. His voice was as—as the sound of the sea— as simple as that—as—as lamentable—as strong as that.—Did you not hear it?”

Oliver bowed his head.

“I can trust Him for all the rest,” went on the girl softly. “I do not know where He is, nor when He will come back, nor what He will do. I suppose there is a great deal for Him to do, before He is fully known—laws, reforms—that will be your business, my dear.

And the rest of us must wait, and love, and be content.”

Oliver again lifted his face and looked at her.

“Mabel, my dear—-” the future, and the absorbing power of the personality under whose “Oh! I knew it even last night,” she said, “but I did not know that dominion he had fallen last night. All else seemed insignificant I knew it till I awoke to-day and remembered. I dreamed of Him all now—even his mother’s defection, her illness—all paled before night…. Oliver, where is He?” this new dawn of an unknown sun. And in an hour he would know He shook his head. more; he was summoned to Westminster to a meeting of the whole “Yes, I know where He is, but I am under oath—-” House; their proposals to Felsenburgh were to be formulated; it She nodded quickly, and stood up. was intended to offer him a great position.

“Yes. I should not have asked that. Well, we are content to wait.”

Yes, as Mabel had said; this was now their work—to carry into There was silence for a moment or two. Oliver broke it. effect the new principle that had suddenly become incarnate in this “My dear, what do you mean when you say that He is not yet grey-haired young American—the principle of Universal Brotherknown?” hood.

“I mean just that,” she said. “The rest only know what He has (End, 2nd part, Book II, The Encounter. To be done—not what He is; but that, too, will come in time.” continued)m “And meanwhile—-” “Meanwhile, you must work; the rest will come by U.S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership, and bye. Oh! Oliver, be strong and faithful.”

Management and Circulation She kissed him quickly, and went out.

1. Title of publication: Inside the Vatican 2. Publication No. 1068-8579 ***** 3. Date of Filing: October 1, 2020. 4. Frequency of Issue: Monthly Oliver sat on without moving, staring, as his habit except combined issues June/July and August/September, with occawas, out at the wide view beyond his windows. This sional special supplements. 5. No. of Issues Published Annually: 10 6. time yesterday he was leaving Paris, knowing the fact Annual Subscription Price: $49.95 7. Mailing Address of Known Office indeed—for the delegates had arrived an hour of Publication: 3050 Gap Knob Road, New Hope, KY, 40052. 8. Mailing before—but ignorant of the Man. Now he knew the Address of Headquarters or General Business Offices of the Publisher: Man as well—at least he had seen Him, heard Him, 3050 Gap Knob Road, New Hope, KY, 40052. 9. Names and Complete and stood enchanted under the glow of His personalAddresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor. Publisher: Urbi et ity. He could explain it to himself no more than could Orbi Communications, 3050 Gap Knob Road, New Hope, KY, 40052. any one else—unless, perhaps, it were Mabel. The Editor: Robert Moynihan. Managing Editor: Micaela Biferali, Via delle others had been as he had been: awed and overcome, Mura Aurelie 7c, Rome, Italy, 00165. 10. Owner: Robert Moynihan, 14 yet at the same time kindled in the very depths of their W Main St, Front Royal, VA 22630. 11. Known Bondholders, Mortsouls. They had come out—Snowford, Cartwright, gagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or Pemberton, and the rest—on to the steps of Paul’s More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: None.

House, following that strange figure. They had 12.

The purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and intended to say something, but they were dumb as the exempt status for federal income tax purposes Has Not Changed they saw the sea of white faces, heard the groan and During the Preceding 12 Months.

13. Publication Title: Inside the Vatithe silence, and experienced that compelling wave of can.

14.

Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: Actual: Aug/Sep 2020. magnetism that surged up like something physical, as Average: October 2019 through September 2020. 15. Extent and the volor rose and started on that indescribable Nature of Circulation: progress.

Average No. Actual No. Once more he had seen Him, as he and Mabel Copies Each Copies of stood together on the deck of the electric boat that carIssue During Single Issue Preceding Nearest to ried them south. The white ship had passed along 12 Months Filing Date overhead, smooth and steady, above the heads of that A. Total No. copies (Net Press Run) 6,410 6,200 vast multitude, bearing Him who, if any had the right B. Paid Circulation to that title, was indeed the Saviour of the world. Then 1. Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions they had come home, and found the priest.

