On Oct. 11, Catholics marked a number of important and related anniversaries. The primary and most important was celebrating 60 years since the official opening of the Second Vatican Council, the 21st gathering of its type over the two millennia since Christ called disciples to himself to form a community.
Connected to this was the anniversary of the promulgation of the official inaugural text “Gaudet Mater Ecclesia,” which famously expressed (at least in the original Italian, albeit stated slightly differently in the official Latin) John XXIII’s important teaching that “the Christian, Catholic and apostolic spirit of the whole world expects a leap forward toward a doctrinal penetration and a formation of consciences in more perfect conformity with fidelity to authentic doctrine, with this doctrine being studied and presented through the forms of inquiry and literary formulation of modern thought. For, the substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the formulation in which it is clothed is another. And it is the latter that must be taken into great account, with patience if necessary, measuring everything by the forms and proportions of a teaching authority, which is primarily pastoral in character.”
A third, and less-often discussed anniversary is of what some call Pope John’s “Moonlight Discourse,” an impromptu reflection given from the window above Piazza San Pietro to an enormous crowd that had spontaneously gathered beneath his window, many carrying handmade torches flickering in the darkness later that same evening.
It is hard to overstate how seared these comments are into Roman imagination and wider Italian popular culture, to the point where they are still referenced in (sometimes irreverent) political cartoons there, without need of explanation.
When convinced to go to the window – the legends say Pope John was slightly hesitant to address the crowds – he embodied much of the pastoral approach that would come to define the council over the next three years and distinguish it from the previous methodologies of Trent and Vatican I. Here, we see one stellar example of what Father John O’Malley, SJ, argued is the definitive accomplishment of the council, an ecclesiological shift in what he terms “style” – something much deeper than inconsequential “trappings” or “fashions” of the day and instead one touching on the entire modus operandi of the council fathers and of the Church writ large.
Pope John said to the crowds: “Dear sons and daughters, I feel your voices! Mine is just one lone voice, but it sums up the voice of the whole world. And here, in fact, all the world is represented tonight. We ask for a great day of peace. My own person counts for nothing – it’s a brother who speaks to you, but all together, we give honor to the impressions of this night, which are always our feelings, which now we express before heaven and earth: faith, hope, charity, love of God, all aided along the way in the Lord’s holy peace for the work of the good. And so, let us continue to love each other, to look out for each other along the way: to welcome whoever comes close to us, and set aside whatever difficulty it might bring.”
He then went on to include the most memorable lines of the speech, ones now forever associated with him to the point that Pope Francis decided to make Oct. 11 Pope Saint John XXIII’s feast day, instead of the more traditional date of his death:
“When you head home, find your children. Hug and kiss your children. And tell them this is the caress of the pope. And when you find them with tears to dry, give them a good word. Give anyone who suffers a word of comfort. Tell them the Pope is with us, especially in our times of sadness and bitterness. And then, all together, may we always come alive – whether to sing, to breathe, or to cry, but always full of trust in Christ, who helps us and hears us, let us continue along our path.”
The original Istituto Luce black-and-white newsreel of this “Discorso della Luna” is available on YouTube in Italian, and worth watching. When Pope Francis marked these triple anniversaries this year, pilgrim crowds once more gathered outside the Basilica ad limina apostolorum, “at the threshold of the tomb of the apostles ” with candles in hand. One can see the connection between these two Church leaders, as the current Holy Father channeled some of the spirit of his predecessor in his urging for the Church not to give into the “temptation of polarization,” an unfortunate part of our contemporary ecclesial life that he strikingly called “the devil’s handiwork.”
Originally from Collingswood, Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.
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