An interesting fact about the trip and very visible is that after years in which Pope Francis never deviated from the Hispanic-Italian pattern in his speeches, Leo XIV has returned to speaking English, Spanish, Italian and French. Before the tomb of the hermit, Leo XIV entrusted Saint Charbel with three great intentions: the Church, Lebanon and the world.
The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, made some important statements, explaining why Lebanon, despite its evident weaknesses, deficiencies and incapacities, deserves the attention that the Vatican has always given it, not only because Christians are more numerous here than in other places: «Lebanon was conceived in freedom and for freedom, not for a religion, a sect or a group. It is the land of freedom and dignity for every human being». «If the Christian presence disappeared from Lebanon, the nation's balance would collapse and justice would be lacking. If the Muslim presence disappeared from Lebanon, the nation's balance would be compromised and its structure disturbed. And if Lebanon were destabilized or altered, the alternative would inevitably be the emergence of new fractures in our region and in the world, including all forms of extremism: ideological, materialistic and even violent». A quote from John Paul II who pronounced in Lebanon in 1997 did not fail: «Lebanon is more than a country; it is a message of coexistence, pluralism and freedom for East and West».
The Pope is not in the Vatican but when he returns he will face the harsh reality again. Others who are annoyed and do not believe the Vatican's accounts are his employees, we have a statement: «As directors of the Association of Lay Employees of the Vatican, we do not understand the excessive enthusiasm of some commentators regarding the consolidated budget of the Holy See for 2024, which, after years of deficit, seems to close with a surplus of 1.6 million euros. Is this a sign of a real change?». «We would like, first of all, that the obligation to fully publish the consolidated budget and the final accounts be fulfilled, detailing each item and providing the pertinent explanatory and certification documentation, instead of limiting themselves to reading slides that, while visually appealing, cannot be considered exhaustive for those who wish to delve deeper. We hope, at least, that this important milestone opens the way to a new era. However, caution is needed: «the much-awaited financial recovery will require future confirmation» and «full financial sustainability is a long-term goal»».
«Will this hypothetical situation of greater economic stability also have positive effects on non-managerial staff? Will the salary scales frozen since 2008 finally be updated? Will internal inequalities in treatment be corrected and the criteria for assigning functional levels be regularized? And, above all, what will happen to our pensions? The staff is the first to lose the benefits of a greater increase in this budget item (+7.9 million euros). Perhaps the advantages will be limited to specific groups of staff? In fact, the growth of this budget item, evidently greater than that which would result from the normal adjustment of salaries for inflation or the progression of biennial increases, could be linked to higher salaries for managers, promotions, new hires or an increase in the number of managers. The majority of employees, without a doubt, have not recovered the loss of purchasing power due to the constant increase in prices».
They point out that the positive result «is due to donations and to the improvement in financial performance due to favorable market trends over the last two years. This is due more to exceptional factors than to the decisions of the new Investment Committee or, in general, to the policies of the APSA or the Economic Council, the latter body which seems to have a secretariat function more than a policy formulation one. Therefore, the budget closes with positive results, but not thanks to full operational stability. The structural problem remains unresolved». The Holy See depends to a large extent on external generosity and the volatility of financial markets; its level of financial autonomy remains low.
Today we have two news items with paradigmatic cases that repeat themselves, in the United States they seem determined to turn the page on their piety from a dark period of their history. The Trump State Department ordered its employees to stop using public funds to commemorate World AIDS Day, for the first time since 1988. The directive is part of a broader policy “of abstaining from sending messages on any commemorative day, including World AIDS Day”. It is estimated that since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s about 300,000 gay men have died from this disease in the United States. A total of more than 44 million people worldwide have succumbed to AIDS in the last four decades, including approximately 630,000 deaths due to AIDS in 2024.
In Europe things are not so clear and in Poland the communists occupy key positions in politics and beyond. Interesting interview with Dorota Kania, author of the series «Red Children» (Heirs of Communism). They enjoy a good social position thanks to their contacts and money. Sometimes, although they come from non-communist environments, they have ideological and financial ties to the old regime and the security services. In their youth, they were activists in communist youth organizations and, later, entrepreneurs, owners and managers of new media. They oppose Polish traditions, Catholicism, patriotism and Polish identity in general. They are dangerous because they are rooted in the media, especially television and radio, which shape public opinion. Moreover, to gain the acceptance of European governments, these people usually act according to the dictates of Brussels and Berlin, even against national interests.
