The Vatican has a problem with nudity. A couple of days ago a naked Adonis in the Nativity Scene in Saint Peter's Square caused scandal and was even banished from Facebook.
Now a paedo-pornographic representation of Baby Jesus is at the center of attention. Baby Jesus in this year’s Nativity Scene is totally naked, although according to the Gospel of Luke, Our Lady wrapped Jesus "in swaddling clothes". But the Vatican seems not to care about faithfully sticking to the Gospel.
An official of the Vatican’s Governorate has told LifeSiteNews that the abbey of Montevergine initially proposed the original idea for the ‘Nativity of Mercy.’ The Vatican discussed and developed a more detailed design with the abbey, then submitted final plans to the Secretary of State and Pope Francis for approval, which was duly granted. “The presence of the Vatican Nativity Scene for us is a reason to be even happier this year,” Antonello Sannini, president of homosexual activist group Arcigay Naples, told LifeSiteNews on Tuesday. “For the homosexual and transsexual community in Naples, it is an important symbol of inclusion and integration.”
In recent years, Bergoglio shared Christmas Eve with Claudio Epelman, director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, and Alberto Zimerman, protreasurer of the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations (DAIA). After the 21 o'clock (11:00PM) Mass in the Cathedral, in which the guests and their wives were placed in the same chairs in which the presidents sit for the official ceremonies in row zero, that is, in front of the first row of the pews, the present pope shared with them a modest supper: soda and cheese sandwiches, without ham showing respect to Jewish customs. They did it in the sacristy, where toasts were held during the Te Déum, in times when they were there more frequently than now.
"It was all very simple, with no sophistication," recalled Epelman, who met Bergoglio in Aparecida, Brazil, during a meeting of the Latin American bishops in May 2007. Epelman participated in that conference as the only invited Jewish observer. "In Aparecida we bonded personally and at the end of that year it was the first time that I went to the Cathedral to greet him for Christmas. It seemed important to accompany him at that moment so important for his personal and religious life. Before Christmas, we talked on the phone and he said: "I imagine you coming here this year too, do you not also?" "
Over the years Zimerman (also) joined the curious celebration....They prepared rice with prawns, chicken matambre, stuffed eggs and salads. For dessert they ate ice cream and fruit salad and toasted with a champagne.
"It was cold food and also very simple," Epelman said. And he agreed with Zimerman to point out that Bergoglio rose to serve the wine. "If I got up, he would make me sit and touch my shoulder," said Zimerman, who admitted that tonight will miss the friendly meeting.
The collaborators at the Cathedral will also remember tonight their last Christmas with the present pope. "They are very excited. It seems impossible to have spent Christmas Eve with he who is the Pontiff today," Father Russo told the NATION.
[...]
"We knew where he'd go to do the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, but we did not know where he went on the 25th," said a person of close relationship with the former archbishop. Other contributors confirmed that "the boss", as they called him, warned that he would not be in the house and asked his vicar general to celebrate the Christmas Mass. "We later learned that he had gone to visit prisoners in some prison, the sick in a hospital or a poor neighborhood," added the person, who asked not to be mentioned.
[...]
One of the memories that Epelman treasures is the greeting with which the night they said goodbye on the 24th. "I said, "Merry Christmas" and he answered me: "L'ejaim" , which in Hebrew means: "For life" "
Conversations With Jorge Bergoglio, p. 208: “Not long ago I was in a synagogue taking part in a ceremony. I prayed a lot and, while praying, I heard a phrase from one of the books of wisdom that had slipped my mind: ‘Lord, may I bear mockery in silence.’ It gave me much peace and joy.”
