Who Says Christendom Is Dead?
By SHAUN KENNEY
As I write this, Baby Alfie Evans is breathing on his own and being given fluids, despite the fact that the British government is denying him food.
His crime? Being sick.
The Catholic bishops of Great Britain are — to their great shame and discredit — dissemblers at best. Long gone are the days of Reginald Pole, John Fisher, and even John Henry Newman; meekly and humbly they have prostrated themselves before the hand that feeds them.
Quite the opposite even has happened across Catholic Europe, where Italians and Poles have united in a common front to beg the United Kingdom for the life of Baby Alfie.
Leading this charge? None other than Pope Francis, and doing so in a manner vastly different than the limp-wristed response offered by the Viganò-led Vatican communications office when Baby Charlie Gard was permitted to die by the British social welfare state.
Instead, Francis is not only demonstrating backbone, but the Pontiff is earning praise from traditionalist watchdog Rorate Caeli, among others. Admirable, forceful intervention — their words!
The Italian government literally has aircraft waiting on a tarmac to respond affirmatively to Baby Alfie’s distant cry for help, a plea he cannot make due to his condition, but one his parents are making with tears in their eyes and millions watching around the world.
To date, the British government is not merely silent, but with an avarice rarely seen from any government that could claim the title of just is patently eager to see Baby Alfie die. The justice in this case, Sir Anthony Paul Hayden — no friend to Catholics and the co-author of anti-family books such as
Children and Same-Sex Families: A Legal Handbook — has shown an alacrity to poke and condemn the parents themselves in unnecessary ways, as if Alfie’s father and mother begging for clemency was an annoyance at best.
The Response Of The Christian West
Christendom was thought to be a dead letter, a relic of days gone by where the Holy Father could direct the passions and consciences of the nations of Europe. Most minds rush to the idea of the Crusades or the Protestant revolt, and while the secular world would love to urge us that the Holy See no longer holds such sway over the nations of the world.
The fact of the matter is that Pope Francis — perhaps for the first time since Pope John Paul II directed his energies against the Soviet Empire — is now reminding the secular West that Christendom is alive and well.
Vatican diplomats have been busy at work, with the Secretariat of State being directed to apply diplomatic pressure on the United Kingdom to produce an outcome.
The Italian ambassador — working at the behest of the Vatican’s urging — is in active contact with the justices (sic) who have condemned Baby Alfie to die of starvation, even as Bambino Gesù Hospital is actively awaiting Alfie’s arrival.
What’s more, in an extraordinary gesture, Baby Alfie was extended Italian citizenship, which means that the Italian government now takes an active diplomatic interest in his welfare. To those in the diplomatic community, the idea of a diplomatic row over the life of a citizen maltreated is of tremendous import.
Even the Polish government is extending offers of help and assistance, with Polish President Andrzej Duda emphatically joining the chorus and asking for Baby Alfie’s life to be saved.
Certainly here in the United States, Catholics in America have been glued to the Internet watching outlets such as EWTN, LifeSiteNews, and Catholic News Agency — sharing what they can on Twitter and musing about how the #BabyAlfie hashtag is being suppressed.
Catholics in Ireland on the cusp of a culturally seismic decision to permit the horrors of abortion on their island have noted with shock that the realities of a culture that does not respect the dignity of human life can and will exhaust itself to starve a toddler to death.
Failure Of The Secular West
Such are our choices, and they are aptly described in George Weigel’s brilliant little book The Cube and the Cathedral. In it, Weigel explains the choice that the West must make with two examples in the heart of Paris: the Museum of Modern Art or Notre Dame. One is a glass cube that allows everything in and out without judgment or precondition, the other is the beautiful Gothic cathedral to God with Our Lady of Victory as patroness.
Does Christendom still exist? Many would argue that it died when Napoleon entered Rome and very nearly eradicated the papacy altogether. Others would argue that it was swallowed down the gullet of war in the trenches of Somme during the First World War.
Yet by the definition of the Holy See, Christendom extends to two categories: those nations which profess the Catholic faith as the state religion, and those nations who have an established papal concordat.
More simply put, any nation whose social consciousness is informed by Catholic principles is indeed a part of the political body of Christendom. Much like the Crusading era, when the need arises the call is put forth, and Christendom responds. The concept is not terribly unlike the Orthodox experience, where should any member of the Body of Christ be threatened, a total response is mandated.
Baby Alfie’s enduring legacy may not simply be the miracle that he is breathing on his own for so very long, incredible and odds-defying as that is. Rather, Alfie may very well be the wake-up call Christendom needs to realize that despite the media and power elites that tell us otherwise, there are many more of us willing to restore the Christian West than we realize.
The Culture of Death may have its day, but the Culture of Life owns the future.
Send Me Your Thoughts
Of course, I am succeeding (but not replacing) the inestimable Mr. James K. Fitzpatrick for the First Teachers column. Please feel free to send any correspondence for First Teachers to Shaun Kenney, c/o First Teachers, 5289 Venable Road, Kents Store, VA 23084 — or if it is easier, simply send me an e-mail with First Teachers in the subject line to: svk2cr@virginia.edu.
