Papal Rome

Last Sunday morning I watched online the Papal Inauguration Mass from the Vatican and this afternoon I watched the Pope take possession of his cathedral, the Archbasilica of St John Lateran, and celebrate Mass there.

Both celebrations were dignified examples of the Latin novus ordo and definitely suggest a concern for the way in which the liturgy is celebrated under the current dispensation.

In respect of the Inaugural Mass I would obviously prefer to see a Papal Coronation. I remember watching that of Pope Paul VI in 1963, which was only an edited down broadcast later that evening by the BBC, and I have cheerfully sat through the lengthy black-and-white video of the television coverage of the 1958 coronation of Pope John XXIII. I still recall my shock at the decision not to have a coronation by Pope John Paul I and genuine disappointment it was not revived by his two successors. 

If one had seen previous Papal Inaugurations before the taking possession of the Lateran was something I had not seen, and maybe it was not available beyond the occasional newspaper photograph or newsreels of the Papal blessing from the loggia in 1958. To watch this was more of a reminder of the antiquity of the Papacy than the liturgy last Sunday. This was taking place in the much rebuilt, yet still essentially the building dedicated in 324, the oldest continuously  used church in Latin Christendom, the residence and administrative centre of the Popes until 1304, the place whence, inter alia  Leo I, Gregory I, Gregory VII, Innocent III and Boniface VIII governed the church  and which is still the cathedral and possession of the Pope, 1701 years later

Wikipedia has a useful introduction to the history and architecture of the Lateran, as well as its full and resonant titles as the mother church of Christendom, at Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran

Understanding aspects of the present Pontificate

The Rorate Coeli website, which always makes for provocative reading, has an interesting post around a report by an established Vatican watcher. This seesk to explain the thinking, as yet not officially declared, behind the inquiry into the Franciscans of the Immaculate and various other moves, seemingly hostile, against others of a Traditionalist stance within the Church. It can be read at Influential Italian Vaticanist, bewildered, reaches shocking conclusion: "In the Catholic Church, it's now Open Season on Conservatives"

This assessment appears to make sense, given the "Court Culture" as it describes it - not a culture of outward ceremony and deference, but rather the underlying ethos of any such hierarchy, sacred or secular, of the left or the right, whether now or in the past, whereby officials seek to conform their actions to what they believe (rightly or wrongly) to be the attitudes of their superior. 

Lux in Arcana

Lux in arcana - The Vatican Secret Archives reveals itself is an exhibition of 100 original documents, preserved over many centuries in the Papal Archives and is on display, outside the Vatican for the first time, at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, from the beginning of March until September 2012.

In association with the exhibition there is a website which can be viewed at Lux in arcana. Follow the links to the main subject divisions and then click on individual images or topics. There is an informative set of notes to the items on display and the whole site gives an idea of the riches contained in the Vatican archives.

More on the Chair of St Peter

The New Liturgical Movement has two articles on this subject, about which I wrote yesterday.

One, The Feast of Saint Peter's Chair, is by Br. Lawrence Lew OP and includes the Pope's reflections on the feast.

The second, Decorations of the Vatican Basilica on the Feast of St. Peter's Chair, has pictures and information about the relic preserved as the cathedra Petri, and the basilica's customary observances for the day.