The Apostle says (Gal 5:2): “If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.” But nothing save mortal sin hinders us from receiving Christ’s fruit. Therefore since Christ’s Passion it is a mortal sin to be circumcised, or to observe the other legal ceremonies. All ceremonies are professions of faith, in which the interior worship of God consists. Now man can make profession of his inward faith, by deeds as well as by words: and in either profession, if he make a false declaration, he sins mortally. Now, though our faith in Christ is the same as that of the fathers of old; yet, since they came before Christ, whereas we come after Him, the same faith is expressed in different words, by us and by them. For by them was it said: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” where the verbs are in the future tense: whereas we express the same by means of verbs in the past tense, and say that she “conceived and bore.” In like manner the ceremonies of the Old Law betokened Christ as having yet to be born and to suffer: whereas our sacraments signify Him as already born and having suffered. Consequently, just as it would be a mortal sin now for anyone, in making a profession of faith, to say that Christ is yet to be born, which the fathers of old said devoutly and truthfully; so too it would be a mortal sin now to observe those ceremonies which the fathers of old fulfilled with devotion and fidelity. Such is the teaching Augustine (Contra Faust. XIX, 16), who says: “It is no longer promised that He shall be born, shall suffer and rise again, truths of which their sacraments were a kind of image: but it is declared that He is already born, has suffered and risen again; of which our sacraments, in which Christians share, are the actual representation.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica I-II, q.103, a.4, s.c. /co)
Bergoglio on Heaven and Earth, p. 37: “There also exists the ministerial intercession of a rabbi or a priest who prays or asks for the health of another and it is granted. What gives credibility to a person who is healing according to the law of God is simplicity, humility and the absence of a spectacle.”
On Heaven and Earth, p. 220: Bergoglio speaks to Jewish pro-gay Rabbi Skorka: “I did not forget how you invited me twice to pray and to speak in the synagogue, and I invited you to speak to my seminarians about values.”
The ceremonial precepts cannot purify from sin for they do not contain grace within themselves
On the other hand, they had no power of cleansing from uncleanness of the soul, i.e. from the uncleanness of sin. The reason of this was that at no time could there be expiation from sin, except through Christ, “Who taketh away the sins [Vulgate: ‘sin’] of the world” (John 1:29). […] Consequently they could not cleanse from sin: thus the Apostle says (Hebrews 10:4) that “it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away”; and for this reason he calls them (Gal 4:9) “weak and needy element”: weak indeed, because they cannot take away sin; but this weakness results from their being needy, i.e. from the fact that they do not contain grace within themselves. […] It is therefore evident that under the state of the Old Law the ceremonies had no power of justification. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica I-II, q.103, a.2)
Catechism of the Catholic Church
•It is an offense to God not to fix one’s eyes entirely upon Christ
Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father’s one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. Saint John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2: ‘In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word – and he has no more to say… because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 65)
Council of Florence (XVII Ecumenical)
•No one living outside the Catholic Church, not even the Jews, can participate in eternal life
It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart “into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41), unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock. (Denzinger-Hünermann 1351. Council of Florence. Bull Cantata Domino, February 4, 1442)
Saint John Chrysostom
•The Jews when be forgiven neither by circumcision nor by other deeds, but only by Baptism
“For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Rom 11:27). Not when they are circumcised, not when they sacrifice, not when they do the other deeds of the Law, but when they attain to the forgiveness of sins. If then this hath been promised, but has never yet happened in their case, nor have they ever enjoyed the remission of sins by baptism, certainly it will come to pass. Hence he proceeds, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom 11:29). (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily XIX, Letter to the Romans, no. 6) Related topic:La Stampa: Vatican Insider, Jewish-Catholic Celebration of Hannukah inside Vatican Walls
☆ミChrist is born ☆彡 Let us Rejoice☆ミ Eternal God, this joyful day is radiant with the brilliance of your one true light. May that light illuminate our hearts and shine in our words and deeds. May the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love represented by the birth in Bethlehem fill our lives and become part of all that we say and do. May we share the divine life of your son Jesus Christ, even as he humbled himself to share our humanity. Bless us and the feast that You have provided for us, let us be thankful for the true gift of Christmas, your Son. Amen.
~~~~~~
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow...
Father, We thank Thee for this day.
Bless all we do and all we say.
May we each enjoy Thy blessings great
As Jesus' Birth we celebrate.
And may the love that we share here
Remain throughout the coming year.
Amen!
~~~~~~
♪Glória in excélsis Deo et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.• *♫
❅✧✲ *✲ ★* ❆❇ ˚ ˛❉˛❇ ˚ ˛❉˛❇ ˚ ˛❉˛❄❄
°The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
˚Have a Holy and a Blessed Christmas! 。
♥♥♥May this Christmas fill your hearts with warmth, peace and joy! ♥♥♥
Just as the Christ Child was rejected 2,000 years ago, and had nowhere but a cold stable for a birthplace, our world has little to do with Christmas.