Stated on Form 3541.

4,862 4,655 That, too, had been a shock to him; for, at first 3. Sales Through Dealers and Other sight, it seemed that this priest was the very man he Non-USPS Paid Distribution 508 478 had seen ascend the rostrum two hours before. It was C. Total Paid Circulation (Sum of 15B1 and 15B3) 5,370 5,133 an extraordinary likeness—the same young face and D. Free Distribution white hair. Mabel, of course, had not noticed it; for 1. by Mail 382 381 she had only seen Felsenburgh at a great distance; and E. Total Free Distribution 382 381 he himself had soon been reassured. And as for his F. Total Distribution 5,752 5,514 G. Copies Not Distributed.

658 686 mother—it was terrible enough; if it had not been for H. Total (Sum of G, H1 and H2) 6,410 6,200 Mabel there would have been violence done last I. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation 93% 93% night. How collected and reasonable she had been!

16. Statement of Ownership will be printed in the November 2020 issue of And, as for his mother—he must leave her alone for this Publication. I certify that the statements made by me above are correct the present. By and bye, perhaps, something might be and complete.

Robert Moynihan, Editor done. The future! It was that which engrossed him— NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

57

VATICAN WATCH

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

SEPTEMBER THURSDAY 17

POPE FRANCIS THANKS SICK AND ELDERLY PRIESTS FOR PROCLAIMING GOSPEL OF LIFE Pope Francis thanked sick and elderly priests for their quiet witness to the Gospel in a message that conveyed the sanctifying value of frailty and suffering.

“It is especially to you, dear confreres, who experience old age or the bitter hour of illness, that I feel the need to say thank you,” the Pope wrote. “Thank you for your testimony of faithful love of God and the Church. Thank you for the silent proclamation of the Gospel of life.” The message was published on September 17.

“For our priestly life, frailty can be ‘like a refiner’s fire or a fuller’s lye’ (Malachi 3:2) which, raising us towards God, refines and sanctifies us. We are not afraid of suffering: the Lord carries the cross with us!” the Pope said. His words were addressed to a gathering of elderly and sick clergy at a Marian shrine in Lombardy, the Italian region hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

MONDAY 21

EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL IN GOD’S EYES, FRANCIS TELLS CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER Pope Francis told children with autism spectrum disorder that everyone is beautiful in God’s eyes. The Pope welcomed the children who came from the Ambulatorium Sonnenschein (“Sunshine”) in St. Pölten, Austria, to the Vatican on September 21.

He said: “God created the world with a wide variety of flowers of all kinds of colors. Each flower has its own beauty, which is unique. Also, each one of us is beautiful in the eyes of God, and He loves us. This makes us feel the need to say to God: thank you!” The children were accompanied to the audience in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall by their parents, as well as Johanna Mikl-Leitner, governor of Lower Austria, and Bishop Alois Schwarz of St. Pölten. St. Pölten is the capital of Lower Austria, one of the country’s nine states.

FRIDAY 18

POPE FRANCIS MAKES SURPRISE DONATION TO STRUGGLING POULTRY WORKERS Pope Francis has made a surprise donation to struggling poultry workers in Italy. The regional newspaper Il Quotidiano del Molise reported September 18 that the Pope donated 10,000 euros (almost $12,000) after he heard about the plight of the employees in Bojano, a town in the province of Campobasso in south-central Italy.

Fr. Alberto Conti, director of Caritas in the Diocese of Trivento, explained that the Pope was moved when he heard 58 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

that 273 workers face an uncertain future as a government subsidy that they are currently receiving is due to expire in November.

FRIDAY 25

IN A MESSAGE TO THE UN, POPE FRANCIS DECRIES ABORTION AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN Pope Francis told the United Nations that denying the existence of human life in the womb through abortion does not solve problems.

“Unfortunately, some countries and international institutions are also promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided in the humanitarian response to the pandemic,” Pope Francis said in a virtual address to the UN on September 25.

“It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child,” the Pope said.

Speaking to the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly via a video message, Pope Francis said that the problem of today’s “throwaway culture” was rooted in a disrespect for human dignity.

