The image from the Circo Massimo is unmistakable: on this "Family Day", a huge multitude of Italian families (including many friends of this blog) gathered to protest the government's support of the counternatural bill.
Cardinal Bagnasco, the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, despite the clear lack of support from Pope Francis, kept his support for the event. Some Cardinals, including Cardinal Sarah, showed their support. But the Pope himself kept his silence, resented by millions of Italian Catholics who simply cannot understand why a Pontiff who talks about everything chose not to explicitly support the event (earlier in the day, the first Jubilee general audience attracted a much smaller number of people to St. Peter's square).
Here is our support to good Italian Catholics: go on, march on, even if the Vatican is not clear, God is, and He will reward your efforts!
P.S. An influential Italian Catholic leader present at the massive rally tells us the mood: "An ecstatic and defiant crowd at #familyday2016! However, never since the Rennissance have Italian Catholics despised a Pope more than Pope Francis. Those present here are the backbone of Italian Catholicism, and they cannot believe the Pope abandoned them to the secular lions in Parliament, abandoned the few faithful bishops and did not even say a single word at his Jubilee General Audience today. Yet, they are not angry at Francis, it's more a mix of deep disdain and a strong sentiment of Fremdscham, as the Germans say."
P.S. An influential Italian Catholic leader present at the massive rally tells us the mood: "An ecstatic and defiant crowd at #familyday2016! However, never since the Rennissance have Italian Catholics despised a Pope more than Pope Francis. Those present here are the backbone of Italian Catholicism, and they cannot believe the Pope abandoned them to the secular lions in Parliament, abandoned the few faithful bishops and did not even say a single word at his Jubilee General Audience today. Yet, they are not angry at Francis, it's more a mix of deep disdain and a strong sentiment of Fremdscham, as the Germans say."
