Today the Pope greeted the world with his traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing. But what was different about it?
Not since 1963/64 had such visible (remember that all knowledge comes to us through the senses) glory been seen on the loggia of the Basilca of St. Peter! To many this is the look of a Pharaoh, but to us who know better it is the look of a Pontiff!
In the 1960s they did away with a greater part of the pomp and decoration sourrounding the popes (and the Mass for that matter, too). This was always sad. The papacy provides a spectacle found nowhere else on the planet. A long-standing predilection was then put into play of "papal moderation" which spells "catholicity moderation."
"People were weary of too much learning, too much power...they were tired of greatness, prestige and words." (The Romans by Michael Sheridan) . They were ready for the simple and the ugly. Thus the avocado green.
Mons. Gänswein, if you are reading this, kindly thank His Holiness for the mitre, cope and throne seen today! Now we just need the drooping tendrils of the customary ostrich feathered fans...and the la sedia gestatoria! All the best and salutami la Sua Santita' - benedictam Nativitatem tibi!
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