Pope Francis went alone and "privately" to the Marian Column of the Immaculate Conception yesterday morning.
(Rome) Because of Corona, Pope Francis refrained from publicly paying homage to the Blessed Mother Mary together with the Romans on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception for the second year in a row - but at the same time confirmed that the world is only dealing with a pseudopandemic. A contradiction?
Yesterday, as in the previous year, the Pope went to the Marian Column in the center of Rome early in the morning to undertake “private worship” of the Blessed Mother. The time of this "semi-clandestine" action was deliberately not announced in order to "avoid crowds", as the Holy See indicated in advance through close journalists. Officially, he said nothing about it.
Francis cut out the most important moments between the bishop and the city of Rome
The last of three moments in the church year in which the Pope prays very specifically with the Romans and at their head was thus eliminated. We are talking about Maundy Thursday, which the Popes celebrated as bishop of Rome in their cathedral church of San Giovanni in Laterano, of the Corpus Christi procession from San Giovanni in Laterano to Santa Maria Maggiore and of the homage to Mary on December 8th.
Maundy Thursday, although the first day of the Triduum Paschale, the three holy days of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was made invisible by Francis. The institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood was last carried out by Pope Benedict XVI. celebrated in public in 2012. Since then Maundy Thursday has been reduced to the social gesture of washing feet, which Francis celebrates in front of cameras, especially in his diocese, mostly in a prison, where he gives communion to everyone, including members of other religions such as Muslims.
The Corpus Christi procession, a powerful public demonstration of faith for centuries, at which the Romans rally around the Pope in veneration of the Holy of Holies, takes place without Francis. In 2013, on the first Corpus Christi feast of his pontificate, Francis followed on foot. He left the visible worship, a characteristic feature of this Roman manifestation of faith, to two deacons. Since then he has not taken part in the procession at all. Although he does not go there himself, he moved the procession from the liturgical feast day to the following Sunday because Corpus Christi has not been a public holiday in Italy for decades. Pope John Paul II still had reversed the Paul VI’s postponement to Sunday so that at least the procession with the Pope on the liturgical feast could take place. In 2018, Francis withdrew completely from the Roman celebration by celebrating the High Mass no longer in San Giovanni in Laterano, but in a parish in Ostia.
The joint homage to Mary by the Pope and the Romans on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the second large volume of the public demonstration of faith by the Romans at the side of their bishop, was cut by Francis in 2020, in this case with reference to Corona-hoax. While Francis lets the Romans carry the body of Christ alone in procession through the streets of Rome on Corpus Christi, on December 8th he evades the people by going alone, "privately" and at a secret hour to the Marian Column next to the Piazza di Spagna. Now for the second time.
The cutting of these ribbons is all the more astonishing because, especially at the beginning of his pontificate, Francis gave the impression of wanting to push back the office of Pope in favor of his office as Bishop of Rome.
VaticanNews, the Vatican's news platform, tried to convey yesterday's event as euphemistically as possible. You could also say “unrealistic”. Since the “private” veneration took place without a word, the coverage of the central Vatican news platform is the only source of information on the papal intentions.
The subject of Corona, although the ostensible reason for the "semi-clandestine" action, as the evil Vaticanist Marco Tosatti called it last year, was not mentioned. Restriction and repression on behalf of Corona are in full swing. Above all, they condition and unsettle the western world. That's almost a billion people, after all. Many of them suffer from it because, against their conscience, they are pressured or coerced into a vaccination, which is actually a gene therapy. According to the Vatican media, Corona was not a prayer request for Francis. The plans to introduce compulsory vaccinations indicate the worrying transition to a new authoritarian form of power. Instead, it was announced that Francis had prayed for those who - no joke - “are suffering badly from the climate crisis”. Is that an indirect admission by the Pope that Corona may serve as a pretext for all sorts of things, but is ultimately just a pseudopandemic?
The full report from VaticanNews in the German version:
Pope prays at Marian column in Rome
Early in the morning on December 8th, Pope Francis prayed for people in need in front of the Marian Column in the Roman city center. The Pope asked Our Lady to “care for the many sick, the miracle of healing for the peoples who are suffering badly from the wars and the climate crisis”, and to convert those “who build walls to keep away the pain of others ".
Salvatore Cernuzio and Gudrun Sailer - Vatican City
At four degrees plus and in the darkness of still sleeping Rome, the Pope arrived at a quarter past six at the foot of the Spanish Steps. There, in the Piazza Mignanelli, stands the Marian column, the Popes since John XXIII. always visit on December 8th to pray for the city of Rome and the world and to pay homage to the Blessed Mother Mary. As in the previous year, Francis did not come at dusk, but early in the morning and in a purely private form; the risk of infection for the people pouring in would be too high. Nevertheless, some Roman believers had come to greet the Pope warmly.
Francis placed a basket of white roses at the foot of the Marian Column and then paused in prayer, his eyes fixed on the statue of Our Lady. He exchanged a few words with Spain’s Ambassador to the Holy See, María del Carmen de la Peña Corcuera, in front of the door of the Palazzo Monaldeschi, where the Spanish Embassy is located. This is considered to be the oldest permanent diplomatic mission in the world and was set up in 1622 to represent Spain to the Holy See.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: VaticanNews (screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
