A 350 metre long cavern has been discovered deep under the Monteverde neighbourhood in Rome.

It is one of the hundreds that have been blamed for a growing number of sinkholes that have swallowed cars and threatened to topple buildings.

Five years ago builders digging a garage realised that there was empty space beneath their feet. Read more

Cavern discovered under Rome's Monteverde neighbourhood]]> 140912 https://cathnews.co.nz/2017/06/12/the-city-under-the-city-of-rome/ Mon, 12 Jun 2017 08:12:02 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=94922

ROME - When most people think of Rome they picture the majestic Colosseum or the countless churches and basilicas sprawled across the city, but deep underground there is another Eternal City that tells the tale of the first pioneers of the Christian faith. The Catacombs of Domitilla, a vast web of tunnels and tombs used Read more

During Msgr Giovanni Carrù's 20 years as pastor in a Turin parish, many paintings, statues, furniture and other objects were lost and then found in private homes.

Two candelabra ended up being among the possessions of former Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, according to a National Catholic Reporter article by investigative journalist Jason Berry.

These were returned by the cardinal.

The NCR story was based on a report in a Rome daily newspaper.

A special division of the Italian police charged with the protection of cultural heritage had two investigators focused on Msgr Carrù and missing religious property.

Authorities worked with disgruntled parishioners in the monsignor's native region of Piedmont.

Msgr Carrù is currently secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, a job that oversees the catacombs.

He worked at the Congregation for Clergy between 2003 and 2009, where he was an under-secretary.

Some sources say he got the job courtesy of former Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who also came from Piedmont.

Part of Msgr Carrù's role was there was to manage correspondence concerning sales of church properties and items of high value, in cases where bishops had to seek Vatican permission.

This saw him involved in a type of insider-trading scheme with an American company, the Follieri Group, the NCR article stated.

During a period when US bishops were closing churches at a rate of more than a one a week, Msgr Carrù was "instrumental" in "identifying prospective churches to buy and resell".

A vice-president of the Follieri Group at the time was a nephew of Cardinal Sodano.

The NCR article stated Msgr Carrù is considered an unindicted co-conspirator by the FBI for his role in the 2008 criminal scheme to sell American church property.

The Vatican Bank was used to wire payments in the scheme, which saw company founder Raffaello Follieri eventually convicted and imprisoned for five years.

Msgr Carrù was forced to leave the Congregation for Clergy in 2009.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Addicting Info

The Priscilla catacombs where Christians worshipped and buried their own are re-opening to the public after five years of work in which restorers used lasers to clean up the religious frescoes on the walls.

The Vatican's culture minister, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, said the catacombs "were a living and breathing symbol of the first Christians, of their daily lives."

Proponents of a female priesthood are saying that frescoes in the newly restored Catacombs of Priscilla prove there were women priests in early Christianity.

The Vatican said such assertions are sensationalist "fairy tales".

In a room called the "Cubiculum of the Veiled Woman," shows a woman whose arms are outstretched like those of a priest saying Mass. She wears what the catacombs' Italian website calls "a rich liturgical garment". The word "liturgical" does not appear in the English version.

She also wears what appears to be a stole, a vestment worn by priests. Another fresco, in a room known as "The Greek Chapel," shows a group of women sitting around a table, their arms outstretched like those of priests celebrating Mass.

Organizations promoting a female priesthood, such as the Women's Ordination Conference and the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests, have pointed to these ancient scenes as evidence of a female priesthood in the early Church.

But the Vatican contests these interpretations.

"This is an elaboration that has no foundation in reality," Barbara Mazzei of the Pontifical Commission on Sacred Archaeology told Reuters at the presentation of the restoration on Tuesday.

"This is a fairy tale, a legend," said Professor Fabrizio Bisconti, superintendent of religious heritage archaeological sites owned by the Vatican, including numerous catacombs scattered around Rome.

He said such interpretations were "sensationalist and absolutely not reliable".

Sources

Reuters
The Daily Mail
The Local
Image: Reuters