SUNDAY 27

POPE FRANCIS MEETS ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH LEADER AMID CLASHES IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH Pope Francis met with Armenian Apostolic Church leader Karekin II because of growing clashes with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an area internationally recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Conflict over the enclave, which erupted into war from 1988 to 1994, has grown in recent months, with Turkey declaring support for Azerbaijan and other states calling for a diplomatic resolution.

With new fighting at the border during the night of September 26-27, Karekin II, known as the Catholicos of All Armenians, asked to move up his meeting with Pope Francis.

The two met a day early, on the morning of September 27, before the Pope’s weekly Angelus address.

WEDNESDAY 30

POPE FRANCIS CALLS FOR NEW ECONOMIC MODEL TO REBUILD POST-CORONAVIRUS WORLD Pope Francis called for a new economic model to help rebuild the world after the coronavirus pandemic.

In his general audience address in the San Damaso Courtyard, within the Vatican’s apostolic palace, on September 30, the Pope criticized “trickle-down theory,” which proposes that tax breaks for high earners will ultimately yield economic

Opposite, Pope Francis and Catholicos Karekin II, patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, arrive for an ecumenical meeting and prayer for peace in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia, June 25 in 2016 (CNS photo/Paul Haring).

Below, the Sistine Chapel is one place closed to pilgrims under the Vatican’s renewed anti-COVID measures

benefits for the rest of society. He said: “And certainly we cannot expect the economic model that underlies unfair and unsustainable development to solve our problems. It has not and will not, because it cannot do so, even though some false prophets continue to promise the ‘trickle-down’ that never comes.”

OCTOBER FRIDAY 16

VATICAN MINTS COIN WITH ECOLOGICAL THEME A new coin minted by the Vatican City State depicts a woman carrying the earth in her womb.

The artist who designed the coin, which commemorates Earth Day, has said the design was his response to the ecological theme he was commissioned to portray.

The Vatican City State Mint released a new series of coins October 16, with themes on migrants, Earth Day, the painter Raphael, and the Acts of the Apostles.

The 10 euro silver coin marks the 50th anniversary of “World Earth Day.” The front of the coin is the image of a pregnant woman embracing her round belly, which looks like a globe. Stalks of wheat are in her hair.

Luigi Oldiani, the Italian sculptor and Catholic who designed the coin, told CNA that he wanted to imagine “the earth as a young, pregnant woman who protects the earth — a young mother.”

FRIDAY 23

CARDINAL ANGELO BECCIU AND SECRETARIAT OF STATE FUNDS Vatican prosecutors requested evidence from Rome in an ongoing investigation into allegations that Cardinal Angelo Becciu used Secretariat of State funds to help family members, according to an Italian newspaper.

La Repubblica reported October 23 that Vatican prosecutors have sent letters rogatory to Rome’s public prosecutor’s office as they investigate claims that Becciu used his position to give money to companies owned by several of his brothers.

Letters rogatory are a formal request from courts in one country to the courts of another country for judicial assistance.

The Italian cardinal has insisted that the accusations that he misused Vatican funds to benefit his brothers are false.

Becciu resigned as Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints and from the rights extended to members of the College of Cardinals September 24, reportedly in relation to concerns about his management of Vatican financial affairs, including the controversial purchase of a London apartment.

WEDNESDAY 28

POPE FRANCIS: RESPECT LIFE IN POLAND Pope Francis told Polish Catholics Wednesday that he asks St. John Paul II’s intercession for respect for life, amid

protests in Poland over a law prohibiting abortion. “Through the intercession of Mary Most Holy and the holy Polish pontiff, I ask God to inspire in the hearts of all respect for the life of our brothers, especially of the most fragile and defenseless, and to give strength to those who welcome it and take care of it, even when it requires heroic love,” Pope Francis said on October 28 in his message to Polish pilgrims.

The Pope’s comments came days after Poland’s constitutional court ruled that a law permitting abortion for fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional on October 22.

Protestors opposed to this pro-life decision were filmed interrupting Catholic Sunday Masses following the ruling.

NOVEMBER SUNDAY 1

A SOLEMN SUNDAY MASS FOR THE DOGMA OF THE ASSUMPTION Catholics in Rome marked the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption on Sunday, November 1, with a solemn Mass offered by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza.

Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of the Virgin Mary formally as a dogma of the Catholic faith on November 1, 1950, invoking papal infallibility to proclaim in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus that “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

In doing so, the Pope confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary as the perennial teaching of the Church, recognizing the longstanding traditions by which the Church has celebrated the Assumption throughout its history.

