Monday, April 04, 2005
COMMENTS FROM "INSIDE THE VATICAN"
An email from Robert Moynihan, Editor, Inside the Vatican magazine, has a couple of interesting points to make. First, a brief analysis of events that have transpired in 2005:
The death of John Paul II
soon after that of Sister Lucy dos Santos, the
Portuguese nun who as a young shepherd girl saw visions of Mary
at Fatima in 1917, and who died on February 13 at the age of 97,
and just two days after the death of Terri Schiavo, 41, whose own
13-day "descent to darkness" due to a court-ordered deprivation
of food and water riveted the attention of America in the last
half of March, made a "trinity" of deaths in early 2005 of great
significance to Catholics, to Christians, and to all people of
good will.
Lucy, Terri, and Karol: three deaths which seemed to bear witness
to our world.
Will these three deaths be linked in the history of the Church? Do they portend upcoming momentous changes, or is the timing merely coincidental? One change does seem to lie in the offing. Moynihan interviewed two cardinals,
Lubomyr Husar and Achille Silvestrini, and from those conversations concluded that collegiality and a need to unite the various factions is essential. He writes:
I deduce from these two conversations that, among the very many
issues of concern to Church leaders, ranging from issues of
sexual morality to Third World debt, one issue that is on the
"front burner" right now is summed up in this word "communio" or "communion." That is, how can the Church remain unified, while
allowing legitimate variation and difference. Finding the balance
point is an extremely delicate task, for too much allowance for
"difference" could fracture "communion" altogether, while too
much "uniformity" could be seen as an oppressive and stultifying
"centralism." This is by no means the only issue on the
cardinals' minds, but it is one issue, and a key one.
It is especially key because its solution could open the way for
something nearly everyone in the Church desires, but few believe
is possible: an end to the schism of 1054, the reunion of the
Orthodox Churches with Rome.
Lastly there is the question of where John Paul will be buried, Rome or Poland? Moynihan also puts forth the possibility that his body will be buried in Rome, but his heart will be buried in Poland.
