I’m not a Catholic, nor a Christian for that matter, nor an ardent follower of the Vatican. Among my favorite « pope » moments recently was the terrific Nanni Moretti film « Habeus Papum » starring Michel Piccoli as the man-who-wouldn’t-be-pope. I couldn’t help but chuckle while thinking of that delightful film’s impeccable staging of the conclave, vote, white smoke, etc. as I watched the real-life Vatican’s impeccably staged version of the same thing on live television Wednesday night. Also kept thinking of Fellini’s hilarious ecclesiastic fashion show in his « Roma »! (Supposedly the Vatican censored some of the designs.)
But ultimately, what now ranks as another favorite « pope » moment must be the silence that befell the crowd when the name of the new pope was pronounced (who? they seemed to be thinking), then his request that the « faithful » might offer a blessing for him and the immense task that is now his. And most of all, his choice of Francis as his name. If he can return the Catholic Church to the spirit of Francis of Assisi, who knows what kind of change we may see in the world.
Francis
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
http://www.swissfakeuhren.de
I was raised as a Catholic, but I’m not a Catholic/Christian anymore. I’ve also watched the Moretti’s film –but only because it showed on the Portuguese television two weeks ago. Now I realize Ratzinger must have watched that film too (he was the first pope to resign on his own initiative since 1294, almost in the same way Cardinal Melville, the Pope-to-be did).
I guess it is one of those cases where reality follows art.
In Moretti’s film there’s a clumsy journalist (Enrico Ianniello) who, looking for a tip on the election, tries to interview a cardinal during a procession, then he sees “white smoke” where all the other journalists have seen “black smoke”, and so on.
In Portugal, this March 13th journalists were also under criticism – for being too subservient towards the Catholic Church, uncritical, etc. One of them (Fátima Campos Ferreira), while doing a live broadcasting on RTP1, was so excited with the “white smoke” coming out of the Vatican chimney that she said “…and now the crowd has regurgitate” [Portuguese: regurgitou]. She meant “rejoice” [Portuguese: rejubilou] of course, but there was some truth in her words: there were a lot of us who were already feeling nauseated with all that hysterical, repetitive, tiresome fabrication of news.