Convert Baptized by Pope Writes Book

Here are some excerpts which were published in Corriere della Sera from Magdi Christiano Allam's new book “Grazie Gesù. La mia conversione dall'islam al cattolicesimo” [Thank You Jesus. My Conversion from Islam to Christianity] . In the book, Allam, who converted from Islam to Catholicism recounts his road to conversion. In these excerpts he describes his baptism:

It was the best day of my life. Receiving the gift of the Christian faith on the day of Christ’s Resurrection from the hand of the Holy Father is a matchless privilege and inestimable blessing. For me, at the age of almost 56, it was a unique, unforgettable historic event that signalled a radical, definitive change with respect to the past. During the night of 22 March 2008, on the occasion of the Easter Vigil, at the solemn liturgy celebrated in the magnificence of the Basilica of St Peter’s, the cradle of Catholicism, I was reborn in Christ. At the end of a long, protracted struggle, lived out as a Muslim by reason of the legacy inherited from my parents and with a personal history of lacerating doubts and torments, there ignited within me, by divine will and responsible choice, the light of the true Christian faith. My spiritual metamorphosis unfolded from nine o’clock over three hours that seemed as if they would never end. I passed those hours in uncontrollable excitement, outwardly betrayed by my tingling nerves, over the radical nature of the life experience that was taking place inside me and, I admit, in part because of the cold that gripped me and stayed with me from the beginning of the imposing ceremony in the atrium of the Basilica, accompanied by rain and icy temperatures.

Inside the Basilica, the lights had been extinguished. I was outside with six other adult catachumens waiting to receive the sacraments of Christian initiation, seated on the part of the parvis most exposed to the wind. It was in that damp cold, which usually makes me a little agitated and means I have to concentrate more to listen, reflect, assess and elaborate concepts, that I began to relive the film of my inner life. Half a century was reviewed frame by frame and sliced up with the now uncompromising, now compassionate scalpel of religion, calm enough for one last unconscious confirmation of a decision already taken consciously yet at the same time with sufficient urgency to recompose the overall framework of my existence into a harmonious whole, joyfully to register the image of the long-awaited, soon to be accomplished, Event, as I reinterpreted my past while redefining and revolutionising my future. (...) From the atrium, Benedict XVI led the procession towards the altar after the deacon, chanting the Lumen Christi for the third time, had brought the splendour of light back to the Basilica.

Then began the crucial stage of my conversion to Christianity, to which evidently I was called by the grace of God that had accompanied me from my youngest days, bringing into my path a series of “coincidences” that were anything but fortuitous, concealing as they did the will of the Lord that discreetly comes to meet us without making its presence palpable. As I slowly walked down the nave at the rear of the procession, my mind at once went back to the key event that started me on the route of interior spirituality at the age of four, and would more than half a century later culminate in my conversion to Christ. It was September 1956. I still have clear in my mind the day on which my long travails began. I had burst into tears as my mother Safeya, aided and persuaded by the Caccias, the family of wealthy Italian textile magnates resident for generations in my native Cairo, handed me over to Sister Lavinia. She hid me under her habit so I would not see my mother entrusting me to the education and affection of the Combonian sisters and their devotion to St Joseph. Later on, from the last year of primary school to the last year of my scientific secondary school, I studied at the Salesian Don Bosco Institute.

For fourteen years, I lived in boarding schools run by Catholic religious orders (...) I was able to gain first-hand experience of the lives of women and men who had chosen to devote their lives to God in the Church by serving their neighbours, regardless of religion or nationality, and who bore witness to their Christian faith in works for the common good and the interest of the community. There I began to read the Bible and the Gospels with interest and involvement, particularly enthralled by the human and divine figure of Jesus. I was able to attend the church of St Joseph opposite the Combonian sisters’ school and the church of Don Bosco at the Salesian Institute. Every so often, I went to holy mass and once I actually approached the altar and received communion. From the religious point of view, it was an act without significance since I hadn’t been christened but it clearly signalled my attraction for Christianity and my desire to feel myself part of the Catholic community. (...) My conversion did not come about in a flash after some traumatic, joyful or sad event, nor was it merely a rational adherence prompted by reading sacred texts, or a purely intellectual confrontation with supporters or opponents of the Catholic faith.