Articles questioning the existence of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and other Catholics tenets are disseminated by the media, and lawsuits aim to remove “offensive” Nativity scenes from the public square.
What can be done? TFP Student Action has compiled a list of very concrete actions you can take to celebrate Our Lord’s coming this Christmas Season.
1. Never use the “H” words: “Happy Holidays.” The secular term means nothing and only serves to erase the memory of Christ from Christmas and the Holy Season we celebrate. Wherever you go, make it a point to wish others a Merry Christmas: at the supermarket, in class, in the cafeteria, on the phone, in e-mails. You’ll be surprised. Many people will appreciate your Christian convictions.
2. Decorate your college dorm: Hang beautiful Christmas ornaments from your dorm window. Pick up some large poster board and markers at the bookstore and make signs that read, for example, “Just Say Merry Christmas!” Write with big clear letters. Tape one sign to your dorm window facing out for everyone to see. Place another on your dorm door. Encourage your friends to do the same.
3. Send Christmas cards: Send a Christmas card with a religious message to your most liberal professor. Mention that you will pray for him/her. You can also send a card to the president of your college or university. Also, look for an opportunity to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about Christmas. Letters receive avid and wide readership. Try it.
4. Organize a Christmas celebration: Set up a Nativity scene on the quad or “free speech” area of campus. Invite your friends to help you. Be creative. Sing traditional Christmas carols. St. Augustine said: “He who sings prays twice.” You might also choose to pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary as a group. Close the celebration with Silent Night. Meet somewhere for refreshments. Talk about Christmas.
5. Plan a Eucharistic adoration: Find an Adoration Chapel near you, ask your friends to join you for a holy hour before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in honor of Christmas. Mark your calendar for a convenient time before Christmas break. Evenings are best for students. After your holy hour, go out for coffee.
Find a chapel near you.
6. Visit the sick: Those suffering in hospitals and nursing homes faintly remember the joy of Christmas. Illness, pain and loneliness overwhelm them as they spend their last days. It is a work of mercy to visit the sick and suffering. You can bring joy and Christmas cheer to someone forgotten in a hospital or old folks home. Your local nursing home will likely welcome visitors. Take something to give away; for example, Miraculous Medals. Everyone likes them. To order free Miraculous Medals, call 1-888-317-5571.
7. Prepare yourself spiritually: The Season of Advent prepares us to celebrate the Birth of Our Lord worthily. We should erect a throne in our souls to receive the King of kings. For that reason, it is an excellent time to make a good Confession and make sacrifices. For example, give up watching TV or surfing the Internet.
8. Write a Christmas message to the troops: Thank them for their sacrifice and service. Show them your support. Wish the troops a blessed Christmas and tell them you will remember them in your prayers. Remind them that people back home appreciate them. Send a message to the troops. 9. Do you have any suggestions? Please contact TFP Student Action with your suggestions to complete number nine. We would like to hear from you. Send your e-mail to: mail@tfpstudentaction.org and thank you for your efforts to restore the real meaning of Christmas.
Faith makes all things possible, Hope makes all things work, Love makes all things beautiful, May you have all the three for this Christmas.
ROME, December 20, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican Nativity scene featuring a naked man, a corpse, and no sheep or oxen is the artistic offering of an abbey which is the focus of Italian LGBT activists, it has emerged.
Enquiries by LifeSiteNews have revealed that the Abbey of Montevergine, which donated the innovative ‘Nativity of Mercy,’ houses the Marian image that has been adopted as patroness by LGBT activists in Italy. The abbey shrine is the annual destination of a sort of sacred and profane “ancestral gay pride” pilgrimage which, according to one LGBT activist, in recent years has gained the “active, political participation of the LGBT community.”
An official of the Vatican’s Governorate has told LifeSiteNews that the abbey of Montevergine initially proposed the original idea for the ‘Nativity of Mercy.’ The Vatican discussed and developed a more detailed design with the abbey, then submitted final plans to the Secretary of State and Pope Francis for approval, which was duly granted.
