{"id":18895,"date":"2013-04-01T03:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=18895"},"modified":"2013-12-31T19:02:54","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T00:02:54","slug":"another-shock-from-the-chaos-pope-francis-will-walk-the-camino-to-santiago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/04\/01\/another-shock-from-the-chaos-pope-francis-will-walk-the-camino-to-santiago\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Shock from the \u201cChaos Pope\u201d: Francis Will Walk the Camino<\/i> to Santiago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rome, April 1<\/p>\n

The \u201cWay of St. James<\/a>\u201d to Santiago, Spain is one of the oldest and most famous pilgrimage routes in Christendom. Of the many routes of varying length to Santiago, \u201cThe French Way<\/a>\u201d is one of the most popular. (The Spanish for \u201cway\u201d is \u201ccamino.\u201d)<\/p>\n

And in the latest shock in a papacy of many shocks, Pope Francis announced this morning that he will walk the final 36.5 kilometers (c. 22 miles) of \u201cThe French Way\u201d from Arz\u00faa to Santiago during this Easter season as a pilgrim on foot.<\/p>\n

The announcement was made Monday morning at a hastily called Mass at St. Martha\u2019s Guesthouse to which Pope Francis invited members of the Waldensian<\/a> community in Rome. The Waldensians are a heretical group against whom St. Francis of Assisi preached in the 12th century.<\/p>\n

At the Mass, Pope Francis did not issue an invitation to Communion to members of the breakaway sect. But it raised eyebrows when he freely offered Communion to those who came forward, the majority by far of the congregation of approximately 50 people. He made the shock announcement after Communion.<\/p>\n

It seems that the 76-year-old pope made his decision to go on pilgrimage entirely spontaneously, without prior consultation of Vatican security forces or officials in the tourist industry or police force in Spain. Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi admitted that he had not known of the Holy Father\u2019s plans before Mass, but he stressed that the decision had been made \u201cin a spirit of serenity and with due consideration of its various aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early reactions to the announcement varied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s simply wonderful,\u201d said social justice advocate Sister Simone Campbell of \u201cNuns on a Bus<\/a>\u201d fame, tearing up as she spoke. \u201cBrother Francis is walking at our side as our equal. For this, the nuns will get off the bus and walk right with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liturgists were cautiously supportive of the Pope\u2019s move. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily see this as a return to the devotionalism of John Paul II,\u201d said \u00a0Fr. Mark Wedig of the Catholic Academy for Liturgy<\/a>. \u201cThe eucharistic celebration, the paschal mystery,\u00a0will loom larger than the saint\u2019s bones.\u201d Citing the work of Fr. Ed Foley, Wedig underscored that the eucharist is a verb, not a noun. \u201cFrancis knows that, and that\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t genuflect in the eucharistic prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several things to watch for in this developing story,\u201d observed Vatican commentator John Allen <\/a>of the National Catholic Reporter<\/em>. \u201cWill Francis comport himself in quiet prayer, or will he speak out to a national church roiled by controversies about same-sex marriage and other social issues? Which curial cardinals will accompany him, either on foot or being transported by limousine to each of his stops? Is this a one-time thing, or will it become a regular hallmark of this papacy, like World Youth Day for JP2 or ever more antiquated liturgical vestments for B16?\u201d Allen cautioned against reading too much into a story that may prove to be, on balance, rather uneventful.<\/p>\n

Popular conservative blogger Fr. Z<\/a> sees more at play. \u201cThis pilgrimage will be really bad news for liberals,\u201d he predicted. \u201cPope Francis will experience real old-time Catholic piety up close on the camino, and it will change him. We\u2019re talking rosaries, frequent confession, that sort of thing. The people who go on pilgrimage to a saint\u2019s shrine aren\u2019t the kind of people pushing for women priestettes and approval of gay pervert shenanigans. I know this region very well \u2013 it\u2019s not that far from Velletri-Segni<\/a>. People will look back on the Supreme Pontiff\u2019s time with real Catholics in southern Europe as a game-changer for this papacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jeffrey Tucker, advocate of traditional sacred music at the Chant Caf\u00e9<\/em><\/a>, downplayed the announcement. \u201cThere\u2019s no story here,\u201d he said. \u201cNone. If the media would stop playing up this story, if the public would stop being interested in this story, it would evaporate. Look, a pope does 25 or 30 unprecedented things in a few days, and everyone jumps up and down like it\u2019s a rupture or something. It\u2019s not.\u201d Kathy Pluth agreed<\/a>, stating “Benedict!” and then adding more softly, “Benedict… Benedict…”<\/p>\n

Fr. Anthony Ruff of St. John\u2019s Abbey said that he sees no connection to the new English missal<\/a> in the pope\u2019s announcement, and consequently he could find no comment to make about it.<\/p>\n

The pope is expected to wear comfortable walking shoes on the camino, but it is not yet known whether these will be black or brown. Pray Tell<\/em> will comment on this, as well as the amount of lace worn by acolytes at every liturgical event, while of course avoiding placing undue emphasis on superficial\u00a0or secondary aspects of the spiritual event.<\/p>\n

It has not yet been announced when the Pope will set out on foot as a pilgrim. Easter season extends through Pentecost Sunday, which falls on May 19 this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The announcement was made Monday morning at a hastily called Mass at St. Martha\u2019s Guesthouse to which Pope Francis invited members of the Waldensian community in Rome. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[93,2224],"tags":[1204],"class_list":["post-18895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-pope-francis","tag-april-fools-day"],"yoast_head":"\nAnother Shock from the \u201cChaos Pope\u201d: Francis Will Walk the Camino to Santiago - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/04\/01\/another-shock-from-the-chaos-pope-francis-will-walk-the-camino-to-santiago\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Another Shock from the \u201cChaos Pope\u201d: Francis Will Walk the Camino to Santiago - 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