「学び合いの会」海外ニュース２７３号２０１４−１
2013年の隠れたカトリックストーリー・トップ５
by John L. Allen Jr. , 2014/1/3
† 主の平和
謹んで新年のお慶びを申し上げます。
今年初の記事は、NCR（National Catholic Reporter 誌）のバチカン
担当記者 John L. Allen Jr. が毎年発表している「前年のカトリック・
隠れた五大ニュース」から、そのトップに選んだ話題を、翻訳グル
ープの仲間の抄訳でお届けします。
Allen 記者は、前任の教皇ベネディクトに「改革者」という形容詞
をつけてトップの話題とし、説得力ある論旨を展開しています。
添付記事
1. 2013年のカトリック・隠れた五大ニュースから
「改革者ベネディクト」（抄訳）
National Catholic Reporter 誌の"All Things Catholic"欄を担当するわたし（John L.
Allen Jr.）は、
毎年恒例のように、新年の最初の記事で、前年の隠れたカトリックのストーリーを扱うことにしてきた。ただ、今年の場合は、カトリックの隠れたストーリーを語るのはバカげているような気もしている。なぜなら教皇ベネディクト16世の辞任と新教皇フランシスコについて、既に余りに多くの報道があったからである。
しかし「フランシスコ効果」の皮肉な面は、多くのメディアにおいて、その話題以外のカトリックのストーリーを語る事がむつかしくなった点にある。その理由は、情報のほとんどが、「教皇マニア（pope-mania）」によるものであり、多くは教皇のスタイルや人柄に焦点を当て、肝心な一部の本質が語られていないことにあるからである。
そこでわたしは、既に多く語られた主題、たとえば性的虐待問題やオバマの避妊具支給法などの話題は除外し、英語のメディアであまり取り上げられなかった話題を取り上げることにした。
◇◇◆◇◇
＜訳者ノート＞
John Allenは、前年の隠れたカトリックストーリーのトップ5として、次の５つを挙げている。
第１：改革者Benedict：
第２：イタリアを代表する左派系言論人のスカルファリ氏（８６）とその予想の危機：
第３：キリスト教殉教者の新しいパトロン：
第４：カトリック教会のイタリア問題：
第５：マグディ・アラムと空論の胸焼け：
注：Magdi Cristiano Allam (マグディ・アラム、1952年生)はエジプト生まれのイタリアのジャーナリスト・政治家、イスラム過激派批判、西洋とイスラムの文化関係論で知られる。2009年以来欧州議会議員。イスラム教からキリスト教に改宗後、Benedictに重用されたが、キリスト教を去った。 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdi_Allam
上記のうち「第１：改革者Benedict」のみ抄訳。
◇◇◆◇◇
改革者Benedict
改革者フランシスコのイメージに拘わらず、2013年の単独の最も革命的な行為は教皇ベネディクト16世の自発的辞任であった。ドイツ生まれのベネディクト16世は、教皇就任前はヨゼフ・ラッツィンガー枢機卿として長年、カトリック教義の強化に尽力、「神のロットワイラー犬（ドイツの大型犬）」の異名をとっていた。しかし、バチカン改革は実際には行えなかった。
世間の言葉ではベネディクトとフランシスコの違いはこう言えよう：ベネディクトの下では、人々は何ごとであれ、彼らが教会について好まないものごとは、教皇ベネディクトのせいであると考えた。今では、彼らはそれを教皇のせいとは考えない。そしてベネディクトとフランシスコの傾向を対比して、課題
対 反課題（matter and antimatter）の問題と捉える。すなわち、伝統の護持 対 教会の刷新、教義主義 対 あわれみと共感の主張、といったように。
こうした議論とは別に、彼らが気づいていないことは、ベネディクトの辞任の決心なしには、教皇フランシスコの実現はなかったということである。
同様に注目すべきは、ベネディクトの辞任の仕方である。2013年2月28日の、枢機卿たちへの最後の演説で、彼は「後継者への無条件の経緯と従順」を誓わせている。またフランシスコの選出後、ベネディクトはフランシスコの要請以外には一切公的発言をしていない。
フランシスコの新しい方針に関して、さまざまに書かれた不快感を示す意見にも拘わらず、ベネディクトは異論を唱える者に賛同もしていない。要するに、ベネディクトは自ら選んで「不可謬性」から「不可視性」に踏み込んでいる。2013年6月のエルトン・ジョンのフランシスコへの賛辞の切望が「虚栄の時代において、教皇の謙虚さは奇跡」でないとしたら、一体それが何なのかを知ることはむつかしかろう。
訳注：エルトン・ジョンの賛辞 http://www.afpbb.com/articles/-/2955350 参照。
実質的レベルで、フランシスコが信用を得ているいくつかの改革は、バチカン金融の大掃除と、児童性的虐待の"ゼロ・トレランス方式"の確約を含めて、ベネディクトの下で始まった政策の継続になる。
そうではないとしても、600年間もどの教皇もとらなかった辞任をベネディクトもとらなかったなら、「フランシスコ効果」は歴史に残らなかっただろう という一点は残る。また事情は著しく異なるとして、それは教皇のだれ一人もがとったことのない決断であった、と主張できよう。
フランシスコがカトリック教会の大刷新をなしつつあり、教会に新しい再出発を提案しつつあることに、疑念の余地はない。しかし、2013年の革新的教皇がフランシスコだけではない事実を、記録に残しておきたい。 （了）
＊＊＊＊＊
（参考のため以下に英語記事全文を添付します。）
“The top five under-covered Catholic stories of 2013” by John L. Allen Jr. ,
Jan. 3, 2014
It's an "All Things Catholic" tradition to dedicate the first column
of the new year to the most under-covered Catholic stories of the previous 12
months, which in the past has always seemed a good use of time given the sporadic
and often radically incomplete coverage the church typically draws. This year,
however, it feels a little silly to be talking about Catholicism as under-covered,
given the astronomic media interest generated by the resignation of Benedict
XVI and the rise of Francis. If the coverage we've seen this year isn't enough,
one might fairly ask, what exactly would be? Yet an ironic aspect of the "Francis
effect" is that it's actually become tough to tell any other Catholic story
on most media platforms because whatever appetite there is for church news is
entirely fed by pope-mania. Even coverage of Francis himself has left some important
pieces of the story in the shadows, often focusing on stylistics and personality
rather than substance. As a result, there are a surprising number of narratives
that slipped through the cracks, despite the fact it sometimes feels like the
