A Return to Rome
July is probably the worst time to visit but the Eternal City at its worst is still magical
Happy Fourth of July, all Americans and supporters of America! I remember the bicentennial celebrations of 1976 and here we are at the “bicentennial and a half” — or something.
I am enjoying the day off, lounging about, drinking coffee, and boning up on my ten words of Italian.
The Italian is because next week I’m off again to Roma. I have to pick up my British grandchildren in London, and, as is my custom, I am using them as an excuse to explore a bit first. This time I am visiting Rome for nine or ten days before flying to Heathrow. It should be a bit like my trip to Budapest in that it will be scorching hot, in the mid-90s Fahrenheit.
Another excuse I have for the trip is that I’m working on a new book about the “Two Leos,” Leo XIII and Leo XIV, and how their parallel lives shaped or will shape the development of Catholic social teaching.
We think of Pope Leo XIII as the pope of Rerum Novarum, the first big social encyclical, but he was actually far more than that.
Leo pioneered the Church’s response to the social and political forces that both transformed, and partly destroyed, much of Europe: the Industrial Revolution... the revolutionary nationalism that changed Europe from a quasi-feudal collection of fiefdoms into what we know today... political liberalism or libertarianism... critical Biblical studies... the renewed interest in Thomas Aquinas.
By taking the name of this illustrious predecessor, Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago signaled that he intends to walk in Leo XIII’s footsteps and confront the equally-monumental social and economic forces that are shaking our own societies.
These include mass migration and globalization, artificial intelligence, the whole gig economy, so-called surveillance capitalism, artificial methods of reproduction, and more.
I hope to write a “dual biography” of the two popes, but one that traces the development of Catholic social teaching as it struggles to chart a path to a more human future.
We or maybe just I tend to shrug off CST as just the pious boilerplate of bishops and academics, mere platitudes.
But when you really look at things historically, you see how the Church confronted truly destabilizing social and economic forces and tried to figure out whether and how to make peace with them.
As always, the world offers Christians a series of false dichotomies: empire or jingoistic nationalism, laissez-faire capitalism or totalitarian socialism.
With the light of Christ and an eye on the common good, the Church must discern the good and evil in complex realities, highlighting what is worthwhile and what must be rejected. We live in a fallen world in which wheat and weeds grow side by side. The Industrial Revolution was a Mordor-like wrecking ball that destroyed entire communities and ways of living… and yet it also undoubtedly led to an increase in living standards worldwide that benefited billions. Leo XIII thought long and hard about that.
Another complex social reality he had to confront was the rise of nationalism.
We forget, but in the 1840s, ‘50s and ‘60s, when Leo was the Bishop of Perugia in Central Italy, all of Europe was awash in violent nationalist revolutions.
People all across the continent were fighting for what we now call “self-determination,” the right to have a voice – just a voice! -- in the management of their own affairs.
At that time, most people didn’t have such a voice. They lived in their villages, towns and cities, but they were ruled by empires – distant political regimes whose leaders often spoke different languages and held different religious and social beliefs.
The Church’s instinct was to side with the empires, the monarchs, against the godless rebels (and many of them were godless).
But Leo, as the good shepherd that he was, understood his people.
He knew that the cry for freedom that was heard across Europe wasn’t directed at God but against distant, unaccountable, often indifferent political leaders who didn’t care about the people they ruled.
Sound familiar?
The populist revolt that has returned to Europe, against globalist billionaires and unelected bureaucrats, has its roots in the original nationalist movements in the 1840s, when Leo was a papal nuncio (ambassador) to Belgium.
Anyway, I’m fascinated by the parallels between these twin lions of the Church, both gentle pastors, both academically inclined, both multi-lingual.
By the way, there is rare footage of Leo XIII on YouTube, when he was an old man. He was born in 1810, so I believe this is video of the oldest human ever recorded.
*****
When in Rome, I’m also meeting a fellow philosophy student, a friend who works with the Italian branch of the Mormon Church. (Yes, incredibly, the Mormons are in Italy – and apparently are gaining converts.)
About fifteen years ago, I went through a “Mormon period” when I read everything I could about Mormonism and how it developed. (No, I wasn’t converting: as a professional “religion writer,” I’ve done the same for many different religions, from Tibetan Buddhism and the Hare Krishnas to the Bahais.)
When my kids were little, I had rented some “Mormon movies” at Blockbuster – Halestorm productions such as “The Singles Ward” and “The RM” (Returning Missionary) – delightful, family-friendly films -- and watching them I realized I knew nothing about the one major world religion founded in the United States, which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Over the course of about three years, I read every book I could get my hands on about the Mormons, starting with Richard and Joan Ostling’s Mormon America and then even reading “Mormon fiction” such as the multi-volume historical series, The Work and the Glory.
At one point, I even visited Salt Lake City to see the “Mormon Vatican.” And as a member of “the press” (sort of), I got a tour of the Newport Beach Temple before it was dedicated.
One book that disturbed me was Isaiah Bennett’s Inside Mormonism: What Mormons Really Believe.
It’s a strange, autobiographical account by a Catholic priest who became fascinated by Mormonism, left the (Catholic) priesthood, converted, married a Mormon woman, became a speaker on the Mormon apologetics circuit, and then one day suddenly came to his senses, realized he had temporarily lost all perspective, and re-converted back to the Catholic Church.
Bennett became a lay Catholic apologist who tried to become a bridge, of sorts, between the two faiths, yet was understandably eyed warily by both (as a “double apostate”).
Anyway, it got to the point for me that when Mormon missionaries knocked on my door to try to convert me, it would be they who began looking at their watches.
I was fascinated by how this new and, in many ways, very unusual religion could take root in American soil. It’s not very often that you can actually witness the birth of a major world religion – and yet that is precisely what Americans, over the past 150 years or so, have witnessed.
So, I look forward to a busy time in Rome!
I was last in Italy a couple years ago, in Venice and Bolzano, but it’s been at least a decade since I’ve been in Rome.
Rome is the kind of place you can just wander around in because every time you turn a corner you see something utterly amazing. I hope to revisit some of my favorite places (assuming the heat and crowds allow for that) and see a few new places as well, maybe even making it out to the coast.
And I might get to see the new Mormon temple when I’m there. I’ll be sure to report back.
Robert J. Hutchinson is the author of numerous books of popular history, including Searching for Jesus: New Discoveries in the Quest for Jesus of Nazareth (Thomas Nelson), The Dawn of Christianity (Thomas Nelson), The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible (Regnery) and When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City (Doubleday). Email him at: roberthutchinson@substack.com