the Church penitent
Sunday, August 26, was a bizarre day to be in Rome. late the night before, we read Archbishop Viganò's statement alleging more scandal and cover-ups in the abuse crisis, naming several cardinals and Pope Francis himself. the ensuing maelstrom has included plenty of attempts to discredit Viganò, but also corroboration from several good bishops. in that first twenty-four hours, we had the same sense of shocked clarity one has when complaining to a doctor that something feels off, and receiving a diagnosis of cancer. attending mass at St. Peter's Basilica in this context was even more emotionally powerful than i imagine it would have been otherwise. we set off around 9:45 to get to 10:30 mass (the same mass we tried to go to on our first Sunday here -- this time, the schedule proceeded as normal!). however, the wait to get through security was 30 minutes instead of the 15 we had budgeted, so we were in a bit of a rush as we finally cleared security, dropped off the stroller at th...