Letter #3, 2025, Friday, January 17: Top Ten 2024 #8

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Letter #3, 2025, Friday, January 17: Top Ten 2024 #8

[2025-01-17]

[Engleză]

Two bits of news in recent days:

(1) Pope Francis fell in his room in the Domus Santa Marta at 4:30 a.m. and hurt his arm slightly (he is now wearing a sling), and

(2) a new autobiography by the Pope gives his views on the liturgy and on priests attached celebration of the Mass according to the old rite, remarks which have been widely quoted; the book also suggests that Francis has no intention of resigning the papacy or of leaving office any time soon.

Here are two reports on these items (the italics are my own emphasis):
(1) Pope Francis hurt in fall at Vatican residence for the second time in less than 6 weeks (link)

January 16, 2025 / 11:15 AM EST / CBS/AP

Rome — Pope Francis fell Thursday [January 16] and hurt his right arm, the Vatican said, just weeks after another apparent fall resulted in a bad bruise on his chin. Francis didn’t break his arm, but a sling was put on as a precaution, the Vatican spokesman said in a statement

On December 7, the pope whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall that resulted in a bad bruise.

The 88-year-old pope, who has battled health problems including long bouts of bronchitis, often has to use a wheelchair because of bad knees. He uses a walker or cane when moving around his apartment in the Santa Marta hotel in Vatican City.

The Vatican said that Thursday’s fall also occurred at Santa Marta, and the pope was later seen in audiences with his right arm in a sling.

Francis had part of one of his lungs removed when he was a young man in Argentina after suffering a severe bout of pneumonia.

***
(2) Pope’s autobiography, Hope, released (link)

January 14, 2025

Hope, an autobiography of Pope Francis, was released on January 14, published simultaneously in over 100 countries.

Described by the English-language publisher, Random House, the 320-page volume—written by the Pontiff in collaboration with the Italian journalist Carlo Musso—is the culmination of a six-year project that was originally planned to result in publication after the Pope’s death. But as the Jubilee Year 2025 approached, Pope Francis made the decision to release Hope early in the year.

In the book the 88-year-old Pontiff indicates that he does not intend to vacate Peter’s Throne soon. He reveals that he has never considered resigning, even when recovering from major abdominal surgery. As for his current health, he is adamant. “I am well,” he says. “The reality is, quite simply, that I am old.”

Not quite unprecedented

The publisher describes Hope as “a touching moral and spiritual testament that will fascinate readers throughout the world and will be Pope Francis’s legacy of hope for future generations.” In the book the Pope is especially revealing in recollections of his childhood, but less forthcoming about the difficulties and controversies he has encountered at the Vatican.

Random House advertises the book as the first autobiography ever published by a reigning Roman Pontiff. That claim is technically accurate, although earlier Popes (including Benedict XVI) had published memoirs in various forms before being elected to the papacy, or (as with John Paul II) collaborated with writers of official biographies. In fact Pope Francis himself had released two first-person accounts in cooperation with journalists: Let Us Dream, with Austen Ivereigh, published in 2020l and Life: My Story through History, with Aubrey Botsford, released just last year.

Questions left unanswered

The most memorable sections of Hope are the Pope’s recollections of his childhood in Buenos Aires and his early years in ministry there. He explains how his background shaped his attitudes, particularly his care for migrants (since his family had migrated from Italy), his horror of war (based on his parents’ memories), and his concern for the poor (who were in evidence in the community around him). He writes with energy about discovering his vocation to the priesthood and serving as a priest, then eventually as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

However, the first reviews of Hope have noticed that the book says little about the mysteries and controversies of the Pope’s life. For example, the book sheds no light on the future Pontiff’s rocky experience as a Jesuit provincial and his subsequent exile. An AP story remarks that the Pope does not explain why his proposed doctoral dissertation, on the theologian Romano Guardini, was never finished.

Similarly, the Pontiff offers very little inside information about the major initiatives of his pontificate. The New York Times notes:

For example, Francis says little about his years at the Vatican. His comment that the “reform of the Roman Curia was the most demanding, and for a long while there was the greatest resistance to change” does not offer any details about the struggles that were involved.

While he expresses his sorrow about the scandals that have enveloped the Vatican, Pope Francis does not give any new information on that front, either. Shortly after his election, Pope Francis met with his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who presented him with a large box of documents. In Hope, Pope Francis confirms what many Vatican-watchers had strongly suspected: that the box contained “documents relating to the most difficult and painful situations: cases of abuse, corruption, dark dealings, wrongdoings.” But Pope Francis says nothing further about the information in those files, or what—if anything—he had done to address the scandals.

On the other hand the Pope is not at all reluctant to speak forcefully in Hope about his move to restrict the traditional Latin liturgy. He repeats his accusation that traditionalist priests are often dedicated to “clerical ostentation,” as demonstrated by “elegant and costly tailoring, lace, fancy trimmings, rochets.” He remarks: “These ways of dressing up sometimes conceal mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioral difficulties, a personal problem that may be exploited.”

***

An appreciation of the Byzantine liturgy

These remarks about the liturgy have been widely quoted, leading many to express sadness and disappointment that Pope Francis speaks in such terms about those priests who have an affection for the old liturgy.

However, many forget that the Pope has made favorable remarks about the Byzantine liturgy, used by the Orthodox and by the eastern rite Catholic Churches.

