Vatican City - On the evening of Thursday, 11 September, from 10 p.m. to midnight, the dome of St. Peter’s was overtaken by 3,000 drones and dazzling light beams. A so-called “celestial show” that made Mauro Gambetti, Enzo Fortunato and Francesco Ochetta lift their eyes to the sky – but also raised an immediate, uncomfortable question: what on earth does any of this have to do with faith? With the mission entrusted by Christ to Peter? How much do these extravaganzascost? And, above all, what’s the point? Around the Vatican railway station, the equipment rolled in: pallets of water bottles, stacks of drones, crates of technical gear. More like the logistics of a military operation than a spiritual celebration.
Here lies the first, bitter contradiction: while Europe counts the Russian drones entering Polish airspace and Ukrainian drones being shot down; while in the Mediterranean and Israel humanitarian vessels bound for Gaza are struck, in the Vatican the same machines are played with as if they were nothing more than high-tech fireworks. Is this really the Holy See’s response to a world in flames? An aerial choreography while elsewhere the skies are ripped apart by bombs? The result: yet another international embarrassment.
“Grace for the World”: Peace, Music… and Contradictions
On Saturday, 13 September, St. Peter’s Square will host the mega-concert “Grace for the World.” From 8 p.m., Italian and international stars will take the stage to deliver what organisers call a “powerful message” of fraternity, peace and unity. The line-up is glitzy: Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli as co-directors, Grammy-winner Adam Blackstone as musical director, plus John Legend, Karol G, Teddy Swims, Jelly Roll, Angélique Kidjo and the gospel choir Voices of Fire.
A cast that would make half the world’s festivals jealous – yet in the Vatican setting feels frankly grotesque. Unsurprisingly, an online petition is already circulating against the inclusion of Karol G (Carolina Giraldo Navarro), accused of promoting an artistic message that is explicitly sexual, tied to substance use, and to a secular vision of female empowerment. Her foundation even advocates contraceptive use among teenagers. The petition is blunt: this choice “contradicts the principles of purity, respect and spirituality” of the Christian faith and risks causing “confusion among the young,” undermining the very message the Church claims to uphold. A sober appeal, backed by thousands of faithful, yet unlikely to be heeded. Because, with Mauro Gambetti, the Vatican seems far more interested in glamour than in the Gospel.
Gambetti and the Vatican Museums Banquets: Faith or Catering?
Meanwhile, in the Vatican Museums, Cardinal Gambetti thought it opportune to organise yet another gala dinner for friends and illustrious guests. Lavish tables, twinkling lights, luxury catering: the usual social theatre that the friar-turned-cardinal has sadly made routine. If once all this occurred with the tacit nod of Pope Francis, today it openly clashes with what Pope Leo has indicated as the true urgency of the Church’s mission. Yet Gambetti presses on regardless, squandering funds and acting as though the Vatican were nothing more than an extension of his grand apartment in Piazza della Città Leonina.
The question, as ever, is: who pays?
Five years of Gambetti’s management have filled the Vatican with an endless parade of banquets, soirées and shady characters on the red carpet, but scarcely a breath of prayer. Masses have been scrapped, moments of spirituality increasingly rare, while camera flashes and VIP access multiply. The Vatican reduced to his personal plaything: an exclusive salon to flaunt friendships and connections. Rather like those teenagers who brag about their parents’ villa with a pool, inviting friends only to show off how terribly “cool” they are.
Tables and Shady Ties
This afternoon, the various working groups met. At the one on information sat global giants and, for Italy, Carlo Bartoli, president of the Journalists’ Guild.
Here another contradiction looms large: why does the Guild never sanction Vatican reporters who shamelessly copy-paste without citing sources? Why no proceedings against Andrea Tornielli and Salvatore Cernuzio, serial offenders in this respect? Tornielli recently even declared, “we quote whoever we want.” A pity the Code of Ethics states precisely the opposite. The reality is plain: in Italy the rule is “if you’re my friend, I’ll protect you.” The Journalists’ Guild is no guarantor of professionalism but a self-referential club. To join, you just pay the annual fee – no need to prove competence or independence. Small wonder foreign colleagues look at Italian journalism with suspicion. Because, truth be told, only a handful still do the job with rigour, rather than playing at being PR flacks for their friends or errand boys for the powerful.
Enzo Fortunato, the “Discarded” Recycled
At the helm of the information table sits Enzo Fortunato, former communications chief of St. Peter’s Basilica, already “discarded” in the Francis years, now recycled into the infamous “special projects.” A made-up post, tailored only to justify his constant presence beside his cardinal friend.
What everyone pretends not to see – but which the Secretariat of State had already grasped years ago – is that his role was utterly superfluous. Nobody replaced him. And lo and behold: the Basilica carries on perfectly well. Perhaps that “indispensable communications director” was not indispensable after all.
A Circus Act While the World Burns
In the end, the most brutal question remains: what has any of this to do with faith? In a world scarred by wars, with people drifting further from the Gospel, with a clergy disillusioned by their bishops and by collapsing dioceses, the Vatican entertains itself with drones, lights and million-euro concerts.
And while the poor knock on the doors, and some even urge priests to hand over part of their already meagre stipends to those in need, inside the Vatican Museums champagne flows and canapés are served as if it were a Mayfair cocktail party. The international community looks on in disbelief, somewhere between astonishment and pity. What it sees is a Churchthat, rather than guiding the People of God, seems intent on competing with Las Vegas. The outcome? An embarrassing spectacle, where the spiritual mission drowns in the drone noise and the thump of loudspeakers.
f.G.T.
Silere non possum