In Umbris Sancti Petri

Hopefully the final post on this thread, here's a little bit about the culmination of all this Benedetto vs. Sapienza stuff here in the City. I had the chance to attend the Sunday Angelus in St. Peter's Square today, along with many of the other seminarians, and the primary topic just happened to be this whole controversy. In fact, Cardinal Ruini (the acting administrator of the Diocese of Rome) encouraged all Catholics and supporters of the pope to make an appearance at the audience, showing their personal commitment to stand by him during all of this.

Naturally, the Holy Father's response to this show-of-force was not unimpressive. To be quite honest, it was pretty amazing. Benedict XVI is clearly an academic and scholar, and sometimes appears as though he'd rather be reading or writing than shaking hands and greeting people... not that I think that's bad, just his personality. However today, as another seminarian pointed out to me, he was visibly relishing the experience of having so many solid Catholic supporters rallied around him, all there to pray together and show the world that the Church and her faith are strong. After the Angelus prayer itself, the first group to be addressed were the students in attendance, whose "solidarity" was highly lauded by the Holy Father. Likewise, he thanked the others who came to support him, as well as his brother bishops in the audience, and then the subsequent language groups, per usual.

Perhaps the most outstanding thing about the whole address was what happened after the traditional, Buona Domenica a tutti, which usually concludes the day. To the resounding applause that continued to sweep the entire square, Benedict stayed in his window and kept waving (something he never usually does). In fact, he even went off-the-script and urged everyone to go forth into the world to deliver this same message of solidarity and peace in the face of opposition; you could tell, he was speaking from the heart, and what better response to a protest last week than a bolstering of fervency this week? In my mind, this is just another example of how God has brought something quite good out of a situation where divisiveness and ignorance formerly prevailed...

Sia lodato Gesú Cristo!