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April 09, 2005
Of Popes, Fathers, and Men
Yesterday would have been my dad’s birthday. Like Pope John Paul II, tata would have been eighty-four. I thought of them both, on this sad day of our pope’s funeral. For years the two men, born in neighboring Czech Republic and Poland, shared the same cultural roots, lived in fascist and communist Europe, and shared the same conservative mind until their last hour.
I miss them both, not because they were perfect, but because they were good, and tried to live up to their goals in a world that is changing even as I type these words.
Who’d ever heard of blogging, just a few years ago? I said I wouldn’t do this, and yet here I am, sharing my thoughts with everyone. After coming to America, it was not easy for tata to adjust his ways. It would have been even more difficult for any pontiff to amend century-long practices of the Roman Catholic church in less than three decades.
Witness the ways of the Roman Curia in the 1560s when the plot of Maddalena begins! For some twenty years prior, its members discussed, argued, and tried to polish the image of the Catholic Church. And the results? A few rich cardinals resigned themselves to take their holy vows in order to keep their lucrative holdings, and moved their mistresses away from public life.
Oh, yeh. Some, like Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, did great things. Alessandro decided to build a unique church for the new soldiers of Christ. A bit of stardust for him and the Jesuits. That’s also when the grandson of Michelangelo’s patron Paul III—you know the pope who commissioned the Sistine Chapel where the papal conclave is soon to be held—became one of the hopeful papabiles.
He was very wealthy. Rich enough to buy the electors? Well, I’d be giving away the plot as Alessandro’s and Maddalena's tale becomes engulfed by the sixteenth-century Vatican politics.
Read their story, and you might begin to understand why a humble shepherd who truly loves his flock, couldn’t see women ordained and priests married in our complex modern world.
Do send me your thoughts, even before reading my book!
Posted by Eva Siroka at April 9, 2005 11:27 AM
Comments
Interesting times indeed. A modern world struggling to adapt its tradtional values. Values that constructed the society of today and vital to a civilized world of tomorrow. There are no easy answers and mistakes will no doubt be made but thankfully faith has taught me that a solution does exist and will evolve over time.
Much like the path travelled in the creation of your beloved "Maddalena".
Posted by: James at April 15, 2005 02:48 PM