“The presence of the Vatican Nativity Scene for us is a reason to be even happier this year,” Antonello Sannini, president of homosexual activist group Arcigay Naples, told LifeSiteNews on Tuesday. “For the homosexual and transsexual community in Naples, it is an important symbol of inclusion and integration.”
Fury over the Christmas crèche
The Christmas crèche fury blew up on Twitter last week, when photos of a virtually nude male figure representing the corporal work of mercy ‘to clothe the naked’ made the rounds on social media, sparking sharp criticism and debate.
Vatican Nativity: nude male representing the corporal work of mercy to ‘clothe the naked’ Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNewsViewers lamented the figure’s “prominent placement and languid pose,” according to Breitbart, which reported that the figure’s pose “led many on social media to suggest that there is a vaguely homoerotic tone to the scene.” Facebook, adding to the fury, rejected the photo referencing its policy against “sexually suggestive or provocative” images. One observer remarked, regarding the poor man in need of clothes: “I’ve worked with a personal trainer. That guy’s been in the gym two hours a day, six days a week.” “This horrendous exhibit, a sacrilegious, highly deceitful and malevolent attempt to turn the holy innocence of the manger in St. Peter’s Square into a lobbying tool for the homosexual rights movement, is just the latest fiendish act, but one that’s symptomatic of this entire pontificate,” one source close to the Vatican told LifeSiteNews. Meanwhile, the Neapolitan artist who crafted the crèche, Antonio Cantone, appeared to suggest that he intended it to be provocative. “It is not a camp nativity; it is particular and makes you think,” he said. “It leaves no one indifferent; there are provocations.”
Enter a Marian Icon
This year’s Christmas crèche also features a reproduction of the ancient and beautiful icon of Our Lady of Montevergine. The original icon, housed in a chapel of the mountain shrine, measures 12 feet high and six feet wide, and depicts the Blessed Virgin seated on a throne with the divine Infant Jesus seated on her lap.
A reproduction of the Icon of Our Lady of Montevergine featured on the left side of the Vatican Nativity Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNewsThe Marian image is dark, and so the icon is often referred to as one of the “Black Madonnas.” Among local Italians, her dark complexion made them believe she was part of the serving class and so she came to be affectionately known by the faithful as “Mamma Schiavano” or “Slave Mama.” Each year, Our Lady of Montevergine is honored through two pilgrimages to her mountain shrine: one on February 2, the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or Candlemas; and the second on September 12, the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which is preceded by a three-day festival. On the night before the feast pilgrims are hosted by Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo, the nearest town to the abbey, before making the “sagliuta” or “juta” (from the Italian “salire,” i.e. ascent) on foot to the shrine of Our Lady of Montevergine early the next morning. The three-day celebration is a mix of sacred and profane, and features dances and songs accompanied by large tambourines.
The “juta dei femminielli”
Our Lady of Montevergine has a particular significance for homosexuals and transgenders in Italy. According to a legend, Our Lady of Montevergine saved two homosexuals from death in the winter of 1256. The couple had been beaten and driven by night from their city and brought to the mountain where they were tied to a tree and left to die of the cold or be eaten by wolves. According to the legend, Our Lady of Montevergine had pity on them and ‘miraculously’ freed them. In 2017, La Repubblicacalled it “the progressive miracle of a gay friendly Madonna.” More commonly, she is known as the mother “who grants everything and forgives everything.” The “juta dei femminielli” [ascent of the femminielli] is therefore held each year on Candlemas Day to recall the legend through song and dance. Femminielli is a term used to refer to a population of homosexual males with markedly feminine gender expression in traditional Neapolitan culture.
The angel on this year’s Vatican Nativity Scene Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNewsThe LGBT community also looks to Our Lady of Montevergine because she sits on the ancient temple site where the pagan goddess Cybele was once worshiped. In a 2014 article entitled “the procession of the femminielli,” La Repubblica noted that the eunuch priests of Cybele ritually castrated themselves “to offer their sex as a gift to their goddess in order to be reborn with a new identity.” Antonello Sannino, the president of Arcigay Naples, told LifeSite that the “juta dei femminielli” involves a “mix of the sacred and profane.” Admitting his own distance from the Church, Sannino said “there is a strong popular devotion among believers” but for others represents entrusting oneself to a non-Christian divinity. The annual Candlemas pilgrimage is a kind of “ancestral gay pride,” he said, and has been a “way to welcome into the culture of the city [of Naples], the figure of the femminiello which is disruptive in a binary ‘masculine-feminine’ society.”