world's commercial networks are becoming satellites of Vatican TV.
For purposes of this countdown, I'm omitting already-familiar storylines that
have temporarily been shoved to the backburner -- the sex abuse crisis, for
instance, or the crackdown on American nuns, or controversy in the States over
the Obama contraception mandates. They were amply covered before and doubtless
will be again. Instead, I focus on five storylines that never really had much
traction, especially in American and English-language media, and that are worth
another look.
5. Allam and heartburn for ideologues
The highest-profile Catholic convert during the Benedict years was Magdi Cristiano
Allam, an Egyptian-born politician and essayist who rose to fame in Italy as
a fierce critic of radical Islam.
Allam was personally received into the church by Benedict XVI during the 2008
Easter vigil Mass, but announced in late March that he considered his allegiance
"expired" because of a "softer" line on Islam under Francis.
Allam published an essay adding four additional reasons for his defection: what
he called the built-in "relativism" of Catholicism, its inherent tendency
to "globalism" (instead of defending Western culture and values),
its "do-gooder" streak, and its imposition of unrealistic teachings
on sex and money.
Aside from the debatable fourth point, Allam was basically right on the first
three.
Although Catholicism has teachings it considers anything but relative, it encompasses
a variety of interpretations and expressions of those teachings. Catholicism
is inherently global, ever more so in a time when two-thirds of the 1.2 billion
Catholics on the planet live outside the West, and it also does have a gaggle
of do-gooders. Whether that adds up to a reason to spurn the church is, of course,
a different matter.
In itself, the loss of Allam wouldn't crack any list of the year's major Catholic
developments, even in Italy. In all honesty, his on-again, off-again conversion
probably did more damage to his own credibility than to the church's missionary
fortunes.
However, there's a moral to the story that gives it larger significance.
What it illustrates is that anyone drawn to Catholicism primarily on the basis
of political considerations, whether they come from the right or the left, is
destined to be frustrated. Catholicism simply isn't a political party, and it
has enough internal diversity to give ideologues of any stripe a serious case
of heartburn.
Among other things, this suggests a word to the wise for anyone feeling a tug
toward Catholicism today because of perceptions that it's moving to the left
under Francis. Take the Allam story to heart because if your faith is based
on no more than a political wish list, it may have a short shelf life.
4. The church's Italian problem
It's possible that the influence and reputation of the Italian bishops reached
a new low in 2013.
One sign came in national elections in February, when both the Vatican and the
Italian church wrapped technocratic Prime Minister Mario Monti in a warm, loving
embrace, yet Monti barely drew 10 percent of the vote and finished in an embarrassing
fourth place. While Monti had political handicaps of his own, it's striking
how little difference the bishops' support meant.
Here's another: The headline of a recent national poll about which institutions
Italians trust was that the church has gained 10 points since the election of
Francis. However, that bump brought its trust level up to just 54.2 percent,
meaning fully half of the country remains skeptical. (For the record, the church
finished well behind Italy's forces of order.)
