Pope Francis has been meeting today with his council of cardinal advisors, now numbering 6 prelates instead of the original 9. It has been a quiet day here (including a public transportation strike), and pretty much the only noise you hear are fans and AC running to combat the high temperatures.
Warnings are out about high temps expected this week in France in particular where the 2019 FIFA women’s soccer tournament is being played.
A months-long super heat wave in 2003 went down in the history books, as you can see from this wikipedia report from various news sources: The 2003 European heat wave led to the hottest summer on record in Europe since at least 1540.France was hit especially hard. The heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000. The predominant heat was recorded in July and August, partly a result of the western European seasonal lag from the maritime influence of the Atlantic warm waters in combination with hot continental air and strong southerly winds.
I have actually not been out of the house today. I am awaiting confirmation of a late afternoon or early evening appointment but other than that will probably not venture out.
I did go to a concert last night at the Anglican church of St. Paul’s Within the Walls with my friend, Marie, who works for Air Canada and was in town for the night. We were treated to some opera arias and then listened to a stunning rendition of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” with a wonderfully talented stringed sextet.
(Someday, one of the systems I try to use to enlarge photos will work!)
There were fans but no AC inside the church. The fans were turned off for the soprano but back on (mercifully!) for Vivaldi! The doors for the 8:30 concert opened at 7:30 and guests were served a very small plate of pasta “arrabbiata” as soon as you stepped inside. That was included in the ticket price but water or wine was extra. The water was a blessing, for sure! A late and light meal at La Vittoria, sitting outside with a hint of a breeze, topped off the day,
VATICAN WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION COMMENTS SOCCER MATCH INCIDENT
The following communiqué was issued yesterday afternoon by D.VA, Women in the Vatican, an official Vatican association, regarding the incident in Austria that occurred between the Vatican women’s soccer team and a team from Austria on June 22:
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“Following the ugly episode that took place on Saturday 22 June in Vienna, which saw the cancellation of the (soccer) match between the female team of the Vatican and its Austrian rival, the Women in the Vatican Association expresses regret and regret over the incident.
“As you know, the newly-formed Vatican team was forced to give up the scheduled game with the FC Mariahilf team due to an unfortunate and unpleasant provocation. The exploitation of the sports meeting not only offended the components of the Vatican formation, and the Vatican itself represented by it, but damaged the very idea of sport, fair competition between opponents, not enemies.
“Taking advantage of a football match to contest the well-known positions of the Catholic Church in support of life and sexuality with gestures, writings and banners was in fact an entirely inappropriate choice. But in what happened, we see something more: because it was women, even if not only, who put themselves against other women. We, women, would like to say to them that acceptance, capacity for dialogue, respect also for those with different ideas are qualities we must never give up, because they are part of our richness and diversity as women. A football field is certainly not the right place to lead an ideological battle but rather, as it has always been conceived, sport must be experienced as a place for meeting and promoting fraternity and peace. Otherwise the consequences are further closures and increasingly deeper separations.”
VIENNA WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM ISSUES STATEMENT OF REGRET
(EWTN/CNA).- Vienna’s FC Mariahilf (FCM) football team has issued a statement of regret after a friendly with the Vatican women’s football team was cancelled Saturday after several FCM members lifted their jerseys while the Vatican anthem was playing, displaying painted ovaries and pro-abortion messages.
The Vatican soccer team, who had been invited to Vienna by FCM, decided not to go ahead with the June 22 match.
“The action of the three players was independently organized and carried out,” FCM stated. “We sincerely apologize to the Vatican team’s players and guests from near and far that the game was not played.”
The club noted that, “tolerance, diversity, of life forms, and peaceful coexistence are important to us, as we have pointed out with rainbow symbols. We therefore understand the demands and message of our players, but we find the timing of their expression inappropriate and therefore understand the emotion it caused.”
The friendly was scheduled to kick off in the early afternoon in a sports arena in Wien-Simmering. Beforehand, both sides had participated in a prayer service and blessing of the pitch.
Austrian state broadcaster ORF quoted one of the FCM players involved in the protest as saying the activists were “not aware of the consequences of their action in any way and would have liked to play the football match”.
The activists also handed out leaflets to journalists attending the match. These stated that the activists did not assent to the Church’s teaching on abortion and same-sex marriage.
“They were not aware that the timing of the action during the playing of the Vatican anthem and in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio could be detrimental to the idea of sport and ruin many weeks of preparation,” reported the ORF.
When announcing the upcoming game, the German section of Vatican News reported FCM founder Ernst Lackner as saying he had initially not expected that the Vatican team would really accept the invitation, but that the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, had assured the Vatican team that FC Mariahilf was a serious team that was also strongly committed to charity.
The papal women’s football team had its first appearance in 2018 and immediately received an invitation from FCM, which is currently playing in the Wiener Landesliga, the third highest league in domestic women’s football
Joan's Rome 