Montevergine politicized
In 2002, the pilgrimage made the papers when the then abbot of Montevergine, Tarcisio Nazzaro, expressed his displeasure at the presence of the Neapolitan ‘femminielli.’ According to La Repubblica, during Holy Mass, Nazzaro told them: “Your prayers aren’t prayers but a clamor that Our Lady is not pleased with and so does not welcome. You are like the merchants that filled the temple until Jesus threw them out.” Allegedly, he later confided to the Sacristan: “I don’t have anything against anyone and I didn’t wish to offend anyone, much less these individual faithful. But what’s too much is too much. We need a little respect for the sacred place, and the dignity of the shrine has to be preserved.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraphs 2358-2359, that although homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered,” men and women who suffer this trial “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” but like all Christians they are “called to chastity” and to Christian perfection.
A corpse being pushed into a place of burial on this year’s Vatican Nativity representing the corporal work of mercy ‘to bury the dead’ Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNewsSannino didn’t berate the abbot but thought the presence at the abbey in 2002 of Vladimir Luxuria, Italy’s first transsexual parliamentarian, precipitated the dispute. “It was too political in 2002,” he said. That incident galvanized the LGBT movement, Ottavia Voza, president of Arcigay Salerno, told LifeSite. Another minor incident followed in 2010, but the “active, political participation of the LGBT community” began after the dispute in 2002.
A new abbot and a new approach
In September 2014 under Pope Francis, a new abbot of Montevergine was elected, Dom Riccardo Luca Guariglia. Earlier that year, Luxuria wrote a letter to Pope Francis on behalf of the LGBT community, and publicly presented it at the Candlemas pilgrimage at the Shrine of Montevergine. No one is aware of a response to that letter. An English translation can be read here.
The naked man dominates the scene from this angle. Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNewsIn 2017, leaders of the LGBT community met Abbot Guariglia. Voza said the relations are now “excellent” and this year they “had an opportunity for dialogue with the abbot.” Voza told LifeSite that Vladimir Luxuria was there and the abbot “stopped to speak with us.” It wasn’t a private meeting but “in essence, he gave us his blessing,” Voza continued, adding that the incident in 2002 “was completely overcome.” “He welcomed us,” Voza said, “and understood the importance of the presence of the community.” Matters also intensified politically in 2017 when LGBT activists inaugurated Italy’s first ever “no gender” bathroom in Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo during the February 2 pilgrimage, and a civilly ‘married’ homosexual couple was given honorary citizenship by Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo’s civic authorities. Together with the LGBT activists, the civil authorities also unveiled a plaque at the entrance of the town, reading “Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo is against homotransphobia and gender violence.” At the ceremony, Vladimir Luxuria said the small town of Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo should serve as a model for the rest of Italy. Abbot Guariglia was interviewed about the ‘juta dei femminielli’ in 2017, saying: “St. Benedict tells us that guests are to be welcomed as Christ himself” and the abbey has “this peculiarity, that of being welcoming every type of pilgrim who comes to the shrine, first, to give homage or to entrust themselves to the Mother of God, and then also to celebrate the Sacraments.”
Descent into neo-paganism
Sannino welcomed the Vatican Nativity Scene, saying he believes it is an “important symbol of inclusion and integration,” but whether it signifies greater openness by the Church depends on “how conscious” Vatican officials were of the connection with LGBT activists in making the decision. “We hope that the Church will finally develop a real sense of openness in the wake of the Pope’s words,” he said, referring to Francis’ “Who am I to judge?” comment. “The Church is extremely slow in its transformations,” he believes, and is fairly confident “this will also happen.”
