Alarm in the Vatican at ever decreasing attendance at Papal events

Although the official Vatican media tries to hide the reality, the truth is that attendance at the events presided over by Francis are plummeting.

For several months now, due to the reduced mobility suffered by the Pontiff, the Vatican has been trying to control and limit all of Francis' movements. The low attendance and participation of the faithful in the Angelus, audiences or Masses in the Vatican has set off alarm bells in Rome.

In this medium, both Specola and La Cigüeña de la Torre have echoed on countless occasions the continuous gaps that Pope Francis faces every time he has a public meeting. The vast majority of official photographs are close-ups of Pope Francis and first rows to avoid showing gaps and empty chairs. Gone are those years of enthusiasm in which St. Peter's Square became too small and you had to queue for hours to get a place.

Francis empty space

As Specola stated a few weeks ago on his blog, "the content of the audiences is of no interest to anyone; papal catechisms, once so closely followed and cared for, are today inconsequential. Pope Francis continues with his problems with the persistent knee that does not fully straighten and that makes it impossible to extend the audience with hugs and kisses. "You can no longer hear the cheers for the Pope, you can't breathe the warmth and affection of the attendees."

These gaps, already typical on Sundays - during the Angelus prayer - and on Wednesdays - in the Pope's public audiences - are also extending to other events of greater significance.

Without going any further, during these last few days we have confirmed the low attendance of faithful at two very important events such as the creation of 21 new cardinals last Saturday or the Mass on Wednesday with which the starting signal for the start was given. of the Synod Assembly. The images of both Masses leave no room for doubt and it is a topic (that of empty chairs) that is increasingly discussed in ecclesial environments.

Secularization or abandonment of the message of Christ?

There will be those who say that everything has to do with the process of secularization that affects the Church worldwide. The truth is that the Church plays less and less role in society, it no longer appears on the front pages unless there is some scandal due to abuse by the clergy, as we have seen in recent days in Spain with the case of the priest of Malaga.

The Church no longer has its own agenda. This -unfortunately- translates into not having anything new to contribute to the world and it is precisely now, in this postmodern and secularized world when the Good News must be announced with more vehemence than ever. But of course, this means going against the current and fighting against what is politically correct.

On the other hand, there are more and more voices that focus on Francis himself, that he is unable to attract either outsiders or insiders with shallow speeches or empty content. This is the problem of wanting to please everyone or move in an ideological 'centre' so as not to offend anyone, but unfortunately, center and lukewarmness in this case are synonymous and in this very materialistic world and where people thirst for God Good speeches that in a matter of minutes are blown away by the wind are not valid.

Surely there are multiple options to revive the activity and enthusiasm of the faithful in the cradle of Catholicism. We can affirm, without fear of being wrong, that the solution is to talk about God again and leave aside other worldly issues. Talk about God, his Gospel and the Sacraments to nourish all those souls that wander the world longing for an answer that satisfies their empty transit through this Earth.

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