WEDNESDAY 4

VATICAN MUSEUMS CLOSE — AGAIN The Vatican announced November 4 that the Vatican Museums will close until December 3 as Italy implements further coronavirus restrictions.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree to close all museums in Italy from November 5 until December 3 in response to the growing number of coronavirus cases in Italy. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the Vatican Museums have followed the Italian government’s measures.

Along with the Vatican Museums, the Scavi Tour of St. Peter’s tomb, as well as tours of the Pontifical Villas at Castel Gandolfo, will close to visitors starting November 5, according to the Holy See press office.

Europe is currently experiencing a second wave of coronavirus cases. Italy’s health ministry reported 28,244 new COVID-19 cases and 353 deaths in 24 hours on November 3, with 2,225 coronavirus patients, including Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, currently being treated in intensive care units.n NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN

59

PEOPLE B

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BECKY DERKS with G. Galazka, CNA and CNS photos

n FRANCIS NAMES LEADING PHYSICIST TO PONTIFICAL ACADEMY

Pope Francis appointed the director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

The Holy See press office said September 29 that the Pope had named Fabiola Gianotti as an “ordinary member” of the academy.

Gianotti, an Italian experimental particle physicist, is the first female director-general of CERN, which operates the world’s largest particle accelerator at its laboratory on the border between France and Switzerland.

Last year, Gianotti became the first director-general (since CERN was founded in 1954) to be re-elected for a second full five-year term.

(CNA) n NORWAY’S NEWEST CATHOLIC BISHOP IS CISTERCIAN MONK ERIK VARDEN

After 11 years, the Catholic Church in central Norway has a bishop again.

Fr. Erik Varden, a Cistercian monk and spiritual writer, was consecrated a bishop at the Cathedral of St. Olav in Trondheim on October 3.

Varden, 46, is also the first Norwegian-born bishop of Trondheim in modern times. His five predecessors were German.

The bishop-elect told CNA by email that he had “been warmly and kindly received. I now look forward to getting to know the faithful of the prelature in its length and breadth, for it covers a large area.”

The Territorial Prelature of Trondheim spans 21,806 miles and serves an estimated 15,000 Catholics.

(CNA) 60 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

POLISH PRESIDENT DISCUSSES “PROMOTION OF THE FAMILY” WITH POPE FRANCIS Polish President Andrzej Duda met with Pope Francis during the former’s first official trip abroad since his narrow election victory in July.

The Holy See press office said September 25 that after his audience with the Pope, Duda met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States. “The cordial discussions took place in the context of the centenary of the birth of St. John Paul II and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the independent autonomous trade union Solidarność [Solidarity],” the statement said. “Some topics of mutual interest related to the mission of the Church were discussed, including the promotion of the family and the education of young people.”

“Finally, attention turned to some international issues, such as the current health emergency, the regional situation and security.” (CNA)

n “GRANT ME AN UNDIVIDED HEART”: FIRST BIOGRAPHY REVEALS SPIRITUAL WRITINGS OF SR. CLARE CROCKETT

She had moments of darkness and struggle, but God’s love always triumphed.” (CNA)

On April 16, 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador, killing at least 676 people, including a young religious sister called Sr. Clare Crockett.

Two years after her death, her order released a film about her remarkable life in both English and Spanish. All or Nothing: Sr. Clare Crockett now has more than 3.5 million views on YouTube.

September saw the publication of the first full-length biography of Sr. Clare, amid a growing cult around the woman who abandoned a promising television career to pursue her vocation.

Sr. Clare Crockett: Alone with Christ Alone is written by Sr. Kristen Gardner, who was also responsible for the documentary.

“The most important discovery was her personal writings,” Sr. Kristen told CNA. “She had several notebooks where she would write her personal reflections or prayers. It has been beautiful to see her interior life and her relationship with God.

n CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS SISTER AND MIGRANT ADVOCATE NAMED ONE OF 2020’S ‘“MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE”

Sister Norma Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus and executive director of Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley, was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People for 2020.

Pimentel has for the past several years been a visible and highly active advocate for migrants in need of humanitarian aid at the US-Mexico border.