For example, in July 2013, when he had been Pope for only four months, he made these remarks about the Orthodox liturgy during a prress conference on his plane returning from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for World Youth Day:

Pope Francis, July 28, 2013: In the Orthodox Churches, they have retained that pristine liturgy, which is so beautiful. We have lost some of the sense of adoration. The Orthodox preserved it; they praise God, they adore God, they sing, time does not matter. God is at the centre, and I would like to say, as you ask me this question, that this is a richness. Once, speaking of the Western Church, of Western Europe, especially the older Church, they said this phrase to me: Lux ex oriente, ex occidente luxus. Consumerism, comfort, they have done such harm. Instead, you retain this beauty of God in the centre, the reference point. When reading Dostoevsky – I believe that for all of us he is an author that we must read and reread due to his wisdom – one senses what the Russian soul is, what the eastern soul is. It is something that does us much good. We need this renewal, this fresh air from the East, this light from the East. John Paul II wrote about this in his Letter. But many times the luxus of the West makes us lose this horizon. I don’t know, but these are the thoughts that come to me. Thank you. (link)

Below, our choice for one of the “Top Ten” people of 2024, Top Ten 2024 #8: Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Nicaragua: “Remember, beloved brothers and sisters, fear paralyzes” —RM
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With the aid, and in the hope, of Christ, believers can
overcome any difficulties…
Here are the testimonies of 10 of His people
Top Ten 2024

It was a difficult year. Around the world there were wars and rumors of wars; brutally contentious elections; assassinations and assassination attempts; deadly storms, earthquakes and mudslides. Conflicts within the Church — excommunications, criminal trials, continuing abuse allegations and the tug-of-war between modernism and tradition — were sometimes just as painful.

Yet the Church is — in a way the world is not — consecrated and filled with grace by her divine Spouse, the Lord Jesus, who ever and always “makes all things new.”

The grace and peace of Christ is available to all Christians of good will, and in 2024, as in every year, it was the antidote to the sickness of our modern age, and the leavening of our lives otherwise weighed down by the consequences of sin.

Jesus did indeed, in 2024, somehow renew us and bring us joy and strength, and one way He accomplished this was through the lives and testimonies of His people. We have chosen 10 of them for your reflection here.

Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua

Defending the Church “With the courage of the glorious and resurrected Christ”

The name Daniel Ortega evokes, for those old enough to remember, images of Nicaragua’s Marxist “Sandinista” president engaged in a battle of wits — and weapons — against American President Ronald Reagan and the CIA-funded “Contras.” Ortega, first elected in 1985, then voted out in 1990, made several subsequent electoral runs. He finally succeeded in 2007 — as a kinder, gentler Ortega. He appeared more sympathetic to free-market principles and friendlier to the Catholic Church.

But soon enough, the old Ortega re-emerged. Fast forward to 2018, when Nicaraguan citizens began massively protesting his administration’s corruption, incompetence and sham elections. Ortega responded by seizing control of all branches of government, jailing critics and restricting religious freedom.

One of the churchmen who would not be muzzled by the government was the bishop of Matagalpa, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, 58, who criticized Ortega’s human and civil rights violations, in and out of the pulpit.

In June 2018, masked men armed with machetes arrived at the Matagalpa diocesan chancery, stealing, vandalizing and threatening those present (Bishop Álvarez was in Rome to brief the Pope on his country’s situation at the time).

In July 2019, during a pastoral visit in his diocese, he was warned by locals that he was under surveillance by armed men.

Despite the harassment, Bishop Álvarez continued his pastoral work and in February 2020 he published an ethical decalogue for politicians, with a view to the following year’s elections.

In June 2021, he called for tolerance, since “Nicaragua is experiencing serious and complex conflicts.” By then, the Nicaraguan police had confined four presidential candidates to their homes.

In 2022, Bishop Álvarez became a prime government target when he criticized President Ortega’s regime for jailing priests and seminarians, exiling an archbishop and 18 sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, and closing church radio stations. Police began to shadow him constantly; in May, he announced a hunger strike to protest government harassment of him and members of his family.

On August 4, Álvarez came out of his residence holding the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance in response to the police preventing his priests and collaborators from entering to celebrate Mass in the chancery chapel.

The Bishop came out and told them he would be “frightened and on my knees only before God.”

Riot police stood outside the door and kept them confined in the residence until August 19, when police broke into the chancery and took Bishop Álvarez away, along with priests, seminarians, and a layman.

The bishop was subsequently declared a traitor, stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Then, on February 9, 2023, Bishop Álvarez was freed along with a group of 222 political prisoners taken to the Managua airport to board a flight to the U.S.

On the aircraft steps, he stopped, turned around and declared, “Let the others be free. I will endure their punishment.” Ortega called his act “an absurd thing.”

In the US, prominent voices such as Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a Catholic, praised Bishop Álvarez. Smith told a Congressional hearing that “Bishop Álvarez is an innocent man who endures unspeakable suffering. His life and ministry have been an inspiring example of compassion, kindness, integrity, and selfless service.”

Meanwhile, Ortega’s government continued to harass the Catholic Church, closing institutions and imprisoning more priests, even prohibiting requests for prayers for Álvarez.

Finally, on January 14, 2024, Álvarez was deported to the Vatican, along with another bishop, 15 priests and two seminarians.

Bishop Álvarez was subsequently tapped by Pope Francis to participate in the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October-November 2024.

In a video posted while he was under house arrest in 2023, Bishop Álvarez offered a message of love that Catholics everywhere need to hear — especially as storm clouds of social persecution and religious intolerance gather, even in the “democratic” West: “We have to respond to hate with love, despair with hope, and fear with the strength and courage given to us by the glorious and resurrected Christ.”

“We have the joy of the one who tells us, ‘Courage, don’t be afraid,’” said the bishop. “Remember, beloved brothers and sisters, fear paralyzes.”

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

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