The Googling Pope
Pope Francis’s meeting with Google executive Eric Schmidt was “nothing short of extraordinary”, according to Rocco Palmo over at his blog Whispers in the Loggia, as business people normally can only meet the Pope at his general audience or as part of a group being received privately for their charity or ecumenical work. Palmo wrote: “Francis’s actual command of technology is almost exceedingly limited. Having revealed last year that he hasn’t watched television in a quarter-century to fulfil a promise to the Madonna, before his election the now-Pope once advised an aide that he couldn’t operate any device with ‘more than two buttons’.” But the Pope is becoming more technologically savvy, Palmo added, explaining that he had acquired a personal email address “to hear from old friends and a privileged few prelates”.
Neats and scruffies
John Cornwell said the Catholic world could be divided into the “neats” and “scruffies”. In an article for the Financial Times he wrote: “The neats are conservatives, sometimes known as the traditionalists or rigorists. The scruffies are the liberals, sometimes known as the progressives. The neats regret the passing of traditional Latin devotions and clarity in Church doctrine, especially on sexual and marital matters. They insist that the Church’s teachings are not subject to alteration; that living in serious sin and calling yourself a Catholic is not an option.” On the other hand, the “scruffies argue that devotions and doctrines can be ‘updated’, citing the Italian catchphrase employed by Pope John XXIII: aggiornamento.” As an outspoken admirer of St John XXIII, naturally Francis is champion of the scruffies.
Father Freelances
Over at FirstThings.com George Weigel lamented the rise of “Father Freelance”. He asked: “In all the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council, is there any prescription more regularly violated than General Norm 22.3 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy? Which, in case you’ve forgotten, teaches that ‘no … person, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority’.” He added that daily Massgoers will witness this improvisation “a dozen times a week”. Weigel observed: “It may come as a surprise to Father Freelance, but after more than four decades of priest-celebrants trying to be Johnny Carson, Bob Barker, Alex Trebek or whomever, this act is getting very old. Father, you’re just not very good at it. Your freelancing is often banal, even silly. Moreover, you demean us by suggesting that we, the congregation, can’t handle the sacral language of the liturgy and that we have to be jollied into participation … Spare us these attempts at creativity … They just don’t work.”
✣Meanwhile…
The actor Jude Law has complained at the discomfort of wearing a papal cassock for his role as the fictional Pope Pius XIII in the forthcoming film The Young Pope. He said he “can only sit on a very uncomfortable sort of stool because they don’t want my papal robes to get creased. “So I have to sort of hitch them up and put them over the stool and perch. Once I put the robes on, I usually spend the day, 14 hours, whatever, unable to sit. So I look great, but I’m very uncomfortable.” Fr John Zuhlsdorf, commenting on his blog, said priests had been perching in that fashion for centuries, adding: “Suck it up, buttercup.”
✣ The Vatican Cookbook, compiled by the Swiss Guards, will be published in English this April. The book, sub-titled “500 years of classic recipes, papal tributes and exclusive images of life and art in the Vatican”, contains favourite recipes of Pope Francis and his two predecessors. Apparently Pope Francis is fond of dulce de leche, a concoction made from sweetened milk, as well as grilled sirloin steak, both Argentine dishes. Benedict XVI liked German meals such as würstel salad and a pork dish called schweinebraten, while the Polish Pope John Paul II liked pierogi, Polish dumplings.
✣The week in quotations
Your presence in this square is a sign of hope in God Pope Francis to migrants Angelus
Cookbooks are … just as useful to a monk’s education as Thomas Aquinas Dr Simon Johnson, Downside librarian, on a 1793 recipe book
BBC
Faith is a gift. No one ‘deserves’ faith, no one can buy it Pope Francis Homily at morning Mass
A church is burned down or pastor beaten three times a week Charity Open Doors on India
2016 Open Doors World Watch List
Statistic of the week 1,500
The number of Christians murdered by the Hausa-Fulani Source: Open Doors
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.