After the dissolution of their party, the communists immediately reorganized into a new political group: the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland and, from 1991, the Democratic Left Alliance. Their advantage over the emerging right was enormous: they had structures, personnel and funds inherited from the Polish United Workers' Party (as the communist party dependent on Moscow was called in Poland). They had the support of the state administration, influence in the media and the backing of the secret services, which still included officials from the previous regime. One of the key elements of the post-communist strategy was to ensure the continuity of the security structures. The first book in the series «Heirs of Communism» was published in 2013. It dealt with the media; later, I covered the secret services, politics and the business world. I can say with bitterness: much has changed, but nothing has changed.
We return home and today we have a case in Austria that is paradigmatic. We are living a continuous closure of centuries-old monasteries, it is a phenomenon that repeats itself like a cascade in the old world. It is normal that these closures, rather extinctions, do not end very well. We have one case among many that has been news, in Elsbethen , a town of five thousand inhabitants near Salzburg in Austria three nuns —the sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita, 88, 86 and 82 years old, respectively— have occupied the convent where they lived for decades, after being transferred against their will to a nursing home. The nuns on Instagram told their story that exceeded 170,000 followers, transforming an ecclesiastical dispute into an international affair, covered by the BBC , The Guardian. What was a simple internal conflict reached the Vatican , called to manage an unexpected situation: three octogenarian nuns who used social networks as a shield, megaphone and negotiation lever.
Kloster Goldenstein, an Austrian convent located in a 19th-century castle, which for decades was the spiritual home and workplace of the three nuns who taught at the adjacent school. Over the years, the religious community dwindled until it consisted only of the three women, the last Austrian representatives of the Hospitaler Regular Canons of the Mercy of Jesus. In 2024, considering the convent unsuitable for people their age, their superior, Provost Markus Grasl, decided to close it and transfer them to a nursing home. The nuns say they were taken there without consulting them and experienced the transfer as a forced exile. « Before dying in that nursing home, I prefer to go to a meadow and enter eternity »
In September 2025, they decide to escape . They do so with the help of former students, some neighbors and even a locksmith who breaks down the convent door to let them in. The nuns start posting videos, photos and updates on Instagram, first in German, then in English. They show their daily life as they pray, cook, climb stairs without help and explain why they don't want to leave. Provost Grasl, overwhelmed by the media attention, first tried a moral condemnation, calling their action «incomprehensible» and a » violation of the vow of obedience». Then , he tried to negotiate an agreement: the nuns can stay «until further notice «, but in exchange, they would have to cease all social media activity and renounce any future legal action. The three octogenarians responded by calling the document a «restrictive contract», the negotiations stalled and the case would be transferred to the Vatican. The Goldenstein case demonstrates that the current Church is not prepared to manage situations in which traditional authority clashes with the more transparent, emotional, immediate and radically disintermediated logic of social networks. Regardless of how it ends, the story of Sister Bernadette, Sister Regina and Sister Rita sets an important precedent. It is the first true ecclesiastical crisis of the social media era, and almost certainly not the last.
And we end with a book that is more than interesting, it is «The Unfinished Revolution» by Marco Politi. This book is a timely and complete summary of the main issues that have shaken Pope Francis's pontificate: from his relationship with Benedict XVI to the clerical sexual scandals, from the Becciu case to the revaluation of women, from the Latin Mass to synodality, passing through the reform of the Roman Curia. All these themes have marked Francis's ambivalent behavior, between advances and setbacks toward more modest positions. Politi offers a reconstruction of a papacy that the protagonist himself did not always contribute to clarifying. But the revolution has not been completed and the gap between traditionalists and reformers has been deep. Among conservative groups, resentment for the changes has consolidated, while among some reformist sectors, disillusionment has grown. During the years of Francis's pontificate a strong movement of faithful, theologians and bishops publicly committed (as in the time of Vatican II) to a renewal of the Church according to the lines traced by the Pope has not grown. Indecisive bishops, entrenched priests and inert faithful characterize the landscape.
«…you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to the little ones».
Good reading.
It's not all “fault” of Francis
How three octogenarian nuns occupied a convent in Austria, opening a diplomatic case in the Vatican
There is no lasting reconciliation without a common goal. The words of Pope Leo to Lebanon
Pope Leo XIV, the visit to Lebanon continues: «The world looks at the Middle East with fear»
This is how recycled communists dominate "democratic" Poland “democratic”
In the Lebanese hills, the Pope relaunches the hour of prayer
The balance of the Holy See, really at a turning point?
US under Trump admin will no longer commemorate World AIDS Day
Lebanon. Leo XIV meets the youth: «If at the center of a relationship of friendship or love there is our I, this relationship cannot be fruitful»
The Pope in Lebanon: «Your homeland will flourish like the cedar»
Lebanon enjoys the Pope, but with the specter of a future IDF attack
Help Infovaticana continue informing