The drama of the village drunk in the crèche at St. Peter's

Two of my friends are currently visiting the Eternal City and were surprised by the presence of what appears to be the local village drunk passed out among the sheep in the crèche (the Nativity scene) displayed this year in St. Peter's Square:

When asked to explain his presence in the Nativity scene, my first reaction was one of renewed gratitude for being back in the United States of America, even with the bitter temperatures, where such scenes are absent from our Nativity scenes.

As a general rule, Americans tend to prefer their Nativity scenes to be quaint, pleasant, and charming, almost absent of any real discomfort the Holy Family would certainly have experienced. We have sanitized, if you will, our imagining of Christmas morning to fit nicely with the lyrics of "Silent Night" (a song I've never really liked).

When Saint Francis of Assisi first requested permission of Pope Honorius III to re-present the Birth of Jesus, his biographer, Tomaso di Celano, tells us the Poverello wanted "to portray the Child born in Bethlehem and to see somehow with my bodily eyes the hardship he underwent because he lacked all a newborn’s needs, the way he was placed in a manger and how he lay on the hay between the ox and the ass" (First Life, XXX.84). While we have tended to shy away from these hardships, the Italians have taken to displaying the Birth of Jesus in the context of everyday life in all of its normalcy.

Certainly it might be argued the Italians sometimes take this too far (as they do with many things), but nobody likes drama as much as an Italian, and what could be more dramatic than the village drunk in the Nativity?

This dramatization of the early hours of Christmas morning, while distasteful to American sensibilities, may be intended as a stark reminder of the reality of our sin and the very reason the Father sent his Son to be born of the Virgin. As I preached yesterday, "the message of our sinful condition, then, and of our salvation from it in Christ, lies at the heart of the Advent message; to ignore this salvation from sin and death, is to rob Christmas of its beauty, of its wonder, and of its joy."

Perhaps the presence of the village drunk can help us appreciate anew our fallen and sinful condition and our sheer dependence upon the merciful love of God.

Islamic State Ongoing Updates - December 2016

Previous Updates: November 2016 | September 2016 | August 2016 | July 2016 | June 2016 | May 2016 | April 2016 | March 2016 | February 2016| January 2016 | December 2015 | November 2015 | October 2015 | September 2015 | August 2015 | July 2015| June 2015 | May 2015 | April 2015 | March 2015 | February 2015 | January 2015 | December 2014 | November 2014 | October 2014 | April - November 2014

31 December 2016

• UPDATE (01-01-17): IS claims Baghdad blasts that killed at least 28
• UPDATE (01-01-17): Inside the economic war against the Islamic State

30 December 2016

• UPDATE (01-01-17): I'm being forgotten because I'm not European, says Indian priest kidnapped by ISIS
• UPDATE (01-01-17): 2017 Warning: ISIS call on 'Western sons' to launch brutal attacks on New Year's revellers
• UPDATE (01-01-17): Spanish ISIS Widows Arrested While Trying to Return to Europe
• The tragedy of the sex slaves of the Islamic State
• Iraqi forces face Islamic State car bombs, fierce resistance in south Mosul

29 December 2016

• UPDATE (01-01-17): Disguised as refugees and able to cross borders without being identified: ISIS general who blew up a hostage with a rocket and decapitated another prisoner is 'back in Europe with 400 soldiers' after fleeing Syria

27 December 2016

• The American Leader in the Islamic State

26 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-28-16): Islamic State arrests reveal jihadi threat threat near seat of U.S. government

25 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-28-16): Police uncover ISIS plot to set off phone bomb on UK streets in the run up to Christmas after two people appear in court charged with terror offense 

24 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-28-16): Christmas reborn in Iraqi town freed from ISIS
• Christmas Terror: Vatican braces for growing ISIS threat in Midnight Mass warning

23 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-28-16): Feds warn of ISIS threats to churches, holiday events
• For Liberated Iraqi Christians, Still a Bleak Christmas
• Anis Amri, Suspect in Berlin Truck Attack, Is Shot Dead Near Milan

22 December 2016

• Australian police say they thwarted planned Christmas bombings
• Turkey bans Twitter, Facebook and YouTube after ISIS savages upload a video of themselves burning two soldiers alive in a sick execution
• Berlin massacre suspect offered himself as a suicide bomber in months before Christmas market attack as chilling footage emerges of him patrolling the city

21 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-22-16): IS 'indiscriminately' attacking civilians in Mosul: HRW
• UPDATE (12-22-16): Berlin Truck Attacker Was No Lone Wolf, German Authorities Say

20 December 2016

• ISIS: We Did Berlin Truck Attack

19 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-21-16): Italian Muslim convert found guilty of helping Islamic State
• UPDATE (12-20-16): Syrian army vehicles seized by Islamic State seen in Anbar

17 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-20-16): U.S. offers $25 million reward for information on Islamic State leader

16 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-20-16): ISIS shows no sign of weakening as Mosul battle enters third month
• UPDATE (12-20-16): 'Have mercy on ISIS': The shocking prayer of a young Iraqi

15 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-16-16): Terror-stricken France deploys thousands more troops to streets amid Christmas threat

13 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-20-16): ISIS claims responsibility for Egypt church bombing that killed 25

10 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): Iraq sends reinforcements to eastern Mosul after ISIS attack
• UPDATE (12-11-16): House to House: The painstaking process of sweeping ISIS from Mosul
• UPDATE (12-11-16): US to send troops to help seize Raqqa from IS
• UPDATE (12-11-16): Spotlight turns to US forces' role as IS fight continues
• UPDATE (12-11-16): ISIS Retakes UNESCO Heritage Palmyra - So Where Is Putin's Army Now?

