OUR LADY OF FATIMA
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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OUR LADY OF FATIMA CATHOLIC CHURCH |
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Catholicism Reviving ?
June 26th 2005
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A surprising trend may be under way - the Italian people are listening to the Church again ! It seems a long time since the worries of Pius XII in the mid 1950s that Catholics might (and later did) elect a Communist mayor of Rome. Indeed days after his inauguration Pope John Paul II met with him ! Catholic moral clout has been on the wane for many a year. In Pius XII's time the Papacy was known as a beacon of light for all the world. In latter times and not without reason the same cannot be said for the Catholic spiritual leaders (in many cases) of our times. Pope Paul VI, for example, was stunned by the backlash against his encyclical Humanae vitae which represented a stout defense of traditional Catholic moral teaching in the use of the gift of marriage. It is interesting to recall that since that date, Paul VI never issued another encyclical and the age of the cafeteria Catholic was born. For decades in vain have Catholic religious leaders inveighed against the spirit of the age. I can well remember the late Basil Cardinal Hume (Primate of England and Wales) beginning a television statement on the sacrilegious film The Last Temptation of Christ with the words "I have been asked to make a statement..." - "I have been asked" ? Do our shepherds need the prompting of others to make a moral stand or have they been cowed by years of apathy on the part of our laity who have voted with their feet already and the fear remains the rest might leave as well ? John Paul the Great - the epithet one reads everywhere and yet, despite the longevity of his pontificate what was his legacy ? He stated Catholic moral teaching in unequivocal terms on issues of life - but who was listening ? They loved the media star but ignored his message. |
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Almost every time the Church in any particular country has made a stand on morals, our Catholic people have turned a deaf ear... until now. Just a couple of weeks ago the Italian people went to the polls on 4 different "Life" issues concerning in part embryonic stem cell research. In the name of the Italian episcopate the President of the Conference and also Cardinal Vicar for the diocese of Rome, Camillo Cardinal Ruini, urged Italian voters to stay home in protest.
By Italian law at least 50% of the electorate must vote for a referendum to be valid. The turnout was 25.5% and not all of those voted "yes" in the four questions up for decision. Thus the result was a double "No" to the referendum and a clear decision for life on the part of the Italian people, the majority of whom are overwhelmingly Catholic by Baptism. Might the moral tide be turning at last ? What John Paul II could not achieve by his charisma might in effect be being achieved by the simple fidelity of Pope Benedict XVI who spoke so beautifully about the primacy of the family and the culture of life in the days leading up to the referendum at a forum on the family at Rome with Cardinal Ruini at his side.
After the results were in, Cardinal Ruini gave an interview on Vatican Radio. The following is an extract from that interview:
Q: What is the reason for such high abstention?
Cardinal Ruini: I explain it with the maturity of the Italian people, who refused to pronounce themselves on these technical and complex questions, who love life and who mistrust a science that attempts to manipulate life.
Q: Some have tried to create opposition among the laity, in particular between nonbelievers and Catholics. Did they fail in this objective?
Cardinal Ruini: Indeed. On one hand, it's true, the Catholic world has been more unified than ever; has demonstrated that it has thoroughly understood the reasons why it was necessary to follow this line. On the other hand, many lay people, including some highly representative at the cultural, social and political level, have fully shared and promoted with great courage the line of defense of the value of man as such.
Q: Some say that the Church has attacked the secularity of the state.
Cardinal Ruini: This is something totally mistaken. If by secularity of the state one understands that the Church cannot have a public expression, then it is not about secularity, but it is about a secularism that harms the state even before it does the Church.
If, on the contrary, one understands by secularity the freedom of each one and the distinction of tasks, this secularity has not been affected at all.
The Church, in a matter of the greatest human and moral importance, had the duty to express with clarity of voice, a voice that has been heard and shared by very many citizens, based on their personal conscience.
Q: In a word, has Italian popular Catholicism won?
Cardinal Ruini: I don't like the expression "has won." Italian popular Catholicism has given an optimal testimony.
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