Infant Jesus covered until Christmas surrounded by what appear to be Cherub Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNewsBut people in Rome are wondering how Pope Francis will respond. As in past years, Pope Francis is expected to spend time before the crèche in silent prayer on December 31 after Vespers and the chanting of the Te Deum prayer of thanksgiving in St. Peter’s Basilica. The concern is that the optics of his silent prayer before the icon of Montevergine and the naked man, positioned on either side of the Nativity Scene, will send a signal, or be used by the more politically motivated in the LGBT community, to push their agenda. Officially, the Vatican isn’t commenting on the Nativity scene, so it’s unclear how aware those who made the decisions are of its connections to Montevergine abbey and its associations with Italy’s LGBT activists. LifeSite contacted Vatican spokesman Greg Burke but he declined to answer. Italian Church historian Roberto de Mattei of the Lepanto Foundation sees this as the latest attempt to “paganize Italy and Europe” through indirect means, in what he calls “soft neo-paganization.” This involves choosing places of Christian worship “to return them to their pagan origins,” De Mattei explained, sending Christianity back into the age of catacombs where it was persecuted by the pagans. The LGBT movement is not only political or cultural but a “religious movement” with pagan characteristics, he added. “This should not surprise us, because sex was also at the center of many pagan cults,” De Mattei said. “This therefore portends a new neo-pagan persecution of those who remain faithful to Catholicism.” De Mattei noted that next year marks 50 years since the cultural, or sexual, revolution of 1968, and he believes it is now being “transformed into a religious revolution” where sex is still at the center, but being “transformed into a divinity intended to replace Christianity.”
en.newsThe problem with the Vatican Nativity Scene's controversial featuring of the seven corporal works of mercy is not nudity but bad theology, writes Father Dwight Longenecker.
On his blog (December 17), Longenecker criticises the idea that we can earn heaven with good works. The Vatican Nativity Scene worries him "because it is placing good works front and center rather than the Incarnation.” This way, the religion of grace is substituted by a "religion of works".
Longenecker writes that "they [the Vatican] don’t believe any longer in the need for redemption and salvation.” And, “They think everyone will go to heaven in the end.”
ROME, December 20, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican Nativity scene featuring a naked man, a corpse, and no sheep or oxen is the artistic offering of an abbey which is the focus of Italian LGBT activists, it has emerged.
Enquiries by LifeSiteNews have revealed that the Abbey of Montevergine, which donated the innovative ‘Nativity of Mercy,’ houses the Marian image that has been adopted as patroness by LGBT activists in Italy. The abbey shrine is the annual destination of a sort of sacred and profane “ancestral gay pride” pilgrimage which, according to one LGBT activist, in recent years has gained the “active, political participation of the LGBT community.”
An official of the Vatican’s Governorate has told LifeSiteNews that the abbey of Montevergine initially proposed the original idea for the ‘Nativity of Mercy.’ The Vatican discussed and developed a more detailed design with the abbey, then submitted final plans to the Secretary of State and Pope Francis for approval, which was duly granted.
Clothe the naked figure - a very buff body of one who heavily exercises each day.
Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNews
“The presence of the Vatican Nativity Scene for us is a reason to be even happier this year,” Antonello Sannini, president of homosexual activist group Arcigay Naples, told LifeSiteNews on Tuesday. “For the homosexual and transsexual community in Naples, it is an important symbol of inclusion and integration.”
Emma Bonino
Fury over the Christmas crèche
The Christmas crèche fury blew up on Twitter last week, when photos of a virtually nude male figure representing the corporal work of mercy ‘to clothe the naked’ made the rounds on social media, sparking sharp criticism and debate.
Viewers lamented the figure’s “prominent placement and languid pose,” according to Breitbart, which reported that the figure’s pose “led many on social media to suggest that there is a vaguely homoerotic tone to the scene.”
Facebook, adding to the fury, rejected the photo referencing its policy against “sexually suggestive or provocative” images.
One observer remarked, regarding the poor man in need of clothes: “I’ve worked with a personal trainer. That guy’s been in the gym two hours a day, six days a week.”
“This horrendous exhibit is a sacrilegious, highly deceitful and malevolent attempt to turn the holy innocence of the manger in St. Peter’s Square into a lobbying tool for the homosexual rights movement, is just the latest fiendish act, but one that’s symptomatic of this entire pontificate,” one source close to the Vatican told LifeSiteNews.