Instead conversion was the ripe fruit of a long journey through a life of study and direct familiarity with the sources of wisdom but above all, with experiences of otherness that involved me entirely, slowly laying down in my soul and mind ever thicker layers of spiritual and rational adherence to the love and faith of Jesus. (...) Finally came the crucial moment of Baptism. I was being reborn in Christ and was about to take my first steps as an authentic Christian. I stood up and walked to the baptismal font, accompanied by my godfather. For the first time, I stood before Benedict XVI. I knew that at that precise moment, the destiny assigned to me by divine grace fifty-six years earlier, from my birth, was being fulfilled. I bowed with the respect and humility of a believer in the religious primacy of the Pope as Christ’s vicar on earth. I approached the font, stooped and Benedict XVI poured the blessed water over my head. “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”. (...)

The moments immediately preceding my baptism and the baptism itself I experienced as an authentic liberation. For fifty-six years, I perceived myself as a Muslim and others around me identified me as a Muslim. At the age of fifty-six, I was born again as a Christian, cancelling out the Islamic identity that I have consciously and deliberately rejected. Inside me and outside, everything will change. Nothing will remain as it was before. For those who, like me, consider religious faith and the sphere of absolute, universal, transcendent values to be the foundation of life, thought and action, adherence to Christianity takes the form of a radical change in the whole of personality and existence. Naturally, it will take some time for this adherence to faith in Jesus to grow increasingly full and heartfelt. I feel like a child taking his first hesitant steps in his new Christian life. But I have a great desire to walk and run as a Christian! Thank you, Jesus.

More Italian Anti-Catholicism

In a declaration released yesterday afternoon on TG1 (the television news of RAI, the Italian State broadcaster), Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. affirmed that "the irreverent comments directed at the Pope and the Church during the May Day concert were clearly an act of irresponsibility. It is right to say so, and the trade union representatives were right to disassociate themselves" from those comments.

Fr. Lombardi was referring to remarks made by one of the presenters of the concert, which is traditionally held on May 1 every year in the center of Rome. The presenter, Diego Rivera, said, among other things, that "the Pope does not believe in evolutionism," because "the Church has never evolved."

Yesterday's edition of the Vatican daily newspaper, the "Osservatore Romano," described the comments by saying "it is a contemptible and terroristic act to throw stones, this time even against the Pope, while feeling protected by cries of approval from an easily excitable crowd."
Speaking on TG1, the Holy See Press Office Director made it clear that, as both Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Italian Republic, and Cardinal Secretary of State Tarciso Bertone S.D.B. had pointed out, "it would be as well for all of us to seek to diffuse tensions and to re-create conditions for serene dialogue in our society. In this way, it is right that what was an evident act of foolishness should not become a tragedy and an opportunity to re-ignite huge conflicts."
VIS

Catholic World News expands on the official release here.

One of the most unfortunate things to note is that this concert was held in front of the Basilica of St. John, Lateran. That means that this disrespect toward the Pope was committed in front of his own Cathedral.

Support for Archbishop Bagnasco

Pope Benedict XVI has given strong public backing to Genoese Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, who has been threatened with death after having strongly condemned proposals to permit homosexual civil unions. The Vatican made it public that Pope Benedict personally telephoned Archbishop Bagnasco yesterday urging him not to give in to intimidation.

Later in the day, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, sent an official telegram to the Archbishop signed in the name of the Pope urging Archbishop Bagnasco to "continue in his work for the common good, defending and promoting those human and religious values without which it is impossible to build true, free and stable democracies". The pope, said Cardinal Bertone expressed "his profound and painful shock" at the "grave and despicable events which aim to disturb the serene coexistence of the civil and ecclesial community".

In the latest in a series of threats against the Archbishop, a letter was sent to Bagnasco Friday containing his photo with a swastika carved into it, and accompanied by a bullet. Police bodyguards were assigned to protect Archbishop Bagnasco several weeks ago, after threatening graffiti appeared on his cathedral and other buildings across the city. "Death to Bagnaso" and "Shame on you, Bagnasco" were spray painted, along with insults against the Pope and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, previous head of the bishops' conference. Other disturbing attacks included pornographic images of the Virgin Mary portrayed as a bisexual that was left in pamphlets in the cathedral at the end of the Easter Vigil Mass.

