austraLasia 1501
ZEN-IT! We missed him...so far!
(This item is NOT a candidate for 'towards #1500'!)
ROME: 23rd March 2006 -- "The world seen from
Rome". At this precise moment Rome has chosen a spring
thunder-cum-hailstorm as comment on the consistory, so it's difficult
even seeing the screen in my office let alone Rome and the world.
The fond hope was to bring you a real live interview with Cardinal Zen,
but he's been more like the
scarlet pimpernel than a red-hatted cardinal these last two days
at the Pisana. We may have to be content with imagining some
lines like "Your eminence, does your Chancery Office use Microsoft or
Linux?", to which he replies "Well, we were waiting for Stained Glass
Windows to be released, but since then, Red Hat has come out and, well
...!". The mind boggles - POP3 for POPE and control-delete-F for
the Holy Office!
But seriously, the Consistory began this morning for
its day of reflection and prayer. We would be unlikely to glimpse
'our' cardinal again for a while as the meeting is expected to stretch
into the late evening. They are gathered in the New Synod Hall
above the Nervi Auditorium built by Paul VI and hence more commonly
known as the Paul VI Auditorium. Cardinal Sodano, Dean of the
College of Cardinals, greeted the assembled group and the Pope by
likening the moment to a gathering in the Cenacle. The Pope then
offered some reflections of his own. It seems all topics are open
but neither the precise agenda nor any minutes of such a meeting are or
will be available for the unwashed and hatless like ourselves.
Tomorrow's main ceremony and Saturday's Ring Mass
are meant to be outside in St. Peter's Square, but the rustles and
vagaries of spring may put paid to such plans. Watered silk looks
nice on a zucchetto until it's actually
wet.
Cardinal Zen's motto - Ipsi cura est -
comes from the longer Latin phrase omnem sollicitudinem vestram
proicientes in Eum, quoniam Ipsi cura est de vobis or, 'throw all
your concerns on him for He cares for you'. The coat of arms is
colourful - even for a Bishop it had its fair share of red on it: two
large red pillars from Don Bosco's dream (Eucharist and Mary HC), a
tiny boat with the red cross on the sail, blue waters of HK
harbour with the city skyline in the background and a large yellow
anchor across the lot, all topped by another cross and a purple galero. At least one further question in
the interview that hasn't happened would be whether the galero too will
now be red. If you wish to see this colourful coat of arms, you
will find it on Bosconet homepage,
right at the bottom (you'll need to scroll).
GLOSSARY
scarlet pimple: shadowy figure out of
English fiction, kind of precursor to superman in a way: no one quite
knew when he was around and might go into action.
zucchetto: the little skull cap bishops
and cardinals wear.
galero: the large red hat with long
tassles. They don't actually wear them - but one is put on the
bier at the funeral mass.
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