Thursday, March 29, 2007

The American seminarian in Rome...


You know he's from the Pont. North American College when you see a cleric in a cassock leading a jam session of praise and worship on the streets of Rome.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Strictly speaking, St Peter's Square - where this picture seems to have been taken - is not the streets of Rome. It's the street(s) of the sovereign Vatican City State.

Anonymous said...

Well, strictly speaking, anonymous, the Vatican City State is part of Rome, and for Catholics IS Rome... Roma locuta est, causa finita est

Anonymous said...

Since the signing of the 1929 Lateran Agreement, the Vatican City State has been an independent country, fully independent; it is not 'part' of Rome (which it simply happens to be in the middle of) any more than Monaco is part of France.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Anonymous said...

Alright, anonymous. I don't know much about the situation of Monaco, but take the example of San Marino. Where is San Marino? It's in Italy. Is it a part of Italy? Yes, and No. Yes - geographically; no - constitutionally, since it (just as Vatican City State) is an independent state. We do not want to confound 'Italy' with just the 'Republic of Italy', after all, people were happy to talk of 'Italy' when it was still a collection of autonomous city states.
Rome is a legistative comune, BUT ALSO a geographical place, within which are several areas (usually named according to the local dominant hill, e.g. Vatican, Lateran, Esquiline, Capitol etc.). It therefore makes sense for a Roman Congregation, e.g. CDF to conclude a document in a 'Vatican' office with "given at Rome".

Anonymous said...

Anyway it is the diocese of Rome !