Cardinal Newman once remarked that anyone boarding the Barque of Peter shouldn’t look too closely at the engine room. Sometimes when there are storms brewing in the Vatican – as there are right now over the Synod on the Family (opening Sunday) – I’m reminded of the time prior to the Civil War. South Carolina repeatedly threatened to leave the Union, prompting James L. Petigru to warn: “South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.” It seceded anyway. What it then became is still under dispute.
The Vatican is already an independent state, though more of a monarchy than a republic, with a special relationship to Italy. Whether this is a durable arrangement, only time will tell. The modern state is increasingly, ideologically, aggressively opposed to Catholic teaching and dedicated to eliminating it from the public square. We may see another Babylonian Captivity of a sort before some of us pass on to eternal judgment.
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