Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has released a message to coincide with the beginning of the Vatican summit on protection of minors, saying it is “a sign of Providence” that the meeting opens on the feast day of St. Peter Damian who fought to renew the Church “deeply corrupted by sins of sodomy and simony.” 

The former nuncio to the United States, who published a testimony last summer alleging homosexual networks of protection at the highest levels of the Church, said “we cannot avoid to see” that the bishops are meeting “on the very day on which we celebrate the memory of St. Peter Damian.” 

He explains that this “great monk in the 11th century put all his strength and apostolic zeal into renewing the Church in his time, so deeply corrupted by sins of sodomy and simony.”

The Italian prelate continues that St. Peter Damian was helped in that work by “faithful bishops and lay people, especially with the support of Abbot Hildebrand of the Abbey of St. Paul extra muros, the future Pope Gregory VII.” 

Archbishop Vigano then offers a reflection on the conversion of St. Peter the apostle — how the first pope expected God to be “strong in the world” and able to transform “on the spot,” but that “God chooses a different way.” 

That way, the archbishop says, is “the transformation of hearts in suffering and in humility,” and that we, too, “must convert, over and over again” and follow Jesus. 

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Archbishop Vigano’s message in full:

“We cannot avoid to see, as a sign of Providence, that you, Pope Francis and brother Bishops representing the entire Church, have come together on the very day on which we celebrate the memory of St. Peter Damian.  

This great monk in the 11th century put all his strength and apostolic zeal into renewing the Church in his time, so deeply corrupted by sins of sodomy and simony.  He did that with the help of faithful bishops and lay people, especially with the support of Abbot Hildebrand of the Abbey of St. Paul extra muros, the future Pope Gregory VII.    

Allow me to propose for our meditation the words of our dear Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, addressed to the people of God in the General Audience of Wednesday, the 17th of May, 2006, commenting on the very passage of the Gospel of Mark 8:27-33 that we proclaimed on today’s Mass.

“Peter was to live another important moment of his spiritual journey near Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked the disciples a precise question: ‘Who do men say that I am?’ (Mk 8: 27). But for Jesus hearsay did not suffice. He wanted from those who had agreed to be personally involved with him a personal statement of their position. Consequently, he insisted: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8: 29). 

It was Peter who answered on behalf of the others: “You are the Christ” (ibid.), that is, the Messiah. Peter's answer, which was not revealed to him by “flesh and blood” but was given to him by the Father who is in heaven (cf. Mt 16: 17), contains, as in a seed, the future confession of faith of the Church. However, Peter had not yet understood the profound content of Jesus' Messianic mission, the new meaning of this word:  Messiah.

He demonstrates this a little later, inferring that the Messiah whom he is following in his dreams is very different from God’s true plan. He was shocked by the Lord's announcement of the Passion and protested, prompting a lively reaction from Jesus (cf. Mk 8: 32-33).

Peter wanted as Messiah a “divine man” who would fulfil the expectations of the people by imposing his power upon them all: We would also like the Lord to impose his power and transform the world instantly. Jesus presented himself as a “human God,” the Servant of God, who turned the crowd’s expectations upside-down by taking a path of humility and suffering.

This is the great alternative that we must learn over and over again: to give priority to our own expectations, rejecting Jesus, or to accept Jesus in the truth of his mission and set aside all too human expectations.

Peter, impulsive as he was, did not hesitate to take Jesus aside and rebuke him. Jesus’ answer demolished all his false expectations, calling him to conversion and to follow him: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Mk 8: 33). It is not for you to show me the way; I take my own way and you should follow me.

Peter thus learned what following Jesus truly means. It was his second call, similar to Abraham’s in Genesis 22, after that in Genesis 12:  “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel's will save it" (Mk 8: 34-35). This is the demanding rule of the following of Christ: one must be able, if necessary, to give up the whole world to save the true values, to save the soul, to save the presence of God in the world (cf. Mk 8: 36-37). And though with difficulty, Peter accepted the invitation and continued his life in the Master's footsteps.

And it seems to me that these conversions of St. Peter on different occasions, and his whole figure, are a great consolation and a great lesson for us. We, too, have a desire for God; we, too, want to be generous, but we, too, expect God to be strong in the world and to transform the world on the spot, according to our ideas and the needs that we perceive.

God chooses a different way. God chooses the way of the transformation of hearts in suffering and in humility. And we, like Peter, must convert, over and over again. We must follow Jesus and not go before him: it is he who shows us the way.

So it is that Peter tells us: You think you have the recipe and that it is up to you to transform Christianity, but it is the Lord who knows the way. It is the Lord who says to me, who says to you: Follow me! And we must have the courage and humility to follow Jesus, because he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

 

Maria, Mater Ecclesiae, Ora pro nobis,

Maria, Regina Apostolorum, Ora pro nobis.

 

Maria, Mater Gratiae, Mater Misericordiae, Tu nos ab hoste protege et mortis hora suscipe.

 

+ Carlo Maria Viganò

Tit. Archbishop of Ulpiana

Apostolic Nuncio

 

February 21, 2019

Memory of St. Peter Damian