Pia de Solenni

A cutting reflection from Cardinal Ratzinger, Good Friday 2005: "Pilate is not utterly evil. He knows that the condemned man is innocent, and he looks for a way to free him. But his heart is divided. And in the end he lets his own position, his own self-interest, prevail over what is right. Nor are the men who are shouting and demanding the death of Jesus utterly evil. Many of them, on the day of Pentecost, will feel "cut to the heart," when Peter will say to them: "Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God... you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law." But at that moment they are caught up in the crowd. They are shouting because everyone else is shouting, and they are shouting the same thing that everyone else is shouting. And in this way, justice is trampled underfoot by weakness, cowardice and fear of the diktat of the ruling mindset. The quiet voice of conscience is drowned out by the cries of the crowd. Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think."

It was 1480, when 18,000 Ottoman Turks invaded Otranto in Puglia, Italy 🇮🇹, devastating it 800 young martyrs (male, over 15 years) refused to renounce Christianity and were beheaded Today, their bones can still be seen in the beautiful Otranto Cathedral

I finally started reading the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith's Study Group 5 final report related to "The Participation of Women in the Life and Leadership of the Church", and I am disappointed from the very beginning at its lack of basic historical grounding. E.g. one of its opening lines starts, "The entry of women into public life—which developed and consolidated during the twentieth century..." Surely those at the higher levels of the Catholic Church who are behind documents such as this know that NUMEROUS women were active in various ways in what we can describe as "public life" for MANY CENTURIES prior to the 20th, even if they were not (as most men were not most of that time, either...) voting for candidates for, or serving themselves in, democratically-elected offices. But then again, maybe they don't know this? I see also that the list of women featured in the document's Appendix II, "Important Women in the History of the Church," only mentions two women we might describe as "public" (or political perhaps is a better term) from Catholicism's past: Joan of Arc and St. Helena -- the latter of whom was given the rank and some powers as Empress by her son Constantine. The list by contrast does NOT include a single truly politically-and-ecclesially powerful woman from Catholicism's very long and rich history, even though there are numerous such figures to choose from in this regard, some of them even canonized saints. To name just a few women whose rather public roles and exercise of leadership functions within and for the Church who are absent from the Study Group 5 final report's list: -- Empress Irene of Athens (convoked the 2nd Council of Nicaea) -- St Adelaide of Italy, first papally anointed Holy Roman Empress (major patroness of the Cluniac reform) -- St Adela of Normandy, Regent of Blois, mother of Stephen of England -- Queen Mélisende of Jerusalem, first of five female rulers of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem -- Matilda of Canossa, Margravine of Tuscany (helped bring Henry IV to heel for Pope Gregory VII) -- Blanche of Castile, Queen Regent of France while her son St. Louis IX was off on Crusade -- St Jadwiga of Poland, sovereign of Poland even called "King" at times -- Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Norway, & Sweden, who was behind the canonization of Bridget of Sweden -- Holy Roman Empress Barbara of Cilli (present at the opening of the Great-Western-Schism-ending Council of Constance, which she helped her husband Emperor Sigismund host in their domains) -- Margaret of Austria, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (fought Protestantism in her domains & helped train her nephew, the future Emperpr Charles V, to rule) -- Queen Isabella of Castile (granted vast powers by three popes to choose the bishops of her realms) -- Long lists of pre-Reformation Imperial Abbesses of Zürich, Princess Abbesses of Quedlinburg, and other territorial abbesses whose authority in some ecclesial affairs in their domains came as much or more from privileges granted by Holy Roman Emperors, other monarchs, and Popes as from their consecrations as abbesses per se -- Queen Mary I of England, who tried her best to reverse her father Henry VIII's break with Rome -- Juana of Austria, Regent of Spain, protectress of the Jesuit order -- Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, co-sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands who helped institute the Council of Trent's reforms there (and who also chose bishops for her realms) -- Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, arguably the most powerful Roman Catholic in the world in the 18th c. There are numerous other women in the history of the Church, active from the earliest days of Christianity through the 19th century, who may also be said to have been active in various ways in both public life and in leadership roles within and for the Church. But their legacies (and the wisdom their examples may hold for today's Church, respecting not just the role of WOMEN but even more so the role of the LAITY in ecclesial affairs) seem elided by the DDF / synod document I just started reading. And perhaps we are not quite ready in the Catholic world to admit that a more serious, historically grounded discussion of women's participation in ecclesial leadership requires us also to take the much more extensive history of MEN'S and especially LAYMEN'S participation in this area more seriously -- beginning, say, with that of St. Helena's son the Emperor Constantine in convoking the First Council of Nicaea.

𝗜𝗡 𝗔 𝗦𝗘𝗔 𝗢𝗙 𝗢𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗜𝗦𝗘 — 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗟𝗬 I'll be honest. The Oscars are not exactly must-see television for me anymore. But someone sent me this — and I watched it twice. Irish actress Jessie Buckley just won Best Actress. And instead of a political lecture, instead of a pin, instead of a land acknowledgment or a cause of the week — she talked about her husband. Her eight-month-old daughter dreaming of milk at home. Her Irish family whose flights were paid for by Ireland itself to be in that room. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝟤𝟢,𝟢𝟢𝟢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. The room probably didn't know what to do with that. Then she dedicated the award to motherhood itself — on Mother's Day in the UK — with words that belong on a wall somewhere: 𝘛𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆. Hollywood spent years telling women that ambition means leaving behind the things Jessie Buckley just stood on the biggest stage in her industry and celebrated without apology. A husband she adores. A baby at home. A family flown in from Ireland. I don't know what film she won for. But I know I'll watch it now. Well done, Jessie. 𝗚𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗯𝗵 𝗺í𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝘁.