Cool night in Rome, audience in the square with more than decent attendance for this time of year, of course, we continue circling the obelisk without problem. A plaque in honor of the celebrated composer and organist Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, on the fifth centenary of his birth, on the facade of the San Carlo Palace in St. Martha’s Square in Vatican City.
On November 21, Pope Leo XIV received in private audience a group of mothers and wives of prisoners and adolescents forcibly taken to Russia and now returning to their homeland. Also attending were the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, and the U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a firm defender of the repatriation of Ukrainians and the release of prisoners. The group was accompanied by Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. «Pope Leo was very good to us, attentive, always attentive.» «I don’t want to be a victim of history. I don’t want my children, my grandchildren, or anyone else to experience what I lived through in the future.» «This meeting gives me hope that the Holy See will protect civilian prisoners. I hope everyone sees their loved ones return, as I did.»
One of the last wishes of Pope Francis before dying was that one of his «popemobiles» be donated to the population of Gaza and serve as a mobile clinic. Caritas has completed the necessary modifications and the vehicle is equipped with various medical devices, including a refrigerator to store medications, and can be used, among other things, to administer vaccines. The popemobile in question is a Mitsubishi donated to him by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, during a visit to the region in 2014. It has been on display in Bethlehem since that year.
Pope Leo XIV has granted to Rev. Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga , his personal secretary, the title of Chaplain of His Holiness , formally incorporating him into the Pontifical Household as established by the motu proprio Pontificalis Domus of March 28, 1968. It is one of the three categories of ecclesiastical distinctions preserved by the reform of St. Paul VI , confirming the full belonging of the priest to the direct service of the Roman Pontiff. It is a title that, although honorary, corresponds in this case to a concrete service.
Let’s get to the topic of the day before Pope Leo XIV begins his first apostolic journey. Awaiting Pope Leo to reveal his first encyclical, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith publishes its second Doctrinal Note in a few weeks. After the still controversial Mater Populi Fidelis , it is now the turn of Una Caro («One Flesh»), approved by the Pope on November 21 and published yesterday, November 25. The Note is «Praise of Monogamy «, as the subtitle of the document indicates. Its «fundamentally propositional» intention is expressed from the first lines: «to draw from Sacred Scripture, from the history of Christian thought, from philosophy and even from poetry, reasons and motivations that lead to choosing a unique and exclusive union of love, a mutual belonging that is rich and encompassing.»
The absence of references to Islamic cultural areas is striking. During the press conference for the presentation , the Cardinal Prefect repeatedly clarified that «this is not a document on polygamy, but on monogamy.» He is also asked if the Note also refers to «same-sex monogamists «. Fernández responds that «in the Catholic conception, marriage is an exclusive and indissoluble union between a man and a woman,» «if we want to talk about marriage.» If it is cohabitation, it is not a union, it is not a marriage; if it is not between a man and a woman, it is not exactly a marriage; if it is not exclusive, if it is between four or five, it is not a marriage; and if it is not indissoluble, if it is for a limited time, it is not a marriage. But the argument cannot lack the caveat: «this does not mean that there are no values in other contexts and that what we say here cannot also be useful for other forms of union,» including «even a relationship between friends.»
He acknowledges that the text was «almost ready several months ago.» «Along with the Note on Marian Titles and this one on monogamy, the Dicastery is carrying out another study on the theme of the transmission of the faith and also continues to complete its work in relation to the Synod of the famous Group 5 on the theme of women’s participation in the life and leadership of the Church. (…) With these four documents, the mandate that Pope Francis gave us two years ago concludes, and the Dicastery expects to meet officially and exhaustively in January (…) with Pope Leo XIV and then receive instructions for the next documents.»
Regarding Humanae Vitae, Fernández clarified: «There will be no changes to Humanae Vitae.» From Humanae Vitae to Caritas in Veritate. Humanae Vitae stands out in its first lines the «new aspects of the problem» of procreation, and among them, it points out the «rapid demographic growth, which leads many to fear that the world population will grow faster than available resources, causing growing anxiety to many families and developing peoples. Paul VI: ‘there is a great temptation for authorities to counter this danger with radical measures’.» The encyclical anticipated the needs of the world and foresaw its negative consequences. The fundamental point is the doctrine of marriage of natural law, «illuminated and enriched by divine revelation .» Procreation and natality represent the main social problem, with repercussions on all others. In fact, if mutual violence, even consensual, is allowed in the conjugal act, society and sociability are annihilated at birth. Caritas in Veritate by Benedict XVI: «The decline in birth rates, sometimes below the so-called replacement rate [today, I believe, we should even say ‘well’ below], also puts social welfare systems in crisis, increases their costs, reduces savings and, consequently, the financial resources necessary for investments, reduces the availability of qualified workers and reduces the ‘brain reserve’ (…) small families, and sometimes very small ones, risk impoverishing social relations and not guaranteeing effective forms of solidarity.»
And on such a marital day we end with an article from today that tells us how the devil acts. It starts with temptation: «The devil is the tempter of man, although not all temptations that assail man come directly from the devil; in fact, some have their origin in the triple concupiscence (James, I, 14) and others in the world ( 1 ). Tanquerey writes: ‘As for the action of the devil, two extremes must be avoided: there are those who attribute all the evils that happen to us to him, forgetting that in us there are morbid states and evil inclinations that come from the triple concupiscence and also natural causes sufficient to explain many temptations. There are others, however, who, forgetting what Sacred Scripture and Tradition tell us about the action of the devil, do not want to admit his intervention in any case. To follow the right path, the rule to follow is this: do not accept as diabolical phenomena except those that, either by their extraordinary character or by a complex of circumstances, denote the action of the evil spirit’ . The attitude toward temptation must be one of positive resistance. Maintaining a purely passive attitude is not enough; it would amount to consenting. Resistance is divided into direct and indirect. The first leads us to face the temptation face to face, doing the opposite of what it suggests. However, temptations against faith and purity must be resisted positively but indirectly; that is, not face to face, for otherwise the temptation will strengthen, but indirectly, by distracting ourselves, thinking about other things or engaging in external concerns that keep us busy and away from danger. We must flee from temptation by applying our imagination and fantasy to other things, from the first moment of the temptation.
The next step is «obsession» which is a strong and sensible diabolical temptation in which the action of the devil clearly appears; while in temptation it is not known whether it comes from the devil or from the triple concupiscence that dwells in man. Obsession is so violent and lasting that it produces a very deep disturbance in the soul and tries to push it toward evil with great violence. The best remedy against obsession is prayer, humility, self-contempt, and trust in God. We must be very careful not to attribute to diabolical temptation or obsession what could be a natural deficiency. For example, a mental illness or merely nervous one. The golden rule to follow is this: everything that can be explained by natural causes should not be attributed to the supernatural action of the devil.
And we arrive at possession which is the presence of the devil in the body of the possessed. Possession is more impressive, but obsession is more dangerous because it attacks man’s soul, making him lose sanctifying grace. The nature of possession consists in the invasion and seizure of a person’s body (called possessed, demonic or energumen), by the devil, manipulating its organs as if they were his own. The signs of diabolical possession given to us by the Roman Ritual in «De exorcizandis obsessis a daemonio». The remedies are above all: 1) a well-made and general sacramental confession; 2) Holy Communion after prior confession; 3) prayer and fasting; 4) sacramentals, especially the sign of the cross, holy water, and the St. Benedict medal, which contains an engraved form of exorcism.
«By your perseverance you will save your souls.»
Good reading.