Papa Benedetto v La Sapienza

By now most people have heard of the fact that Papa Benedtto had to cancel his speech at Sapienza Università di Roma (La Sapienza) for the openning of the academic year. The reason was that a group of students & professors (Physics Dept) were set to disrupt the talk. The reason, in part, the Catholic Church is anti-science & in particular, some comments Papa Benedetto said while still Cardinal Ratzinger about the Galileo. (As an aside, Ratzinger was right, most of what we hear about how horribly Galileo was treated isn't true. But that is for another time.)

The irony, what is now a secular university was started by Pope Boniface VIII. & anybody who knows anything knows that the Church is anything but anti-Science. It is anti-sin & that is what a lot of these protestors really didn't like. They used the false stories of Galileo as an excuse for their real reasons, anti-clericalism & anti-God.

The protestors has planned to use loud rock music, anti-clerical posters, and parades of militant homosexuals to disrupt the events.

Anyhow, this whole thing has backfired & the protesters have become the villians & Papa Benedetto has instead become a martyr of sorts.

Italian president Giorgio Napolitano called their actions "inadmissible intolerance". Prime Minister Romano Prodi said their actions "provoke unacceptable tensions and created a climate that does not honor Italy's traditions of civility and tolerance." He also said: "No voice should be stifled in our country, least of all the Pope's." Rome's Mayor Walter Veltroni decried their "intolerant behavior" & said the Pope's visit had the opportunity to be "another great opportunity for the city of Rome to show itself as the center of civil dialogue."

The daily La Repubblica bemoaned the fact that the pope "can no longer speak to his home-town university in this mediocre Italy of 2008."

Rome's vicar Camillo Cardinal Ruini said: "The Church of Rome expresses its solidarity with its bishop, the pope, and bears witness to the love, confidence, admiration and gratitude of the people of Rome towards Benedict XVI."

Last Wednesday's audience (16 Jan 2008) included a large group of La Sapienza students. The group was organized by Communion and Liberation. 1 of the students shouted: "La Sapienza university is with you!" Papa Benedetto's responseto them was "Thank you for your presence and your sympathy." Others in the crowd were heard chanting "Freedom."

Cardinal Ruini called "all believers, but also all Romans," to stage a show of support during the pope's Angelus prayer on Sunday in St Peter's Square.

The Cardinal Newman Society released a statement urging "American Catholics to pray Sunday in solidarity with Pope Benedict XVI".

Some of this, like the takeover by students of Dr. Renato Guarini, the dean of La Sapienza's office, sounds like something out of the 60s. Dr. Guarini has vowed to ask Papa Benedetto back. & something tells me this time that the protestors will be the ones unwelcome on campus, not Il Papa.

1 other bit of irony, sapienza means wisdom or knowledge in Italiano. These protestors showed neither.

Sources (full story):
CNS Urges Americans to Support Pope with Prayers on Sunday

Italian leaders dismayed by papal speech cancellation

Vatican calls for rally backing pope in science row

Pope turns tables on critics