Aurelio Porfiri
Catholicism has had many enemies in its history. The opposition of the world still exists today. After all, Jesus himself had foreseen it. Unfortunately, this opposition comes not only from outside the Church, but also from inside.
This had already been identified by Saint Pius X in 1907 with his masterful Encyclical Pascendi: โFor as we have said, they put their designs for her ruin into operation not from without but from within; hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain, the more intimate is their knowledge of her. Moreover they lay the axe not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the faith and its deepest fires. And having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to disseminate poison through the whole tree, so that there is no part of Catholic truth from which they withhold their hand, none that they do not strive to corrupt. Furthermore, none are more skilful, none more astute than they, in the employment of a thousand noxious arts; for they double the parts of rationalist and Catholic, and this so craftily that they easily lead the unwary into error; and since audacity is their chief characteristic, there is no conclusion of any kind from which they shrink or which they do not thrust forward with pertinacity and assurance.โ
Now, having said this, I believe that even the enemies of the Church, inside and outside her, will not be able to deny how she has contributed to humanity in at least two areas, that of beauty and that of holiness. I believe there is little doubt that the Church, in her history, has given so much in these two fields and for this everyone, even atheists, agnostics and people belonging to other religions, must be grateful to her. I think it is not necessary here to mention the thousands of saints and artists who have benefited the world, giving us shining examples of virtue and models of beauty to be inspired from. As I have said, even people that strongly oppose the Church cannot deny this very fact, that she has given so much to humanity in many fields, including the ones I have previously mentioned.
After all, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had clearly stated this a few years ago: โThe true apology of the Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth, against all denial, are on the one hand the Saints, on the other the beauty that faith generated.โ Yet today precisely these dimensions are put to the test in the Church herself, where beauty is often disfigured, especially in the art and music that had given so much to Catholicism, and holiness is almost neglected in the name of an accommodation of the Church to the mentality of the world. Yet, beauty and holiness cannot be lacking in the life of the Church, their lesser incidence indicates to us a crisis that goes well beyond the two dimensions mentioned. Beauty and holiness are lived with difficulty because they are demanding and go against the mentality of the world. They require courage, the courage to remain standing when a strong wind blows you in the opposite direction. The wind hits you and almost disfigures you, ruffles your hair and clothes, almost makes you an object of mockery. But solid in the values โโfounded in your soul also thanks to the true artists of faith and to the saints, perhaps you will be able to resist.
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