Eminences, Excellencies, Magnificentia, Spectabilis, dear colleagues, esteemed guests.
It is the time of Lent. According to an ancient tradition, altar pictures and crosses are covered up in churches. The abandoned throne of St Peter and the veil of mystery over the future of the church lend the present Lenten experience of God’s silence a strange aura of urgency.
Many pictures that we have grown too accustomed to are covered up. Confronted by the dark canvas we are able to recall what we used to see and what is now concealed. But we can also turn that concealing veil into ...