9 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): Islamic State treatens Egypt Sufis after claiming cleric murdershttp://zeenews.india.com/news/world/islamic-state-threatens-egypt-sufis-after-claiming-cleric-murders_1957103.html
• UPDATE (12-11-16): No home for the holidays: Assyrian Christians unable to return to villages destroyed by ISIS
• UPDATE (12-11-16): Rotterdam terrorist arrested with loaded AK-47 and Islamic State flag
• U.S.-led warplanes destroy fleet of Islamic State oil tankers in Syria

8 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-20-16): ISIS in the Caribbean: Trinidad has the highest rate of Islamic State recruitment in the Western hemisphere. How did this happen?
• UPDATE (12-11-16): ISIS may be on the run, but Iraqi Christians 'are still afraid'
• UPDATE (12-11-16): Islamic State Mag Praises Ohio State Jihadi, Doubles Down on Knife Attacks
• UPDATE (12-09-16): ISIS Remains Threat in Libya Despite Defeat in Surt, U.S. Officials Say

7 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): Bishop helped broker ransom of 226 hostages from ISIS
• UPDATE (12-11-16): 'Thousands of pounds in British benefits used to fund ISIS terror cells' expert claims
• UPDATE (12-11-16): ISIS rise surprised Obama, US intelligence
• UPDATE (12-09-16): Italy Departs Moroccan Jihadist Planning Bomb Attack in Vatican
• UPDATE (12-09-16): Up to 1,750 ISIS jihadists have returned to Europe with orders to carry out attacks, EU report warns

6 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): Syrian migrant, 16 who had links to ISIS charged with plotting bomb attack in Cologne

5 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): ISIS declares Trump inauguration day 'Bloody Friday'
  
• UPDATE (12-11-16): Creve Coeur worker told coworkers he was in ISIS, could blow them with one call, authorities say
• UPDATE (12-09-16): Civilians fleeing rebel-held east Aleppo 'detained and conscripted' by Syrian forces
• ISIS thugs hurl prisoner off roof before a baying mob of fanatics pet his corpse with rocks for the 'crime' of being gay

4 December 2016

• Islamic State strikes back to slow Iraqi forces in Mosul

3 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-04-16): IS jihadist linked to French plot arrested in Morocco
• UPDATE (12-04-16): ISIS pounds Iraqi fighters near Mosul

2 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): Holiday Warning: Hundreds of jihadi cells found in tourist hotspot after ISIS massacre

1 December 2016

• UPDATE (12-11-16): Iraqi military using militia groups to secure territory recaptured from Islamic State
• UPDATE (12-09-16): Terrorist threats may suspend Masses in Philippines capital

Yes, the Vatican is a target of the Islamic State

Two days ago, His Eminence Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican City State, said "The Vatican could be a target because of its religious significance. We are capable of increasing the level of security in the Vatican and the surrounding area. But we will not let ourselves be paralyzed by fear.” While he is correct that we should not be paralyzed by fear, it is not a matter of the Vatican possibly being a target of the Islamic State, but of the Vatican actually being a target.

In February 2015, following the beheading of the Coptic martyrs in Libya, security was increased in Italy and at the Vatican after the Islamic State threatened "the nation signed with the blood of the cross."

In March of 2015, Domenico Giani, Inspector General of the Vatican Gendarmes, acknowledged that the threat of the Islamic State "is real," although he did not know of any specific plans for an attack.

In September of 2014, Habeed al Sadr, Iraqi ambassador to the Holy See, warned that fighters of the Islamic State "want to kill the Pope."

In October of 2014, the Islamic State placed a photograph of the obelisk in St. Peter's Square topped with the flag of the Islamic State on the cover of its magazine, Dabiq. An accompanying article included these earlier words Mohammad al-Adnani, a spokesman for the Islamic State:

"We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market."

In November of 2014, Italian authorities arrested two Tunisians in Rome in connection with possible plot from the Islamic State.

We see, then, that the Vatican has been a target of the Islamic State for more than a year now, as I noted two days ago.

Today it was announced that Italian authorities are searching for 5 people suspected of plotting attacks for the Islamic State within Italy, including one on the Basilica of St. Peter. This announcement comes only two days after Italy closed the airspace over the city of Rome due to the possible use of drones to attack the city.

Indeed, in the latest issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State asked "Allah to support the mujaheddin against the agents of idolatry and the crusaders until the flag of the Caliphate is raised on Istanbul and Vatican City."

To suggest that the Vatican could be a target of the Islamic State is ignoring the reality of the situation.

