Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Assisi III?

Someone please tell me why this should be considered a good thing, and not a step beneath an international Care Bear convention? I have read that a pope at the time of the Protestant Reformation (Paul III?) went through the streets of Rome in sackcloth and ashes in penance for the sins of the Renaissance popes.1 That is a sort of procession I could gladly join. Even a public penance of this sort, led by the Pope in Rome, in supplication for world peace is something I -- and I think the world -- would find understandable. But this Assisi exercise, again, after the terrible confusion created by Assisi I and II? Of course, I am little more than a lowly pew peasant; but I cannot avoid voicing my concern bleat. Oremus!

Notes

  1. "In the very year that Henry VIII's obedient Parliament named him head of the English church, Pope Paul III went through the streets of Rome in sackcloth and ashes for the sins of his predecessors -- but not for their errors in doctrine." Sheldon Vanauken, "The English Channel: Between Canterbury and Rome," in Under the Mercy (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985; rpt. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988), p. 226. [back]

Updates illustrating the controversial nature of the question:[Hat tip to J.M. for Fr. Z reference.]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You don't have concerns, Philip. You have bleats. That way, you can be respectable.

Chris

Nick said...

UNLESS the Pope has some tricks up his sleeve, this event will not only turn to be utterly humiliating given he has gone out of his way to promote the Motu Proprio, it will drive away any potential reconciliation with the Eastern Orthodox and SPPX.

Telling and encouraging someone to pray to a false god is a sin by definition; it's encouraging idolatry. Worse yet, it makes Our Lord Jesus one more "god" among the rest, no better, no worse.

I am not holding out high hopes...but something in me says B16 wont just let idolaters trample upon the very Sanctuary he's been breaking his back to clean up.

Tancred said...

There's a big difference between "telling someone to pray" to a false God and permitting them a quiet place where they can pray.

When the Emir of Damascus visited the Templars, they provided him with a place where he could pray as they consulted over foreign policy.

It was simply a matter of courtesy.

I think the Holy Father is going to do something astonishing. At least, one of his friends has said so.