Nature has thwarted the Vatican's ghoulish, heartless plot to disinter, dismember and display the remains of the 19th century English theologian, Cardinal Newman.When a posse of papal grandees dug up his grave near Birmingham, they found it empty.
The Vatican grave robbers had apparently been foiled by bacteria and worms.
Newman's body had decomposed to nothing, leaving a vacant grave and frustrating plans by the Catholic church to break up his body and hawk his bones as holy relics.
The only personal artefact found in the graveyard earth was a tiny piece of tassel from the cardinal's cap.
Its survival from the ravages of decomposition will no doubt, in due course, be hailed by the Vatican as The Miracle of the Red Tassel and be cited as a divine intervention that proves Newman's holiness and his worthiness of veneration. Sigh.
Newman died in 1890 and is now being fast-tracked to sainthood.
Pope Benedict XVI wanted his remains reburied in a grand marble tomb in Birmingham Oratory Church, where he could be worshipped and the church could raise vast sums of money from pilgrims by selling "Holy Newman" souvenirs.
The Vatican's reburial scheme would have violated the Cardinal's repeated, explicit instructions to his executors, which were that he should be buried with the man he loved, and with whom he lived for more than 30 years, Father Ambrose St John.
As well as making money out of Newman's sainthood, the Pope wanted to rebury Newman separate from St John to scotch allegations concerning his homosexuality.
The Catholic Church has always been deeply embarrassed that the two men were buried together in the same grave and that they wrote about each other in passionate romantic language.
Such evidence has prompted credible suggestions that the Cardinal might have been gay, at least by orientation if not by sexual practice.
Foiling the Vatican's knavish plans, Newman's and St John's bodies have decomposed together, uniting them forever in the same soil. They cannot now be separated, as the Pope wanted.
Cardinal Newman's wishes have triumphed over the homophobia of the Catholic hierarchy.
The revelation of the empty grave came after I had written to the justice secretary, Jack Straw, arguing that it was morally wrong and possibly unlawful for the Ministry of Justice to grant the Catholic church an exhumation and reburial licence that violates Newman's instructions to his executors.
This licence was granted, in utmost secrecy, in July, after much moral arm-twisting by Vatican emissaries, including lobbying recent Catholic convert Tony Blair.
The government's willingness to give a non-relative third party the right to veto the Cardinal's will and to control his remains strikes me as high-handed and disrespectful.
In effect, the Ministry of Justice caved in to Vatican demands and gave the Catholic church disposal rights over Newman's body, including authority to remove his bones and parade them in public as holy relics.
The government's collusion with these macabre plans is shameful.
My letter to Mr Straw asked:
Could you please explain the Ministry of Justice's justification for making a decision that goes against Cardinal Newman's clear, unambiguous and emphatic instructions to his executors that he should be buried with Father Ambrose St John.
It concluded:
I would respectfully request that in light of the overwhelming evidence that Cardinal Newman wished to be buried with Ambrose St John that you either revoke the licence in its entirety or amend it to stipulate that the Cardinal's remains can only be exhumed and reburied on condition that Ambrose St John is also moved and reburied with him.
I urge you to ensure that Cardinal Newman's wishes are adhered to and respected.
I received a reply last week. It was penned on Mr Straw's behalf by his junior justice minister, Catholic MP Bridget Prentice. As the person in charge of the Ministry of Justice burials department, she wrote to me justifying her decision to grant a special exhumation and reburial licence to the Catholic church:
I was aware of Cardinal Newman's own recorded views regarding his place of burial. I took these views into consideration when deciding to grant the licence but did not consider them to be the overriding consideration in this case.
I wonder whether it is entirely right and proper that this exceptional and controversial decision should have been made by a Catholic minister? Won't it inevitably lead to allegations that the minister has, as a loyal Catholic, shown favouritism towards the Vatican's pleadings?
Well, all those issues are academic now.
The cardinal's body has turned to dust in the place where he wanted to be buried, beside the man he loved.
There will be no reburial.
Pope Benedict has lost his battle to overturn Newman's wishes.
Sweet justice.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: PN)