Where is the Vatican?

 When Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was traveling for his job at the Vatican, he had a Vatican passport. It's considered a bona fide diplomatic passport from the Holy See. Some official authorities think it's funny, both in a humorous and different way.  They've never seen one before.  But it's just an oddity.  However, some places (or I should say people) have never heard of the Vatican and are suspicious.  

"Is this a joke?"

"I never heard of the Holy See."

"Where is this Vatican?"

One time, in Malaysia, the Cardinal had to go sit for quite awhile, while the authorities did some research on the Holy See in Vatican City.  Finally, they concluded, "I know, the Vatican is a former French colony."*

* story from the book, Testimony of Hope The Spiritual Exercises of John Paul II by Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan

Armchair Vatican Strategists

Many times we read criticisms of our leaders from "armchair strategists."  Do they think they know all the extraneous pressures people are under?  Presently it's questioning why the pope told the USCB to stop plans regarding priestly sexual abuse.  The reason why the stop was put on is that there's a global summit happening in February to discuss and plan actions.

I wonder.  Do the critics miss the adjective global summit?  Tell me, what would be the use of the U.S. bishops deciding on an action plan now and then having to change it in February?

As soon as I heard about the global summit I could understand the pope's ordering a halt.  This was especially brought to mind the other day when I was reading about the role of the church during the French Revolution.  The church almost died.  Rome was occupied by the French.  In fact, the French Revolutionists' aim was to get rid of Christianity and replace it with Reason. There were many Catholics, including religious, priests, bishops even, who agreed, or were at least resigned that the papacy was dying.

What happened was that Napoleon came to power. Napoleon saw a use for the church.  He could use it as a unification factor.  Anyway, the pope had to make some deals that certainly raised eyebrows.  And today, I'm sure the media would be screaming their righteous objections.  (Think agreements with China.)  But we aren't privy to the big picture.  After the French Revolution, the pope had to appoint bishops he didn't want, in order to advance the interests of the future church.  And with what result?  Eventually, after almost dying, by the next century, the church emerged stronger, more unified, and had more of a stronger sense of its own Christ's mandated vision.  

Vatican

Congratulate me.  I just finished reading Malachi Martin's Vatican.  It's a tome!

 I admit that I skimmed some paragraphs and descriptions because I found them too detailed.  But informative!! I learned much.  I understand better.  I will pray for our church and priests more.

The temptations are so insidious.  The higher up in ranks you go, the more temptations you meet.

Tell your sons to be monks. There's too much evil out there.

The story revolves around Richard Lansing.  He is a priest from the USA who is sent to Rome. His assignments and movements up the ranks allow the reader to appreciate the inner workings of the politics of the church.  We meet good and bad guys.  We see parallels in these fictional popes to the real popes.

My interest really picked up when the latest scandals and information on Cardinal McCarrick came out.  I can easily see it happening in this book.

Yes,
I recommend the book, especially as a long, leisurely read.  That's when it will be enjoyed.  It is not a fast read.  But it is a good one.

New Vatican Website

A new Website enhances the Vatican on the net

BOOKS AND TECNOLOGY

At the end of June a new Website will add to the information available about the Holy See

VATICAN INSIDER STAFFVATICAN CITY

The website will go online on June 29, on the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul, and will be the Vatican's new information site.

The www.news.va website is being promoted by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The project involves a synergy between the communication tools which have been available on the internet for many years: online information provided by L' Osservatore Romano, Vatican Radio and the Fides news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, as well as news published on the Vatican's press office's websites and the Vatican Television Center.

Another Vatican Hypocrisy

Imagine the chutzpah!  The Vatican, which is accused of sexual immorality, has the nerve to tell its guests how to dress!  What host does that?   By what right does the Church have to dictate morality?

The Vatican has issued it's dress code for visitors.  An article addressing the norms gives the shocked reactions of some of the visitors.  I mean, really....

A man in shorts is speared by a guisarme.
A women in a halter top is pierced with a halberd.
An elderly couple wearing tank tops was threatened with the bardiche.
One innocent child was almost beheaded by a glaive.

....and the list goes on...

Well, isn't this what you would have expected from the headline "Vatican Accused of Hypocrisy over Short Skirts?"

I guess anything to sell newspaper, even hyperbolic misrepresentation.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Vatican accused of hypocrisy over short skirts dress code (telegraph.co.uk)

Vaticaneese

Since the Vatican has urged its clergy to "get with it" and use the internet to spread the Good News, it is now looking at itself. Good thing, too. I try. My chapter tries. My friends try. All serious Catholics try. But try as we might, it takes a person with a strong sense of purpose, to successfully plow through Vatican documents.

Catholic News Service explains what the Vatican is trying. I readily identified with the passage reading that the Vatican recognizes that even the most papal sympaticoes are discouraged when reading papal texts.


"This is a topic we need to face in an explicit manner. Many times we speak, but in a language that is no longer comprehensible," he said. He said that's something that may be the focus of an upcoming plenary session of his council.
...

Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the communications council, launched what might be called a trial balloon on the question of language in a recent article in Cultures and Faith, a publication of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
...

As things stand, he said, the church relies too much on texts, which often use a vocabulary and forms of expression that are experienced as "unintelligible and off-putting even by sympathetic audiences."

He said the church needs to recognize that today's younger audience is fluent in "a language rooted in the convergence of text, sound and images," and will quickly move on if their attention is not immediately engaged."



My chapter is currently reading Caritas in Veritate. Oy Vey!
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