Monday, March 18, 2013

The Moynihan Report: Letter #52: On the Eve



March 18, 2013, Monday -- On the Eve

Tomorrow a new pontificate will officially begin. It will be the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19.

I note that "Joseph" is the name of Joseph Ratzinger, so tomorrow is the "onomastico," or saint's day (celebrated in Italy almost like a birthday) of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

The Vatican Information Service (VIS) issued the following news report for tomorrow. It is quite comprehensive. It answers many of the questions you may have about the details of tomorrow's historic events.

Two little notes: the Gospel will be in Greek, showing the respect of the Latin Church for the Greek Churches (the Orthodox Churches), that "other lung" of Christianity which John Paul II spoke so often of, saying that the Church needed to breathe "with two lungs" (the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will be present, the first time an Ecumenical Patriarch has ever attended the Mass inaugurating a new pontificate); and, Father Lombardi stated publicly that the Pope will very likely depart from the prepared text of his homily, which he will deliver in Italian.

So there may be some surprises.

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