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| Pope Francis and Ban Ki-moon on 28 April, 2015 in the Vatican |
(Rome) On the evening of March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph and the third anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, St. Peter's Basilica was eclipsed in Rome for one hour. The reason for this was to participate in a global campaign of the World Wildlife Fund against fossil fuels. For the campaign, the illumination of monuments and other buildings has been turned off.
"Uncritical homage to the dominant culture"
"On this last December 8th, the opposite was the case. The facade of St. Peter's and its dome were not darkened, rather they were illuminated by an ambitious spectacle, "Son et lumiere" , which celebrated nature and was organized and financed by the eco-organization Okeanos and Vulcan," said Vaticanist Sandro Magister.
Neither the one nor the other spectacle had any realizable connection with God the Creator. A connection with the Christian religion and the Catholic Church was only from St. Peter's Basilica. Since the spectacle relates to equally profane places, they signal more the conscription of the Catholic Church in secular campaigns, as the introduction of the world to Christianity.
"Both spectacles contained a general reference to the Encyclical Laudato si of Pope Francis," said Magister. "The impact of Laudato si on the so-called 'Pastoral' of the Church would yet to be investigated yet."
On the Laudato si related initiatives Magister writes:
"It often seems an uncritical homage to the dominant culture by, and quite independently of, whether the fashionable eco-theories have a scientific basis or not, while almost nothing about it is explicitly Christian in spirit."
Jesuit Centre Veritas, "secular and religious prayer"
A "curious" piece of evidence for the "modernization of the pastoral" is found in Trieste, says Magister. There, the cultural Centre Veritas run by the Jesuits. It is headed by Father Gaetano Piccolo, an Epistemologist who is also deputy editor of the journal Rassegna di Teologia, and responsible for the cultural apostolate of the Italian Jesuit Province.
Veritas Centre is, according to its own definition, "a workshop of cultural research, open to the encounter and interreligious and ecumenical dialogue." The chapel has been converted into a "welcome and exhibition hall", which is open for "secular and religious prayer, independent of religious affiliation."
The Veritas Centre is currently characterized mainly by spreading the encyclical Laudato si. On May 7th, a day "to raise awareness of the contents" of Laudato si is planned. May 8th ends with marathon games and sports weekof the Bavisela Running Festival .
The Laudato si Day, which the Jesuits the call "MENS SANA", is an acronym for marathon education, nature, sports, spirituality, art, networks and associations .
"Mediating" the "Relationships" between "Laudato si" and UN Agenda 2030
According to the program of the day, it is desired to convey the relationships between the "encyclical Laudato si of Pope Francis and the 17 sustainable development objectives of Agenda 2030, the United Nations (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs). This refers to the policy objectives of the United Nations, which is also referred to as the Post-2015 agenda.
The introduction will be an evening lecture on the relationship between the Encyclical and the UN Agenda. The speaker is the Jesuit Luciano Larivera, employee of the Roman Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica .
According to the program "a marathon ends in the Sacred Heart Church of Trieste, where at 7 o'clock, a Vigil Mass will be celebrated for the Ascension, the great mystery of the Christian faith and religious character of the planetary eco-alliance."
"This is where the Ascension of Jesus Christ will be ordered according to the rules of modern ecology," said Magister.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: RV / Asianews / FQ (screenshots)
Image: RV / Asianews / FQ (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