“It’s amazing how we see human suffering in such magnitude, right across from the United States,” Sister Pimentel told CNA in an October 2019 interview.

“It’s something that we could have handled so [differently] — these are refugees, people who are fleeing violence, asking for protection, and we deny that opportunity to have them come in and wait here.” (CNA)

n POPE FRANCIS PRAYS FOR “WITNESS OF CHARITY,” CATHOLIC PRIEST KILLED IN ITALY

for Fr. Roberto and for “all the priests, sisters, lay people who work with people in need and rejected by society.” (CNA)

Pope Francis led a moment of silent prayer for Fr. Roberto Malgesini, a 51-year-old priest who was stabbed to death in Como, Italy, on September 15.

“I join in the pain and prayers of his family members and the Como community and, as his bishop said, I praise God for the witness, that is, for the martyrdom, of this witness of charity towards the poorest,” Pope Francis said at his general audience September 16.

Malgesini was known for his care for the homeless and migrants in the northern Italian diocese. He was killed near his parish, St. Rocco’s Church, by one of the migrants he helped.

Speaking to pilgrims in the Vatican’s San Damaso Courtyard, the Pope noted that Malgesini was killed “by a person in need whom he himself helped, a person with a mental illness.”

Pausing for a moment of silent prayer, he asked those present to pray

n CARDINAL URGES WORLD TO HELP RESTORE LEBANON, NOT LET IT “FALL INTO DESPAIR” The Catholic Church in Lebanon plays a leading role in shaping public opinion in that troubled country because it is free and speaks the truth, Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch, said.

“The Church is free. The patriarch and the bishops are free and we say the truth as we see it. We are not looking for anything and this is why our word is heard and appreciated,” he recently told an internet audience.

Cardinal Rai headlined the videoconference and offered a detailed description of the current situation in Lebanon and its prospects for the future.

“Lebanon, the last Christian foothold in the Middle East, is home for 18 Christian and Muslim confessional communities, living together equal in rights and duties. It is the only democratic secular state in the Arab world. It is an example

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSOR AND FRENCH PHILOSOPHER WIN RATZINGER PRIZE An Australian professor and a French philosopher were named the winners of this year’s Ratzinger Prize on October 1.

Former Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, president of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation, announced that the 2020 award would be shared by Tracey Rowland and Jean-Luc Marion.

Rowland holds the St. John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia. A member of the International Theological Commission, her books include Ratzinger’s Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI and Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed. Marion, a former student of the major 20th-century philosopher Jacques Derrida, is a member of the Académie française, the exclusive group of 40 French intellectuals known as “immortals.” He is a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. He is associated with the idea of “saturated phenomena,” and is regarded as one of the world’s leading Catholic thinkers. (CNA)

of unity in diversity,” Cardinal Rai said.

“Lebanon is experiencing unprecedented economic, social and financial problems, and is facing, as a result, an existential danger like never before in its history,” he added.

The current problems include the coronavirus pandemic and the human and physical devastation caused by an explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4 that killed 200 people, injured 6,000 and left at least 300,000 homeless, Cardinal Rai said. These problems are exacerbated by decades of political and financial corruption.

(The Catholic Universe) n CARDINAL SAYS SYRIA HAS BEEN HIT WITH A “POVERTY BOMB”

After nearly 10 years of war, the Syrian people have now been hit with a “poverty bomb” amid the coronavirus pandemic, a Vatican diplomat said this week.

Cardinal Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio to Syria since 2008, said that many Syrians had died in the country’s long conflict from various types of weapons, “from cluster bombs, to barrel bombs, to missiles launched everywhere.”

“However, if there were these bombs before, now there is what I call the poverty bomb: according to United Nations data, this bomb is hitting more than 80% of people, and this is very serious. You can see the effects of hunger, malnutrition of children, above all,” Zenari said in an interview published in L’Osservatore Romano September 18.

Syria is facing an unprecedented hunger crisis, according to the United Nations World Food Programme, which estimates that 9.3 million Syrians are food insecure — an increase of 1.4 million people from the beginning of 2020 as economic instability has increased the cost of food.