Meanwhile, the Neapolitan artist who crafted the crèche, Antonio Cantone, appeared to suggest that he intended it to be provocative.
“It is not a camp nativity; it is particular and makes you think,” he said. “It leaves no one indifferent; there are provocations.”
Enter a Marian Icon
This year’s Christmas crèche also features a reproduction of the ancient and beautiful icon of Our Lady of Montevergine. The original icon, housed in a chapel of the mountain shrine, measures 12 feet high and six feet wide, and depicts the Blessed Virgin seated on a throne with the divine Infant Jesus seated on her lap.
The Marian image is dark, and so the icon is often referred to as one of the “Black Madonnas.” Among local Italians, her dark complexion made them believe she was part of the serving class and so she came to be affectionately known by the faithful as “Mamma Schiavano” or “Slave Mama.”
Each year, Our Lady of Montevergine is honored through two pilgrimages to her mountain shrine: one on February 2, the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or Candlemas; and the second on September 12, the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which is preceded by a three-day festival.
On the night before the feast pilgrims are hosted by Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo, the nearest town to the abbey, before making the “sagliuta” or “juta” (from the Italian “salire,” i.e. ascent) on foot to the shrine of Our Lady of Montevergine early the next morning. The three-day celebration is a mix of sacred and profane, and features dances and songs accompanied by large tambourines.
The “juta dei femminielli”
Our Lady of Montevergine has a particular significance for homosexuals and transgenders in Italy. According to a legend, Our Lady of Montevergine saved two homosexuals from death in the winter of 1256. The couple had been beaten and driven by night from their city and brought to the mountain where they were tied to a tree and left to die of the cold or be eaten by wolves. According to the legend, Our Lady of Montevergine had pity on them and ‘miraculously’ freed them. In 2017, La Repubblicacalled it “the progressive miracle of a gay friendly Madonna.”
More commonly, she is known as the mother “who grants everything and forgives everything.”
Strange, tortured looking tiny angels and Mary with ominous looking hands gesticulating toward the tied up, not yet unwrapped baby Jesus
The “juta dei femminielli” [ascent of the femminielli] is therefore held each year on Candlemas Day to recall the legend through song and dance. Femminielli is a term used to refer to a population of homosexual males with markedly feminine gender expression in traditional Neapolitan culture.
The LGBT community also looks to Our Lady of Montevergine because she sits on the ancient temple site where the pagan goddess Cybele was once worshiped. In a 2014 article entitled “the procession of the femminielli,” La Repubblica noted that the eunuch priests of Cybele ritually castrated themselves “to offer their sex as a gift to their goddess in order to be reborn with a new identity.”
Antonello Sannino, the president of Arcigay Naples, told LifeSite that the “juta dei femminielli” involves a “mix of the sacred and profane.” Admitting his own distance from the Church, Sannino said “there is a strong popular devotion among believers” but for others represents entrusting oneself to a non-Christian divinity.
The annual Candlemas pilgrimage is a kind of “ancestral gay pride,” he said, and has been a “way to welcome into the culture of the city [of Naples], the figure of the femminiello which is disruptive in a binary ‘masculine-feminine’ society.”
Montevergine politicized
In 2002, the pilgrimage made the papers when the then abbot of Montevergine, Tarcisio Nazzaro, expressed his displeasure at the presence of the Neapolitan ‘femminielli.’
According to La Repubblica, during Holy Mass, Nazzaro told them: “Your prayers aren’t prayers but a clamor that Our Lady is not pleased with and so does not welcome. You are like the merchants that filled the temple until Jesus threw them out.” Allegedly, he later confided to the Sacristan: “I don’t have anything against anyone and I didn’t wish to offend anyone, much less these individual faithful. But what’s too much is too much. We need a little respect for the sacred place, and the dignity of the shrine has to be preserved.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraphs 2358-2359, that although homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered,” men and women who suffer this trial “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” but like all Christians they are “called to chastity” and to Christian perfection.
Burying the dead
Diane Montagna / LifeSiteNews
Sannino didn’t berate the abbot but thought the presence at the abbey in 2002 of Vladimir Luxuria, Italy’s first transsexual parliamentarian, precipitated the dispute. “It was too political in 2002,” he said.
