Nos enfrentamos a un día muy intenso, with many news items and many background articles, always complicated to present. We’re going to try again and we start by thanking our readers for the inconvenience due to the format change of Infovaticana, which we think is greatly improved, and the richness of being able to offer all the page’s content in the main languages.
During the flight to Rome, Leo XIV responded to the questions from journalists who asked him for a book to «understand who Prevost is». He pointed to a small volume on spirituality : «The Practice of the Presence of God», by Brother Lawrence . «If you want to know something about me, about what my spirituality has been for so many years, read this book». Many of the journalists do not pray, some do not believe and almost all see the Vatican through the categories of power and intrigue. By pointing to a book by a discalced Carmelite , he reminded everyone that the Pope is above all a man of God, and that his main task is not to manage files , but to speak of Jesus . To the young people of Bkerké, he said: «They asked me where to find the anchor to persevere in the commitment to peace. Dear friends, this anchor cannot be an idea, a contract or a moral principle. The true principle of the new life is the hope that comes from on high: it is Christ! Jesus died and rose for the salvation of all. He, the Living One, is the foundation of our trust; he is the witness of the mercy that redeems the world from all evil. As St. Augustine reminds us, echoing the Apostle Paul: «In Him is our peace, and from Him comes our peace».
«The Practice of the Presence of God» is a small book composed of a preface , four Conversations and a series of Letters from Nicolas Herman , born in Lorraine, ex-soldier and waiter, who entered the Discalced Carmelites of Paris as a lay brother in the 17th century. The preface narrates his story almost modestly: his conversion took place around the age of eighteen, in the middle of winter, before a bare tree . Contemplating that bare trunk, Lawrence intuited that spring would cover it again with leaves, flowers and fruits; from that simple scene, a «lofty vision of Providence and the Power of God» was born in him that would never leave him. God does not arrive through extraordinary experiences , but through a fragment of reality observed with seriousness. From that moment, Brother Lawrence decided to live as if he were «in the presence of God» : not to escape from the world, but to be in it in a different way.
If one leafs through the Conversations, the underlying theme of the book emerges immediately: the radical decision to entrust everything to God , even the most banal things. Brother Lawrence insists that it is not about changing professions or seeking more «spiritual» places; it is about changing the way of living that to which one is already called. Another recurring theme is trust . Lawrence confesses that he spent years convinced of his destiny to damnation. No theological argument could reassure him; and yet, he decided to continue loving God «come what may», sure of at least one thing: that he had tried to live for Him until death. This decision not to measure spiritual life by feeling, but by fidelity, becomes the door to great interior freedom : in the end, he understood that the problem was not guilt, but the lack of faith in mercy.
The countdown for the transfer of Pope Leo XIV «to the apartment» has begun. We already have images showing the maintenance work on the roof of the Apostolic Palace, which is being renovated these days. Everything points to the Pope’s rooms being ready to be occupied in the first days of January. In a few days it will be seven months since he was elected and Pope Leo is still in the apartment he occupied as a cardinal, in the Palace of the Holy Office. We are told that the renovation has been complicated since some rooms in the Apostolic Palace had not been used for 13 years, when Benedict XVI moved after presenting his resignation. The Swiss Guard, which in recent months has moved from Santa Marta house to the Palace of the Holy Office, will return to its traditional guard and control posts.
We already have the fir raised in St. Peter’s Square and it is always received with suspicion because it involves the felling of a large specimen. The truth is that it comes from a territory where tens of thousands of trees are felled every year to actively manage the forest and produce wood and other services. The 25-meter tall fir was extracted «with respect for the forest», as is emphatically highlighted in the Vatican statement. The bishop of the tree, Ivo Muser, of Bolzano-Bressanone: « The felling of the tree is not an disrespectful act, but the fruit of prudent forest management, where harvesting is part of an active approach that ensures the health of the forest and monitors its growth». «The tree will remain on display until the end of the Christmas season. Afterwards, essential oils will be extracted from its green branches, while the remaining wood will be donated to a charitable organization that will take care of its recovery».
Monsignor Stefanetti was a very familiar figure in pontifical ceremonies, he has left us at the age of 73, he was the dean. Since the papal liturgy does not require full-time for pontifical ceremonies, with the exception of the Monsignor Master and his secretaries, most of the ceremonialists work in other dicasteries. Due to his health problems, for some years he was not seen exercising his liturgical function, although he continued as dean.