The threats against Archbishop Bagnasco began after he issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the proposal to give legal rights to unmarried couples, including homosexual couples, comparing such measures to also giving rights to other sexually radical behaviours such as incest and pedophilia. "Why not say no to various forms of living together, to the creating of alternative forms of the family?," asked the Archbishop. "Why not say no to the incest of a brother and a sister who live together and have children in Great Britain? Why not say no to the party of pederasts in Holland?"

To counter the governmental proposal for civil union legislation, pro-family groups with the support and encouragement of the Italian Bishops Conference and the Vatican are sponsoring a "Family Day" on May 12, where it is hoped many thousands will demonstrate in favour of protection for the traditional family.

Responding to the official Vatican telegram, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano wrote Cardinal Bertone saying, "I wish to assure you that Italy will not leave Archbishop Bagnasco alone to face the present threats."

Source: LifeSite News

Death Threats Against Archbishop Bagnasco

Standing for Catholic values can still bring martyrdom or at least threats.

Homosexual activists mailed a bullet to the office of Genoese Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco Friday, in the latest threat against the senior church official over his opposition to same-sex civil unions.

Police bodyguards were assigned to protect Archbishop Bagnasco several weeks ago, after threatening graffiti appeared on his cathedral and other buildings across the city. “Death to Bagnaso” and “Shame on you, Bagnasco” were spray painted, along with insults against Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, previous head of the bishops conference.

Pornographic images of the Virgin Mary portrayed as a bisexual were left in pamphlets in the cathedral at the end of the Easter Vigil Mass, Catholic News Agency reported April 11.

According to a Herald Tribune report, a local newspaper said a photo of the archbishop accompanied the bullet, with a swastika scratched into the image.

Archbishop Bagnasco was recently elected as head of the powerful Italian Bishops Conference. Since his induction into that role, the archbishop has led a campaign against the government proposal to legally recognize homosexual civil unions.

The threats against Archbishop Bagnasco began after he issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the proposal to give legal rights to unmarried couples, including homosexual couples.

“Why not say no to various forms of living together, to the creating of alternative forms of the family?” Archbishop Bagnasco said, warning that legalization of homosexual unions would make it difficult to prevent the further breakdown of family life and sexual morality, reported Spero News.

“Why not say no to the incest of a brother and a sister who live together and have children in Great Britain? Why not say no to the party of pederasts in Holland?”

The Communist symbol of the hammer and sickle accompanied the death threat scrawled on the cathedral, along with the five-pointed star of the left-wing Red Brigades terrorist group.

Carlo Arcolao, spokesman for the archdiocese, told Vatican Radio the threats came from “very small and psychologically weak fringes.”

Source: LifeSite News

Where is the Battle of Anghiari?

Permit me another art article. Since I just finished reading Irving Stone's "The Agony and The Estacy, this article is particularly interesting. I may just have to make a day trip to Florence on my next trip to Italy.

From ANSA:

The hunt for Leonardo da Vinci's greatest lost fresco is back on.

Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli has greenlighted a dig behind a 'secret' wall in Palazzo Vecchio that may hide the fresco of the Battle of Anghiari.

The search will be led by art sleuth Maurizio Seracini, the one real-life character in Dan Brown's bestselling thriller The Da Vinci Code, and the man who uncovered the wall two years ago. "The city council finally gave its approval and we rubber stamped the excavation and analysis," the minister said.

A panel of art experts will assess any findings, under the supervision of Florence's famed heritage restoration body Opificio dell Pietre Dure.Seracini claims the wall could hide "significant" traces of the fresco.

The panel will examine new evidence as well as poring through past studies and Florentine archives.The discovery of the wall in summer 2005 raised new hopes of finding this Holy Grail of the art world.

But opinion was divided.

The world's top Leonardo scholar, Carlo Pedretti, was convinced the fresco could be hiding inside the palazzo's Salone dei Cincequento.

"I really believe it's behind that wall," said Pedretti, director of the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies at the University of California.

