Rome & the World: frank Vatican diplomat • Muslim apology? • Pope’s travels on film

In two interviews published in the last weeks Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State, has been exceptionally frank on certain contentious issues concerning the Church’s relations, notably the German Synodal Way, the Vatican’s relationship with China, and the Pope’s health. “For much of the last eight years, Archbishop Gallagher has appeared to be a model of diplomatic restraint,” analyzes The Pillar, wondering “what prompted this change in tone from the Vatican’s chief diplomat, and what might it signal about the Holy See’s internal thinking?” While Archbishop Gallagher’s statements “are hardly provocative in themselves, they all represent a noticeable sharpening of tone by the Vatican foreign minister and a real, if subtle, shift in the way he addresses the most sensitive issues facing the Vatican,” the article explains. The Pillar proposes two interpretations. The first is that it is a “calculated change in tone from the Secretariat of State” to “ forestall any further moves by the German bishops to upend their ecclesial structures or by the Chinese to tighten their grip on the Church in Hong Kong.” Along with the frankness on the Pope’s health it may be a “signal” that  “the institutional commitments of the Vatican” could go  “beyond the current pontificate.” The second interpretation is that perhaps Archbishop Gallagher is expecting to leave his position soon, having been in this job for almost 8 years, so his comments are a sort of “end-of-term relaxation.”

The Pillar, English

Regarding the Pope’s apology to indigenous Canadians for the Church’s wrongdoings, Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako told Catholic press agency SIR, that he hopes it serves as an “example” to “the Muslim authorities to understand and ask for forgiveness for all the suffering inflicted on Christians.” “Think of ISIS or Daesh who on their arrival killed so many Christians and forced their conversion to Islam. Forgiveness: a useful gesture to sensitize their faithful in this direction," continued the Iraqi Cardinal. “In our Eastern society, which is based on the authority embodied by the leadership and the sheik, the culture of forgiveness is almost absent,” Cardinal Sako assessed, saying that in this context “apologizing contradicts one’s dignity, destiny and pride.” However, he underlined that apologizing is “a strength, a virtue, [...], it removes tensions, expresses self-knowledge and courage” and is essential to “living together in peace, happiness and harmony.” He hopes Muslim authorities can also apolgize for the violence inflicted “against the indigenous Christians of the land.”

SIR, Italian

The Venice Film Festival, which will begin on the 31st of August, will feature a documentary on Pope Francis’ trips. The Italian documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi created the work by editing together clips from the Pope’s various trips. In the 9 years of his pontificate, the Argentinian Pope has gone on 37 trips, visiting 59 countries. Rosi is currently filming the trip to Canada, the article explains, meaning the documentary is still “open” and could be edited again by adding new clips of future travels. The film gradually tells the story of the state of our world today, “a kind of Stations of the Cross, where Francis witnesses the suffering of the world and experiences the difficulty of doing more, as well as the comfort of his words and presence.” Rosi “chose to make this film certainly not on commission, but out of a desire to tell the emotion of the world as seen through the eyes of Francis," the producer of the documentary said. It will be officially released on Oct. 4, 2022.

Ciak Magazine, Italian