Edit: the New Springtime is more than fifty and it still hasn’t grown up, but it sure is getting old!!
Here is the English translation of the provided German text:
Don Camillo and the Church in Germany
The following dialogue, in the style of the famous "Don Camillo and Peppone" stories, comes from the pen of the former chief Vatican correspondent for the Italian broadcaster RAI, Aldo Maria Valli. Valli uses this literary device in his satirical-ironic "Conversations between Don Camillo and Jesus" to depict the current situation of the Church—in this specific case, particularly in the German-speaking world, fitting with the audience granted yesterday to representatives of the German Bishops' Conference by Pope Leo XIV.—in a way that is both pointed and painfully true. In the familiar, affectionately rough conversation between the contentious country priest and Christ on the Cross, Valli's concern for a Church that—as is his tenor—is increasingly losing its sense of the sacred is reflected. This is also true in this small scene:
Here is the English translation of the dialogue:
Don Camillo: – Jesus, did You see that?
Jesus: – See what, Don Camillo?
Don Camillo: – In Germany, a chaplain celebrated Mass dressed up as Dracula.
Jesus: – And why was that?
Don Camillo: – Because of Halloween.
Jesus: – Because of what?
Don Camillo: – A festival of Celtic origin, on the vigil of All Saints’ Day – with skeletons, witches, and all sorts of things meant to instill fear.
Jesus: – And what does a priest have to do with that?
Don Camillo: – He said: "I did it to reach people who would otherwise never come to us."
Jesus: – No wonder they don’t come to him if he does things like that.
Don Camillo: – And listen to how he defended himself: "Yes, I wore a Dracula cape, but I wasn't wearing vampire makeup."
Jesus: – Don Camillo, pray for your brother – he seems to me, to put it mildly, somewhat confused.
Don Camillo: – Jesus, where is all this leading?
Jesus: – I think, Don Camillo, the right question is rather: Where have we already arrived?
Don Camillo: – And what is Your answer, Lord?
Jesus: – I would say: We have arrived at a Church… to be afraid of.
Introduction/Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL
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