New Papal cars

Piaggio, an Italian scooter manufacturer presented the Holy Father with two three-wheeled "cars" today:

They're rather nifty.

You don't suppose he'll take them for a spin inside the walls of Vatican City before bed, do you?

Photo: AP Photo/Filippo Monteforte, Pool

Vespers at St. Paul's

The Holy Father presided at Vespers in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul to mark the centenary of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. Thanks be to God, I received a ticket to attend the celebration.

I had hoped to arrive at the Basilica about 2:30 p.m., three full hours prior to the start of Vespers, to use this time to take pictures of the Basilica since it is the one most difficult to reach. This particular Basilica is my favorite of the four "major" ones, the others being St. Peter's, St. John on the Lateran hill, and Saint Mary Major.

At any rate, I actually arrived at the Basilica about 3:00 p.m., due to some delays caused by shopping, and glad that I arrived later than intended. I hadn't taken into account, you see, the possibility of the Basilica being closed before Pope Benedict XVI's arrival.

When I reached the front gate of the Basilica about one hundred people were already waiting outside and there we stood until they finally opened the doors at 4:00 p.m. After the mandatory bag check I finally crossed the threshold closer to 4:15 p.m. with no real time or chance to take pictures.

Five years ago when I was in Rome I attended Mass on this same Feast and had a profoud spiritual moment. I have written up an article about it and will link to it later today, having forgotten to do so before I left for Rome.

Since I left the hotel before my priest-friends (because I wanted to take pictures) I looked around for a good place to sit, most of which were already taken. Glancing around I saw Fr. Guy Selvester of Shouts in the Piazza - whom I bumped into quite a few times in Rome (Fr. Selvester introduced me to Fr. Jay Toborowski of Young Fogeys) - sitting right on the aisle. He kindly offered me the seat next to him and I sat on the second seat from the aisle. When the Holy Father processed by he was, perhaps, five feet away.

Despite the pushing and shoving - present at all Papal events - that stole from my lens a couple of terrific shots of the Pontiff, it was an event worth attending. I was able to snap a few pictures worth looking at (this experience told me it might be time to consider investing in a new camera with great zoom capabilities):

Being right on the aisle, Fr. Selvester was able to take a couple of excellent pictures without the elbow jabs I suffered.

The green Pontiff? An S & S Exclusive (I think)

Much has been made in recent months by the mainstream media that Pope Benedict XVI is a "green," that is, environmentally friendly, Pope.

Typically, when making such assertions they pull a few lines from a text of three pages and forget that the Holy Father said anything other than something about the environment. But there might be a bit of truth to it.

Count this post as the first Servant and Steward Exclusive (Fr. Guy Selvester of Shouts in the Piazza told me I could have this one and one more yet to come).

To preface this exclusive, I must say that when strolling through St. Peter's Square there is something extremely comforting about looking up to the residence of the Vicar of Christ and knowing that he is home. Something about his presence seems peaceful, assuring, safe. I know this from my own experience of being in Rome four times now. I can only imagine what it must have been like to look up at the windows after Pope John Paul II's death and see them darkened in the evening.

While in Rome this past week, I couldn't help but notice a very striking difference in the Apostolic Palace from when Pope John Paul II lived there.

Every evening under the former Pontiff's reign, each of the three windows of the Papal Aparments overlooking St. Peter's Square were lit, generally until 11:00 p.m.

Now, however, under Pope Benedict XVI, only two of the windows are customarily lit:

Stopping through the Square each evening - and even in the morning - at varying times, it was a rare sight to see all three windows lit. In fact, I only saw them lit once together, and then only briefly:

I cannot say with any certainty, but it may be that the current Bishop of Rome does not like to use more electricity than necessary.

The Swiss Guard

The Pontifical Swiss Guard are famed for a great many reasons, not the least of which is their uniform. Contrary to popular belief, it was not designed the artistic genius, Michelangelo.

The current uniform of the Swiss Guard was first worn in 1914, having been designed by a commander of the Guard.

At the entrance to the left of the Basilica leading to the sacristy, the scavi tour, and some of the offices of Vatican City. The guards are wearing their cloaks because it is early in the morning and a bit cool.

The same entrance as seen from the steps of the Basilica later in the afternoon.

Two guards early in the morning at the entrance by the Paul VI Hall, which also leads deep into Vatican City. The gates are open to more easily allow Vatican employees to driver their cars through.This is the same entrance later in the day.

At the Bronze Doors that lead into the Apostolic Palace.

At the Porta Sant' Anna, the entrance to Vatican City, so named because the Church of Saint Ann is through the gate and immediately on the right. It is the parish church of Vatican City.


Here it is: the obligatory picture with the Swiss Guard. As it is still rather early in the morning, the guards are still in their night uniform.

They had a good sense of humor. We three priests each had our picture taken with them, but the first of our number was a bit hesitant in approaching them after they accepted our request. The second priest of our number said to him, "They won't bite." They seem to have been quite the linguists (we'd already spoke with them briefly in Italian and German) and one of the guards replied, "We've already eaten today."