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Our aunt Marytee went to Rome to see the Pope the year that I was about 10 and she brought me back a special gift, then unique in Ireland. It was a one-inch thick flickerbook with a photo of then Pope Pius XII giving his papal blessing on every page of hundreds.
When you riffled the pages there was the optical illusion of his hands moving as he delivered a very personal blessing to the viewer. That was a very special gift to bring home to a Catholic boy in the fifties. I made the most of it.
By the end of the first week Pope Pius had delivered his blessing to the next door Orangeman neighbor Bob Armstrong, to his equally Orange farm laborer Willie Reynolds, to their housekeeper Meta Rooney, to the postman Jimmy Timoney, to a big police sergeant who had called to the house to check on my father's shotgun license (and who was visibly appalled at the sight of the Pope close up), and to any others who crossed my path.
I was a kind of Apostolic Nuncio in Fermanagh when I had possession of that flickerbook. In nearby Enniskillen at that time there were brick walls in Protestant areas bearing the slogan "No Pope," and my book gave the lie to that.
I thought of it when the news exploded across a different Ireland and the world that the current aged Pope is retiring on health and age grounds.
Our aunt "Marytee," by the way, was actually Mary. T. Bannon, a lovely and formidable schoolteacher of my mother's clan, later the mother of healthy triplets too, and one of the brave wave of Catholic travelers from this island whose expensive overseas flights in that era were always to either Lourdes or to Rome to see the Pope. Their journeys were testimony to the powerful devotion of the Irish then to the Catholic Church.
How times have changed. When the news broke of Pope Benedict's resignation many of the people of all ages I spoke to in the hours following the announcement were, yes, shocked, but also, sadly but perhaps understandably, suspicious that we were not hearing the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Was the retirement truly only on health grounds? Was there some other factor involved we are not being told about? Is there something else that will shock and horrify us coming down the track?
There was genuine sympathy for the palpable infirmity of the 85-year old Pontiff, but also that thread of suspicion. Is that not shocking in itself in a land which was once one of the church's real heartlands? Were Marytee alive she would be shocked to the core of her spirit, and so would all her generation.
Given the recent dreadful scandals in the church over the past decade, and more and the cobweb of deceit and denial surrounding matters such as international child abuse, pedophilia and other crucial issues, the common first reaction is hardly surprising. Add to that the related fallout from a Magdalene laundries report showing convent abuse of young girls and women -- including Sinead O'Connor in her youth -- and it would be strange if there was no suspicion among those the church has always called the laity.
I myself feel, for what it is worth, that Pope Benedict is indeed retiring solely because of age and infirmity, but a more potent and transparent papacy by him during his critical term could and should have radically improved the public perception of the battered church he is leaving behind.
Not enough pruning was done publicly of the corrupted branches of the tree. It seems there is still deceit and systemized coverings-up at every level.
The church in Ireland, and across the developed world, is weaker today than when he took charge of it.
I suppose there is a great story unfolding in front of us now. There will be intense politicking by the cardinals in Byzantine shadows and Roman corridors before the white puffs of smoke emerge from the Sistine chimneypot and we hear a cardinal utter the ritual phrase, "Habemus Papem...we have a Pope."
It will be headline news on the day, but it won't matter as much as it should for so many betrayed and disappointed millions of Christians across the globe.
No schoolboy anywhere will be so touched by a flickerbook of a papal blessing as I was all those years ago, and that's for sure.
6 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.jamieLM | Feb 22, 2013, 12:01 PM EST
@falconflash, criticism of the RCC's hierarchy for their role in the child sex abuse scandal and belief in Catholic theology are 2 different things. One child abused and one cover-up in ANY church, is one too many. If you or I had been caught assaulting a child, we'd be in prison with no church official making excuses for us and/or covering up our crime. Every RCC church should have been the safest place on earth for every child and its officials, as representatives of God/Jesus, the last people to ever engage in child sexual abuse. That's the problem: church officials believing they were above the law - God's and civil - which has led to betrayal and suspicion. It has nothing to do with criticizing the tenets of the Catholic faith. Now the very officials who were involved in child sex abuse are allowed to vote for the next Pope. I believe in forgiveness, but also in forfeiting certain privileges since these men did no prison time. I can't believe that Cardinal Mahony and others still have their positions in the RCC.
falconflash | Feb 21, 2013, 09:00 PM EST
Most Catholics do think that priests who messed up should be let go and they do think the bishops and cardinals who covered thing up were wrong....but the hysteria over the wrongdoings is really just a bunch of abortionists and certain Protestants who see this as a chance to end the Church. Won't happen. All of us including priests, bishops,you, I are answerable to God but His Church will go on....
Towngate | Feb 21, 2013, 05:07 PM EST
I am reminded,Cormac of your recent pleading om behalf of That Casey cur and pleased that you seem to have taken some of my comments on board in relationship to the Pope. You may now include him in your list of 'true faith destroyed'! Time to shut up the Vatian and share out the ill-gotten gains! Enda Kenny's astonishing speech, outling and admitting what a festering moral swamp real Ireland is the most important speech ever made in Ireland. Sadly, there are still abominable lies about 'Sacted National Cows' being fed to the irish 'sheeple' and it HAS to STOP!That's the NEW Ireland we all want!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Towngate | Feb 08, 2013, 07:41 PM EST Cormac, you make a poor case for this immoral,thieving hooligan. He mightily abused his status by secretly salting funds to his mistress and their offspring for many years .... but putting that aside, you must know - and I have certainly seen it in Clare, that honest devout Catholics who did TRULY believed in God - in a short space of time, had their Faith totally shattered and destroyed and their mental and spiritual well-being jeopardised by the behaviour of this person. No. - let him consider himself lucky that he is provided with a nice warm clean bed to lie on and consider the damage he has done. No Forgiveness without Reperation! Has he ever issued an apology and offered to repaid the peoples Church collection-plate money he stole? - and I bet he is not even paying for the bedspace he is now wasting!
Mortimer74 | Feb 21, 2013, 12:34 PM EST
I don't feel either betrayed or disappointed. Pope Benedict has steered the boat well through the choppy waters of the cultural decay that is decimating the Western world. The Church is today the safest environment for children, a marked contrast to schools, scouts, sports clubs and the like. Benedict stood firm by the Church's teachings that come to us from Jesus Christ. The Church is the only institution left that provides a moral compass. That is why it is so hated my many. And loved by more. 1.2 billion and growing by the day. God bless the Pope and his successor - the successor to Peter.
jamieLM | Feb 21, 2013, 11:45 AM EST
Times have changed for the RCC. Popes are flawed just like the rest of us. The child sex abuse scandal has been truly horrific. The faithful were betrayed by all those from the top down who did the deeds and by all those who knew and covered them up. There's too much "politics" and "saving face" and not enough accountability in the hierarchy in Rome. I think the Vatican is secretive and continues to cover up a lot of things, instead of dealing with problems openly, honestly, and directly. The Vatican often seems very self-serving. Too much power and control by a select few is rarely a good thing anytime, anywhere. I hope the new Pope will initiate some changes, but I doubt it.
johnshiel | Feb 21, 2013, 09:55 AM EST
touching, innately credible story about a young lad's innocence, piety, enthusiasm... sad yet effective juxtaposition of the fifties with our today... in the hippie heyday the worst slam was to be labeled "establishment"... generally well placed contempt for large institutions of nearly any kind: government, business, education, religious, media... decades of seasoning have both strengthened and weakened that distrust in my view; large organizations inevitably become self serving...