Viva il Papa

Part 9: Viva il Papa!

So it was Catechesis again in the morning and we all headed out to pick up breakfast which wasn’t a bad breakfast.

Albeit, the processed cheese and toast was starting to get to me. We had Cardinal Dolan from New York today speaking on the theme of Discipleship. He was good, kept us awake and moving on a cold paved ground. He had 7 steps to discipleship which were good to hear once again. The rain was finally clearing and today the Pope was arriving on Copacabana. However there were a few transportation issues getting there so, the padres decided to brave the crowds and most of the rest of us decided to go and visit this apparently spectacular Benedictine Monastery down the road from us. Well we weren’t disappointed! In the middle of the bustling CBD was this magnificent oasis.

It is a Baroque/Rococo Church that would rival anything in Europe tucked in the middle of skyscrapers. I spent a good 20 minutes in there just sitting. Everything is carved wood to incredible skill  and covered in gold leaf.

Sarah, Natty, Doug, Kathryn and I then went for a wander to track down food. It was a little trickier because it was a public holiday. I ended up ticking off one thing on my list which was to eat Churrasco! It was good.

We then decided to tick of another thing which was try a bus ride down to Copacabana and see if anything was still going on. So it was about 10 minutes of craziness before we hit dead traffic. They closed the main drag to Copacabana and so we eventually jumped off and walked down and straight into an antigovernment rally. We got out pretty quickly and ended up on the beach to the last of the pilgrims trickling out. So we grabbed a beer and headed home in cabs.

It was then bed time and Kathryn and Mel showed us this brochure they picked up from some nuns at the Vocations Centre which was the most hilarious translation I had ever heard. I will have to get it off them to get some quotes.

Friday was a big day coming, Stations of the Cross with the Pope!

How Pope Francis helped me survive five months of no income

At the beginning of last year, I recognised that this semester just passed would be a taxing one and so I made a decision to quit my job and live of my meagre savings for the semester.

An Idiot’s Attempt to Make Sense of Laudato Si’: Take 2

So it has been a long time coming this Part 2, mainly because of the crazy semester I’ve had. It is now nearly over, and I have some headspace to write for fun now! Now… where were we? Ah yes! The second part of the podcast is available here or you can go read the document yourself. It’s still free on the Vatican website, however you should be suitably warned…

Warning: This document has the potential to radically alter the way you see the world. Do not read unless you are prepared to ‘take the medicine’ without the sugar or complaining.

Now onwards to solving the problem that Laudato Si names: Human Beings, particularly modern human beings. Modern human beings, according to Pope Francis, have lost the point of the economic game. Making money, has become either an ends in itself or a means to mindless consumption. This mindless consumption is destroying our planet and also destroying our souls with it.

An Idiot’s Attempt to Make Sense of ‘Laudato Si’: Take One

One of the great things about doing a regular literature podcast is that you have to read the damn books, which I do with varying success (T.S. Elliot defeated me utterly…). This was a great opportunity to read the latest source of controversy, Laudato Si’: Pope Francis’ much anticipated and dreaded encyclical on care of the natural world.

Listen to the podcast here

You can access the entire text of the document for free from the Vatican Website. I should attach a caution to this document before you go toddle off to go and read it.

Warning: This document has the potential to radically alter the way you see the world. Do not read unless you are prepared to ‘take the medicine’ without the sugar or complaining.

Now that you are suitably warned, I am going to tackle this ‘Idiot’s Attempt’ a little counter intuitively by telling you what the document IS NOT about.