He said Renaissance accounts showed "the fresco can only be there".Pedretti rejected suggestions that a later artist, Giorgio Vasari, might have damaged the fresco when he was told to cover it.

Vasari was asked to paint over masterworks by Giotto and Masaccio in two other Florentine sites, but left the underlying works intact, Pedretti noted.

"If he didn't damage them, why should he have done so with the Leonardo?" This optimism contrasted with the views of Florence art chief Antonio Paolucci who said after the wall find was unveiled that "there's little or nothing behind that wall".

Paolucci, a former culture minister, may now have changed his mind - since he was one of the officials who decided to set up the international panel.

The Battle of Anghiari - described by sculptor Benvenuto Cellini as a ground-breaking masterpiece that any artist simply had to see and study - has long been known from sketches and copies.

But the original was thought lost for ever - a victim of Leonardo's typically unorthodox decision to jettison the traditional technique of applying paint to wet plaster.

Leonardo needed time for his painstaking approach and so used oils directly on the dry plaster in Palazzo Vecchio, the symbol of Florentine civic pride.

Like the Last Supper in Milan it soon began to crumble, helped on its way by a thunderstorm that hit the unfinished building.

Leonardo gave up and headed for Milan.

Though it has been wiped off the art map, the fresco's birth was well documented.Leonardo (1452-1519) started painting it on June 6, 1505, surrounded by an admiring throng.

Just Because I Think It's Interesting

This post has nothing to do with religion, but I think it is interesting and since it's about one of my favorite places on earth, Italy please give me the luxury of posting this.

It seems that many ancient works of art have gone missing in recent years. Well, a lot of them have been found.

From ANSA:

Italian police on Thursday recovered a haul of Etruscan and Roman tomb plunder as Italy continued to crack down on art theft.

Police raided a goldsmith's luxury villa belonging outside Arezzo, Tuscany and found what they called a "significant collection of ancient art, fit to grace a museum".

Among the artefacts recovered were several Roman statues including a particularly fine one of the Greek fertility and re-birth god Attis.

Other Roman items included stately Corinthian columns, ornate funerary urns and a striking marble sarcophagus dating from the First to Second centuries BC. Among the Etruscan artefacts were a dainty Seventh Century BC wine jug and a delightful Sixth Century BC tufa statuette of a cat. The plunder is believed to have come from tombs in southern Tuscany and northern Lazio.

Two Arezzo-based antiquities dealers have been implicated in the probe, which was initiated by chance after tax police spotted some outstanding examples of ancient art in the goldsmith's shop during a routine tax check. Investigations are continuing in a bid to find the wrecked tombs and the raiders who sold the artefacts, police said.

Italy is stepping up its efforts to combat tomb raiders and recover the loot they have traded. Last month art police unveiled their biggest recent coup, two magnificent Roman artefacts.

The Second Century AD works - a marble head of the sex-and-wine god Dionysus and a headless statue of a toga-garbed figure - were traced after decades of detective work.

The delicate little head of Dionysus was stolen from Rome's Villa Torlonia gallery in the 1980s and recently intercepted as it was about to go under the hammer at Christie's in New York.

The toga-clad figure, probably a Roman Senator, was tracked down in Barcelona after disappearing, again in the '80s, from a wall niche on Rome's Colle Oppio hill.Dionysus has just returned to the Villa Torlonia while the Senator has been put on show in the Capitoline museums, in the same room as the famed Marcus Aurelius equestrian statue.

Italy is tightening the screw on antiquities trafficking with a wave of raids that have reclaimed major tomb hauls.It has also signed landmark agreements with major American galleries to get looted works back, thus discouraging tomb raiders.

An accord with New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in February dealt a major blow to art trafficking.Under the accord, Italy recovered a large collection of treasure in return for the promise of loans of equivalent value.

Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli inked a carbon-copy accord with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts last month - while the minister is optimistic about reviving stalled talks aimed at securing a similar deal with the Los Angeles-based John Paul Getty Museum.

Italian authorities have prosecuted a former Getty Museum curator, Marion True, for allegedly receiving stolen artefacts.The Rome proceedings are the world's first such trial of a US art official.