That incident galvanized the LGBT movement, Ottavia Voza, president of Arcigay Salerno, told LifeSite. Another minor incident followed in 2010, but the “active, political participation of the LGBT community” began after the dispute in 2002.
A new abbot and a new approach
The horrified man burying the dead
In September 2014 under Pope Francis, a new abbot of Montevergine was elected, Dom Riccardo Luca Guariglia. Earlier that year, Luxuria wrote a letter to Pope Francis on behalf of the LGBT community, and publicly presented it at the Candlemas pilgrimage at the Shrine of Montevergine. No one is aware of a response to that letter. An English translation can be read here.
In 2017, leaders of the LGBT community also met Abbot Guariglia. Voza said the relations are now “excellent” and this year they “had an opportunity for dialogue with the abbot.” Voza told LifeSite that Vladimir Luxuria was there and the abbot “stopped to speak with us.” It wasn’t a private meeting but “in essence, he gave us his blessing,” Voza continued, adding that the incident in 2002 “was completely overcome.”
The naked man dominates the scene from this angle.
“He welcomed us,” Voza said, “and understood the importance of the presence of the community.”
Matters intensified politically in 2017 when LGBT activists inaugurated Italy’s first ever “no gender” bathroom in Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo during the February 2 pilgrimage, and a civilly ‘married’ homosexual couple was given honorary citizenship by Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo’s civic authorities. Together with the LGBT activists, the civil authorities also unveiled a plaque at the entrance of the town, reading “Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo is against homotransphobia and gender violence.”
Once again, from the other side, the Holy Family is lost with all the other activity distracting viewers attention.
At the ceremony, Vladimir Luxuria said the small town of Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo should serve as a model for the rest of Italy.
Abbot Guariglia was interviewed about the ‘juta dei femminielli’ in 2017, saying: “St. Benedict tells us that guests are to be welcomed as Christ himself” and the abbey has “this peculiarity, that of being welcoming every type of pilgrim who comes to the shrine, first, to give homage or to entrust themselves to the Mother of God, and then also to celebrate the Sacraments.”
Descent into neo-paganism
Sannino welcomed the Vatican Nativity Scene, saying he believes it is an “important symbol of inclusion and integration,” but whether it signifies greater openness by the Church depends on “how conscious” Vatican officials were of the connection with LGBT activists in making the decision. “We hope that the Church will finally develop a real sense of openness in the wake of the Pope’s words,” he said, referring to Francis’ “Who am I to judge?” comment. “The Church is extremely slow in its transformations,” he believes, and is fairly confident “this will also happen.”
But people in Rome are wondering how Pope Francis will respond. As in past years, Pope Francis is expected to spend time before the crèche in silent prayer on December 31 after Vespers and the chanting of the Te Deum prayer of thanksgiving in St. Peter’s Basilica. The concern is that the optics of his silent prayer before the icon of Montevergine and the naked man, positioned on either side of the Nativity Scene, will send a signal, or be used by the more politically motivated in the LGBT community, to push their agenda.
A strange man
Officially, the Vatican isn’t commenting on the Nativity scene, so it’s unclear how aware those who made the decisions are of its connections to Montevergine abbey and its associations with Italy’s LGBT activists. LifeSite contacted Vatican spokesman Greg Burke but he declined to answer.
Italian Church historian Roberto de Mattei of the Lepanto Foundation sees this as the latest attempt to “paganize Italy and Europe” through indirect means, in what he calls “soft neo-paganization.”
A strange angel
This involves choosing places of Christian worship “to return them to their pagan origins,” De Mattei explained, sending Christianity back into the age of catacombs where it was persecuted by the pagans. The LGBT movement is not only political or cultural but a “religious movement” with pagan characteristics, he added. “This should not surprise us, because sex was also at the center of many pagan cults,” De Mattei said. “This therefore portends a new neo-pagan persecution of those who remain faithful to Catholicism.”
De Mattei noted that next year marks 50 years since the cultural, or sexual, revolution of 1968, and he believes it is now being “transformed into a religious revolution” where sex is still at the center, but being “transformed into a divinity intended to replace Christianity.”
