Pope Francis’ shock untidy appearance in Vatican: Was it intentional?
The timing and manner of his guest-starring appearance in the Vatican today will have reminded the Roman Curia just how hard to pin down, or predict, Francis really is.
This report has been updated following information from the Holy See Press Office.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — In a surprise move, Pope Francis appeared in the Vatican today in an event most notable for the fact of the strikingly disheveled nature of his appearance.
A little before 1 p.m. Rome time on Thursday afternoon, tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter’s Basilica were greeted by a shock sighting of the Pope. Reports, broken first by ANSA, documented how he came to inspect the just-concluded restoration work on the Altar of the Cathedra, before then being wheeled to pray at the altar of St. Pius X.
After that, he returned to the Casa Santa Martha guesthouse which he has made his home for the duration of this pontificate.
But even more striking than the surprise appearance by the Pontiff – of which more further down – was his appearance and that of his assistants.
The Pope was entirely without any clerical garb, wearing a white long-sleeve t-shirt and black trousers, with a blanket or poncho covering his torso for warmth. He was also using his nasal cannulas for oxygen and was without his papal zucchetto.
A video first published by the well-sourced Messa in Latino reveals all —
When was the last time a Pope appeared in public without being dressed as the Pope? The famous hospital images of Pope John Paul II, receiving his treatment at the Gemelli Hospital, spring to mind but nothing else.
Not only is it the Pope who is so peculiarly dressed down, but his assistants - though in shirts and ties - are without jackets, and even in the heat of Italian summer they have not relinquished their jackets in public.
Given the make-shift nature of it all, one could readily believe that perhaps it was a truly un-planned event, as if the Pope decided in his apartment that he had garnered sufficient energy and so tasked his assistants to take him straight away into the Vatican.
Or was it?
Moves and countermoves
To a careful observer of Vatican affairs, today’s video has much more meaning that the face-value of its simple few seconds of footage. It is meant to send a message to the world, but also to the cardinals, that the Pope is not gone yet.
Is this cynical, accurate, or wildly miscalculating? Certainly, some might say it is cynical to take this meaning from what could just be a heart-warming moment for the Pope. Surely, one might argue, we have been clamouring to see the Pope after his lengthy stay in hospital, and such an event today is exactly what we hoped for.
However to counter this are certain undeniable facts. Just appearing slightly into the video, and indeed audible at the end saying “Grazie” to the young boy’s family, appears to be the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni. For Bruni to be thus accompanying the Pope means that the visit clearly had some element of arrangement behind it, rather than being a literal spur of the moment decision. There was time taken to ensure that Bruni was summoned to accompany the Pope.
UPDATE: In details conveyed to the Vatican press corps on April 11, Matteo Bruni of the Holy See Press Office attested that the Pope’s visit took the Press Office by surprise also. Further footage suggests that Bruni did not accompany the Pope.
Notwithstanding this, the decision to visit the Basilica remained a deliberate one made by the Pope himself, Bruni informed reporters on Friday. Bruni stated that Francis had been on an excursion and wished to extend it to visit the Basilica.
But why not take a few moments to dress the Pontiff in his cassock? Why not give him his zucchetto, or his pectoral cross or even his papal ring? Indeed, why not take a moment to do anything which would improve his appearance and denote him for who he is – the Vicar of Christ, and not simply a frail old man in a wheelchair?
Faced with such questions, one answer comes to the forefront: namely, that this was how Pope Francis wanted to appear and to be seen. Seen he certainly was, as the footage has now gone viral on social media.
Faced with such questions, one answer comes to the forefront: namely, that this was how Pope Francis wanted to appear and to be seen.
For the tourists and pilgrims who saw him they will have been shocked and excited to see him at all, and only then secondarily shocked to see him not in his papal garb. First and foremost in the priority list – for those who are not regulars on the streets of Rome – will have been the rare sighting of the Pope, which will have delighted them no matter what he was wearing.
To the eyes of those outside the Vatican, today’s events will likely have positively portrayed the Pope as a human figure – a man beset with suffering and the frailties of age as everyone must eventually be, and being generous enough to show his weaknesses. For many, it will have further solidified their appreciation of Francis as a humanizing figure in the Church.
For those around him in the Vatican and those on the “Vatican beat” – particularly the cardinals who have already begun scheming for a conclave, although they officially deny it and feel like such plans may be at least temporarily on hold – today’s events sent a very different message. A clear message. “The Pope is here and is not going away,” was the statement which rang out loud and clear.
Certainly: he is less physically able than he would like, but that is something he can manage, especially as he has become accustomed to governing from the wheelchair in recent years. His deterioration of recent weeks is something he seems to be taking in his stride, after having long ago overcome his initial reluctance to using the wheelchair. For those who might have expected Francis’ spirit and will to be blunted by his recent 38-day hospitalization, they will have to rethink that idea.
But even more disconcerting for any politicking cardinal is the fact that Pope Francis remains just as he always has been: strong-willed and very unpredictable. The timing and manner of his guest-starring appearance in the Vatican today – on an ordinary Thursday on which the Vatican is populated by the customary thousands of tourists – will have reminded the Roman Curia just how hard to pin down, or predict, Francis really is.
Increasingly, Pope Francis’ pontificate has been understood by looking beyond the face value of his daily actions and statements and examining what underlies it all. Examined by biographers with very different takes, Francis has been styled “the Dictator Pope” by Henry Sire and “the Great Reformer” by Austen Ivereigh. No matter which epithets one believes to be a better fit for the Argentine, there is no denying that Francis has exacted a very adept and astutely political pontificate. At times a political masterclass, and at others very much a failure.
This was also evidenced by his other recent appearance on Sunday, when – despite doctors’ orders to maintain an isolated convalescence of at least two months – Francis joined thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square at a Jubilee Mass and shook hands with many.
{Video credit: Vatican Media}
Shortly before the end of Monsignore Rino Fisichella’s Mass, a rustle swept through the congregation as the white figure in a wheelchair was spotted emerging from the Basilica doors. Francis – accompanied by the Vatican Media’s photographers – had come to make a star appearance, and remind everyone that he was still at the Vatican and here to stay.
There will likely also be conflicting views on this: some might argue that it was a gesture of loving kindness to greet the pilgrims; others might argue it was a carefully calculated move to have the focus on him for short time. Either one might be true, and even then the effect of the alternative option could remain just as accurate.
As it was, Francis interrupted the end of Mass as he was wheeled down to the altar, where he then joined Abp. Fisichella in giving the final blessing. He greeted more of the congregation after Mass.
But surely, for an event which was also very obviously meticulously planned as the presence of the Vatican Media attested to, it would have been more fitting for the Pope not to interrupt the Mass and distract focus towards himself away from the liturgy? Would it not have been more in keeping with the sacred nature of the Mass for Abp. Fisichella to give the final blessing, and then announce to the congregation that the Pope would join them to make a greeting?
As it was – for those who choose to look into the details – the Mass became second place to Francis, becoming his stage rather than God’s. If only his entrance into the Square had been delayed by but a single minute then this would not have been so. Thus once again, one asks – why was it done this way?
The Sovereign Pontiff is back at the Vatican after his many days and nights in hospital. And thus, undaunted by his two scrapes with death, returns the man who governs in such a way as to consistently confuse and obfuscate those around him. To the descriptions of “the Dictator Pope” and “the Great Reformer” must also be added the term “the great schemer.”
Very informative and astute analysis, thank you!
As Novus Ordo Watch said, very informative analysis. This is indeed very shocking. I can't see why the Pope would like to appear like this. It wouldn't be totally impossible that this is yet another attempt to lower the formality due to the office of the papacy.