Alarma en el Vaticano por los continuos vacíos

Aunque los medios oficiales del Vaticano tratan de ocultar la realidad, lo cierto es que la asistencia a los actos presididos por Francisco

InfoVaticana

Although the official Vatican media tries to hide the reality, the truth is that attendance at the events presided over by Francis are plummeting.

For several months now, due to the reduced mobility suffered by the Pontiff, the Vatican has been trying to control and limit all of Francis' movements. The low attendance and participation of the faithful in the Angelus, audiences or Masses in the Vatican has set off alarm bells in Rome.

In this medium, both Specola and La Cigüeña de la Torre have echoed on countless occasions the continuous gaps that Pope Francis faces every time he has a public meeting. The vast majority of official photographs are close-ups of Pope Francis and first rows to avoid showing gaps and empty chairs. Gone are those years of enthusiasm in which St. Peter's Square became too small and you had to queue for hours to get a place.

As Specola stated a few weeks ago in his blog, «the content of the audiences is of no interest to anyone, the papal catechesis, in other times so followed and cared for, today is inconsequential. Pope Francis continues to have problems with his persistent knee that does not fully straighten and that makes it impossible to extend the audience with hugs and kisses. "You can no longer hear the pope cheering, you can't breathe the warmth and affection of the attendees."

These gaps, already typical on Sundays - during the Angelus prayer - and on Wednesdays - in the Pope's public audiences - are also extending to other events of greater significance.

Without going any further, during these last few days we have confirmed the low attendance of faithful at two very important events such as the creation of 21 new cardinals last Saturday or the Mass on Wednesday with which the starting signal for the start was given. of the Synod Assembly. The images of both Masses leave no room for doubt and it is a topic (that of empty chairs) that is increasingly discussed in ecclesial environments.

There will be those who say that everything has to do with the process of secularization that affects the Church worldwide. The truth is that the Church plays less and less role in society, it no longer appears on the front pages unless there is some scandal due to abuse by the clergy, as we have seen in recent days in Spain with the case of the priest of Malaga.

The Church no longer has its own agenda. This -unfortunately- translates into not having anything new to contribute to the world and it is precisely now, in this postmodern and secularized world when the Good News must be announced with more vehemence than ever. But of course, this means going against the current and fighting against what is politically correct.

On the other hand, more and more voices are focusing on Francis himself, who fails to attract either outsiders or insiders with shallow speeches or empty content. This is the problem of wanting to please everyone or move in an ideological 'center' so as not to offend anyone, but unfortunately, center and lukewarmness in this case are synonymous and in this very materialistic world and where people thirst for God Good speeches that in a matter of minutes are blown away by the wind are not valid.

Surely there are multiple options to revive the activity and enthusiasm of the faithful in the cradle of Catholicism. We can affirm, without fear of being wrong, that the solution is to talk about God again and leave aside other worldly issues. Talk about God, his Gospel and the sacraments to nourish all those souls that wander the world longing for an answer that satisfies their empty transit through this Earth.

In Christianity, it is associated with the martyrdom of Peter the Apostle. The symbol originates from the Catholic tradition that when sentenced to death, Peter requested that his cross be upside down, as he felt unworthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus. The Petrine Cross is also associated with the papacy, reflecting the Catholic belief that the Pope is the successor of Peter as Bishop of Rome.

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