Based on an email from Dr. Robert Moynihan.

Thank you, Doctor Moynihan.

* * *

Won’t this be great theater?

One hundred plus old men in red dresses voting for a new daddy (papa) in the Sistine Chapel, with the paintings and ghost of the gay, great Michelangelo filling the place (Besides being an artist, Michelangelo wrote poetry. Most of it though, expresses his love of men, especially a Cechinodel Bracci, whom they thought was his lover. Michelangelo is believed to be gay, for several things point to it. His 40 epigrams to Bracci, which have lines like, “Never have I loved a man more than you.” Then, there is Tommaso dei Cavaleri, who was 23 when Michelangelo met him at the age of 57. Tommaso stayed by Michelangelo’s side until he died, which was on February 18, 1564. He was the longest living out of the Renaissance artists, and perhaps the most well known artist of all time.).

No wonder Catholics love the church. The pageantry, the tradition are spellbinding, aren’t they? Yes, except for the many thousands raped and otherwise molested by priests enabled by these same old men. What would Jesus do? Whom would he vote for? Or would he turn around, leave the beautiful chapel, and find some Rome homeless or abuse victims to minister to? 

The whole conclave extravaganza is so damned photogenic. No wonder Dan Brown found this to be a wonderful setting for his novel Angels & Demons.

So Hollywood!

[Frank]

* * *

March 5, 2013, Tuesday – Sistine Chapel Closed to Public

Sections of the Vatican Museums were closed today at 1 p.m. Rome time, about 60 minutes ago, to begin to prepare the Sistine Chapel for the upcoming papal conclave.

In 2005, it took seven days to prepare the Chapel for the Conclave after it was closed.

By this measure, the Sistine Chapel should be ready for the Conclave on March 12.

However, the cardinals must vote to move the Conclave up from the March 15-20 time-frame foreseen by the regulations currently in effect. Such a vote would require the presence of all 115 voting cardinals.

In meetings this morning, there were 110 voting age cardinals present. Five voting age cardinals are still not present in Rome.

Here is a screen shot of the web page:

Here is a link to the Vatican Museum website containing this announcement of the closing today of the Sistine Chapel to visitors:http://mv.vatican.va/2_IT/pages/MV_Home.html

Here is the text in Italian:

Avviso
Chiusura Cappella Sistina

Per le esigenze del prossimo Conclave, dalle ore 13.00 di martedì 5 marzo la Cappella Sistina sarà chiusa al pubblico fino a data da destinarsi. Nel medesimo periodo non saranno visitabili, lungo il percorso espositivo dei Musei Vaticani, l’Appartamento Borgia e la Collezione di Arte Religiosa Moderna.

English translation:

Notice

Closing of the Sistine Chapel

For the needs of the upcoming Conclave, from the hour of 13 of Tuesday, March 5, the Sistine Chapel will be closed to the public until a date to be determined. During this same time, [these areas] will not be able to be visited, along the exposition route of the Vatican Museums: the Borgia Apartment and the Collection of Modern Religious Art.
(to be continued…)

Our 2013 “Inside the Vatican” Pilgrimages all have openings, although some are filling up fast. For the 2013 schedule click here. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Abuse and Cover Up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.