The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made an unannounced visit to Awali, Bahrain, to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, which covers Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. She was accompanied by the Apostolic Vicar for Northern Arabia, Monsignor Aldo Berardi. It is the largest Catholic church in the Gulf, with capacity for 2300 faithful.
The Council of Nicaea was very lively, with the public slap of St. Nicholas (the one from Christmas) against the heretic Arius for his blasphemies about Jesus. Then came the painful kick in the testicles of an Arian to Hypatius, bishop of Gangra, who suffered an inguinal hernia for the rest of his days. Today he is the protector of virility and the male urogenital system, enjoying great veneration in Salento and even in Russia. After Nicaea, the post-conciliar conflict intensified. Let us cite only some of the many episodes: in 330, the Orthodox bishop Eustathius, the first patriarch of Antioch, was deposed by Constantine after a pro-Arian prostitute accused him of having impregnated her, and was reinstated years later, thanks to the woman’s repentance and confession. In Constantinople, in the year 343, General Hermogenes, sent by Emperor Constans to install the Arian bishop Macedonius, was lynched by a crazed mob; in the year 379, Bishop Eusebius of Samosata was murdered by a tile thrown by an Arian woman; the bishop of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, was forced by the Arians to abandon his episcopal see five times.
The ecclesial climate was tense and heated, Gregory of Nyssa described it as follows, between ironic and afflicted: «If you ask for money, he gives you a dissertation on the begotten and the unbegotten; if you ask the price of bread, «the Father is greater», he replies, «and the Son is subject». Ask if the bath is ready, and he declares that the Son comes from nothing. I don’t know what to call this evil: frenzy, madness or some kind of epidemic that overwhelms the mind». St. Jerome, about fifty years after the almost unanimous orthodoxy of the 318 Fathers of Nicaea, wrote his famous phrase: Ingemuit totus orbis, et arianum se esse miratus est , «the whole world groaned and marveled to find itself Arian». According to Newman, in that fourth century, the truth of the faith was preserved thanks to the sensus fidei of the people , since almost all the bishops had succumbed to imperial power and heresy. From that furious post-conciliar period, we should conclude that the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church had failed; but in the long term —what Leo XIV defined as «the long period of trust in which God works»—, it was not so. Joseph Ratzinger’s 1985 speech on Vatican II and the post-conciliar period should be reinterpreted in this light: «The results that followed the Council seem cruelly opposed to the expectations of all… Christians are again a minority, more than at any other time since the end of antiquity». Who knows if we are at the end of this endless post-conciliar period.
We move on to civil matters with news that indicates the stubbornness of the friends of the United Nations and the new winds from the United States. The United Nations continues on its way and the WHO recently called for free and easy access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) that destroys embryos for everyone, including those in “gender-diverse relationships”. The group’s «first global guideline on infertility» mentions some areas of genuine concern, suggesting that a «healthy diet, physical activity and quitting tobacco» can help with problems. It also focuses on identity politics and policies that do not focus on children, but on the mistaken idea that everyone has a right to have a child, no matter how many human embryos are destroyed in the process. The report states that “human rights” include conceiving a baby, presumably with generous subsidies from insurance companies or taxpayers: “single persons or those in same-sex or gender-diverse relationships may need services to meet their fertility preferences”.
In the United States things are changing very quickly and for the better with a current of common sense. The next world human rights report will include, among other violations of human dignity, the funding of abortion, laws against freedom of expression and treatments for «gender transition». This marks a historic turning point for the State Department and also includes the reference to God. Starting in 2026, it will significantly change the way it prepares its annual report on human rights worldwide. Violations of human rights will be considered: hormonal treatments and surgeries aimed at children in gender transition; government-funded abortions; laws that undermine freedom of expression; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies, i.e., preferential hiring practices based primarily on race and LGBT identity; and coercive euthanasia.
The change was communicated to all U.S. consulates and embassies. «This telegram contains precise instructions that inspire deep gratitude on the part of representatives of the pro-life movement worldwide». Regarding the murder of unborn children, starting next year, U.S. diplomats must indicate not only whether governments subsidize abortion and abortifacients, but also the total estimated number of abortions performed each year in a given country. Elective abortion will be considered what it is: a grave assault on life and human dignity. Human rights violations will also include the facilitation of mass or illegal immigration «through the territory of a country to other countries». «The United States maintains its commitment to the recognition of the Declaration of Independence that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights», and added that rights «are given to us by God, our Creator, not by governments».
«…but it did not fall because it was founded on rock».
Good reading.