Say "church" to most Italians and they think "bishops,"
so in effect, the survey was a referendum on the hierarchy.
Even more telling, ambivalence about Italian churchmen wasn't just found at
the grassroots, but perhaps even more strongly within the College of Cardinals.
In effect, the conclave of 2013 was the most antiestablishment papal election
of the last 100 years, fueled by a strong sense among prelates outside il bel
paese that the Italian old guard had run the Vatican off the rails. The leaks
debacle was the final nail in the coffin, but it was hardly the only one.
Here's why this matters for Catholics in other parts of the world.
For centuries, the Italian episcopacy has formed the church's central nervous
system. They supply the vast majority of the Vatican's diplomatic corps and
a disproportionate share of the place's other movers and shakers. Prelates from
major Italian dioceses, such as Milan, Bologna, Florence, Venice and Genoa,
are points of reference around the world, and the Italian bishops' conference,
CEI, is a major tone-setter for other groupings of bishops.
A slow-moving internationalization of church leadership perhaps makes the Italian
contribution less critical than once upon a time, but as long as the Vatican
remains in Rome, as long as future generations of churchmen study there and
absorb the rhythms of Italian ecclesial culture, and as long as Italian is the
de facto working language of the church, the overall health of the Italian episcopacy
will be relevant indeed to Catholic fortunes.
One measure of the "Francis effect" thus profiles as his ability to
lead a renewal of the hierarchy in his own backyard.
One step in that regard came Monday, when Francis named Bishop Nunzio Galantino
the new secretary of the Italian bishops' conference while allowing him to serve
part-time while remaining in his diocese.
Galantino is seen as cut from Francis' cloth, known in his small southern diocese
for living in a small room at the seminary rather than the bishop's palace,
keeping his own calendar and answering his own phone rather than having a secretary,
driving himself in a simple car, and insisting on being called "Don Nunzio"
rather than "Your Excellency." When Galantino was made a bishop, he
asked people not to give him gifts but to donate to the poor.
A typical Francis footnote is that he wrote to the people of Galantino's diocese
to "ask permission" to borrow their bishop, saying, "I know you
won't like that he's being taken away, and I understand," and then asked
them to "forgive me." If not unprecedented, it's certainly rare for
a pope to apologize in such a direct way to the people affected by a personnel
move.
3. A new patron for Christian martyrs
One unfortunate side effect of the fact that popes generally no longer preside
over beatification ceremonies is that people don't pay as much attention, which
caused the May 25 beatification of Fr. Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi, the
great anti-Mafia priest of Sicily gunned down in 1993, to pass largely without
comment.
I wrote at the time that it was the most important beatification of the early
21st century, and I'm sticking by that diagnosis.
That's because Puglisi is an ideal patron saint for today's new generation of
Christian martyrs. The number of Christians killed for reasons linked to their
faith is approximately 100,000 every year, with millions more facing other forms
of violent persecution. Puglisi is a compelling symbol not just because he's
one of them, but because his beatification represents a key theological breakthrough
in how Catholicism understands the concept of martyrdom.
Puglisi was pastor of San Gaetano Parish in the rough-and-tumble Palermo neighborhood
of Brancaccio. He became famous for his strong anti-Mafia stance, refusing to
take their money for feast day celebrations and not allowing dons to march at
the head of processions. He received multiple death threats and, according to
the testimony of one of his hit men (who later confessed), Puglisi's last words
were: "I've been expecting you."
The broader significance of the beatification is this: Historically, the church
has recognized martyrs only if they were killed in odium fidei, meaning hatred
of the faith. Puglisi, however, was recognized as a martyr who died in odium
virtutis et veritatis, meaning hatred of virtue and truth.
That category has always existed in classical Christian theology. Over the centuries,
writers have invoked it to explain why the church regards St. John the Baptist
as a martyr even though he died not for faith in Christ but for criticizing
Herod's immoral conduct. The Puglisi beatification means it's being applied
to sainthood causes and could accommodate many similar situations.
To take a concrete example, recent days have heard cries from Catholic activists
in Ukraine about the mounting threats they face for standing up for human rights
and democracy. They're being increasingly hassled by security services, not
for confessional motives, but rather the perceived threat they pose to the regime
of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Like those Ukrainians, many Christians today are menaced not for refusing to
sacrifice to pagan gods or because they dissent from the creed of the prince,
but due to moral and social choices rooted in their faith. That distinction
doesn't make their suffering any less deserving of concern, and it cheapens
their sacrifice to suggest it's not "religious" simply because their
oppressors aren't motivated by explicitly religious concerns.
Driving that point home is the promise of Blessed Pino of Brancaccio.
