Wednesday 26 June 2019
Rome is sweltering under a heat wave, the days reaching 38 degrees with very high humidity. Nonetheless, the work of the Ad Limina goes on! It has been a very busy couple of days.
One of the principal activities of the pilgrimage is to visit the four major basilicas of the city. As I shared previously, we visited St Peter’s Basilica on Monday. However, on Tuesday we gathered with Archbishop Fisher at 7.30am for Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore not far from where we are staying; on Wednesday at 4.00pm with Archbishop Comensoli at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, the giant Basilica built upon the tomb of the great apostolic missionary, St Paul. It is here, also, where lies the grave of the first Australian Aboriginal religious in Rome, Francis Xavier Conaci, a novice from the Benedictine Monastery in New Norcia, Western Australia, who died in Rome on 10 October 1853. Just as before the tomb of St Peter the Bishops gathered to pray the Apostles’ Creed, so did we pray the Profession of Faith at the tomb of St Paul. However, we also then processed to the place where Francis Xavier Conaci is buried underneath the floor of the Basilica. We remembered him and all our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. It was a powerful gesture of solidarity with them and with all of the Church in Australia from this distant place.
The Ad Limina is not only an opportunity to meet with the Holy Father. It is also a time to meet with his primary collaborators - the various Roman Offices who assist him in his ministry. Across the last two days we have had a succession of meetings: all of us have met as a group with Cardinal Marc Ouellet and the Congregation for Bishops; with Cardinal Ferrer and Archbishop Scicluna of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; with Cardinal Stella and Archbishop Patron Wong and the Congregation for Clergy. We have discussed various issues related to the forthcoming Plenary Council, the nature of the sacramental seal of Confession, the formation of clergy among other matters, I, along with others, have also had the opportunity to meet with Monsignor Robert Oliver and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and Cardinal Ravasi and Bishop Paul Tighe of the Pontifical Council for Culture. I have also been received personally by Cardinal Ouellet to help me clarify various matters pertinent to our time of Diocesan Administration. Everyone has received us warmly and with generosity in meetings lasting 60-90 minutes. They all have a clear sense of the Australian context and our exchange with them has been both informative and constructive. Personally, I have found them to be educative and enriching, frustrated only by the shortness of time to engage further the various issues that are canvassed. Notwithstanding, there is a clear sense conveyed that the Roman offices are at the service of the various national contexts and wish to be in open dialogue. The calibre, too, of the leadership of the various dicasteries is impressive: people who are formed theologically, who have the most remarkable international perspective, but also who are very pastoral in their concern.
Our little convoy of buses has been kept busy transporting us across the city each day. However, in the midst of official engagements there has also been a little opportunity to see familiar faces. On Tuesday I enjoyed lunch with Fr Tony Banks now on the Augustinian Fathers General Council, and Fr Dave Austin from our Parish of North Harbour, at the Augustinian Generalate which has perhaps the best view of St Peter’s in all of Rome. Then, in the evening I joined friends from Melbourne, per chance currently in Rome this week, for a wonderful Italian dinner. And, of course, there is always the time to enjoy a cold Italian beer or a wonderfully refreshing gelato!
Two further days of meetings await us, as does an intensifying Roman heatwave!
Very Rev Dr David Ranson