(CNA)m NOVEMBER 2020 INSIDE THE VATICAN 61

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Stefano Navarrini illustration

n BY MOTHER MARTHA

B

orn at Alba in Piemonte, Oscar Farinetti is the maverick entrepreneur of Italian food and cuisine. In January 2007 he founded “EATALY,” opening his first marketplace store of top-quality, exclusively Italian food and wine plus enogastronomic-related products in an abandoned Carpano Vermouth factory in Turin. A decade later outside Bologna, he added to his “empire” the agri-food theme park “FICO,” an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Contadina or the Italian Farmers’ Production Center.

According to the company’s website there are 40 some “EATALY” stores around the world, with about half in Italy: in Turin, Alba, Bari, Bologna, Chieri, Florence, Forlì, Genova, Piacenza, Pinerolo, Trieste and Rome.

In Rome’s store, previously an abandoned air terminal and now the biggest “EATALY” venue in the world at 170,000 square feet, there are 22,000 different products on sale. Outside Italy, “EATALY” is located in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey, the UAE, and the United States. Its American venues are in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Hollywood, Los Vegas, and two in Manhattan. In 2019, “EATALY” opened in Paris and Toronto; other locations in the planning stages will be in Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Lausanne, London, Mexico City, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington, D.C. The recipient in 2013 of the “America Award” from the Italy-USA Foundation, Farinetti, who in 2015 resigned as CEO in favor of his son Nicola, is also the author of several books, publishing one almost every year since 2008. They’re about his family, businesses, philosophy of life, wine, and food. Speaking of food, since October 1, 2016, he’s collaborated with “Slow Food,” which is also the publisher of his latest volume entitled Serend!pity, published last May during lockdown.

In the foreword, Farinetti explains the reason for his choice of title and the volume’s organization: “Serend!pity is so-named because originally it signified important discoveries which happened by chance when the research was aimed at discovering something else. Over the years it’s evolved to mean happy unexpected events.” Serend!pity contains 50 short stories about foods or drinks discovered 1) because of a production mistake: Coca Cola or Gorgonzola; 2) of those

discovered while trying to fix a mistake: panettone, Russian salad and Guinness beer, and 3) of food products: pepperoncino and the ice cream cone, or dishes like risotto alla Milanese which have unexpected histories.

Subscribers to Inside the Vatican will remember my story, “Who Invented Cappuccino?” in the October 2017 issue, telling how this iconic Italian drink was first concocted during the late 1600s in Vienna, not in Italy, either by the Italian monk Marco D’Aviano or by the Polish spy Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki.

In Serend!ty, Farinetti recounts the Polish origins of a second Italian gastronomic icon: Babà al rhum. (So it’s not Neapolitan, as we’ve always thought.) He quotes two different versions told to him by Gennaro Esposito, the jolly owner/chef of a superb restaurant with two Michelin stars, “Torre del Saracino” in the town of Vico Equense on the Amalfi Coast.

It seems that Stanislaw I (1677-1766), twice King of Poland as well as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Duke of Lorraine, and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, who lived in exile in France from 1709 on, loved babka, then a kind of nougat made with saffron and candied fruit. He loved it so much that when it dried out, he fell into a depression so soaked his babka in madeira. Esposito’s second version recounts that Stanislaw was once so depressed that his babka had grown so hard and stale that he threw it across the room, hitting and breaking a bottle of madeira that doused it. A third version, not Esposito’s, recounts that Stanislaw was obliged to soak his babka because he had few and quite rotted teeth.

The story continues that, when Maria, Stanislaw’s daughter, married the French King Louis XV, she took with her to Versailles her father’s Polish pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer. Replacing madeira with rum, Stohrer’s recipe became such a success that a generation later, when Archduchess Marie-Caroline of Austria, sister of ill-fated French Queen Marie-Antoinette, married the Bourbon King Ferdinand IV, she brought with her Stohrer’s recipe to Naples. For the most special babà in Paris go to: Stohrer, Le Train Bleu, Arnaud Nicholas, and Bistrot Paul Bert: in Naples: Antico Forno Attanasio, Pasticceria Bellavia, Pasticceria Capriccio di Salvatore Capparelli, Pasticceria Carraturo, Scarturchio, and Gran Caffè Gambrinus.m

OSCAR FARINETTI, EATALY, AND SEREND!PITY

Oscar Farinetti; the cover of Serend!pity; babà at Gran Caffè Gambrinus in Naples; portrait of King Stanislaw I; La Pâtisserie Stohrer in Paris

62 INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER 2020

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