2. Scalfari and the perils of projection
So far, Pope Francis has had four extended sessions with the press, and while
all have been fascinating, none was more of a blockbuster than the text published
by veteran Italian journalist and nonbeliever Eugenio Scalfari on Oct. 1. Among
other things, the choice by Francis to sit down with one of Italy's most prominent
secular intellectuals was seen as further confirmation of his commitment to
outreach and dialogue.
Memorable lines from the Scalfari piece included the pope criticizing a "Vatican-centric"
worldview, the assertion that some clergy suffer from "the leprosy of a
royal court," and the mother of all sound bites, "God is not a Catholic."
It also featured Francis describing a moment before he accepted the papacy when
he thought about refusing and exited the Sistine Chapel to pray in a small room
off the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square.
That's where the fabric began to unravel, because cardinals who had been in
the Sistine Chapel knew such a moment never happened (and, for that matter,
that there is no small room off the balcony). As questions about the reliability
of the text mounted, Scalfari acknowledged he had neither tape-recorded his
conversation with Francis nor taken notes, so his piece was an ex post facto
reconstruction. The Vatican quietly took the transcript of the interview off
its website, basically conceding that it's impossible to know where Francis
ends and Scalfari begins.
As it turns out, that wasn't Scalfari's last word on the pope.
On Dec. 29, he published a lengthy essay in La Repubblica presenting the astonishing
claim that Francis, through his emphasis on freedom of conscience, effectively
has "abolished sin" from Catholic teaching.
That claim inevitably brought a denial from the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr.
Federico Lombardi, who called the idea of a pope taking a red pencil to a classic
Christian doctrine such as sin "impertinent," then politely added
that Scalfari "doesn't always seem comfortable in the biblical and theological
field."
Lombardi might well have added that anyone who's listened to Francis rail against
the treatment of the poor in the early 21st century shouldn't suffer from any
confusion about whether this pope believes sin is real.
(Once again, Scalfari also stumbled over a small detail. He wrote that "a
few days ago" Francis canonized St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the
Jesuits, who was actually made a saint in 1622. Perhaps Scalfari confused Ignatius
with St. Peter Faber, a Jesuit co-founder Francis did canonize Dec. 17, though
Scalfari insisted in a brief clarification that he was using the term "canonize"
in a metaphorical sense.)
Because the Francis papacy is rapidly evolving, it's fair game for observers
to offer their own interpretations about where it's going and what it means.
The lesson of the Scalfari story, however, is that sometimes, Rorschach-style
psychological projection may come dressed up as analysis, even as quotation,
so the rule of caveat emptor definitely applies.
1. Benedict the revolutionary
Despite images of Francis as a maverick, by far the single most revolutionary
act committed by a pope in 2013 came from Benedict XVI in the form of his stunning
decision to voluntarily renounce his office. Sometimes lost in the shuffle amid
the frenzy over Francis is that Benedict was actually the prime mover in the
drama. Benedict, of course, never had much luck when it came to PR. He came
into office with a prefabricated narrative about being "God's Rottweiler"
and "the Vatican's enforcer" and was never really able to shake it.
In terms of public opinion, the difference between Benedict and Francis is perhaps
best expressed this way: Under Benedict, people assumed that whatever they didn't
like about the church was because of the pope; now, they tend to think it's
in spite of the pope. As a result, the tendency is to frame Benedict and Francis
almost as matter and antimatter -- tradition vs. innovation, dogmatism vs. compassion,
etc. Apart from the debatable merit of those perceptions, what they ignore is
that Francis would not have happened without Benedict's decision to stand aside.
Equally notable is the way he's handled his departure. In his final address
to the cardinals Feb. 28, Benedict pledged "unconditional reverence and
obedience" to his successor, and he's held up his end of the deal. Other
than a private letter he sent to an Italian atheist that was leaked by the recipient,
Benedict has only been seen or heard in public when Francis has come calling
or invited him to something. Despite well-documented umbrage among some about
the new direction under Francis, Benedict has done nothing to encourage a "loyal
opposition" or to legitimize dissent from the new regime. In effect, Benedict
has gone from infallibility to near-invisibility, and entirely by his own choice.
If that's not a "miracle of humility in an era of vanity," to invoke
Elton John's Vanity Fair tribute to Francis back in June, it's hard to know
what would be. At a substantive level, several of the reforms for which Francis
is drawing credit, including his cleanup of Vatican finances and his commitment
to "zero tolerance" on sex abuse, amount to continuations of policies
that began under Benedict. Even if that weren't the case, the point remains
that the "Francis effect" might have been lost to history without
Benedict taking a step no pope had taken in 600 years -- and given the markedly
different circumstances, one could argue it's a step no pope had ever taken
in quite this way. No question about it, Francis is shaking up the Catholic
church and offering it a new lease on life. For the record, however, he wasn't
the only maverick, the only revolutionary pope, of 2013. (End)