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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